SKiPPS Newsletter

A message from the Principal

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Firstly, I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and safe. It is unfortunate that I need to start our latest newsletter on such a worrying topic but, due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation around the coronavirus,  it is important that we communicate clearly around the impact on our school's operations.

 

The most recent information provided by the Department of Education and Training (DET), 17 March 2020.

 

Dr Brett Sutton, the Victorian Chief Health Officer has provided a statement on school closures in Victoria CHO_advicetoschools_16March2020.

 

Further current information from DET includes: 

CAMPS AND EXCURSIONS:

  • All camps scheduled to commence from and including Tuesday 17 March must be postponed and rescheduled, or, if there is no other option, cancelled.
  • For the purposes of excursions, a school excursion is defined to include local parks and sporting facilities regularly used by the school, including local swimming pools. All excursions outside the school for purposes such as visits to cultural institutions, art galleries, theatres and sporting events or facilities planned from and including Tuesday 17 March must also be postponed or cancelled.

GOOD HYGIENE PRACTICES 

We are paying extra attention to the health and hygiene measures employed across our school, in particular the provision of soap in school toilets and posters displaying good hygiene practices. Teachers are taking the students to the bathrooms prior to eating any food and at the end of each day to oversee thorough handwashing with soap and water.

 

INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS 

Everyone arriving into Australia from overseas from 15 March will be required to self-isolate for 14 days. This obviously includes students and staff who may be returning from overseas travel.

 

Importantly, it also includes parents and carers and any other relatives or friends of our students who are returning from overseas travel. As they are required to self-isolate, they must not visit the school to pick up children or for any other reason. 

 

Whilst there are no such legal requirements for self-isolation for people arriving from overseas prior to this deadline, we would encourage all of our community members who have recently returned from overseas to exercise caution and consider measures to keep our community safe.

 

ORGANISED GATHERINGS 

The Commonwealth Government has announced that mass gatherings of more than 500 people are now prohibited. This explicitly does not include schools running normal teaching and learning program. It does, however, apply to any school event that involves attendance by community members who are not students or staff and where total attendance will exceed 500. This includes school assemblies and sporting events. Whilst our student numbers do not quite reach the 500 threshold, we have taken the decision to cancel all school assemblies for the remainder of term as a precaution. In addition, students are not lining up together in the quadrangle at the start of each day and instead proceeding to line up in classes near their classrooms.

 

FUTURE SCHOOL CLOSURES AND HOME LEARNING

Whilst the DET advice is that schools are to remain open for now, it is clear that future extended school closures remain a real possibility. Faced with this situation, we have been working hard this week to map out how student learning can continue if the school were to be closed for a number of weeks. 

 

Under any school closure, our staff would continue to work in order to maintain learning continuity. To do this we are making plans to provide daily learning activities to students via online platforms - we envisage using Seesaw for Years F-4 and Google Classroom for Years 5/6. Students will be provided with a 'home timetable' to set out expectations for the day's learning at home. These platforms will then allow teachers to provide and monitor learning activities and for students to complete them online and send any messages to their teachers.

 

We realise that this approach does rely on families having access to computers or iPads at home and a working internet connection. To support us make any necessary contingency plans, please contact me on scott.neil.n@edumail.vic.gov.au if this is likely to provide a problem.

 

Whilst these preparations are taking place,  I have been advised to try and minimise all contact within school. This will impact on us considerably.

 

To help maintain the health and safety of our community, the following events have been either postponed, cancelled or will occur in a creative way i.e. using technology. If we are able to readdress some of the events, we will certainly do so.

  • Year 6 GRIP Leadership Conference  – cancelled
  • Presentation of the Annual report to Parents - postponed until later in the year with the report posted on the school website.
  • Parent Ongoing Reporting Information session – cancelled - A PowerPoint and Information sheet will be made available on Compass this Friday to explain our ongoing reporting journey using seesaw.
  • Year 3/4 and 5/6 Gala Days – cancelled
  • School Photos - postponed until Term 2
  • SKiPPS Market Day – postponed
  • School Council meeting - held remotely via video conferencing

In terms of the Team Kids Holiday program for the upcoming break, as things stand they plan to still offer this program but this is dependent on school closures and booking numbers. If the DET take a decision to close schools prior to the holiday then no program will run. Similarly, if bookings are very low then they may make a decision to cancel a program and offer places at a nearby location. A firm decision on this will be made by Team Kids early next week.

 

Please know that if you have any queries in regard to the above information, please phone school on 8598 6444.

 

Once again, if your child has any signs of being unwell in anyway (fever, vomiting, sore throats etc.), please do not send them to school. At the best of times, we do not want unwell children presenting at school but in the current climate it is vital these children ae kept at home and further medical attention is sought if symptoms persist. 

 

I will provide further information soon. In the meantime, please keep safe and well.

Neil Scott, Principal