Delacombe Primary School

From The Principal's Desk

Welcome back

A huge welcome back to everyone after what was a well-deserved break during the holidays. It was great to see the students return ready to learn and quickly realign themselves to the routines and rituals of the classroom.

We are looking forward to another busy term ahead which centres around a strong literacy and numeracy learning program supported by extracurricular activities including:

  • Year 4 camp to Cave Hill Creek
  • NAPLAN for Year 3 and 5 students.
  • Classroom Helpers Course
  • The Young Authors Program 
  • Senior Winter Sports
  • Junior Excursion to the Melbourne Museum
  • The Girls Program
  • School photos 

Already this term we have had a fantastic, although wet and cold, cross country event which took place on the Doug Dean Reserve, we have welcomedback parents to our assembly and conducted our school photos.

During the holiday period, a number of projects were completed:

Fencing around the garden near the Year 3/4 playground – this will provide protection for the garden bed that will be planted out in this area.

 

School Photo Wall – The photo wall is a wonderful selection of photos that represent what Delacombe PS is all about. It is located near the office and is a great visual spectacle for all students as they move around the corridors. Our thanks to Mrs Svilicic who has worked hard to organise this project.

 

Year 5/6 Playground: Construction is really starting to ramp up in this area of the school. Over the next two weeks, the playground will be installed with the landscaping to follow. The projected finish date for the project is the end of May. 

 

Stadium Defects Audit and Repair – a final check of the stadium for defects has concluded and the repairs have begun. This will see a number of new rain garden beds being installed near the entrance gates and the fence around the soccer pitch reimagined to better support the games that were played there.

 

Parent Liaison Group

As part of our school vision to further strengthen school-community partnerships after two years of COVID conditions, we are looking to begin a new program specially designed for our parent community. The Parent Liaison Group replaces the traditional Parents and Friends team but has a different focus that gives a stronger voice to parents from across the school.

The Parent Liaison Group will meet with school leadership members twice each term to discuss issues that are important to the effective running of the school. For example, the team will discuss issues like school reports, Parent Teacher Interviews, Special event organisation, data from surveys and assessment programs like NAPLAN just to name a few.

These discussions will allow the school leadership to get the parent perspective in order to plan more effectively for the future.

In order to get a cross section of parent representatives, we are looking for a parent from each classroom to join the team. 

Please fill in the INSIGHT Notification on your parent Compass home page if you are interested in being part of this team.

 

Covid-Safe Guidelines

The Victorian Government has announced some important changes to COVIDSafe measures for schools that apply from the start of Term 2.

 

Face masks

From 11:59 pm Friday 22 April, face masks, while recommended, are not required in any school setting. This means students in grades 3 to 6, staff and visitors in primary schools are no longer required to wear face masks. Any student or staff member who wishes to wear a mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.

 

Screening requirements

Students who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously 8 weeks.

 

Household contacts

Students who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are not required to quarantine. They may return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times during their 7-day period. They are required to notify the school that they are a household contact.

Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption. 

If a student household contact returns a positive RAT result, they must isolate for 7 days. 

 

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools 

Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

 

RAT screening program reminder

RATs will continue to be supplied for the first 4 weeks of Term 2 to support the early detection of COVID-19 in our school. 

The testing recommendations will remain the same this term for students and staff with it recommended to test at home twice a week

As we approach winter and flu season, the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 and booster shots for students 16+ remains the best way to ensure protection for students and staff. 

If you have any concerns about getting your child vaccinated, please get in contact with your GP or another health professional who can answer your questions. 

 

Curriculum Day

This coming Friday is a Curriculum Day and therefore is a student free day. All school staff will be spending the day looking at the Respectful Relationships program which will become the corner stone of our social emotional learning program. 

It is a timely reminder to organise alternative arrangements for your child/children on this day. We thank all parents and carers for your understanding and support.

 

ANZAC Day March

On Monday April 26 Mis Gerard and 20 students from our Junior School Council marched in the ANZAC Day parade. After the ceremony Charlee and Ruby laid a wreath on behalf of the school. Thanks to Miss Gerard for all the organisation that went into this even and to the parents who escorted their child to the event on a public holiday.

Stadium Architectural Award

Last week we had a panel of judges tour the school stadium as part of an architectural award that the school has been shortlisted for. The overwhelming response from the judges was how the school and architects had worked collaboratively to create a facility that is functional and innovative in design. This is not always the case in the public sector. Although the design is in a field of projects with much larger budgets and predominately in the metropolitan area, it is a credit to all who have been involved over the past few years. 

 

 

Mother’s Day / Mother Figure Day

This weekend we celebrate the mothers or mother figures in our lives. Taking the time to pause and reflect on the role these people play in shaping who we are is very important. A Mother’s Day stall will be held on Thursday at school for students to purchase a small gift from. All gifts are $4 and can be purchased on QKR (Wednesday night cut off) or by bringing cash on the day.

Our thanks to Casey and Kara and their band of helpers for their organisation of this event.

 

NAPLAN

Next week our Year 3 and 5 students will participate in the 2022 NAPLAN. This series of assessments will be conducted online for the first time at Delacombe P.S. Conducting the assessments online presents schools with several advantages including quicker access to results and more flexibility in the delivery of each assessment. Teachers have been preparing students for next week to ensure we make the most of this learning opportunity.