Principal's Report

Principal’s Message

Welcome to Term 2, the children are very excited to be back at school, we were so fortunate to have such warm Autumn weather to enjoy during the break. 

Morning Tea with the Foundation children

At the end of last term the Foundation children joined me for morning tea in my office. I read some stories including Mr McGee and The Meanies and we shared some treats. Each child received a certificate for completing their first term at school.

CONGRATUALTIONS to all of our Foundation kids!

COVIDSafe UPDATE

COVIDSafe measures have changed since the holidays but important practices will continue to be in place across our school to ensure every possible effort is made so staff, students and the community is safe.

Ventilation: At the end of Term 1 we received an additional delivery of air purifiers which will be distributed around the school.

Vaccination: As part of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, all school staff and all students aged 5 and over are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Students are not required to be vaccinated to attend school. While vaccination is not mandatory for students, vaccinations are strongly encouraged as the best way to protect individuals and our school community from the spread of COVID-19

Face masks: 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.

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. 

Steps to take if your child tests positive

1. Parents/carers must complete the Student COVID-19 COVID Test Portal if a student tests positive to COVID-19 (via a PCR or rapid antigen test). 
2. Parent/carers are to please inform the school the school by phone or email to the class teacher and the school office
3. Students who report a positive result must isolate for seven days and not attend school during this time.

RAT screening reminder:RATs will continue to be supplied for the first 4 weeks of Term 2. We are recommending that students continue to test at home twice a week, on Mondays & Wednesdays

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.

School Review 2022

All Government schools (Primary & Secondary) in Victoria are required to participate in a school review every 4 years. We are currently in the process of preparing for our 2022 School Review.

Our 2022 Review will support our school to differentiate our improvement journey by building on current strengths and responding to unique challenges in order to achieve continuous improvement for our students.

The school review:

• provides opportunities to engage with the whole school community about how the school is going
• provides an independent view of the school by drawing on external expertise
• delves deeply into our school’s performance through the analysis of performance data, focus group discussions, and observations of teaching and learning practices
• triangulates evidence-based findings to propose goals, targets and key improvement strategies for the new four-year School Strategic Plan. 

The Review will be completed in 2 parts:

Term 2: Minimum Standards Compliance Assessment 

This includes the Child Safe Standards & School Policies Assessments

(Term 3: A Review Panel is established)

Term 4: The Review:

The key components of the review will be reflecting on the school’s performance against our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, a self- evaluation against the FISO Continua

and developing the School’s Strategic Plan for the next 4 years. 

More information will be available to the community as we work though the first stages this term.

School Council

Every school has a School Council. School Council’s function is to assist with the effective governance of our school, enhancing the educational opportunities our students.

The Robbie Mac Council consists of 12 members: eight parent representatives and four DET representatives. Our 2022 Councillors are:

Jen Buxton (President)

Evan Pearson (Vice- President)

Adrian Giblett (Treasurer)

Tamarra Darby

Nicole Perazzo

Lauren Mumme

Lauren Jayatilaka & 

Dean McGowan

Amanda Wigg (Principal)

Peter Watson (Assistant Principal)

Natasha Robb (Staff)

Nick Kong (Staff)

From Term 2 our Councillors will be introducing themselves and our first Councillor out of the blocks is Evan Pearson who has been on Council since 2017:

Father of Jude (5/6R), Gabriel (1/2A) and Elke (Grade 6 2021), and a teacher for almost 20 years.  I appreciate and value Robbie Mac for the many ways it has nurtured the growth of my children, provided unique learning opportunities and fostered a strong sense of community.  As someone who cannot regularly connect with the school through drop-offs and pick-ups, I joined the School Council back in 2015.  The role has given me wonderful insight into many of the operations of the school and the key decisions that have been made in that time.  And education does not stop when the school bags get shoved under the beds; I love mountain biking and camping with the kids, and spending time at the beach with the whole family.  Like the kids, I am looking forward to a happy and healthy Term 2.

Important Dates:

Thurs 28th April: Year 3-6 Cross Country

Fri 29th April: 3-6 assembly

Mon 2nd May: Aquarium excursion Years 1 & 2s

Wed 4th May: Education Committee 6.00pm

Mon 23rd May: EDUCATION WEEK- Parent Open evening Tuesday 24th May (More information coming)

Friday 3rd June: Curriculum Day- PUPIL FREE Day

School Assembly will be held on Fridays at 2.45pm and will be split like Term 1, with Years 3-6s this week. Parents/Carers can access assemblies via the link which is sent each Friday.

Have a wonderful week! I have attached a photo of the Easter Parade in the last week of term.

Best regards,

Amanda Wigg

Principal