Dundas Token Winners

Congratulations to the following clever learners for winning the Dundas Token Draw in Week 7 and Week 8.

Latest COVID safety guidelines

Updated advice from Health NSW

NSW Health advised of new COVID-19 restrictions for the Greater Sydney region, which includes the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas from 4pm 23 June 2021 for one week. A map of where these restrictions apply is available on the NSW Government website.

All schools can continue to operate full-time on site.

To minimise further spread of COVID-19 in these areas, parents are advised during this time:

parents, carers and relatives may enter the school to drop off and pick up students in accordance with local school COVID-safe arrangements. It would be appreciated if parents could wear a face mask when on school grounds until further notice.
all visitors to a school site must comply with sign-in arrangements. This includes the requirement to sign the school sign-in sheet where they acknowledge that they will comply with the COVID-19 requirements for visitors, contractors and service providers each time they visit. Visitors must also check in using the Service NSW QR code.
musical groups including bands and ensembles are permitted. Students and staff must comply with the Safe Health Practices infection control requirements.
the school is required to maintain a record of names and contact details for all attendees including school staff and visitors for at least 28 days after the event. This record must only be used for the purposes of contact tracing for COVID-19 infections and be stored confidentially and securely.
Non-essential school visitors will not be allowed on school premises (i.e.: visitors not involved in delivering or supporting curricular activities)
School-initiated non-curricular social activities (such as school discos and staff social events that involve members of the community in addition to staff and students) will be postponed where possible. Non-curricular activities and events held in school premises that involve members of the community in addition to students and staff must comply with the requirements of the current public health orders.
Essential school visitors must continue to check in via the Service NSW QR code app or sign in for each visit and comply with the department’s COVID safe requirements, including personal hygiene, infection control and physical distancing requirements, while on the school site.
Students and staff in school settings are exempt from the requirement to wear masks, however individuals should be supported to wear masks if it is their preference to do so.
Students should not attend school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms should be sent home and should not return until they have received a negative test result and are symptom-free. In circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms a letter from their GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test.
Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms is strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Locations of testing clinics are available via the NSW government website.

Schools must continue to implement:

Personal hygiene, physical distancing, cleaning and record keeping practices.
Where possible to use outdoor areas weather permitting or large open spaces to enable adequate physical distancing.
All visitors to a school site must be well and symptom free, comply with sign-in arrangements, and the 1.5m physical distancing requirements.
Visitors to schools should maintain 1.5m distance from other people where practicable. Avoid congestion of groups of visitors in specific areas where possible.

School attendance

In accordance with advice from NSW Health, parents and carers are reminded NOT to send children to school if they are unwell, even if they have the mildest flu-like symptoms.
NSW Health has requested that schools encourage anyone who is unwell or has even mild flu-like symptoms, to arrange to be tested through their local medical practitioner or one of the COVID-19 clinics.
Students and staff with flu-like symptoms need to be tested and provide a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result and be symptom-free before being permitted to return to school.
Students who do not undertake a COVID-19 test will not be permitted to return to school for a 10-day period. Additionally, they must be symptom-free for at least 3 days prior to returning to school.
Students who have seasonal allergic rhinitis or another condition that presents similarly to flu-like symptoms are still required to get tested for COVID-19 and return a negative test result. Where their symptoms continue beyond 10 days, students should provide documentation from their GP confirming their symptoms are typical for their condition. If the student develops new or changed symptoms, they should get tested for COVID-19. Find more information about COVID-19 symptoms.

Staffing News

Mrs Singh (3 Magenta) has started her maternity leave and we wish her all the very best during this exciting time. We are pleased to announce to the community that Ms Lum has been successful during the expression of interest process and will be teaching 3 Magenta for the reminder of the year. We congratulate Ms Lum and welcome her into the Stage 2 team led by the fabulous Mrs Percincula.

Next term we are excited to welcome to our school Mrs Bohan who will be our Teacher

Librarian for the remainder of 2021 while Mrs Clarke is on leave. Mrs Bohan is a trained teacher librarian and comes to us with extensive teaching experience. I know she is very excited to join the DPS learning community and I know everyone will make her feel very welcome.

Casual Teachers

At the moment it is extremely difficult to find casual teachers to employ on a day to day basis when staff members are unwell. There is a Sydney-wide shortage of qualified casual teachers so all schools are facing the same challenges. This is due, in some part, to each NSW school implementing a COVID intensive support program which is being delivered by the casual teachers we would normally employ.

We will try our best to ensure we have replaced sick staff members: however, there will be days where we will contact as many teachers as we can with no success, so our only course of action will be to split a class of students. We understand that this is not the outcome anyone wants to see; however, this is the situation schools are finding themselves in at the moment. We thank our community for your understanding on this matter.

Student Reports

Semester 1 student reports are being sent home today. I have included this material again for those parents who may have missed it in the last newsletter.

From time to time, parents ask the question of what the formal terms of reporting actually mean. For example, what does a ‘sound’ report grade mean for my child? Below is a chart I found that hopefully will help illustrate more clearly what each report level represents in terms of student achievement. The creator of the image cleverly compares student report grades with different driver’s licence levels. But in summary:

A	The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations (Outstanding)
B	The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations (High)
C	The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills (Sound)
D	The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills (Basic)
E	The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills (Limited)

Term 3 Staff Development Day

The Term 3 Staff Development day will be on Monday, 12th July. This is a pupil-free day where staff complete necessary professional learning in line with our school improvement plan.

Let’s hope that the current COVID restrictions that have been put in place are only temporary. I do hope that students and staff enjoy a much-needed break after a very busy Term 2 and we look forward to seeing students return to DPS on

Tuesday 13th July, ready for another term of learning.

Lee Shipley

Principal

Dates to Remember

2021 - Term 2

2021 - Term 3