Principal's Report

We are prepared, proactive and remaining positive!

What a rollercoaster our lives have been recently!  I am sure, like me, you are feeling a little pulled from pillar to post with all the information we are receiving... this person says this and this person says that... it is hard to keep track and know who to listen to.

As a school we receive regular updates and advice from the Department of Education.  DET works closely with DHHS and the Chief Health Officer of Victoria to provide accurate and consistent information to schools.  In times such as these it is important for us as a community to listen to one clear and consistent voice.  A voice that is calm and well informed.  As a school community, the messaging from DET is that voice for us.  I encourage you to focus on the email updates that I have been sending out each day as these are drawn directly from the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services.

I am so proud of the terrific way we have approached the current situation as a school community.  Everyone is responding calmly and sensibly.  Together, we will be able to come through this challenge as a stronger community than we were to begin with.

I am so very grateful to our staff particularly.  Over this week they have worked tirelessly to be prepared for what may come next.  We are being proactive in our approaches with our students and because we know that we are ready and well positioned to get through this we are all remaining positive.

Transitioning to Remote Learning

You will have heard the term "School Closure" in the media recently.  We are not using that phrase at KPS.  It is misleading.  We will not be closing as a school.  There may be a time in the future when our school SITE may be closed, but as a school we will continue.  If the site is closed, and teachers work from home and students learn from home, school will continue.  We simply transition to remote learning.  We are well prepared for this eventuality.

Teachers will continue to teach.  We understand that some parents may be concerned about what will happen if children are unable to attend school and must learn at home. Please rest assured that your child will be well supported should we enter a period of remote learning.  Teachers will continue to teach, we will provide resources and activities that are engaging, challenging and relevant for your children.  We will be available to work directly with your children via online resources and telephone contact.  We understand that you may be working from home also, or caring for other children and that you may not be able to spend extended periods of time supporting your child.  There is no guilt in that.  The teaching role and the delivery of education lessons to your child remain our responsibility.  A responsibility that we take seriously.

Today your child will come home with a sealed envelope of resources.  These should be kept sealed and in a special place at home where they won't get lost.  If we enter a phase of remote learning at any time in the future, we will instruct you to open this pack and use the enclosed to resources to support your child's learning.

What's on & What's not...

Visitors are still very welcome to come into schools to work with our students. We will still be holding:

• Breakfast club tomorrow morning - however this will be the last for the term.
• Harmony Day next week
• Assemblies - as inside gatherings are limited to 100 people, we will be holding our assembly outside.
• Easter Bonnet Parade on the last day of term.

Parents are welcome to attend all of these events. Even if every parent in the school attended we would not reach the 500 person limit for outside events. 

Student Free Days

It was announced late yesterday that two additional student free days will be provided to schools to allow for further preparations for remote learning.  More information regarding these days will be provided in Monday's update.

Business as usual, with precautions

We are working hard to maintain Business as Usual at KPS.  Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has released a statement yesterday afternoon explaining the safety of schools remaining open.  This is an important statement and clearly explains the thinking behind keeping schools open.  You can read it on the DET website, here:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx 

I have also attached a copy of the statement here: 

To enable to maintain business as usual, we have in place a number of strategies:

  *   staff and students/children keep a distance of 1.5 metres whenever possible  -  obviously this will be difficult in a school setting, but relatively easy if we think carefully.  Our small class sizes allow students to sit spread out in the classroom.  The advice of social separation is also about close proximity being limited to less than 15 minutes.  Although students will be close to each other, playing in the yard for example, they rarely stay with 1.5m for more than a few minutes as they move around.  Teachers also can be mindful of duration of time when talking one on one with a student.

  *   there is sufficient soap, toilet paper, tissues and sinks so that all people at the workplace can access them on a frequent and systematic basis – this is again, one of the obvious things we are doing.  We are regularly checking throughout the day.  Our school has sinks in most classrooms and soap is also available there as well as in bathrooms etc.  Access is easy.

  *   all frequently touched surfaces are regularly disinfected -  we are providing spray-cleaner to classrooms and encouraging staff to regularly wipe down tables and handles.  Our lovely cleaner, Kerry, is also maintaining a high level clean of surfaces at this time, extra time has been allocated to Kerry to allow for this.

  *   frequently used objects are regularly cleaned and sanitised.  -  we are encouraging people not to share too many objects where possible to lessen the impact of cross contamination. Regular cleaning of these items where possible can also be done by staff when necessary.

In reference to the 100 people gathering limit.  We need to consider this in a couple ways.  Yes we are a school and therefore exempt, but realistically at KPS we still meet the requirement anyway.  We do not meet indoors in groups of larger than a class most of the time.  When we meet indoors as a year level we are still well below the 100 people limit.  We have modified activities to ensure there are no whole school indoor gatherings (such as assembly).  Even though the school is exempt, we still meet the recommendations of numbers and will continue to follow the advice on size of gathering in a considered, sensible and proactive way to reduce the potential risks for all staff and students.

I hope these assurances provide some sense of peace for our community.  I would also like to remind you that the notion of ‘Flattening the Curve’ is not about reducing the number of people who contract the illness (which whilst ideal is not likely) but reducing the intensity by increasing the amount of time over which people contract the illness and having fewer cases at any one time.  There will most likely be cases of COVID-19 within our community at some stage, however we will do our best to ensure that these are few and far between, with the best of supports in place when it does occur.

Assembly with a difference!

Our assembly yesterday was a fantastic experience.  We held it online!  Students remained in their classroom and our student leaders presented assembly using the virtual meeting tool Zoom.  This is one of the tools we will use if we have to move to remote learning.  It was great to have a go using it as a whole school.