Principal's Report

What's this I hear you say? The preps are back at school on Monday, and the 1/2s on Thursday? Hooray!!

This is just the best news, and we can't wait for the next couple of weeks when we can welcome our amazing 3/4s and 5/6s as well. It's been such a long haul, but we are getting closer to something that resembles normal.

This morning it was announced that our beloved prep teacher, Anna Verga, will be taking leave for the rest of the year, beginning Monday. We have all been reeling from this news, and it has come incredibly quickly. We really respect Anna's privacy as this has been a deeply personal and extremely difficult decision for her. She is always so self-less, doing everything for her students and our school community. On this occasion, Anna had to make this call for herself and her family. We will deeply miss her this term, and wish her well over the coming weeks.

It has been a week of difficult news and decisions. It is with sadness, but great memories and friendships, that I will be leaving ACPS at the end of next week. I have been Acting Assistant Principal here just over 18 months, and it has been an incredible experience. My contract is coming to a close, and I have been appointed as Acting Principal at Kallista Primary School. As you may know, I live in the Dandenongs, and Kallista is 5 minutes from my home. Meredith Thornton will step into the Acting Principal role for 2 weeks with some support from regional department leaders, until Sue returns from leave 8 November. I know that Meredith will do an amazing job. She is a highly skilled, passionate and respected leader.

Thank you to all of the students, staff and families that have made this such a rewarding period of my career. I wish every success for Andersons Creek Primary School.

Welcoming our new Prep Teacher – Jill Chen

Jill Chen has been appointed to teach Prep V for the remainder of 2021. Jill has worked in our school with the preps before. We have been very impressed with her skills and knowledge, and particularly with her calm, caring and engaging manner with the children. She is very excited to be working at our school, and I’m sure everyone will give her a tremendous ACPS welcome.

Remote Learning Timetable

As different year levels begin attending school onsite on different days, we acknowledge that it will be particularly challenging for those families with multiple children at the school in different year levels. In order to accommodate this, we are moving the remote learning morning meet/live lessons to a 9.30am start. This will allow families to drop off children at school for 9am and return home in time for remote learning. Teachers will also be communicating this to their classes today.

Assembly & Onsite Timetable

We have adjusted our specialist timetable (beginning next week) to allow for maximum face-to-face teaching for children onsite, whilst still providing quality remote learning lessons.

In order to accommodate this, and maximise quality learning time, from next week (22 October) we will be holding assemblies on Fridays at 3.00pm. These will continue to be held online via Webex for the foreseeable future.

COVID Safety

As of next Monday 18 October the following directions apply:

All staff (including any contractors and volunteers) will be vaccinated (at least 1 dose). This is a department mandate.
We strongly recommend and encourage that students bring masks to school and wear them indoors. We will have some surgical masks for children who need them.
All adults (including parents) must wear a mask on school grounds and inside buildings.
Please check-in on QR code signs around the school.
If the weather is chilly, please send children with extra clothing, as we will be opening doors and windows where possible for increased air flow and ventilation.
We ask parents to avoid congregating on school grounds at pick-up and drop-off times and aim for a ‘drop and go’ strategy which has been so successful in the past. Of course we will show some discretion around this as we get kids settled in the initial few days onsite.

Devices

Please keep all school devices you may have at home until further notice.

Take care, be safe

Jake Laurie

Acting Principal