WHEELERS HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Principal's Report

20th March 2020 

 

Coronavirus Updates

As you can understand much of the newsletter this week is Coronavirus news and updates. Please read the following information below. 

 

School is Open

Wheelers Hill Primary School is still open and will remain so unless it is directed to close by the Department of Education. There has been a lot of commentary in the media and online about potential school closures. However, from the current advice and information from the Department. At this stage school will remain open all of next week up until the holidays start. We continue to ask parents do not enter school buildings or classrooms unless absolutely necessary and assemblies / large group gatherings will be cancelled to ensure we follow social distancing guidelines. 

 

Learning from Home Options

In the preparation of possible school closures, our teachers and learning leaders have been working on a Learning from Home program that we will action and communicate to all families when this occurs. The details of this will be outlined then. In the meantime school is still open, this is where our learning programs take place. If you are choosing to keep your child at home, your child's teacher can provide you with logons to your child's digital programs, but a more comprehensive Learning from Home program will only be provided if the school is forced to close.

 

Self-Isolation

Any students or parents who have returned from overseas from midnight on the 15th March are required to self-isolate for two weeks. If this is the case for yourself or your child, please inform the office ASAP. 

 

Unwell Students

If you child is unwell we cannot emphasise enough keep you child at home. If you child presents as unwell at the office we will call you immediately to pick them up. Please be prompt and co-operate with the office if this is the case. 

 

OSHC and Vacation Care Program

Our Before and After School Carer service continues to run and continues to be a valuable service for our families. Our Vacation Care service will also run these holidays but will be scaled back. There will be no incursions or excursions these during the program these holidays. Please note if the Department decides to close schools, this also means our OSHC and Vacation Care services will need to close as well.

 

Student Absences

We understand many of you are keeping your children at home this week due to Coronavirus concerns. 

If this is the case please record your child's absence on Compass. Please include the words COVID-19 in the absence comments. If you are having trouble doing this please contact the office. Thank you to those parents that have already recorded and explained their child's absence. School is still operating so it is very important student absences are recorded accurately.

 

Camps

One of most disappointing aspects in relation to the Coronavirus has been the postponement of the camps. Along with the Year 5 and 6 camp, I can confirm that the Year 4 camp will be postponed as well. At this stage we are communicating with the camp providers about future dates, but this is still very unclear with the Coronavirus response not having an end date. 

 

Additional Cleaning

Yesterday the Department of Education announced it would be providing additional cleaning hours to schools in response to the Coronavirus. This will start next week and is another measure to keep our school, staff, students and families safe.

 

Harmony Day

Harmony Day will still occur next Friday 27th March. Students can come to school dressed in orange or in cultural dress. However we won't have a parade and please don't send food as in other years. I also ask parents don't come into classrooms to join in any Harmony Day activities as well. I'm sure the students will still have a lovely day on the last day of term. 

 

Social Distancing

Social distancing is a new term we hadn't even heard of last week that aims to minimise contact between people to reduce the potential spread of Coronavirus. At WHPS we are implementing a number of social distancing measures to help keep our community safe.

  • Assemblies have been cancelled until further notice
  • Parent / Teacher Interviews have been postponed
  • All excursions have been cancelled until further notice
  • Visits to Aged Care homes have been cancelled
  • Parents are asked to stay out of classrooms and school buildings unless necessary
  • Incursions and outside providers such as speech pathologists have been asked to stay away
  • After School clubs are cancelled until further notice
  • School is a no handshake zone and we encourage parents to educate their child/children before coming to school tomorrow regarding safe and healthy hygiene practices and appropriate social interaction e.g. washing hands, social distancing as appropriate
  • School Tours will be cancelled until further notice
  • Music lessons will be cancelled (guitar, keyboard, Musicorp)

Outdoor Movie Night

As you can understand, the Outdoor Movie Night on Friday 17th April is another Coronavirus postponement. Hopefully, we can look at another date later in the year.

 

Parent - Teacher Interviews

Parent-Teacher Interviews next week have been postponed until further notice. We hope to run them sometime later in Term 2. 

 

Open Night

Our annual Open Night which occurs in May has been postponed as well. Again, we hope to have it sometime later in the year, likely Term 3. 

 

Student of the Term Certificates

Student of the Term Certificates will be given out next week by myself to students in their classrooms. 

Other News

Prep Enrolment 2021

 We request that siblings for 2021 be enrolled as soon as possible to enable us to identify the number of places remaining for new families. Please print off a copy of the enrolment form from the school website and return to school ASAP. Enrolment forms are also available at the office.

 

Please note school tours have been cancelled until further notice due to the Coronavirus issues.

 

School Photos

We had a lovely sunny day for our school photos last week. The photos will be available sometime early in Term 2. Students who were in involved in leadership or SRC will have their photos available at the office to view when the photos have been delivered. They can then be ordered from the Leading Image, our school photographers. 

 

Last Day of School

The last day of school for Term 1 is on Friday 27th March. Please note school will finish at 2:30pm. Please note the earlier finish time. 

 

Take care,

Michael Ramsey

Principal