COVID OPERATIONS & PROCESSES UPDATE

As I have written many times, the operations and processes used to navigate us through the pandemic change regularly. There are some important updates in the following few paragraphs but one thing that has not changed is that it is still a requirement for students in Years 3-6 to wear a mask indoors. We understand that this is becoming increasingly difficult with the warmer weather, however it is a critical protection barrier for our young students who cannot be vaccinated yet.

***We have noticed a growing number of students arriving at school each day without a mask. The school has a very limited supply of facemasks, and this is nearly exhausted. We are asking all parents and caregivers to ensure that their child/ren (Years 3 - 6) bring a facemask to school every day. Your support of this will help keep all students safer***.

Based on advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer, some significant changes have been made to how cases of COVID-19 and contacts of cases are managed in schools as we reach the 90% double vaccination milestone for eligible people.

Schools will continue the process of identifying contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19 at schools; contacts will no longer be contacted by the Department of Health with quarantine requirements. If your child is identified as a contact, the school will contact you directly.

Contacts will be required to complete a standard (PCR) test within 24 hours from when they are identified by the school as a contact.

If the PCR test returns a negative result, the student can immediately return to school, with evidence of the negative result provided to the school.

It is strongly recommended that contacts complete five days of rapid antigen tests in the morning before they attend school. You will be able to obtain these testing kits from testing centres if your child is required to complete a standard PCR test.

In exceptional circumstances the Department of Health may determine that contacts in significant school outbreaks are still required to quarantine for seven days. In this scenario, students will be notified directly of any additional quarantine arrangements.

Other changes include:

Confirmed cases will now complete 10 days of isolation instead of 14.

Vaccinated household close contacts will complete 7 days rather than 14 days of quarantine. This includes unvaccinated children under 12 years if all members of their household over 12 years are vaccinated. Other unvaccinated household contacts will be required to complete 14 days of quarantine.

It is also important to note that the rules for parents on-site have not changed. We require evidence of double vaccination for any parent entering an indoor space at school, the only exceptions being to collect a student from sick bay or to attend the office area (for a very brief period) to drop off or pick up anything.

ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL DATA

It is with great pleasure that I share with our Lakes community the unbelievable data from our students across Years 4-6 in our Attitudes to School data from 2021. The Attitudes to School data (ATTS) is an individual online state-wide data collection for students from Years 4 up. It collects data about students’ connectedness to school, their feelings around safety while at school, student behaviour at school, sense of confidence whilst at school, students NOT experiencing bullying at school and students feeing safe while at school amongst other data-collected areas. Our data was outstanding across all domains with positive responses well above the state mean, that of a similar school and well above our Whittlesea network of schools. I can attribute this to our hard work and proactiveness of our staff, small class sizes we have here at The Lakes and the wonderful partnership we have developed between home and school. We appreciate all the work that goes on at home from our parents to get kids to school. The data shows that as a whole, students love coming to school and that they are being challenged academically in a safe environment here at The Lakes. I will share more of this data to our community across the next two weeks. Amazing stuff!!!!

Reminders

The Lakes Primary Olympics – After a number of false starts, with school shutdowns and poor weather we will be finally running this day on Monday, 29th November. This will be a great day with the excitement evident amongst our students. This event will run from 9.15am until 1.30pm with all students across Prep - Year 6 involved. Students are to wear school uniform on the day (including school hat and suitable shoes) with a BBQ lunch provided for students. Lunch orders will still be available as normal, and students are to bring a drink bottle and snack for recess. Students will work within their class to gain gold for their country. We will ensure to take many photos to celebrate with our families.
Curriculum day – Friday 3rd December – This will be a 2022 planning day for our teachers and students will not be at school on this day.
Meet the teacher – At this stage, this will happen on Thursday 16th December. Students will have the opportunity to meet their 2022 teacher.
Primary Campus end of Year Awards Day – Wednesday 15th December. Time: TBC. This will take place on our primary campus with end-of-year award winners and 2022 School Captains announced. More information regarding time and who will be allowed to attend this will be sent out to families next week.

Have a wonderful week.

Marcus

Curriculum Day Reminder