In spring's sunlit hour

My heart like a flower

Unfolds with great power.

And out into the joyful world

My feeling-forces are unfurled.

All things I love - fire, water, air,

The stones, the stars, the mighty sun,

Plants, creatures, people everywhere

For God is in them, every one.

Dear GHSS Families,

Spring Fair and Open Day  Our Spring Fair and Open Day is scheduled for Saturday November 19th, from 10am - 2pm, and we can't wait to showcase our wonderful school to the wider community.  Please mark the date in your calendar.  The success of the day will depend on as many families as possible helping out with the preparations, set and pack down and contributing time to serving on stalls or at activities on the day.  We will also need our fantastic kids to be a part of the day - performing songs and activities for the community, showing off their amazing talents!  

Please communicate with your class carers and fair committee members on how you can assist.  We will endeavour to get out a timetable of events as soon as possible so you can plan your day.

Swimming Lessons  Children from Classes 1 - 6 will be participating in swimming lessons from November 21 - 25 at ALAC.  As this is a part of our PE curriculum, all students will be asked to participate.  Any child who is not swimming will still need to attend ALAC with their class.  Forms will be sent home this week for parents to complete and return so that we can pass them on to the Swimming Class Supevisors for the creation of classes.  Thanks for your prompt response in completing and returning the forms.

Camps  Camping is a communal activity where many life skills can be taught and practiced.  School friends and classmates form a microcosm of their wider community, where learning to live harmoniously in close proximity with friends and neighbours is a noble aspiration and one we believe is worthy of our best efforts.

Learning to be away from home for these short periods prepares the ground for a time in the future where children will feel confident about stepping up to the challenges of life in a healthy way.

So many opportunities exist in the camp environment for the children to meet the ‘edge’ of themselves where they believe they have reached their limits.  Watching them reassess the extent of their capabilities is a great privilege for classmates and teachers.

Some of the skills and abilities we hope to develop over the years include:

• key survival and camping skills
• increasing levels of independence and fostering the capacity of our children
  to operate out of their own thinking and feeling.
• increasing levels of resilience
• a sense of co-operative endeavour in our students - the experience of many hands make light work and that work benefits the many, not just the individual.

After this week all of our classes will have been on camp for the year.  I hope you have enjoyed and will enjoy the articles in the newsletter summarising the wonderful experiences shared by all. 

Every Day Counts  Regular attendance at school is essential for a range of reasons.  When children are absent from school they can miss crucial content in lessons that can impact upon the foundational concepts on which future learning is built.  It can also impact upon their social relationships as they miss out on the connection that occurs while they are away and then find it difficult to fit back in on their return, which can increase anxiety about attending school.

As a general rule, an attendance rate of 90% or better should be the aim.  This amounts to no more than 20 days absent in a school year - which is a lot!  And yet we have a number of children who have missed more than that this year.

Please ensure that your child attends every day of school that they are able - it really is in their best interests.  That said...

When to Stay Away  There are times that children should remain home and that is when they  are sick.  Of course, if you kept your child home just because they have a runny nose they could miss an awful lot of school so it does come down to judgement.  However, these instances are definite causes for remaining home:

Fever - This is one symptom that automatically rules out school, no questions.  Your sick child should be fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours before you send them back to school.  Australian schools won’t administer over-the-counter fever-reduction medication, so it’s definitely worth keeping your child home, making sure they drink plenty of fluids and can recover from whatever they are battling.

Diarrhoea - This could be a sign of a viral infection, so it’s best to keep your child at home.  It’s also important to keep rehydrating them with an oral rehydrating solution when they have diarrhoea, and the best way to do that is by keeping them at home.

Vomiting - Aside from the fact that your child won’t be comfortable, they could vomit again.  Keep them home until they have gone 24 hours without throwing up.

Covid positive - If your child has symptoms please test them and if positive, keep them home for 5 days or whilst they are displaying symptoms.                       

Cough - A severe and persistent cough or anything that impacts your childs ability to breathe properly should be checked out by a doctor before attending school.

Things such as coughs, rashes, tummy aches and ear infections can be somewhat trickier - its best to trust your instincts.  If your child is lethargic and not themselves then it can be best to keep them home to monitor their health.

For more detailed information, follow this link to the comprehensive list of illnesses and infections and if they require being kept home from school or not.  

healthdirect-school-exclusion-periods.pdf 

Jacqui Hollingworth

Principal