You may have noticed over the last few weeks that we are facing some challenges with continued Covid cases amongst our staff, along with other illnesses and needs for leave. There is a nationwide shortage of teachers and it is no different here in Townsville. While our teachers and staff are doing a great job trying to avoid days off, often, the best thing they can do is take the time off when unwell. Replacing staff has been the biggest challenge this year and the pressure has not eased at all this term (even our leadership team have taken classes this week). I am so grateful to our staff who are helping each other out during this time and equally grateful to our community for your patience and flexibility during this time. A little bit of kindness and care go a long way during times like this. 

Fortunately we have concluded our very tricky week with a great Friday, full of fabulous fun. We started off with National Walk Safely to School Day, a lovely Assembly lead by Year 3 Galahs (all about kindness and accountability and included a demonstration of Square dancing from our Year 5 /6 students), World Bee Day activities for Preps, Under 8’s Day for Prep- Year 2 students and many of our new 2023 Preps and our Kindy friends. It is so great to see that even with all the staffing challenges we are experiencing, we can still manage to host great events and see our students learning new skills. 

Next week we have Book Fair in our Library. All students will get a chance to visit with their classmates and create a wishlist of books they would like to buy, but students can also go to the Library before and after school with parents to check out what’s on offer. The library will be closed for general use before school next week so only students with parents with them can peruse what is on offer.

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow. Have a fabulous week

Cheers

Penny