Stage 4 Lockdown

12th February 2021

Dear Staff, Parents, Carers, and Students,

The Victorian Government has announced today that to support efforts to control the COVID-19 outbreak linked to the quarantine hotel at Melbourne airport, a five-day lockdown will come into effect at 11.59 pm tonight, 12th February. Stage 4 restrictions will be enforced, until 11.59 pm on Wednesday 17th.

This lockdown includes the temporary closure of all Victorian schools. 

While this news comes as somewhat of a shock, students and staff who were at Girton last year are well-versed in remote learning, and I expect that the transition to teaching and learning from home will be a relatively smooth one. 

For those in the school community who are not yet familiar with Girton remote learning, please refer to the information on Astra on the Remote Learning Hub: https://astra.girton.vic.edu.au/homepage/18637

Essentially, Senior School students will follow their current daily timetable via Zoom. Students should click on their timetable on Astra for each subject to either join a Zoom session or undertake work that their teacher has uploaded to the subject class page. Senior School students will start each day with a Zoom House Tutor meeting at 8.40 am. 

Junior School students will have a class teacher check-in each morning at 8.45 am via Zoom or Teams on the relevant Class Astra page. 

If Senior School students need to access their lockers to set themselves up for the coming week of remote learning, they may do so this afternoon after the Swim Carnival. Staff are encouraged to collect belongings within the same timeframe, if possible.

The Coronavirus Action Team (CAT) will convene this afternoon to ascertain arrangements for children of essential workers and further information about this, and any other necessary detail will follow. 

Please support your child in setting realistic learning expectations during remote learning. We ask for best efforts within whatever constraints might face our families, especially given the short notice of this lockdown. 

Thank you for the good grace and calm with which I know our School community will handle this disappointing news. I do hope to welcome staff and students back to school on Thursday, 18th February 2021. 

Yours sincerely

Dr Clayton Massey

Head