Dear Families,

We have had a terrific start back to our Face-to-Face classes and we have been really energised seeing the juniors back.

As we start our return to normal we will need to address different issues as well as continue to be organised around our hybrid model that starts next week for our Year 3 to 6's.  Attached to this update is the table we shared a few days ago which shows which year levels attend when. Also attached is the eForm for onsite supervision.

Can I please make parents aware of a few things:

ONSITE VISITORS: Currently the only people allowed onsite are staff, students and required trades/contractors.  This reduces the risk of transmission which hopefully reduces the chances of the school site being closed due to us becoming an exposure site.  the reception area is staffed but our preference is for only limited access to this area.  We direct parents to call or email staff as required.  the classroom teachers are generally floating around the yard before and after school so can do quick, social-distanced chats then.  Parents are reminded of the request not to gather at entry/exit points and to wear face masks while around others at the school, especially in those busy dismissal times.  Can I thank everyone for the way they seem to be supporting these guidelines - I think the fear around having to go back homeschooling is a good motivating force!

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: If the school is notified that we have or have had a COVID-19 positive case on site we will directed by authorities to commence our Emergency Management protocols.  We have had a few reasons to do this over the recent times with floods and fires.  All communication will come initially via Schoolzine emails and app alerts, social media is a secondary source of information and is generally used to notify families that an important email/alert has been sent.  The school website also has an Emergency Management menu which will be a resource page for information.  It is a timely reminder to make sure all families have their SIMON/PAM accounts working and that we have accurate details eg.mobile phone numbers.  In the case that the school needs to close during a day the same procedure will be followed so we ask parents to think about what you would do if you were notified that the school was closing immediately and you needed to collect your child/ren.

REMOTE LEARNING IF THE SCHOOL SITE IS CLOSED: If we are directed to close that Remote Learning would shift to only being available by providing the Learning Portal on ?google classrooms, if uncertainty around the availability of staff to conduct Google Meets.  It would be highly unlikely that we would be able to distribute devices.  In this scenario we would not have any staff onsite so the Office would not be staffed nor would we offer onsite supervision.  Hopefully we do not have to deal with this but it is important for families to consider what they would do in these situations.

SCHOOL EVENTS: At this stage we are extremely limited to what events we can conduct and almost our whole calendar of events is paused.  We continue to plan and complete the organisation of these events (eg.camps and swimming) even though we can not conduct them under the current rules. Once we are reopened fully I think we have to deal with a range of issues not limited to; enforcing density limits and only vaccinated persons being allowed onsite.  We continue to receive sensible advice from DOSCEL around how we meet the directives issued by government.

Please take care of yourselves,

Dave