From the Principal 

Gratitude...

To our GRPS community, I am grateful for your continued flexibility and adaptiveness. As 2022 unfolds, the pandemic will continue to challenge us. 

While it is important that as a school, we plan for this with appropriate contingencies in place, please know that at Great Ryrie Primary School, we will always demonstrate compassion and support for any of our students and families that may be directly impacted by this virus.

We want to thank parents and students for the great job they have done in keeping our school as safe as possible by following important COVIDSafe measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing, ventilation, getting vaccinated and rapid antigen testing.

COVID Update 

As many community members will have noticed via the Compass positive case notifications, we are experiencing daily cases. Many of the cases reported have begun with symptoms but a negative RAT Test; then a COVID positive result on a PCR. I encourage families who are unsure about the outcome of a RAT to get a PCR for  more definitive results.

Fortunately, we have seen a decrease in cases as the week progresses. We ask that you administer a RAT routinely on a Monday morning before the children return to school. This will greatly assist with the identification of any cases after the weekend activities. 

A reminder that all student COVID cases need to be communicated with the school and logged on the Student COVID-19 Test Portal (first time users need to create a login).

Rapid antigen tests supplied from the Department 

To keep schools as safe as possible, the Victorian Government has extended the COVIDSafe measures introduced for the beginning of Term 1. This includes extending the availability of free rapid antigen tests (RAT) for screening until the end of term.

 It is anticipated an additional 24 million RATs will be provided to schools and early childhood settings to continue to support early detection and prevent infection, for use at home.

The need for this program will continue to be monitored, and may end earlier based on health advice. This is great news and will mean we’re able to continue identifying COVID-19 cases as early as possible, reducing the impact on our school and individuals.

Department of Health modelling indicates that in the first two weeks of school returning, the program has already prevented more than 21,000 cases in schools alone. Their modelling indicates, assuming a 75 per cent compliance rate with screening of students, that by continuing RAT screening in schools for the full 10 weeks of Term 1, we will prevent:

• 61,000 COVID-19 infections in children aged 5 to 17
• more than 150,000 COVID-19 infections in the overall community (on average 15,000 per week over 10 weeks, or more than 2,100 per day)
• around 400 hospital admissions.

The Department of Education will continue to supply RATs to our school for your use. 

The School Office will let you know via compass when the tests have been delivered. We will send home the packs with the children when they become available. 

Twice-a-week testing continues to be strongly recommended for both students and staff. 

We recommend testing occurs on a Monday after the weekend activities and  Thursday after a 4 day period at school. 

Vaccination

Vaccination is another key component to protect students and staff in school settings.

Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 are open and third dose vaccinations for 16 to 17 year olds are now available. There are lots of convenient options to access vaccinations. These include state-wide vaccination hubs, your local GP or pharmacy.

You can book your appointment in a few different ways, including: 

• online: coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccine
• by phone: 1800 675 398 (Coronavirus Hotline)
• In person: talk to your local pharmacy, doctor, or attend a state-wide vaccination hub. 
• using the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder - COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder | Australian Government Department of Health

In addition, schools provide a trusted place among the community to access vaccination, particularly for families who may experience language or social barriers. 

Following successful implementation of school pop-up clinics at the commencement of Term 1, more than 230 schools across Victoria are currently hosting mini-vaccination clinics led by GPs and pharmacists. Many of these clinics will also make vaccinations available to the broader school community, inclusive of families of students and school staff.

Ventilation

Improving ventilation is one of the most effective measures to keep education settings safe. 51,000 air purifiers were delivered to schools by Term 1, 2022 to support COVIDSafe settings in schools.

Up to an additional 60,000 air purifiers will be rolled out to schools ahead of winter to supplement natural and mechanical ventilation during the cooler months. 

The winter allocation will provide enough purifiers to cover all classrooms, in government schools and low-fee non-government schools based on current enrolments. This includes general purpose classrooms and other specialist classrooms such as art and science rooms.

Mask rules will remain the same, with students in Grade 3 and above required to wear masks – although they will not be required outdoors. 

For students from P-2 it is parent choice to wear a mask but not mandatory. 

On behalf of the school, I would like to thank you again for your continued support in helping your child to complete the rapid antigen tests and other COVID Safe measures. As a result of these efforts our school can continue providing a safe environment for students and staff. 

Permission to share 

Each year we ask parents if they are comfortable sharing their children's images on our newsletter and social media platforms. We love to share photographs of the great things happening at school but we need your permission first. Please fill out the form sent from the office via compass to enable us to share the special moments. If you are not comfortable with sharing photographs you can easily opt out. Thank you 

Welcome 

I would like to offer a warm welcome to the new staff beginning their time at GRPS,

Meaghan Edmondson, Stacey Wells, Casey Murphy, Jeslyn Sia, Belinda Sommers and Helen Boekel. Welcome Back to Kate Watson and Emily Hopkins who have returned to work from Family leave.

We would also like to farewell James Harrison, our Specialist Technician. We wish him all the very best in his new position. James has worked tirelessly behind the scenes with Jess Rose to upgrade our ICT resources including the recently upgraded network cabling infrastructure to ensure reliability and future expansion. The internet speed/bandwidth has been greatly increased across the school. Thank you James for all your expertise over the last 4 years. 

Staff Spotlight 

Each week I will include one of our GRPS staff members so you can get to know them a little better.

Principal: Karen Rouda 

For those who are new to the school I am Karen Rouda, and I am very proud to be the principal of Great Ryrie Primary School.

About Me 

I have two daughters Jess and Casey, and my beautiful fur babies Sophie and Grace. Michael, my husband has to contend with all the girls in our house!

My passion is sport, particularly netball and boxing and some of my favourite things to do are swimming in the beach, or hiking in the forest. Nature is a place where I find the greatest peace. 

Music is another area that brings me joy, especially playing the guitar and singing. I think all the children know that I love to sing, and you can often hear me singing a tune at assembly, in a classroom, on the loud speaker or from my office.

Good morning good morning it's such a lovely morning......

Richmond of course, is the best team in the AFL and Dusty will return better than ever!

I have always wanted to be a teacher and as a principal, I am still learning every single day.

Teaching and learning brings me so much joy. And honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone with your family and friends.

Karen Rouda 

Principal