School Philosophy

Orchard Grove Primary School is committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment that engages curiosity, promotes learning, personal growth and wellbeing for all students. We strive to develop adaptability and resilience so students can become valued members of the local and global communities and be prepared for future life experiences.

From the Principal

What a difference a week makes; now we find ourselves preparing for a staggered return to school.

Just to recap: Monday 25th May is a student-free day, so there will be no teacher contact remotely on that day. On Tuesday 26th May, students in Foundation-Year Two will return to school. Online remote learning will continue for Years Three-Six only from Tuesday 26th May through to Friday 5th June, after which all children will return to school on Tuesday 9th June. At this point, online remote teaching will cease for all students. It is important to note that, once the junior students return, there will be no more remote learning organised by the school for these students. School is considered to be open for all students and, if children in Foundation-Year Two are away from school, they will be considered absent. This is a DET decision, not a school-based decision.

Today, all Government Schools received the 'Return to School Operations Guide' from DET, and we will be working through this document over the days to come to assist us in planning how best to handle the return to school for our community. I will be presenting this to School Council on Wednesday night and I will be emailing our community through Compass on Thursday. This will include the procedures and plan forward for the Foundation-Year Two students to return to school on Tuesday 26th May. Working with that plan, and tweaking and adjusting where necessary, we will keep the community informed for how the next stage of Years Three-Six students' return will be handled. We do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves and lock in a plan when we believe we may need to be agile and flexible in how we handle this 'new way' of operating. This approach will help us to make the safe resumption of school as successful and appropriate as possible for us all.

What we do know is that the Federal and State Chief Medical Officers do not believe that children are at risk for COVID-19 and, as such, social distancing is not required in a school setting. However, it is required for adults, including staff and parents. For this reason, DET has stipulated that parents are not to be on the school site when school resumes, other than for a handful of cases. All parent programs at school, including reading, the Grove garden program, school tours, Storytime etc. are cancelled. For the foreseeable future, when dropping off and picking up children at school, parents are to stay outside the school grounds. Part of the email next Thursday will cover how we will be handling a staggered drop-off and pick-up plan in an effort to keep everyone as safe as possible.

DET has given every school more cleaning hours each day to keep the level of disinfecting of frequent touchpoints and the general school, including toilets, as high as possible. The use of hand sanitisers will be a regular part of what we all do on a daily basis and we are installing wall pump packs for easy access. This will be an added and necessary cost to the school budget. In an effort to have as many sanitiser bottles available in as many situations and locations as possible, families donating a bottle of hand sanitiser to their child's classroom a couple of times a year would be of great assistance to us. Ideally, I would like to see a bottle on every table.

I would like to give a huge shout out to Hayley Jones (a parent from 1JM), who has donated a whole box of 25 bottles of sanitiser to the school. Thanks so much, Hayley.

I know you will have many questions and concerns but, if you can hold off until Thursday when we can put forward our plan, that would be great. We have lots to consider, including issues around staff that may not be able to return to school under the present conditions. We are working hard to find viable and good solutions but please be assured that, at all times, our main concern is around the health and safety of all of our community at this time. We are a terrific school, with great kids, parents and staff and, if any school community can do this well, I believe that the OGPS community CAN.

Stay safe, everyone, and enjoy this weekend with the beautiful sunshine and the reduced restrictions.

We are looking forward to seeing you all soon, even if it is from a distance.

P.S. I heard today from a reliable source (but not in writing) that the Whitehorse Council is planning for the supervised school crossing on Orchard Grove to be up and running for the return of school - just not sure which date they are aiming for - May 26th or June 9th. But it will be great when it is operating, and has come at a good time. Also, the roof on the Level Three area is on schedule to be completed by the time the Year Three Students return, so that's some good news.

Take care everyone and talk soon.

Glenda Harry

Principal

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