Returning to School

Senior Students Return!

It was wonderful to welcome back our senior students last week. They arrived in frosty weather to a very warm welcome. We look forward to having all of our students learning on site soon.

Return to School Guidelines 

The week before last we published the Coburg High School Return to Onsite Learning document which was e-mailed out to all families and students. We urge all parents and carers to ensure that students have read and understood the expectations in this document. 

We need to emphasise that if students are kept home from school through parent choice, it will not be practicable for the school to continue to provide a remote learning program as has occurred to date, except for students who have compromised immune systems and have medical advice that they should not attend. Parents and carers of students with complex medical needs, including those with compromised immune systems, should seek advice from their medical practitioner to support decision-making about whether on-site education is suitable, noting that this advice may change depending on the status of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Victoria. 

The default position is that all students in the year levels returning to on-site schooling are expected to attend school.

For everyone’s safety, we have put in place a number of precautionary measures. These measures include: 

• There is a clear expectation that unwell staff and students remain home.
• Continuing effective hand hygiene practices: All students and staff are expected to undertake regular hand hygiene, particularly on arrival to school, before and after eating, after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing or using the toilet. Soap is available in all wash spaces and hand sanitiser is provided throughout the school;
• Students must bring their own drink bottle from home; bubblers in drink fountains are not available to be used.
• We are discouraging the sharing of equipment. Where this is not possible, we are ensuring that equipment is disinfected, cleaned and washed where practicable and we are enforcing strict hand washing before and after using the equipment.
• The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sutton states that “….the main risk of transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the school environment is between adults…” and whilst there is no requirement for students to follow social distancing guidelines, it is expected that students will respect each other's personal space.
• We are ensuring that visitors to the school grounds are limited to those delivering or supporting essential school services and operations.
• In addition, extended and increased cleaning arrangements have been introduced and will continue. This involves progressive cleaning throughout the day to ensure that risks of transmission are reduced for high-touch surfaces. We have three additional cleaners throughout the school during the day.
• We will implement staggered dismissal times before students go to their lockers to reduce congestion around hallways.
• Assemblies, camps and excursions are postponed until further notice.
• A number of other subject-specific strategies are being implemented across the school.

Our Return to School Plan has been shared on Compass and is also attached here. 

Cafe

Annie has been busy cooking up her usual wide variety of delicious lunch options. When you come in to the cafe please follow the directions and signage that has been added. 

Payment by card is preferred, and there will be a lunch ordering system through Compass which we will notify you about soon.

Library

Welcome back to a new and exciting library! During the remote learning time, your librarian has done some refurbishing. Come down and dive into a new book from the Monthly Features area, start a new series from our Favourite Series area, or quietly study in the new study zone. There are also two new monitors at the Library / IT help desks with some very interesting visuals to absorb. Come, watch and be amazed! The monthly library trivia quest has started up again in a new and improved way. It has been posted to Compass and can also be accessed at the library. There will be a monthly winner receiving a voucher to our wonderful

café and going into the major prize draw at the end of the year. Good luck! ClickView now has a Movies and TV function which I have made available to all Coburg High School students. These videos are for both educational and entertainment purposes. Just log in to ClickView and click your name in the top right-hand corner of the page and the Movies and TV link will be in the dropdown menu. Happy viewing! The Premier’s Reading Challenge will begin soon, and we are looking for students who would like to be a part of the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge Challenge. Make a book trailer, film an interpretive dance to a

scene in your favourite book, write a review for a book you either loved or despised. Come visit the library for a chat with me, Dianna, your friendly (mostly) librarian and start brainstorming some ideas. Last, but not least there are books, books, books! Borrow one from the shelf. Borrow an eBook. Borrow an audiobook. If you need help with using our Oliver library catalogue just ask and I will gladly show you the ins and outs of the entire website. It’s awesome, I guarantee you. We cannot wait to see you all back here in the library reading and studying once again.

Around the grounds

Over recent weeks, we have been busily preparing for the return of all students. Geoff has continued to maintain our grounds. We even have some new grass sprouting by the flag poles so that area has been taped off to allow it to continue growing.

Other changes you will see include our new perspex screens at reception, and the many hand-sanitiser stations around the school. You will also see that the water bubblers have been taped off. 

A reminder that students need to bring their own water bottles to school instead of using the bubblers.

We have also installed a new path to our portables. 

Art

Over the break we are pleased that Celeste Elliott's artwork has been framed and hung. This beautiful piece won last year's Art Show Principal's Award and we are very grateful for the opportunity to have it displayed for the whole school to enjoy. Thank you to Otto's parents' from Northcote Picture Framing for their help in organising the framing and to Haydn Burns for expertly hanging Celeste's work and never receiving the coffee he was promised! (we still owe you Haydn)

Chess Team

On Friday 29 May our CHS Chess team participated in trials for the upcoming Inter-schools State Chess Championships. Tournament organisers, Northern Star Chess, have informed us that, until further notice, all inter-school chess events will be held exclusively online.

Games Club

We are hoping to resume Games Club from Week 9, with some important Covid-safe modifications. Stay tuned. 

Debating

The debating meets held by the Debaters Association of Victoria are starting back up remotely! At the moment we have the opportunity to participate in the senior debates for years 9 to 12. Debates will be held over the next few weeks until the end of Term 2 and we will be able to discuss whether you'd like to participate remotely from home or come into school for the debate. If you'd like more information please see Kelly Aguirre.