Great to be back!

It is so wonderful to be back full time with all of the students. Everyone has adapted well to the return to school. The Year 7s have been amazing, particularly on Friday when there was no power between 7am and 2.35pm. They stayed positive and continued to learn despite the lack of lights and technology. What a positive example of our value of excellence.

COVID in schools

As you would be aware we have had four COVID positive cases at the College this week, interestingly, we do not believe that they are related to each other. Dealing with Covid positive cases may be part of the 'new normal' in our community and it is how we respond that matters. The new process now involves schools, rather than the Department of Health, identifying and contacting any Primary Close Contacts (PPCs) of positive cases. Primary close contacts are considered to be those who have been in contact with the positive case for an extended period of time - normally 2 hours. In our school, we consider the time period to be a 'double period' or more of contact. We have a learnt a lot over this week about how to manage a response to a case and I thank parents for supporting us as we worked our way through a new process.

The faster we can contact the PPCs the less chance we have of being forced to close our school for 24 hours. It is really essential that parents contact either myself, Vivienne McElwee or David Hall as soon as they can after receiving notification that their child is COVID-Positive. When you call we will need the following information:

Date and time of positive result
Date of test
Date of onset of COVID symptoms
Vaccination Status

Students and staff who are double vaccinated will have a shorter isolation period if they are identified as PCCs and siblings of PCCs and other family members are not required to isolate unless informed to do so by the Department of Health. We are fortunate that about 90% of our students are double vaccinated and all of our staff will be by this week.

Any students who are asked to isolate will be provided with access to school work online via COMPASS, will have follow up contact from their Student Manager and will have absences covered by the College using a new absence code in COMPASS.

I thank the community for the support they have shown over the past week. We will continue to work hard to ensure that our students remain at school and learning in our classrooms with our great teachers.

Head-start and the end of the year

Head-start runs from the 29th November – 10th of December. Head-start is an early commencement program where students step up to their 2022 year level and begin to undertake the work for the next year.

Year 7 becomes Year 8

Year 8 becomes Year 9

Year 9 becomes Year 10

Year 10 becomes Year 11

Year 11 becomes Year 12

Following Head-start we will be offering school-based activities for our Year 8 and 9 (2021 Year 7 and year 8), all other year levels conclude on the 10th of December. Activities will be running on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th and onsite supervision is available Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th.

Many families choose to commence holidays early and to use the the week of the 13th-17th Dec as additional holiday time. If this is your plan, then please enter a note on COMPASS for your child’s absence. We will be sending out further information regarding activities during Head-start.

COVID safe changes

Key actions for schools	SANDY COLLEGE
Face masks (see Face Masks in Schools) Recommended for students in Year 7-12	School staff and secondary school students must wear a face mask indoors at school School staff must wear a face mask while teaching wherever practicable, except where removal of a face mask is necessary for effective communication
Minimise cohort mixing: Stagger breaks and arrival and departure times	NO FURTHER alternated FINISH TIMES FOR 7-10 All Classes to run as scheduled with students finishing at 3pm unless they have VET or a Period 7 class
COVID Safe routine cleaning	YES - continues
Excursions	NO EXCURSIONS UNTIL 2022 Except for VCAL where excursions are required to complete competencies
Incursions	YES ANY NON-SCHOOL STAFF MEMEBR RUNNING AN INCURSION MUST PROVIDE a Vaccination certificate to the College Principal prior to coming on site.
Camps and overnight stays	NO CAMPS or OVERNIGHT STAYS UNTIL 2022
Assemblies and other events exclusive to staff and students from single school only	TIMETABLE remains with NO ASSEMBLY period until 2022
Formals, graduations, and other ceremonies (including events held off school premises and/or with parents/carers and other guests)	YEAR 9 Graduation to take place – Students only YEAR 12 Graduation with parents/carers - TBC Must follow COVID regulations
All interschool activities (such as debating and interschool sports)	Clubs and groups recommence
Singing, brass and woodwind classes and groups	Lessons recommence

QR codes and vaccination

QR Code check ins

	Need to check in	Not required to check in unless proof of vaccination status is required
All visitors on school site (including contractors, external Department staff and building and maintenance staff)	Yes
All parents who enter school buildings when on school site – if you are going to see a student manager etc.	Yes
Staff		No
Students		No
Parents who come onto school grounds for drop off or pick up, but do not enter buildings.		No

Vaccination Certificate requirements

	Need a certificate	Not required
All visitors on school site (including contractors, incursion providers, student teachers – please see list below.)	yes
All parents who come on site to attend a school event such as a dance concert or Art exhibition or soiree	yes
All parents who come on site as volunteers (PTF, Uniform Shop, Friends of Music etc.)	yes
Staff		NR
All parents who enter school buildings when on school site for a meeting regarding their child		NR
Parents who come onto school grounds for drop off or pick up, but do not enter buildings.		NR

2021 Arts Festival

5.30pm Thurs 18 November 2021. Reserve your free ticket now. trybooking.com/bvmlj