Gastroenteritis

Over the last seven days we have been working through the various Health Department protocols in dealing with gastroenteritis outbreaks. My thanks to all of the staff for playing their part, especially our Cleaners and Residential Supervisors who had to clean up after students.

We have had daily contact with the Health Department and on all occasions they have been extremely complimentary at the way we have dealt with the situation. The Harvey Shire Health team were at the College yesterday taking swabs around the kitchen and sick students and staff have been asked to provide pathology samples to identify the cause of the outbreak.

I learnt that gastroenteritis is the body’s response to a range of foreign invaders which can be bacterial, viral or parasitic which can enter the body in a variety of ways. We know that many students do not practice basic personal hygiene so staff are reinforcing basic skills such as handwashing after toileting and before eating, not sharing drink bottles and so on. The Health Department require 72 hours of no further cases before they will stop monitoring our setting.

We have also had a few cases of COVID over the last week and personal hygiene will help to limit this spread also. My thanks to our parents who have been very supportive in getting their child home when sick.

Medication- Important Changes to Processes

We have recently had an external audit done on our student medication processes and there are several changes that we will need to make in relation to Restricted (Schedule 8 - controlled prescription) medications. One of the critical areas is the need for us to record the number of tablets/capsules that a student brings to the College and the number they take home with them.

Changes to our current practice that will only apply to Restricted (Schedule 8- controlled prescription) medications are;

Insisting that Restricted medications are in Webster packs when brought to the College as per the College Handbook. This will make the process of counting individual tablets/capsules far easier and make the process of dispensing and monitoring daily doses far easier.
Students will no longer be given any Restricted medication when they return home for weekends or holidays. There are legal limitations to us providing Restricted medication to students, so we ask parents to ensure they have a supply of medication at home so that the school supply stays at school.

I understand that this will require some additional planning for families but our goal is to ensure we meet our obligations for the health care of your child, to provide systems to direct and protect our staff and to maintain compliance with legal expectations.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or questions. We will make direct contact with families of those students who are currently on medications and our intent is to be transitioned to the new settings at the start of next term.

Reviewing Year 12 Progress

We have started the process of reviewing Year 12 progress towards the various elements of their course and WACE to ensure they are on track to graduate with maximum outcomes. It might seem early in the year but time will pass quickly and small changes to effort and practice now can make a big difference.

We use information such as Year 11 grades, progress through the Farm and Trades certificates, OLNA and attendance as predictors of Year 12 achievement. Parents of students who we deem to be at risk have been contacted, students spoken to and individual targets and plans established. We will track progress and it may be that students who are at risk and are not making progress will not be able to attend Country Week.

Country Week

Plans are being made to attend Country Week in the final week of Term 2. Due to staff changes we have lost some staff who typically would have attended Country Week and coached teams. This is particularly the case with AFL football, though this also applies to other sports.

We are seeking support from parents or family members who may be interested in assisting to coach teams. At this stage we have students interested in volleyball, basketball, netball and AFL football. Any parents or family members interested in helping are encouraged to contact us.

Regards to all and have a great weekend

Steve

HARVEY AG WEEKLY WRAP-UP

"Excellence and Innovation in Agricultural Education"

Issue 7 · 17 Mar 2023

In this issue