Dear Families

As you will be aware, the State of Victoria is heading into a short circuit breaker lock-down from this evening.  I'm sure this will cause all of us to have varying reactions to the situation with my only advice is to control the things you can control.  From a school perspective we feel we are in a strong position to deal with the scenario and look forward to working with families to come up with simple strategies to get through the week.

Unlike the longer lock-downs of 2020 we do know the end dates for this short period so we will not be dealing with introducing any new work to the students.  We will use the time as an opportunity to offer some revision and maintenance tasks that families may choose to participate in to a capacity that suits your specific family circumstances.  The children will be taking home a small package today which includes a letter detailing some possible tasks, including the students existing online learning platforms.

Feedback from staff, students and families (and principal) clearly stated the positive nature of our Google Meet opportunities.  The teaching staff will again be offering a daily Google Meet via the Google Classroom platform each morning at 9am next week.  These will be voluntary and have a wellbeing focus of connecting with each other rather than introducing any new curriculum content.  Due to the short nature of this lock-down we are not in a position to distribute the school computers like the extended lock-downs of 2020, but families can connect to the Google Meets via any device like a phone or iPad ..... potentially even a gaming console?  Can I take the opportunity to remind parents of the risks associated with social media and the various messaging and communication apps available to even our youngest students.  In the media we constantly read stories of negative situations and I urge parents to take the opportunity to monitor and learn more about what your child is doing online, and who/how/what/when they are active in the cyber-world.

Sadly we will need to postpone a few events including Confirmation, Parent-Teacher Interviews and our Pizza Day.  Updates will be provided as details are confirmed.

This situation again reinforces how important it is for families to be registered for school emails via Schoolzine, via hopefully over the lock-down period we will be able to use the time wisely and get the SIMON platform up and running ready for Term 3.  Again we ask families to keep an eye on your inboxes.

Onsite supervision will again be offered to students who cannot be supervised at home because their parents are essential workers who work in school hours and have no other supervision options, or are deemed vulnerable by the DHHS guidelines.  Parents requiring this must complete the attached eForm as soon as possible so I can try to secure enough staff.  We ask for your support in recognising that this is only in the case of extreme need and acknowledge the pressure we have to restrict the onsite attendance of both staff and students to a minimum.

The school website offers resources around Remote Learning, Online Safety, Mental Health & Crisis Support and IT resources.  Please take some time to look around to see what is on offer.  If you think we could add something extra please let us know.

Take care, stay safe - get vaccinated!

Dave