Principal Team Report

Important Term 2 Dates

ASPS Curriculum Day*: Monday 15 June 

* Camp Australia full-day care available

End Term 2: Friday 26 June (2:30pm dismissal)

Main Building Upgrade Community Survey 

As recently announced, Auburn South Primary School will receive $336,000 to establish plans for a future upgrade of our school's Main Building (Main Wing). These funds are controlled and held by the Victorian School Building Authority who work closely with us to ensure that the plans for our Main Building are reflective of the future vision we develop for our school.

A key aspect of this project is the establishment of a school Asset Management Plan (AMP). 

Planning Phase 1 of this plan involves providing a description of the school's Educational Directions.  This phase explores the following:

1.) Our School's Unique Story

2.) Details of Current or Future Challenges

3.) Opportunities that will support the School's future vision

We want to hear from our parents, carers, staff and students about what you’d like to see in your school.  The results of this survey will help to shape our school’s plans for a future upgrade of our Main Building.

Have your say and please complete the survey here before 21 June 2020:

Learning from Home Community Survey

With all students having returned to onsite learning, we are mindful of not missing the opportunity to gather community stories and feedback that relates to your family's remote learning experience. These personal stories will become 'artefacts' from this historically significant time. If the comments fields are prohibitive, please feel encouraged to email through your family's personal story to the school's email address.

How can we grow from this experience?

As a school we are also acutely aware of the need to not let go of some of the great practice and strategies used to engage both students and parents during this period of remote learning. When completing the general comment fields within the survey, I encourage families to consider the following:

1.) A description of your family's personal story (include the ups and downs).

2.) What you hope changes (school related) as a result of this period of remote learning.

Please complete the following Learning from Home survey by Friday 26 June:

Semester 1 Student Reports

While the shift towards remote learning has made writing students reports for Semester 1 quite complex, all students will receive a report.  This report will be quite different to our normal reports and as per the advice from the Department of Education, student progress against the Victorian Curriculum in form of progression points, will not be included. 

The Semester One report will be focused on how students engaged in the extended period of remote learning. Along with the descriptive teacher comments, students will also comment on their experiences of home learning with their classroom and specialist teachers. 

Summary of Semester 1 Report

• Curriculum Overview
• No Progression Points against the Victorian Curriculum
• Teacher Descriptive Comments
• Specialist Subject Summaries
• Student Reflections from Remote Learning

Parent Teacher Interviews

Please note that parent teacher interviews will be held early in Term 3 via Zoom. Online booking forms will be sent home via Geddup in week 1 of Term 3. More than any other time, our hope is that parents will be able to share (through the observations made during remote learning) insights into their child/ren's learning from the viewpoint of strengths and areas for growth. 

2021 Prep Enrolments

Please note that Prep enrolment packs for 2021 can be collected from the school from the Burgess St entrance from 8:30am each day or sent home in school bags as requested.  Please call the office for further information.

Canteen News

The canteen is currently open with the last day being Tuesday 23rd June. All orders will be via Flexischools with no cash orders or window sales until further notice. Thanks to everyone for all your support!

Onsite Learning Guidelines

Congratulations and thank you again to all families for following our Return to School Guidelines - this helped to ensure that the transition back to school for all of our Prep - Year 6 students has been extremely calm and positive.  A letter of thanks to parents and carers from the DET Secretary, Jenny Atta, is included below:

It is important that all families continue to follow our guidelines which will be in place until the school is otherwise directed by the Department of Education and Training.

Important Ongoing Reminders

If you or your child is unwell and exhibiting cold or flu-like symptoms, you must not enter the school.  

If a child presents at school with cold or flu-like symptoms, they will be calmly and respectfully brought to the first aid room where they will wait for parents to collect them. Children must not return to school until they are completely well and symptom free. The expectations are the same for staff in that they must not attend work if they are unwell. If your child has allergies which may present in a similar way to the symptoms described above, please be proactive in informing and discussing these with the school.

Only students and staff are permitted to enter the school: To limit adult to adult interaction across the school, parents are not permitted to enter the school without prior authorisation. If for some reason, parents or carers need to enter the school, please call ahead for approval from a member of the office or leadership teams. 

Drop-Off and Collection Reminders

Parents are asked to drop students off using the 'Kiss and Drop' zone on Burgess St as a first preference but the Tooronga Rd entrance can still be used - particularly if your child is walking, riding or scooting to school. Adults are asked to refrain from getting out cars and to move on as quickly as possible. Families walking to school are asked to drop children off as far back from the school gates as possible and to avoid congregating with other members of the community. 

It is critical that all students know which gate they will be collected from in the afternoon (Tooronga Rd or Burgess St).  If students forget, we will defer to the morning drop-off point.

It is preferable for families to wait in/by cars as this will greatly reduce the number of adults waiting outside the school. Please discuss your afternoon collection plan as a family so that everyone is clear about what they need to do.

All families are reminded to cross both Tooronga Rd and Burgess St using the school crossing - no exception please.

Staggered Start and Finish Times

To limit the number of people gathering at the start and end of the school day, the school has established (in accordance with DET guidelines) a modified approach for student drop-off and collection.  

Morning Drop-Off 

Extended 'Soft-Start' for all students from 8:40am - 9:00am.

Members of the leadership team and  selected teachers will greet students at the Burgess St and Tooronga Rd gates.  Classroom teachers will await student arrival in classrooms as part of this extended 'soft-start' to each day. 

Children must not be dropped off at the school before 8:40am.  Students arriving prior to 8:40am will be sent to the before school care program run by Camp Australia.

Afternoon Collection 

Students Collected in 2 staggered  groups in 10 minute intervals at 3:10pm and 3:20pm. It is critical that your child knows which gate they will be collected from.

To ensure that families do not have to drop children within the same household at different times, our staggered collection approach will continue based on student surnames. 

3:10pm - 3:20pm: Collection Group A (surnames A-L)

3:20pm - 3:30pm: Collection Group B (surnames M-Z)

We thank all families in advance for your continued support as we implement this updated approach to student drop-off and collection.

Additional Safety Measures Taken by the School

• Hand Hygiene: All students will wash their hands when they arrive at school (hand sanitiser), before & after snack  time, after recess, before & after lunchtime, after lunch play and on departure from school (hand sanitiser). Hand sanitiser will be available in all classes for general use throughout the day.
• Staggered Playtimes and designated play areas. The school will adopt a staggered approach to playtimes.  This will limit the numbers of students playing in close proximity to each other.
• All water bubblers will be turned off. Students are required to bring a water bottle which can be filled at designated re-fill stations throughout the day.
• DET has provided an additional cleaning allowance. There will be 2 cleaners onsite throughout the day to regularly clean high-use surfaces, facilities, equipment and touch-points.