Dear Families

As per the Premier's announcement on Wednesday 1st September, the lockdown in Victoria will continue. Therefore remote learning will be in place until further annoucements are made. The students are familiar with remote learning now. Attendance to the morning Google Meets is fantastic and we continue to encourage the students to connect with their class each day through this opportunity. 

Well-Being Resources: We have regularly shared in our newsletters and website a set of highly recommended Australian resources that serve to support both adults and children in the area of mental health. We also notice that there are a growing number of resources, webinars and presentations online for families - an example being an RCH presentation for parents last week (scroll through our school Facebook to find the post).  It is really important to acknowledge that as both parents and teachers we can support each other but need to realise at times we should engage with professionals in this field of expertise.

Onsite Staffing: We have been committed to meeting our obligations in regards COVID guidelines and protocols so that the school can remain operational.  We need to ensure that we are never faced with the school site or community being an exposure risk, and this can be minimised by following the staffing guidelines.  By doing so we know that we will be easily able to switch back to face-to-face learning immediately when directed.   Our school staff have limited Authorised Work Permits and are only permitted onsite for specific tasks, which as a results means we have very few staff onsite at any one time.  If you need to contact any of the staff please reach out via email or call the school office and we will pass messages on to them. We continue to thank the casual staff that are working to help us out with onsite supervision.

Onsite Attendance Booking: Our staffing guidelines adhere to the directives from the Chief Health Officer and we ask for the continued support of families that need to access this service.  Parents that have an Authorised Work Permit (including those employed in roles that are exempt of this requirement) are eligible to request onsite supervision, while the school can also work with families to negotiate attendance in special circumstances.  We have been very appreciative of the support and flexibility parents have shown to us the past few days as they work in partnership with us to coordinate their child's onsite attendance.  As a staff we are happy to work with our authorised shift working families and value the opportunity to come up with fair compromises that acknowledge the important work being undertaken by both parents and teachers.  We need to restrict the amount of staff and students attending onsite so when parents are active in minimising their child coming to school, it is very much appreciated - simple things like collecting your child early or dropping them later in the day are examples of how you can assist the school.

To allow us to coordinate staffing for next week (6th September - 10th September) we ask for the Onsite Attendance Booking form below be completed by 5pm Friday (3/9/21) afternoon. This form must be completed for students to access onsite supervision. (Please Note: If your current Authorised Worker Permit is still valid, there is no need to supply another copy.)

We thank you for you continued patience and persistence with remote learning. We look forward to potential easing of restrictions in Regional Victoria soon.

Stay well everyone,

Mr Camillo Redi

Acting Principal