Dear parents and carers,

Welcome to the 2022 school year. We have had a remarkably settled start to the school year, despite the measures we needed to put in place to ensure social distancing, including parents dropping off and meeting their child at the gate rather than entering the school ground and buildings. These measures are another way we are trying to keep the Covid case numbers down.

Rapid Antigen Testing (RATs): Thank-you to the families who are testing their children twice a week with the Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) that were available through the school. This is a surveillance strategy to help identify as many cases as possible so positive cases and their close contacts can isolate immediately, therefore suppressing the spread further. You should have a box of RATs for each child that will last for two weeks. Another box will be available before the beginning of week 3 for testing in week 3 and 4.

Vaccinations for 5 – 11 year old: A crucial part of keeping our school safe and open is getting as many students vaccinated as possible. Bookings for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the paediatric Pfizer vaccine are open and we encourage parents and carers to get your child vaccinated, if you haven’t already done so. The Pfizer vaccine is safe and recommended for children. The vaccine will help protect your child from getting sick from COVID-19, help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and help ensure kids can have more time at school and playing with their friends. Vaccinations for children aged 5-11 years old are delivered at 2 appointments, 8 weeks apart. Children with specific medical vulnerabilities can access their second dose 3 weeks after their first dose. If you’d like more information about this, you can read a recent statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation

(ATAGI): https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-update-following-weekly-covid-19-meeting-19-january-2022

To book an appointment: You can book at your local GP or pharmacy: https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking.You can also book at a family-friendly vaccination centre by calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398. You can also make vaccination centre bookings for your children online, though you will need to use an email address that has not been used in the system before: https://portal.cvms.vic.gov.au/
Helping children to get their vaccination: Vaccination centres understand that children may feel anxious about vaccination or have other support needs. A range of options are available to help children get vaccinated. Please discuss your child’s needs with the vaccination centre when you book an appointment.

Appointments are also available at Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations.

👉 Find out more about vaccination for

kids: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccination-information-children-and-teenagers

Mrs Briffa’s Baby: As the children in Prep B 2021 will know, Mrs Briffa left at the end of the year heavily pregnant. She managed to continue to work close to her due date to ensure the children had consistency of teacher at the end of the year and we thank her for that and are grateful that she was well enough to do continue working. Mrs Briffa’s baby girl was born on the 30th December and weighed 3.4 kilograms. Her and her husband named their daughter Amelia. When I spoke to her this morning, she said that both her and the baby are doing very well. Congratulations Mrs and Mr Briffa.

Communication: Keeping parents informed about the happenings around school is very important to us as we believe it helps strengthen the partnership between home and school. We have a number of ways in which we send important information in the hope that all parents can access it in some form.

Class Dojo is a great tool where messages can be sent direct to the teachers. It is important to remember that it is a written form, similar to text messaging, so lengthy detailed descriptions are not appropriate in this context. If you have a concern, a short text asking the teacher to contact you is preferable to writing the whole incident down. Please note, I do not get the chance to check Class Dojo often, so if you need to contact me, please call the office and leave a message rather than placing it on Class Dojo, which may not get seen for a few days, especially if it is urgent!
Sentral is the system we use across the school where we can send SMS messages direct ro parents’ mobile phones or an email to the parent’s email address.
Skoolbag Ap is ap that can be put on any Smart Phone and can be set up to send you alerts when information, such as the newsletter, is available. It also sends reminders about things that are due such as camps and excursions. It is available from the Ap Store – type in Skoolbag and look for Melton West PS
Facebook is another platform we use to post messages

Please remember for complex issues a phone call or face to face meeting with the teacher is the best way to ensure it gets sorted as quickly as possible.

“Getting to Know Your Child’s Teacher” Interview: Another important way to communicate is via Parent teacher Interviews. We have organised these for Wednesday 16th February from 2.00 – 6.30 pm. Due to Covid these will take place via a phone call or WebEx (video link). Information about these and how to book a time will be sent home shortly and posted on all the above communication platforms. If you would like help setting up a time, please call the office on 9743 5818.

SunSmart: Our SunSmart Policy, available on the school’s website, is developed to ensure children are safe whilst outside. Please remember that part of this is to wear a broad-rim hat during Terms 1 and Term 4. Children without a hat will be directed to stay under the pergola (shaded area). Please ensure you child has a hat, which is clearly named so it can be returned if it gets lost.

Covid Safe Entry to School: All parents, carers and other visitors attending schools, including for drop off and pick up must adhere to physical distancing, density limits, face mask requirements and practise respiratory etiquette and good hand hygiene. Parents, carers and other adult visitors not performing work who enter school buildings must check in using the QR code and schools must sight vaccination information, but do not need to collect, record or hold the information.

Parents, carers and other adult visitors (excluding students who visit a school to complete a secondary school subject) who enter school buildings must have had 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid medical exception with the following limited exceptions:

when attending to administer medical treatment to their own child when the treatment cannot be administered by the school
when attending to collect their child who is unwell and cannot leave the school building unaccompanied by their parent/carer
when attending for a momentary period that does not involve any sustained contact with staff or students, for example, to collect a completed art project or similar.

From 25 February 2022, parents, carers and other adult visitors who enter school buildings must have had their third dose of COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid medical exception. For parents, carers and other adult visitors that became fully vaccinated after 25 October 2021, the deadline is 15 March 2022.

Parents, carers and other adult visitors attending:

school sites for drop-off and pick-up who do not enter school buildings do not need to comply with vaccination requirements.
a gathering at school, such as a fete, school play or graduation ceremony, whether indoors or outdoors, need to show evidence of vaccination on arrival.

When parents and carers do not meet vaccination requirements, the school should hold meetings and other discussions (such as Student Support Group meetings) virtually.

Before and After School Supervision: Student safety at Melton West PS is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school. These arrangements will change once the social distancing requirements due to Covid ease, but for now the following are in place:

Before school: School gates are open from 8.45 am where children can enter through any gate and are expected to go straight to their classroom. Please do not drop them off before this time if you cannot wait as they are not supervised outside the school whilst waiting for the gates to open. The exception to this is for Prep children, where their parents can enter at Gate C (near the front office) and wait with their child under the pergola for their child’s teacher.
After school: School gates are open at 3.00 pm and parents are asked to wait for their child outside the school ground at their allocated gate. This arrangement was communicated to the community late last week and appears to be working quite well. Yard supervision after school finishes at 3.15 pm so please ensure you are hear to pick up your child before then. Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity).

Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity (i.e. sports practice). For a copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy please go to the

Melton West PSWebsite https://meltonwestps.vic.edu.au/ and click on the policy tab. This policy includes Melton West PS student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.

Extend Before and After School Care: This we year we are pleased to provide a Before School Care Service, as well as an After School Care. Before School Care is available from 6.45 am, and After School Care until 6.30 pm. Families are encouraged to contact Extend OHSC on 1300 366 437 or www.extend.com.au for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community or if you would like any further information about our student supervision arrangements.

Canteen: Our canteen is up and running. Please see information attached on how to order online, if that is your preference, or you can still send in money in a paper bag – which will go through the child’s classroom.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal

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