COVID-19/Coronavirus

Dear Parents and Carers

Dandenong High School currently has no known cases of COVID-19 or close contacts with known cases at the time of writing, but we continue to monitor this situation. 

Please let the school know if you or your child are:

• a confirmed case of COVID-19
• a close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the past 14 days. ‘Close contact’ is defined by DHHS as someone who has had at least 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with a confirmed case, or shared a closed space with someone for more than two hours with a confirmed case
• unwell, need to visit a GP or hospital with a cough, respiratory symptoms, flu like symptoms and/or high temperature

Please call 9792 0561 during office hours or the school on dandenong.hs@education.vic.gov.au.

We have received information from the Minister for Education and the Secretary of the Department that included new communication from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer about the reasons why it is safe for Victoria’s schools to remain open.  I have attached the letter for you to read.

School Closures

You will be informed if there is any prospect that our school will be closed, either as a stand-alone school closure or as part of a local or area by area closure. Dandenong High School will be operating as normal. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s House Leadership Team.

Online Learning Resources

The school is currently in the process of ensuring all learning tasks and lesson plans are uploaded to Compass. Students who are currently absent from school need to access these resources and are able to communicate with their teachers through the Conversation section of the Learning Tasks, accessed through the class page. Alternatively, students can email their teachers directly. The expectation is that they continue their learning at home. We will be further adding to these online resources in the coming days to prepare for any potential closure in the future.

Senior Learning - Absence and Assessment Tasks

No student with approved absences will be penalised in relation to assessment tasks. For VCE SACs, a medical certificate to approve an absence is not required at this time: any parent approval, on Compass, is sufficient. Please note that if a student attends other classes that day, and only misses the class in which they have a SAC, we will require a medical certificate. We are monitoring the number of make-up SACs that will be required and will communicate appropriate arrangements to students and families. 

New Information relating to Work Experience, Structured Workplace Learning and industry engagement activities

Work experience and SWL placements in residential aged care facilities must be cancelled. Based on current advice from the Commonwealth Government to protect vulnerable Australians, schools should not visit residential aged care facilities. Any current or scheduled student placement in a residential aged care facility should be immediately cancelled.

Other work experience and SWL placements can continue. However, the school make work placement decisions on a case by case basis.  Our decisions will consider the type of industry and the health and safety of students and others involved. If we make the decision to allow work experience or SWL placements to continue, we will ensure that:

• Students are contacted at least once during their placement by the school’s Work Experience/SWL Coordinator
• Students and employers have the Work Experience/SWL Coordinator’s contact details to report any issues or concerns during their placement.

A work experience/SWL arrangement may be cancelled at any time by written notice from the Principal to the employer, or from the employer to the Principal, sent to each of the other parties. It is effective immediately upon receipt of the written notice from the relevant party.  An employer must not cancel a work experience/SWL arrangement without consulting the Principal, unless it is in circumstances where it is not reasonable to require the employer to do so.

Excursions

As per DET advice, all excursions outside school for purposes such as visits to cultural institutions, art galleries, theatres and sporting events or facilities (other than those local facilities regularly used by the school) must be postponed or cancelled. This advice applies to industry tours, workplace visits, mock interviews, expos, etc.

Vocational Education and Training

At this stage, students are able to travel to and from VET classes.  We recommend that students take precautions when travelling to and from venues, including using hand sanitisers and maintaining a social distance where possible. 

For further specific advice around VET/VCAL program delivery please refer to the VCAA website which provides up to date advice:

Coronavirus Updates from the VCAA

I again ask you to practise good hand and respiratory hygiene. Prevention posters are being placed around the school and added hygiene products are being made available to staff and students.

We will continue to keep you updated with any changes.

Susan Ogden

Principal