COVID-safety procedures

Thank you to our whole school community for managing our closure last week. It was a stressful time for many and I appreciate how well you all waited until we have confirmed data from Health. We now have students from one class (3/4S) isolating at home with Miss Salloum and Miss Yag providing daily support to those students. We realise that siblings of those students may also be at home (if you can't isolate one child from the family) and we are providing guidance around the Dept. of Education's Learning Hub to continue learning from home.

Over the coming weeks we will stick to the guidance from NSW Health. If your child is unwell - please keep them at home. If your child has any of the COVID symptoms (from runny nose, blocked nose, sore throat, persistent coughing through to fever or chills) - then we will send them home and ask for a COVID test. We want to keep our whole community safe.

We will also continue our "cohorting" - meaning keeping groups of students separate in the playground and classrooms. Stages will stick together - for example K-2 will play at 10:30 and Years 3-6 at 11am. We will keep the different entrance and exit gates - but will review the pick-up times (in light of parental feedback). I will keep you up to date.

Kindy Transition

Last Friday was the first Kindy Transition session - with over half the students and parents joining us on Zoom. The fabulous organisation was all thanks to Mrs Hill. She had arranged for a parent to share her thoughts as well as 2 Kindy students to talk about their experience of Kindergarten at GEPS! What a delight to hear from the different perspectives.

If you know of a 4 year old ready for Big School - it's not too late to enrol. Call the office for further info (ph: 9637-1562).

Our return to school

After 3 weeks of being back at school our students are loving it! We have captured a range of learning situations as well as students re-connecting with friends.

We invited parents to complete a short survey of their experiences - her is what they had to say:

What has your child said about their return?

I am so excited
they are glad to be back
he is really quite happy
he enjoys his classroom learning
excited
happy to see their friends
happy
good
happy to be back at school.

Coming dates

Even with restrictions - we have lots on to end this term! Here's what's coming up:

When	What
Wed 17 Nov	OC test
Fri 19 Nov	Kindy Transition (10am on Zoom)
Tues 23 Nov	High School Transition Day
Thurs 25 Nov	3/4S should be back at school
Fri 26 Nov	Kindy Tran - kids onsite (9:30-11:30) Zoom for parents
Mon 29 Nov	Year 5 Leadership Speeches
Tues 30 Nov	K-2 Dress Up Day
Fri 3 Dec	Final Kindy Tran - students on site 9:30-11:30
Mon 6 Dec	Final Gold Badge Assembly (Zoom)
Tues 7 Dec	Year 6 Farewell
Mon 13 Dec	Presentation Day
Tues 14 Dec	Student Reports home
Wed 15 Dec	Fun Day / class picnics & parties Stage 1 Book Launch
Thurs 16 Dec	Last day of the year.

Deputy Principal's message

by Mrs Nicole Tainsh