This week I am grateful for….

Our communities involvement. This term we have a huge focus on wellbeing and connection, and in particular making sure that we are all finding enjoyment in learning. We had our Book Week parade on Monday and it was not only so great to see all of our students dressed up and having a great time, but it was amazing to see how many of our parents connected to watch our live stream. This is definitely one of those ideas that we need to keep in mind post-COVID. You may not have seen much of Mrs Cosentino and I over the last week because we have been interviewing staff for 2021 when we grow again, but it has been great to see how happy all the children have been about coming to school.

Thunderstorm Asthma

Grass pollen season occurs between October and December. Schools are reminded of an increased risk of seasonal asthma, hay fever and epidemic thunderstorm asthma during this time.

Epidemic thunderstorm asthma events are triggered by an uncommon combination of high grass pollen levels and a certain type of thunderstorm, resulting in large numbers of people developing asthma symptoms over a short period of time.

People with a history of asthma, undiagnosed asthma or hay fever are at an increased risk of epidemic thunderstorm asthma during this time. Having both hay fever and asthma that are poorly managed increases the risk further.

More than ever before, this year it’s important our community to manage any hay fever or asthma symptoms, as these conditions can produce symptoms that are similar to coronavirus (COVID-19) such as runny nose, cough or shortness of breath.

Don’t assume symptoms are due to hay fever or asthma.

If you or your child experience symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, and loss or change of sense of smell or taste, that are different in any way to their usual hay fever or asthma symptoms, you should self-isolate immediately and test for coronavirus (COVID-19).

For more information, refer to:

Asthma Australia for a free online learning course about thunderstorm asthma
Better Health Channel for more about epidemic thunderstorm asthma

Building Resilience in Children and Young People

The City of Port Phillip is running an amazing free session on building resilience in children and young people.

Our children and young people deal with a range of stressors at school and home every day. A resilient child is flexible, emotionally aware and learns from experience. In times of high stress, pressure and change, resilience not only plays an important role in how children respond to challenges and changes in their lives, it also helps with their academic and social development.

The session will explore how to:

raise happy children
nurture resilience in our children to cope with pressure and change
support children and young people to manage anxiety
develop and maintain our own resilience as parents of young people

Ruth Fordyce is a psychologist who works at The Resilience Centre in Sydney with children, adolescents and families. She has presented an extensive range of resilience workshops and seminars to parents over the years on using the strengths of their child to build resilience. Ruth brings humour and real-life stories to the presentation and her warm, engaging and dynamic style is always popular with parents.

This is an online session, hosted on Microsoft Teams.

If you have any questions about Microsoft Teams, please contact a member of our team at fycparentinfosessions@portphillip.vic.gov.au

This session is free of charge, and will comprise a 45-minute presentation and 15-minute Q&A.

Wednesday 4 November | 7pm to 8.15 pm

Facilitator – Ruth Fordyce from The Resilience Centre

To register for this event: https://www.trybooking.com/BIVLX

Shrine to Sea

In 2018, the Victorian Government announced $13 million for the ‘Shrine to Sea’ project to create a boulevard connecting Domain Gardens to Port Phillip Bay along Albert and Kerferd roads. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) became the lead agency for the Shrine to Sea project in 2019. DEWLP are working closely with the City of Port Phillip, Parks Victoria and the Department of Transport to deliver the project.

The Shrine to Sea project will focus on creating safe, accessible and usable spaces for both locals and visitors. The boulevard will provide links and connections for people walking and bike riding through this part of Melbourne, as well as helping to celebrate local histories and stories. The first stage of consultation has commenced, with responses welcome until 8 November 2020 – please find the project on the link provided and add any comments you see fit https://engage.vic.gov.au/shrinetosea. This is where you can have your say on how on this project.

School Uniforms

It is very important that everyone is wearing their uniform and taking pride in our school. Not only is this important for our students wellbeing, it is also a safety consideration so that we can easily see that all our students belong to South Melbourne Park Primary Schools.

We have also noticed that many of the children have grown over the last few months. If you have a uniform that your child no longer fits into you have a few options of what you can do with it:

Donate to the School. When COVID restrictions lift, the F & F group will operate a Secondhand Uniform shop where proceeds of sales will go to fundraising.
As I understand, families are swapping or passing on items directly to one another through Parent Whatsapp chat groups.
Some families are also using the Sustainable School Shop option where you list items and parents can liaise with you directly for a fee or no fee for items.

We are conscious that our children are outgrowing their uniforms with little use, we are looking for a volunteer to help coordinate the online second-hand uniform shop for when we can have it up and running again.

There’s an app already set up for use through Sustainable School Shop and we just need a bit of help to maintain it and answer queries. Reach out if this is you! contact.smppsff@gmail.com

Please Check Your Hats

During Term 4 it is essential that we are all wearing hats out in the yard. Even when it looks overcast and not that sunny we still need to be very careful to look after our skin. We have noticed that there are a number of students who have lost their hats. We ask that everyone please checks the name in the hat that their child brings home each day, and that we all make sure that we are not accidently taking the wrong hats home.

Week 4 Family Check In - How Did We Return To School?

We had an amazing response rate to our check in at the end of last week, and we want to thank you all for staying connected. First we just want to take a moment to address some of the questions and concerns that were expressed in the survey:

In the schedule, there is swimming lesson, is it only for prep?

Sorry we had not taken that out of the Compass calendar. We have since fixed it as there has been no swimming program at this stage due to COVID.

Will transition to yr1 be different in any way due to kids been at home for so much of this year?

Transition is something that we are currently planning to make sure we have the best supports in place that we can for our students moving into 2021. We will definitely be communication more information about this soon. At this stage we are finalising our staffing for 2021 to support this process.

Social Distance should be taken very seriously

We couldn’t agree more! This is a great opportunity to remind everyone to please maintain your social distancing during pick up and drop off. It is essential that we all work together to protect our community.

The only challenge is wheeling bikes through the school from the prep drop-off area to the bike cage. Not a big deal, its just a bit harder for the younger kids but we're getting by.

We completely understand this challenge! This ties to the previous point very closely. We are currently operating with staff and student bubbles that keep our students, staff, and community as separate as possible. While the wheeling bikes through the school Is not the most ideal soloution, it is the one that ensures we are looking after everyone to the best of our ability.

Well, if I may, I would prefer that no candies, home made cupcakes, etc were distributed by parents at the exit. I fully understand how important it is for their children to have a little celebration on their birthday, but considering the risks related to the pandemic, maybe it’s not the wisest thing to do. Children cannot say no to a candy...

We actually request that no food or cake is brought in to the classroom to be shared for exactly this reason. We are trying to control as many factors as we can.

Given the short amount of time the students have spent together in the classroom this year, would you consider letting the children transition to year 2 in the same class/group?

At the moment this Is not part of the plan. It is something we definitely considered, however we need to take into account the dynamics of the students that we have seen this year and the numbers that we have in the year levels. Please rest assured that class placement Is something we take very, very, seriously, and we will be putting everything we can in place to ensure this Is successful.

Would be good to get some feedback from the teachers when they get some time about how the kids are doing at school. I can imagine they must be super busy right now!

We completely understand! The teachers have been in contact with any families where they have noticed a significant change in their child's learning needs. However, If you have concerns or would like to check in please just organise a time to have a chat to your teacher. One thing we learnt from remote learning is how important our connection with families and home is, and we always want to encourage you to reach out and talk to us.

I just want to say thank you to the teachers!

Thank you! There was also an enormous amount of appreciation expressed in this section, thank you everyone for your support!

Finally we would like to share what you have said about how your child has found the return to school. We have removed names for privacy reasons, but we want you to have the opportunity to read how everyone is feeling about our collective return:

The boys are not back yet...yesterday we finally have some answers from the state government. We are making decisions this week for our family.
Happy and excited
In general she is happy to be back with her friends but she’s still getting used to being back in the classroom and has confessed to being a little scared on some occasions.
Amazing
They were so excited to return to school, particularly to see their friends’ and teacher
Great
Absolutely loving it!
Excited and glad to be back with her teacher, friends and class.
Excited and happy.
Excellent! Very happy!
Great 😊 was not looking forward to it at the start but is very happy to be back now!
Excited, happy, eager.
Very very happy to be back at School with her friends
Happy to see his peers
Great! She has loved being back at school
They are excited to meet thier teachers and friends
He was excited to go to school to see his friends and teachers. He really enjoyed to be back in a classroom.
Pretty happy but he has been very fatigued after school. As advised by Mr Vine, we have been endeavouring to adjust his bed time.
very happy
Happy and excited
Very happy and excited to be back in the classroom
Very happy!! She’s loving being back playing with her friends and seeing her teachers.
fantastic, good
They are enjoying being back, but are very tired!
Good but tired. He has enjoyed the variety and new areas. By Friday afternoon he was exhausted and falling asleep by 6pm!
She is delighted to be back at school. It was her favourite part of every day last week. She loves her teacher and she is happy to be back at school with her class.
Extremely happy. She adapted incredibly well to online learning and she was enjoying it, but social interaction is definitely what makes her feel really happy
Excited to see friends, worried that she won't be able to keep up.
Nervous, but excited and happy. She explained that writing was so hard.
My child feels delighted to be back at school and connecting with her friends again.
Happy to be back at school to see friends
Very happy to see all her friends.
He has a cold! But very happy to be back.
Shy yet excited
Great - he was happy
Pretty good
Pretty good.
Having a good life ( his words)
Great!
She has very much enjoyed her first week back at school, she is happy to be there.
Feeling ok
Still a bit anxious at the idea of school but happy by the end of the day, enjoyed many aspects of being back
She had a great fun at school at their first week back to school.
my son said : " excited and crazy enjoy!!"
Thrilled and happy!
My child seems to be happy to be there.
He felt good.
“Amazing, happy, ecstatic, good”
Existing
She is very happy to be back at school. She loves to see her classmates and teacher.
Exhilarated, happy
Loves coming back to school
Both of them are very happy and excited!
He was happy to be back to school
He was So excited to come back home but also a bit nervous.
Excited to be back
They are ok
They were both happy to see their friends again, not so keen to be walking too and from school again!
Was really happy to be back even though she was very comfortable at home.
Really happy to be back in school!
Very good. Both boys were still keen to keep up their school work even though they are at home.
Very excited and energetic
Amazing! Like flicking a switch from sadness and loneliness to happiness and a return to normal life!
My daughter is loving going back to school :)
Great to be back
Excited!
Happy and loved
We can’t be better.:)
Very exciting
Happy but still a bit anxious
Excited, happy
He is feeling happy to see his friends and teachers. He was very excited about the sandpit and Book Week parade.
Happy, overwhelmed, tired

THE SIGNAL

Newsletter 15 | 22 October 2020

Issue 15 · 22 Oct 2020

In this issue