Important Notices
COVID safe update
We are now two full weeks into the school year and students and staff have settled into our new routines beautifully. The changes we have made to keep us covidsafe have been followed by all and we appreciate your support in supporting your child to complete their RATs, seeking out vaccines encouraging mask-wearing, and keeping socially distanced at drop-offs and pick-ups.
Whilst there has been a handful of confirmed cases from students and staff members who have been in attendance at school whilst potentially infectious, these numbers have been small and, so far, we have not seen any evidence of onward transmission to classmates or colleagues. Whilst I am reluctant to tempt fate and know that this may not always be the case, it has been great to complete the first couple of weeks without the anticipated flood of new cases and widespread student and staff absences that returning to school had the potential to cause.
As a result of this, from this coming Monday (21st February), we will return to a standard start time of 9am and a standard finish time of 3:30pmk for all classes.
We will also cautiously proceed with school assemblies re-starting outside in the quadrangle on a Friday morning from this Friday morning (18th February).
Beyond this, the health advice is that face masks are still required for all adults and children in years 3-6 and are strongly recommended for younger students. Air purifiers are in operation and windows and doors remain open.
We Need your help - Buildings and Grounds
We are seeking some handy parents this evening (Tuesday 15th February) at 5pm to help us soundproof our new drumming room.
We will be attaching carpet to the floor, walls, and ceiling to help make this the perfect space for music rehearsals.
If there are any mums or dads who know their way around a toolkit and can donate an hour or two, we would love to see you at the school office at 5pm this evening.
COVID vaccinations @ SKiPPS
As you would be aware, all children aged 5-11 are now eligible for the COVID-19 paediatric vaccine and the strong advice from the Department of Health and the Department of Education is that these vaccines are safe and effective and families are strongly recommended to book their children in.
The school has been trying to arrange a pop-up vaccination clinic for students at the school since early January. This would operate outside of school hours and would be completely optional for those families that would like to vaccinate their children but have not yet been able to.
Star Health have offered to come in and run a clinic for our families but, frustratingly are unable to do this after school tomorrow (Wednesday 16th February) as initially indicated. We will continue to work with them and will hopefully have a new date very soon.
They are however running two paediatric clinics this weekend that parents can bring their children to if they would prefer not to wait. They are walk-in clinics so no need to book an appointment.
Details of the clinics are:
Saturday 19th February:
South Melbourne Surf Lifesaving Club 9:30-1pm
Sunday 20th February:
Elwood Surf Lifesaving Club 9:30-1pm
Midsumma Pride
On Sunday 6th February, our school once again took part in the annual Midsumma Pride March down Fitzroy Street, starting from the oval right next to the school. We had perfect weather for the day and it was wonderful to see close to 100 SKiPPS students, parents, staff members, and friends taking part and showing our commitment to equality, acceptance, and kindness.
We are especially thankful to Mathew Bowden, one of our fantastic parents, for coordinating our registration for the first time.
A request for help
Over the school holidays I was sadly advised of a past student that needs our help.
Ewan Magowan (a student between 2013-2019) was diagnosed with Leukaemia a few weeks ago and is in need of frequent blood transfusions.
He and many other children and adults need regular blood. Australia's blood banks are running critically low. All blood types are needed and it only takes an hour of your time (of which only about 10 mins is actually taking the blood).
If you are eligible and or able to donate blood, the family would be forever grateful and you would also be helping your fellow Australians. https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood
DogBeach Cup
Bianca Loiocona, SKiPPS parent and local artist, brought our attention to the 'Dog Beach Cup' taking place this coming Saturday at the St Kilda Skatepark.
As well as a team-based skateboarding competition that will be great to watch, the day will have live music, food, and drinks and all profits will be raising money for aboriginal youth and mental health services.
