Stay well this Winter

Stay well this winter 

In our school community, like many others in the area, we’ve noticed a considerable number of students dealing with a variety of illnesses; colds, flu & COVID as the cooler weather has arrived. I would like to thank everyone for their dedication to attending school, but it is very important to remember that if children are not feeling well, it is best for them to stay home and rest.  

Unfortunately, our staff have not been immune to the arrival of these illnesses. Where possible, we are fortunate to engage a small pool of Casual Replacement Teaching Staff (CRTs) who work exclusively at our school which can give us some consistency in the staff we can use to cover those who are ill. In addition to this, we also source CRTs from two agencies; however, we do compete for these CRTs with other schools who are also currently experiencing a higher level of staff illness.  

A constant challenge during these peak times of staff illness is being able to source a CRT who can work multiple days in a row which means some classes can experience two or three different teachers in their classroom while their teacher is absent. If we experience extreme shortages of CRTS, we can exercise internal options, such as using specialist or support teachers to cover absent classroom teachers. From time to time, we may be required to split students into other classes though this is a last resort. We will continue to do our best to mitigate these staffing challenges, especially as the winter months increases the transmission of illnesses amongst our staff.

We can all play a part in keeping our school community well by:

• washing and sanitising hands regularly 
• avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands 
• covering nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing  
• staying home if unwell and consulting a general practitioner (GP) or Nurse-on-call as required 
• staying up to date with flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.