From the Principal

Our Senior STARS ALL Sparkled!

It was certainly, Lights!...Camera!......ACTION! today as our seniors stepped up to perform. On Friday 19 November all the elements of careful organisation, preparation, and rehearsal came together to culminate in the videoing of our 2021 Senior Production...

Global Grove

The children were excited to see the special stage lights turn on and sparkle against our backdrop. The cameras in place, turned up the excitement to a whole new level. However when dressed in their costumes, ready to go on stage it was a sensational - electric feeling for all, students and staff. We were all filled with pride. This is what it was all about. Creating precious memories that will last a lifetime. Our children were the STARS!

In a year of cancellations, it was great to have persevered and let the SHOW go on!!

My sincere thanks to Kristy and Rachel for bringing this together from script writing, to the selection and purchase of the magnificent costumes and hours of rehearsal to bring our children to this day. It certainly has been challenging working on a production amidst the obstacles of 2021. However we have a brilliant team. Thanks also to the staff who have helped with props and willingly helped with a multitude of small and big tasks. It takes a team and a positive community energy to make this happen. We have that in buckets!! 

 Special thanks to Rob from Kharisma Kids who bought the sparkly backdrop yesterday and helped to put it up.  Thanks to Ange, Lulli and my husband Martin for putting up the black screen behind the sparkly backdrop. A massive thank you to Louise for her magnificent backdrops that are a work of art and also to Ange and Jo for their painting and artistic contributions to create the magic. I am so grateful to have an incredible staff team that supports our vision and makes it come to life.

We will have further details of ways you can order the video and we hope to have it available before Christmas. We cannot wait to see the finished video. The premiere will be a special event for our STARS!!

Restrictions Eased Getting Close to Normal

As it is expected that Victoria will soon have 90% of eligible persons fully vaccinated, the government has announced that nearly all remaining restrictions are to be lifted statewide for fully vaccinated people from 11.59 pm  last night.

However, COVIDSafe practices within schools will still be required 

along with the COVIDSafe plan.

Face mask requirements

Masks will still be required for primary school staff and visitors, and for students in Years 3 to 6. The wearing of masks remains recommended for Prep to Year 2 students and in circumstances where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

Self-isolation/quarantine requirements

From now on, students who come into contact with a confirmed positive case at school won’t have to self-quarantine. These contacts will be required to get a standard (PCR) test and isolate until they get a negative result.

All contacts (staff and students) can return to school after they have provided evidence of a negative PCR test to their school. 

All contacts should follow the strong recommendation that they complete five days of rapid antigen testing each morning before attending school.  

Contacts will receive a pack of five rapid antigen tests from the PCR testing location and should take the test each day before school until they run out. Schools will no longer distribute rapid antigen testing kits. Instead, these will be available for collection from PCR testing centres at the time a student or staff member attends for the PCR test.

Any student or staff member who returns a positive rapid antigen test result must notify the school and immediately get a 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.

Self-isolation continues to be required for individuals who have had more than four hours of contact with a positive case from their household, accommodation or care setting. They must isolate for seven days if fully vaccinated or 14 days if not fully vaccinated, with a PCR test required on day 0 and for release.

Children under 12 who are household contacts are considered fully vaccinated if everyone else in their household aged over 12 is fully vaccinated.

In addition to isolation changes for contacts, people who have COVID-19 will be required to isolate for 10 days, instead of 14 days.

Play times

From next week we will revert to our normal play time timetable for all learning spaces. Children from different learning spaces will be able to play together across the entire school.

We will however, maintain our learning bubbles while inside the learning spaces for a while longer.

Visitors

We will gradually and cautiously open up to holding events for fully vaccinated parents. At the moment our community room is being used for the production and will not be available till December. We have successfully held our first Prep orientation and it was great to see we have more than 90% parents vaccinated in this group. It will be vital for parents to be fully vaccinated to attend events planned for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. 

Parents will need to check in with the QR code and ensure they show their vaccination digital certificate. We will keep a register of parents who enter the building for an event as required to maintain our register.

We are looking forward to finishing the year with a Christmas gathering and seeing everyone before the end of the 2021 school year!!

Have a great weekend. 

Christine White

Principal