Principal's Desk 

Corinne Pupillo 

Student Support Group Meetings 

On behalf of our staff,  I would like to thank families for attending and actively participating in their child/ren's SSG this term.  Whilst things are looking very different this year due to the return to Flexible and Remote Learning, inviting students to participate in SSG's is seen as an effective and powerful opportunity to have a voice in their learning.  We welcome your feedback regarding student voice in SSG’s.  

Please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the Principal Class team if you would like to provide feedback as we are always looking for ways to improve the way we report and develop positive partnerships with our families.  

Recognizing and celebrating the contributions of all our Education Support Staff

On behalf of the whole school community I would like to sincerely thank all of our wonderful education support personnel.  Their contributions across all areas of the school are highly valued. In appreciation of all their work, School Council will be organising a special lunch to celebrate the event.  Other special celebrations have been organised within teams.  Please take the time to acknowledge the contributions of our education support staff.

New Modular 

It's been wonderful to see all our classrooms return to their usual learning spaces.   I sincerely thank those students and staff for their patience and understanding during terms 1 and 2. When we planned for classes to be dispersed across our specialist learning spaces we didn't anticipate that a global pandemic would create extra strain on our facilities as we managed the new physical distancing practices.   It's certainly a huge relief to see our students back in their dedicated classrooms for semester 2 albeit for a short time before we transitioned back to remote and flexible learning.  

Student Attendance 

Like many other specialist schools in the Melbourne area, we had approximately 50% of our students in attendance on site during weeks 1-3.    I mentioned in the previous newsletter the decision for all students enrolled in specialist schools to return to onsite learning has been met with mixed opinions.  Only students that meet the medical vulnerable category are able to access remote learning. This applies to around 5% of our student population.   The decision to move to remote and flexible learning was met with a sense of relief given the significant increase in COVID-19 cases.  The restrictions announced by the Premier means there will be reduced movement in and around our communities. 

We know that many of our families are preferring hard copies of activities and work but I urge staff and families to find other ways to present work as picking up and dropping off work from school goes against the Premiers guidelines for leaving the home. 

The state of Disaster means that our service delivery is very different and remote learning for us means that Seesaw and Webex are our primary platforms for delivery and support. Hard copies will be minimised so that staff and families are not leaving their homes to collect hard copy work. 

Requesting onsite learning support and supervision 

The department and school are assessing requests for onsite learning support and supervision based on the criteria 

• Permitted workers and for whom no other arrangements can be made: Determined by  letter from an employer stating working days and times or a copy of the Permitted Worker document is required to be submitted to Corinne Pupillo, corinne.pupillo@education.vic.gov.au
• Vulnerable:  Determined by

- children in out-of-home care

- children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm

- children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service).

- children with a disability where the family is experiencing severe stress ** 

** Members of our Principal Class Team will contact parents/carers to discuss appropriate arrangements where the family is experiencing severe stress due to the functional impact of the child’s disability on providing care and supervision for remote and flexible learning (including via referral from external agency, mental health or other health service). 

In these instances, school/s will take a collaborative family-centred approach to determine appropriate on-site attendance arrangements for children with disability. This will seek to address the severe stress families are experiencing and be consistent with the intent that on-site supervision is to be provided in limited circumstances only to limit the movement of people across metropolitan Melbourne as far as possible as part of efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.

A supporting letter from the Family Support Service, Mental Health and or other service is required and submitted to Richard Crawshaw, richard.crawshaw@education.vic.gov.au

The Principal Class Team will assess any new requests to attend onsite by 12 noon each day and will then update the onsite attendance and communicate this to MEES.   I ask families to understand that this is important so we can plan and prepare to have sufficient staff available on site to support the attendance and to meet Occupational Health and Safety requirements. 

Principals' Day: 7th August 

This year principals have been confronted with the exceptional circumstances of the global coronavirus pandemic and state of disaster.   As always our Principals Class Team have lead our  school community and demonstrated tremendous commitment and strength.  I'd like to acknowledge the commitment and support of my Assistant Principals, Stephanie DiSalvo, Richard Crawshaw and Emmaleen Oakley and thank them for their leadership in these very challenging times.   Together we are exceptional proud of the way or staff, families and community have supported us.  We are very grateful for the wishes and support.  Thank you. 

During this time you have ensured that your school communities are connected, supported and that learning, health and wellbeing are always front of mind.

Curriculum Day:  Monday 17th August 

Monday 17th August is a planned pupil free day and students are not required at school on this day.  

Staff have a full day of activities planned that will support them in their day to day roles. 

Activities, training and workshops include:

• Abilities Based Learning Education Support (ABLES) assessment for students (Teachers)
• Student Voice, Agency and Leadership (Teachers)
• Bus Training (All staff)
• Xuno Training (Teachers)
• Proactive Intervention Training (Education Support Staff)
• Anaphylaxis (Education Support Staff)

School Council News 

School Councillors met last night via Webex and it was an opportunity to check in and see how everyone was coping during the pandemic and lockdown 2.0. 

As usual, Councillors are actively supporting the school and continuing to support the overall effective governance through very trying times.   Monitoring student and staff well being has been a focus for us all as we monitor and action an increase in staff Edusafe hazards related to working onsite and caring for students where physical distancing practices can't be strictly adhered to.   The Trial Facial PPE was discussed and Councillors applauded the schools proactive approach to the additional safety control measure. 

Additional Pupil Free Day: Tuesday 18th August  

In response to the increase in staff edusafe reports (injury, illnesses and hazards) and in line with department guidelines, School Council has endorsed an addition pupil free day for staff to engage in proactive and preventative wellbeing webinars and activities that will support them in their teaching roles and also support students that have feelings of anxiousness and fear.   The global pandemic has triggered a range of emotions and feelings as Melbourne moved to lockdown 2.0. This has increased the concerns of contracting COVID and Councillors discussed the proposed program and felt it was a timely strategy to support our staff and increase their skills to manage these unprecedented times. 

The Pupil Free Day program will include:

• DET recommended webinar:  Managing Anxiety through COVID-19 
• Activities based on Berry Street Trauma Informed Learning 
• Assessing students during the Global Pandemic and State of Disaster
• Asthma Training for Education Support

Policy Review

Policies that were approved and endorsed by School Council included:  

• Parent Carer Payment Policy
• Child Safe Environment Policy Including: School Child Safety Team, Human Resource Practices, School Philosophy
• Consultative Policy
• Safe Workplace Policy
• Staff Part Time Work/Time Fraction Policy
• Work Experience Policy
• Student Health Policy

If you would like a copy of any of our policies, please call reception and we can email or post a copy to you. 

School Council Sub Committee Representatives

Finance Sub Committee Representative - Sharon Borg 

Building and Grounds Sub Committee Representative – Alisha Minns 

Fundraising Sub Committee Representative – Lisa Sette

School Council Representative on Student Representative Council (SRC) – Alisha Minns

Reminder: Our newsletter is published each fortnight and will provide you with important information about the school and events that may be of interest to you. I encourage you to read the newsletter that will be sent home via your home email, on the school's Facebook Page or on the school's website. 

JSA also has a Facebook Page administered by the leadership team.  Please like and follow our page.

https://www.facebook.com/JacanaSchoolforAutism