CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
Last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. What a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all of the great things happening in our school and the ways we can be active members of our school community, local community and Diocesan community.

We commenced the week with our St Michael’s Primary Cross Country Carnival. We are very blessed with students and families who are so positive and encouraging and we all had a great day.

On Tuesday, we had 19 students represent our school in the Western Region Diocesan Swimming Carnival. Our students tried their very best and had a great day swimming with schools from Macarthur and Southern Highland Schools. From this event, we had three students who went on to the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. Congratulations to Esther, William and Breanna.

On Thursday, our school community celebrated a special Catholic Schools Week liturgy. Thank you to Mrs Mitchell and Year 6 for preparing such a thoughtful and prayerful liturgy.

On Friday, we held a Mufti Day to raise money to support those families in our local community, who require support for educational needs. A total of $228.45 was raised and will be given to St Vincent de Paul, to hand on to families, who may benefit from financial assistance to purchase school uniforms or educational supplies.

On Friday, our Year 6 Mission and Liturgy teams went to the Ecumenical World Day of Prayer service at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Mittagong. The congregation were very grateful that our students attended and gave the children many thanks for their participation and beautiful singing.

Overall, our Catholic Schools Week was positive, prayerful and demonstrative of active service to our community both at school and in the community of Mittagong. Thank you to everyone who participated.

SECOND WEEK OF LENT-
PROJECT COMPASSION

Each week, Caritas has asked us to feature in our newsletters the stories of the people that Caritas is supporting and the students are learning about.

In Cambodia, 1 in 8 people live below the poverty line. This week through Project Compassion, we learn about Phany (pronounced Parn-ee). 

Struggling to earn a living as a farmer in Cambodia, Phany was forced to leave her daughter behind in the village to take up construction work in the city. 

Thankfully, through a Caritas funded program, Phany learnt new farming techniques which enabled her to get a better yield from her vegetable crops and to conserve water in her drought-stricken region. Phany’s community also took part in training in health, nutrition, hygiene and disaster preparedness, arming them with better strategies to cope with environmental changes. Watch a short film about Phany’s story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=8aNYLtZrhTk&feature=emb_logo

Let’s Go Further, Together! Please support the Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Advice
The following information is about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Whilst I was researching, I found an explanation of what Coronavirus is and other information related to it. This is from NSW health.

https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

A MESSAGE FROM CEO WOLLONGONG.
Our practice is to follow the guidelines from NSW Health and Catholic Schools NSW. As such, the following information has been the advice at this present stage.

Sending Home Sick Students and Staff
As the impact of the virus on children and healthy adults can be quite mild, there may be a tendency to continue working and attending school and hence increase the risk of infecting others. This is in contrast to SARS and Swine flu, where most people were quite unwell if infected. The advice from Health is that schools should be very strong on sending home staff and students who have the slightest sign of illness. This is not a time for soldiering on with coughs and colds.

Hygiene
Good hygiene remains the best protective measure against the spread of the virus. The World Health Organisation has also published useful advice on social distancing:

Foreign nationals (excluding permanent residents of Australia) who are in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) on or after 5 March, will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they have left or transited through the Republic of Korea.

Only Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter Australia, as will their immediate family members (spouses, legal guardians or dependants only). They will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days from the day they left the Republic of Korea.

Previous advice from the NSW Government remains current:

• Any student or staff member who has left, or transited through mainland China since 1 February, Iran since 1 March, or the Republic of Korea (South Korea) since 5 March, is excluded from child care services, school or work for 14 days from the date they left mainland China, Iran or the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• Any confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return.
• Close contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.

Students and staff who have returned to Australia and have shown no symptoms during the 14-day self-isolation period are able to return to school or work.

The NSW Ministry of Health has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in Australia. It is advising these close contacts about not attending work, school or early childhood and childcare services.

CSNSW continues to work closely with NSW Ministry of Health to monitor and respond to developments and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff.

Consistent with current guidelines, children, students and staff who are unwell with respiratory illness should remain at home until symptoms resolve. In accordance with our current practice if any student becomes unwell, we will implement our infection control guidelines and follow the advice provided by the NSW Ministry of Health as appropriate.

Resources
Maintaining good hygiene standards is an important way to reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading respiratory infections. We ask staff, parents and carers and students to promote good hygiene including handwashing with soap as handwashing is the single most effective way to reduce the spread of germs that cause respiratory disease.

Bishop Brian has issued a statement regarding temporary Mass Changes in the DoW and the Australian Bishops have also released the following advice pertaining to liturgical implications which can be found below.

The Australian Government publishes a daily alert with the latest medical advice and official reports.

Most importantly, it is advised to stay calm, remain considerate of others and be reassured that we are closely monitoring this situation as it develops and we are following and implementing all advice and direction from the appropriate health and government authorities. 

Best wishes,
Mrs Katrina West
Principal