Principal's Report 

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone, we hope you all had a restful and relaxing break and a positive start to the school year.

The school year has started well, with our students and staff settling in well, and building strong, positive relationships within and across classroom communities. Prior to the first day of school, our staff worked very hard behind the scenes to prepare for the return of our students, and we are now full steam ahead into what promises to be a fantastic year of learning, fun and growth. 

Our students have started the new school year with enthusiasm and the determination to work hard and enjoy their time at school. Walking around our classrooms over the past week, it has been very pleasing to see how quickly and easily everyone has settled into their new class and adapted to new routines. 

Welcome to our Founders

It is fabulous to see how quickly our 74 new Foundation students have settled into school life.

This is a reflection of the effectiveness of the Kindergarten programs run by our preschool colleagues, our comprehensive school transition program, the efforts put in by parents and carers to ensure school readiness and the warm and welcoming classroom environments created by our wonderful Foundation teaching team. 

Our Founders students are quickly becoming familiar with routines, expectations and how to be a school kid. 

Founders Literacy and Numeracy Assessments

During the coming Wednesdays our Foundation teachers will be conducting literacy and numeracy assessments with students in preparation for the year ahead. This is an important opportunity for our teachers to meet with our new students and their parents and collect important information and data that will guide their teaching and learning programs to support every child to enjoy a positive school experience and reach their full potential. If you have not made an appointment for your child’s assessment, please contact their classroom teacher.

Welcome to our New Families

This year we have welcomed several new families to the Bimbadeen community. Many of our new families are first-time Founders parents and others are new families who have moved into the area. Making the move to a new school can sometimes be daunting, however, the kids are settling in well and have already formed some great friendships.

We would like to welcome all new families to our school and look forward to working with you and your children.

Helping Out Around the School

We encourage all families to become involved in their child’s schooling and are always in need of adults to help in classrooms and on excursions, in the library or with fundraising activities throughout the year. Our families are also able to contribute to our termly working bees or join our school council or contribute through one of its many sub-committees. If you are interested in being involved in some or all the many opportunities to contribute to the Bimbadeen community, please see you child’s teacher or keep an eye out for information that will be publicised in Year Level Newsletters, School Newsletters or our Sentral newsfeed. 

While we have not yet started our parent/carer helper program for 2022, due to current COVID Safe measures, we are keen to begin planning for when parents and carers can join with us in our classrooms and become involved in school programs this year.

Please note that we do require that if you are volunteering within the school that you have a current Working With Children check and that you provide a copy of this to the school office. Information about and applications for Working With Children checks are available online at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

Information about our school’s Visitor and Volunteer policies is available on our school website in the School Policies section. 

Get to Know You Interviews

This year, our Get to Know You Interviews will be held in Week 3. These parent/teacher interviews privilege time for parents and carers to meet with their child’s classroom teacher to ensure we know everything we can about each student and develop a strong, collaborative relationship between each teacher and their students, and their parents and carers. 

Get to Know You Interviews will be held next week. Information has been sent home to families via Sentral. Please ensure you make a time to meet with your child’s teacher to help set your child up for success at school in 2022.

Masks

Current school operations guidance requires students in Grade 3 and above to wear a face mask indoors at school, and Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) programs, unless a lawful exception applies. Students must wear face masks even if vaccinated. Students are not required to wear masks outside, however they are strongly recommended if physical distance cannot be maintained, even outdoors, when students are not undertaking physical exercise. Visitors to schools aged 8 and above must wear a face mask in all indoor spaces, unless a lawful exception applies. Students in Prep to Grade 2 are strongly recommended to wear a face mask indoors at school or an OSHC program.

As young students find it difficult to maintain physical distancing when playing with their peers, we encourage parents and carers to discuss with their children about their wishes in regard to wearing masks outdoors and communicate this to their child’s teacher so we can support them with mask wearing. 

There are lawful reasons for not wearing a face mask, including for staff and students who are unable to wear a face mask due to the nature of their disability, medical or a mental health condition. Parent/carers of a student/s who meet the criteria for an exception should provide their approval in writing for their child/ren to not wear a mask to the school. 

There is no requirement for a letter for a medical exception for not wearing a face mask from a medical practitioner.

Please ensure you send a mask to school with your child each day. The school does not have supplies to provide masks to students, except in the case of an emergency.

Hats and Sunscreen

In line with our SunSmart policy students are required to wear school hats during terms 1 and 4. School hats provide protection from the harsh sun and are available at Spartan’s (Uniform Shop) or can be purchased online via the link on our school website. Students without a hat will be required to play in a designated undercover area outside their classrooms. It is also recommended that your child wears sunscreen to school and suggest that this is applied prior to the start of the school day. You are also encouraged to send sunscreen to school with your child to independently apply, prior to recess and lunch breaks when they will be given the opportunity to do so. Sunscreen is always available for our students, staff and community members at the office.

Hot Weather Processes 

During days of extreme heat where the temperature exceeds 35 degrees we will use our judgement to determine whether students should spend all or part of their recess and lunch breaks outside. Students are reminded to stay hydrated, to regularly re-apply sunscreen, to play in shady areas and to refrain from playing running games. On particularly hot days we will keep students inside in air-conditioned classrooms. We have also been asked to remind our parent community about the dangers of leaving children in cars on very hot days, this includes at school drop off and pick-up times. 

Accident Insurance and Personal items brought to school 

The Department of Education and Training (DET) does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs. 

The Department of Education states that reasonable low-cost accident insurance policies are available from the commercial insurance sector. For those parents who seek personal cover, details of an insurer who offers individual accident insurance for $29 for the year is EBM Insurance Brokers and their website is www.studentcover.com.au. 

Similarly, DET (which includes the school) does not offer replacement of personal items which are brought to school and are lost, broken or stolen. Sentimental or expensive belongings and toys, including sports equipment and electronic devices, are normally best left at home. 

Annual Privacy Reminder 

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website in the Policies & Documents section https://www.bimbadeenheightsps.vic.edu.au/policies-documents/ 

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese.

Communication

There are many forms of communication used between school and home to ensure that parents are kept informed about what is happening both in the classroom and at a whole school level. This year, our main form of communication will be through the Sentral platform. Messages and reminders will be sent out via Sentral. Teachers will also use Sentral as a primary way to communicate to parents. Please contact the office if you require further information about Sentral. 

Our school newsletter will be sent out fortnightly via email link so please ensure that the office has an updated email address for your family. 

The link to the electronic version of the newsletter is sent to parents and it is also available on the website.

Staff Car Park and School Pick Up / Drop Off Zone

To kick start the year, we thought it was important to send out a reminder about the Staff Carpark and parent pick up/drop off zone at the front of the school. We would like to remind all members of our school community that the Staff Carpark is not a drop off or pick up zone. The safety of our students, staff and community members is paramount.

We would like to request that parents/carers use the strip of parking parallel to the yellow curb marking at the front of the school as a kiss and go zone. This means parents should remain in their car, with the car running and once their children have safely entered their car, to move on, allowing space for the next parent to park. If we all use the yellow zone area as a drop off zone, it will help improvement flow of traffic immensely along Hayrick Lane and surrounding streets. 

When parking at the front of the school, please reverse into car spots with care and be courteous to other drivers.

As per Victorian road rules, when driving out of a car park indicate, check mirrors and blind spots and give way to all vehicles and pedestrians on the road. 

This includes giving way to drivers who are reversing into car spots and waiting for them to park before you drive out of your car spot. Please also ensure your children exit the car on the curb side, and be careful opening car doors onto the road. 

Please be mindful of your speed on the road and please do not block driveways while parking or queueing on Hayrick Lane. Please ensure you adhere to parking limits as there have been numerous reports to local council already this year of parents/carers who have been parking in spaces for longer times than permitted.

Arrival Times at School

Just a friendly start of year reminder that official on duty time at school is 8:45am. We understand that traffic flow and other challenges sometimes means an earlier arrival, however, we ask that parents avoid dropping off their children any earlier than 8:45am. 

Whilst staff are on site, there is no formal supervision of students until this time, and we are obviously conscious of student safety. 

Working together to keep everyone safe

Thank you to everyone for following the guidelines we have sent out to limit the transmission of COVID-19. Mask wearing, hand hygiene, social distancing, Rapid Antigen Testing, and staying home when unwell all play a big part in limiting the spread of COVID.

As a school we will continue to provide as much detailed communication we can about our COVID-safe guidelines and positive cases. Whilst it can feel like an overwhelming number of emails and messages, we are committed to transparency and giving our school community full information about the daily situation at Bimbadeen.

Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy

Our school community has demonstrated incredible solidarity and resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Being back in our classrooms with extra health and safety measures is another big transition, but it’s the very best one for our children's education. 

As we navigate these changes to onsite learning, including required mask wearing for some students, it’s more important than ever that adults in our school community treat each other with respect and kindness.

The Department of Education and Training has released a new policy that describes the positive behaviour expected from parents, carers, and other adults in Victorian school communities. The policy sets clear standards of behaviour to create a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning environment for students, staff and adults.

There are also other resources to support safe and respectful relationships in our school community, including information about getting involved in the school, advice on how to raise a concern or complaint, and parenting support resources. You can find the new policy and these resources here.

You will also see a new poster up around our school, promoting positive behaviour.

For more information on how to engage positively with our school, please contact Adele Gregson, Principal or Sabrina George, Assistant Principal.

Rapid Antigen Testing (re-print of direct send communication)

Thank you to our community for your support in following our school’s COVID safety measures, including physical distancing, wearing a mask, and administering twice-weekly rapid antigen tests to your children. We appreciate your ongoing support in helping keep our Bimbadeen community safe.

Free rapid antigen tests will be available for our students and staff for the first 4 weeks of Term 1 2022.

We have now received our second delivery of RATs from the department and the test kits are available for collection from school from Friday 11 February 2022.

One pack of 5 individual rapid antigen tests per student, can be collected from the Canteen at the following times:

• Friday 11 February from 8:30am to 9:15am
• Friday 11 February from 3:00pm to 3:45pm
• Monday 14 February from 8:30am to 9:15am
• Monday 14 February from 3:00pm to 3:45pm

When attending for collection, please ensure you adhere to the COVID safe measures in place, including wearing a mask, and physically distancing. It is important that you do not attend the school if you have any COVID-related symptoms. Markings will be on the ground outside the Canteen to help maintain physical distancing.

While we prefer that an adult collects the RATs for each student, we understand that this may not be possible for all families. If you are unable to attend school at these times to collect the tests for your child/ren, please send an email to bimbadeen.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au requesting for your pack of RATs be provided directly to your child (these will be sent home on Monday). If you require RATs to be picked up by another member of your family or friend, please email the details to our school email address prior to collection.

Rapid antigen tests are voluntary but strongly recommended for all students and testing needs to occur at home. Staff will not be testing students at school.

You only need to report your child's result if it is COVID-positive, and must report a COVID-positive result to:

• the school by phone on 9726 9989 (we will complete the RA Test Portal entry on your behalf) this is so we can support your child, record that they will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case onsite and that they should monitor for symptoms
• the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form or call centre on 1800 675 398.

Information about how to do a test and how to read RAT results, including a how-to video translated into 33 languages, is available online.

We hope you have a wonderful week everyone, feel free to pop in for a chat with either of us or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open! 

Kind regards, 

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George