Covid Update 

There have been a few changes made to the COVID policy for the Department of Education as a result of the easing of some restrictions from the 24 April. 

The Department have asked all schools to remind students and families about the need to wear face masks on public transport. 

Face masks continue to be one of the most important ways we can help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community. To ensure public health directions are being followed, students aged 12 years and over must wear a face mask when on public transport, school buses and when in taxis or ride share vehicles – unless they have a lawful exemption. 

Face masks continue to be recommended for visitors and secondary school students when physical distancing cannot be maintained at school. Children aged 12 and over who are attending primary school do not need to wear a face mask at school. 

Of particular interest is the changes to the collection of student contact details on excursions/camps for contact-tracing. Excursion venues are responsible for managing record keeping for contact tracing in line with current public health directives. Most venues are required to use electronic record keeping that connects with an Application Programming Interface (API) linked provider or a digital system provided by Services Victoria. 

An electronic or hard copy list of student names and contact numbers should be provided to the venue at the time of the excursion. Students are not required to individually check-in at the venue on the day. The Department of Health has strongly recommended that a contact number for each individual student (as per the student’s school file) is provided to venues for recording purposes. If providing a private contact number for a student poses a serious privacy risk, or the number is unknown, the school will provide its own number in these instances. 

It is important that parents are aware of these policies when they are providing consent for excursions and our Compass consent processes have been updated to reflect this.