Message from Principal Sarah

Appreciations

Thank you to the students, teachers, parents, and carers across the school who have resolutely managed an extended period of remote learning over the last two weeks due to COVID positive cases within the school.  

With the changes to the quarantine period late last week, we are happy to welcome all children back to class. 

I also wanted to thank the whole school community for their resilience and understanding at this time. We understand the ever-changing guidelines do cause some confusion and endeavour to make our communication as clear as we can. 

Please see below for the most recent information regarding the management of COVID-19 positive cases and contacts.

Changes to the management of COVID-19 positive cases and contacts

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 dose milestone for eligible people in the coming days.

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 via Compass.

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. Rapid antigen testing is strongly recommended for contacts attending school for five days after receiving a negative PCR test result to enable a safe return to school and ensure positive cases are identified as early as possible. Rapid antigen testing kits are available at all testing centers.

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.

North Oval Landscaping Works Completed

Yesterday marked an exciting occasion at North Melbourne Primary School where the construction fences were removed from the north side of the oval. The base landscaping and upgrade to the retaining wall are now completed. Over the coming months and into next year, Tess, our gardener, will begin to plant some native plants in the area to make it an even more inviting space for our students.

Over the coming weeks, students will have an opportunity to explore this area with their classroom teacher before we open it up for nature play at recess and lunchtimes. 

Stay tuned in our next newsletter for some amazing photographs of students using the space.

Swimming Program

On Monday our Prep to Year 2 students headed off to North Melbourne Pool for their first swimming lessons of the year. There were some very tired children at the end of the day, however, lots of excited students greeted me at the gate on Tuesday morning knowing they were swimming again!

The Prep to Year 2 students will swim in Week 8 and Week 9 before our Year 3 to Year 6 students begin their program on Monday 6th December.