Principal's Message

Selamat pagi, 

Staged Return to School

First of all thank you for all your support during these past few weeks of remote and flexible learning. 

We are so excited to see our Foundation and  Year 1/2 students return to school next Tuesday 26th May. Monday the 25th May will be a Curriculum Day for the whole school. All staff will be in attendance on Monday - so there will be no remote learning offered on this day.

Below is the letter that was sent home to families last week.

In the second stage of our return to on-site schooling, our Year 3- 6 students will return to school from Tuesday 9 June.

For those students in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children, the existing model of on-site schooling will remain in place during the two-week period from Tuesday 26 May to Tuesday 9 June. The current process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days for which on-site schooling is required will continue for this two-week period with applications for the following week attendance submitted on Thursday by 3.00pm.

All other students in these grades and year levels will continue learning from home until Tuesday 9 June. Once a year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home. This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan. 

This same approach is being taken by all government schools in Victoria. To support the health and wellbeing of all our students and staff, our school will continue an enhanced cleaning routine and will encourage frequent hand washing. 

If you child is ill or is feeling unwell, they must not attend school. They must remain home and seek medical advice.

While the Victorian Chief Health Officer has advised that students will not be required to maintain physical distancing at school, there will be a number of important changes to our school operations, consistent with health advice. This will apply until further notice. 

We have written a policy document that details arrangements for the return to school and will be sent out to all families on Wednesday by email through Sentral, after consultation with staff. 

Two points from the policy:

1. School arrival and departure

DET advises that:

As the main risk of introducing coronavirus (COVID-19) to the school environment is from adults, close proximity between adult members of the school community should be avoided, particularly during school drop-off and pick-up.

This means that at our school:

• We ask staff and parents/carers to observe physical distancing measures by not congregating in areas inside or around the school.
• To minimise interaction of students and adults within the school and at entry points:
  • Kinder students enter/exit through Hall door off Mount Pleasant Road.
  • Foundation students enter through the foyer to line up in the courtyard. Students will be dismissed through foyer to parents outside.
  • For the first two weeks only: Year 1/2 K, P & H students enter through Staff Car Park 1 (will not be in use for staff parking) and line up with their class on the Junior Basketball courts. Year 1/2 BR, E, O & W enter through double gates on Eugenia Street onto the oval and line up on the Senior basketball court.
  • Once Year 3-6 students return on the 9th June all 1/2 students enter through Staff Car Park 1 and line up on Junior Basketball courts. (Year 1/2 students will be familiar with the routine by this time.)
  • Older siblings may enter through their youngest sibling’s entry/exit point and then make their way to their class. At the end of the day they collect their younger sibling(s) and exit out of the youngest sibling’s exit.
  • Parents/carers should maintain 1.5m physical distancing and not linger at the Learning Centre drop off or pick up areas.
  • Parents should only enter the school grounds when absolutely essential to do so and must notify the school by phone or email beforehand.
  • All greetings should be non-contact.

1. Hygiene

DET advises that:

Everyone can protect themselves and prevent the spread of coronavirus by continuing effective hand hygiene.

At our school:

• All staff and students will undertake regular hand hygiene, particularly on arrival to school, before and after eating, after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing or using the toilet. This will be directed or supervised by staff where required. Students wash or sanitise hands:

1. On entry to class.
2. Before eating snack.
3. After recess break when entering class.
4. Before eating lunch
5. After lunch break when entering class

• Where soap and water are not readily available, hand sanitiser will be made available.
• Students must bring their own water bottles to school for use (and refilling). It is recommended that students do not drink directly from drinking fountains. At this time these will be cordoned off.
• Staff and students are reminded to clean their mobile phones/ipads regularly. The Mount Pleasant Road Primary School’s Mobile Phones policy remains in place.
• Sharing of food is not permitted by students.

We understand that some families may feel anxious about this move back to classroom teaching and learning. I can assure you that this decision has been taken on the basis of the best health advice available to our state.

More information about the return to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) can be found on the Department’s website, which will continue to be updated: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Thank you for your continued support and patience during this time. We look forward to welcoming our students back to the classroom.

Question and Answer Session

To support our school community return to onsite teaching and learning we will be running a Q and A through Zoom to address any questions or concerns parents/carers may have. I will address some of the considerations raised in the Junior and Senior Parent Survey 2 and will be happy to address any other questions as they arise. Hopefully this will ease some of the concerns around returning to school and provide another avenue for parents to communicate and find out information. If you have an particular questions you would like answered please send these through to the school email mt.pleasant.road.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au 

Look forward to seeing you there. 

Details:

When: Friday 22nd May at 10.00am 

Where: Zoom 

What: Q and A on Transition to Onsite Teaching and Learning 

Join Zoom Meeting through this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82644583363?pwd=aDMyeE5ESVRmM2dpb0srZWswNUM1UT09

Meeting ID: 826 4458 3363

Password: KimsQ&A 

Student Wellbeing

We are looking forward to having our Junior School students back on site next week but understand that along with the excitement comes anxiety and apprehension from both students and families. For many students the transition will feel like starting back at school in Term 1 after a long Christmas break! The results from our most recent Parent Survey indicated that parents and carers have concerns around hygiene practices and reducing the risk of infection, separation anxiety, wanting to stay connected to their child’s learning and practicalities of drop off and pick up time. These concerns are ones that we as a school staff have taken into consideration and have developed protocols to ensure that we are supporting our school community. We have implemented a number of measures to try and support the transition of our students back to school including:

• Social stories to show students the changes to morning drop off and pick up (made available on Seesaw on Wednesday)
• Routine hand washing and sanitising practices
• Staggered recess and lunch for the first week back
• Reflection of online learning and cross-over between some tasks (to help create continuity in learning from home to school)
• Using Seesaw as an online portfolio in Foundation to Grade 2 to allow parents access to learning at school
• Set a routine that is communicated to students each day through a visual timetable
• Extra staff on morning and afternoon yard duties to assist in managing transitions
• Extra staff available throughout the day to support students with the transition to school
• Continuing our partnership with Engage 1 to 1 Psychology to provide individual therapy for students with a Mental Health Care Plan

We are committed to supporting our students with their transition to onsite learning and will continue to monitor and assess the situation to ensure we are responding to the needs of our students. 

Assembly Term 2 Week 5

https://vimeo.com/418384457

Choir Perform - Seasons of Love

How clever and creative are our Senior Choir? Thank you Mrs Claire Andrews for your ingenuity and all the clever students who sent through their audio files. I am so sorry I missed putting it in the Assembly. We also have Miss Teagn Kitteringham running Senior Dance Troupe virtually on a Tuesday afternoon. I have been so impressed with the enthusiasm from students. Follow the link below to hear our beautiful choir.