dear parents and carers,

Over this extraordinary time, as a school we have been thankful and enthused by the support of our wonderful families. We’ve asked a lot of you and you’ve done your absolute best to continue supporting your children and our staff. I sincerely thank you for that.

So now that we are on the road to returning to school, with the Foundation to 2 students returning on Tuesday 26th of May and the Grade 3-6 students on Tuesday 9th of June, there is lots to be done!!!

Your school misses you!!!

There are some things that you can do to help:

In readiness to the significant change for all families and children returning, it would help your child if you would:

Set up a back-to-school routine. ... as we’ve discussed during this remote learning phase, maintaining a positive routine has been essential. Let’s now practise our morning and bedtime routines. It is going to be a ‘rude shock’ to many of us!
Talk about going back to school. ... what are your children looking forward to doing? What are some of their worries, there questions. I know that teachers are available to help answer any of these questions.
Help create a sense of school belonging. ... join in the teleconferences and the remote assemblies if possible.
Look out for signs of stress. ... what is your child talking or not talking about, how is their sleeping, are their signs of being overly worried, not eating or eating a lot.
Encourage questions – we are all available to help with this and further information will be provided next week.

Staying home if unwell

So as to continue to provide the safest environment for everyone attending the school, including your children and staff, we remind you of the importance of keeping your children home when they are sick. This isn’t just in regards to COVID-19, but to control the spread of all viruses.

If a child presents at school as unwell, as a state school, we are guided by the Department of Education. The most recent advice states: Children or young people experiencing compatible symptoms with coronavirus (COVID-19), such as fever, cough or sore throat, should be isolated in an appropriate space with suitable supervision and collected by a parent/carer as soon as possible. To help provide a safe environment, we will follow this advice.

We will continue to ask that you please err on the side of caution and if in doubt, please seek advice from your family’s GP as they will be able to answer any further questions you may have.

It is also very important that you notify school staff if your child/ren has any underlying medical conditions, e.g. asthma so that we can take additional actions where needed.

In the meanwhile, school staff will continue to support your child/ren to:

Cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing with a tissue, or cough into their elbow.
Dispose of the tissue into a bin and then wash their hands afterwards.
Wash their hands regularly, using soap and water, including after using the toilet, and before eating. Alcohol-based sanitiser (greater than 60 per cent alcohol) is used regularly.

Other ways in which we can help:

While myself and classroom teachers have already started discussing students transitioning back to school with many families, please let your children’s teacher know of any concern that you or your child may have. In the meanwhile, explain that the school will be treating this time in a similar manner as when we start school. We will all be working on classroom routines and working to create a calm and supportive learning environment.

As stated earlier this week, once a year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home. Remember that during this time, classroom teachers will be back face to face teaching (F-2 – 26th May & 3-6 – 9th of June).

This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan. This same approach is being taken by all government schools in Victoria. If you have any questions regarding this, feel free to contact myself, white.wendy.p@edumail.vic.gov.au

Lego Competition extension

Very exciting news! We are extending the Lego competition until Friday 22nd of May to give everyone some additional time so that the creations are ready to be judged by “The Brickman”, that’s right Ryan McNaught!! If you watch Lego Master, you’ll have seen Ryan judging the incredible Lego creations. Ryan is a LEGO® certified Professional, one of only 14 in the world and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2019 he joined LEGO Masters Australia as the main competition judge along-side host Hamish Blake. Ryan has very kindly agreed to judge your creations and provide feedback. We are so very excited and thankful to Ryan for agreeing to do this!

Take care,

Wendy White

returning to school Q & As

The Nor'Wester

Issue 13 · 15 May 2020

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