Important Notices

A COVIDsafe school

We were excited to get the call last week that we had been chosen by WorkSafe to be

one of the first schools in Victoria to take part in the ongoing Covidsafe Blitz operations by

WorkSafe.

These visits are inspections of workplaces around Victoria that ensure they have a COVIDsafe plan in place and that they are following recommended processes and protocols to ensure a safe environment.

Since March we have been following the various Operations Guides issued by the DET and have followed the Department wide COVIDsafe plan for schools that was created during Term 2 (with regular updates). 

This work has meant that we have put in place the PPE, signage and operating, hygiene and cleaning procedures required to keep staff, children and families safe at this tricky

time.

We were visited for approximately 40 minutes on Friday morning by a Worksafe inspector and

received a glowing report as we had everything in place that is required and had even gone above and beyond in many areas. 

I hope this outcome provides the reassurance to our community that we are a safe place for their children to be.

Symptoms of COVID

A key part of this COVIDsafe plan is ensuring that any staff, students or other community members displaying any symptoms of COVID-19 do not come to school and seek out a test as soon as possible.

We ask that parents support this important safety step by not sending their child to school with a sniffle, cough or sore throat. If students do present at school with these symptoms, we have no option but to isolate them and ask you to come and collect asap as these are the steps outlined in the DET COVIDsafe plan.

We understand that this can cause some problems with students who suffer from hayfever as these symptoms can sometimes overlap. If your child does suffer from allergies such as hayfever, we ask that you contact the school office and provide us with details and any medication. This will allow us to manage a situation with this knowledge and possibly prevent a call home.

Curriculum Day - Monday 16th November

Our school will be using our final curriculum day of the year on Monday 16th November.

Teachers will use this time to collaborate together to finalise and analyse assessment data to help us make accurate judgements of student performance and progress after such a challenging year. 

These discussions will allow us to start writing accurate end of year reports to parents and set important academic goals for the rest of the year and 2021.

Students will not be required at school on this day and we will work with TheirCare to provide a full day childcare program for families on the Monday.

Student Art and Mango fundraisers

Whilst COVID has prevented many of our 2020 school community and fundraising events from taking place, we do have two nice activities to get involved with this term.

Details of the Crazy Camel student artwork fundraiser and the Bowen mangoes 'Mango Fundraiser' can be found later on in this newsletter. 

We encourage you to support these activities as they provide great Christmas present ideas AND raise funds for the school to allow us to extend and enrich your child's time at our school.

Please let us know if you are leaving

Thanks to those families who have let us know they are moving on from SKiPPS at the end of the year.

If you are moving schools in 2021, we would love to know this asap as this is vital information as we plan ahead and appoint staff for the new school year.  Please email the bad news to neil.scott@education.vic.gov.au 

School Photos

We were thrilled to hear this week that the Education Department are going to allow school photos to start again as a part of the loosening of restrictions.

This means we will be going ahead with whole-class and individual photos taken by MSP on Wednesday 4th November.

Please try to ensure that your child is at school on this day and looking sharp.