Covid-19 Term 2 Update Number 3

Welcome to term 2, as we strive to meet the challenges that Covid 19 has presented us, both as parents and for staff here at school. I am extremely proud of the efforts all staff undertook in week 11 last term, as we planned for the transition to ‘at school’ and ‘at home’ learning. Outlined below are some succinct points that I ask that all parents be aware of and follow.

• Advice form the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is attached.
• Please continue to drop your child/children off at the school gate-there is no need to enter the school grounds. Do not enter classrooms or the Front Office.
• We are striving to ensure that the ‘at home and at school’ learning programmes are as similar as possible. The obvious difference is ‘face to face’ access to staff here at school.
• If undertaking ‘at home’ learning please pick up your child’s home pack from the hall Monday morning-we had a very small number of parents accessing the packs on Friday which was very disappointing. All packs are in numerical class order and individually named.
• It should be noted that the ‘pack’ is not a series of work sheets but rather contains books, resources and ‘tools’ necessary for at home learning. ALL learning tasks will be regularly delivered through SeeSaw or Teams by individual class and specialist teachers. All staff were asked to post these for the first week to parents through SeeSaw last week.
• The choice to keep your child at home or send to school is a parental choice. We will accommodate the variety of arrangements that we understand that parents may need to follow as a consequence of work, shifting circumstances and separate/alternating households for some children. All I ask is that you keep your child’s teacher well informed of any changes to routine.
• Please read Covid-19 Update Number 14 regarding expectations of parents regarding attendance/sickness/appointments.
• We will continue to run our specialists programmes here at school albeit with some changes. It may be necessary to adopt a new timetable based on student attendance.
• If more than 500 children attend school we will adopt a ‘split play’ approach. We did this in week 9 and 10 last term-very successfully.
• Unfortunately the Canteen will remain closed until student attendances warrant reopening.
• Volunteers are not permitted to be involved in our school.
• Playgrounds will be re-opened for student and OSHC use. They are not available for community use. They will be cleaned daily as outlined in the attachment.
• Increased class/office cleaning will continue and will be funded by DfE.
• Any parent meetings here at school (sub committees of Governing Council) will need to be ‘re-thought’. Further information on this in the near future.
• Reinforcement of good hand hygiene will be emphasised here at school.

As a school we will continue to focus on what is best for all our students and I know all staff will continue to make this a priority under trying circumstances. A key thought here is the need to be flexible and understanding –it is a ‘shifting landscape’ which requires cooperation and support from all involved. Throughout this whole experience I have been very impressed by our school community’s support –your positive comments on SeeSaw and through our Blog are testament to this. For this I thank you. We will get through this and being an optimist I believe this not too far off into our future.

Thank you. Stay safe and stay healthy.

Ian