Principal's Report

FINALLY -ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO SCHOOL MONDAY 12 OCTOBER!!!

 

Dear parents and carers

On behalf of our school, I want to say a big thank you to all our students, parents and carers for your continued resilience and support throughout this year. I know remote and flexible learning has not always been easy, but through our collective efforts, our students have continued to make valuable progress in their learning. You can be confident that our school will support any student who has fallen behind to catch up.

Term 4 is important for every Victorian student, and our teachers will strive to deliver high-quality learning for everyone. Whether we’re teaching remotely or face-to-face, our focus for Term 4 is on making sure that every student is supported in their wellbeing, learning and transition needs.

The Victorian Government has outlined the staged return to on-site schooling for all students as part of its gradual roadmap towards reopening.

Term 4 on-site schooling arrangements for students

Following advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government has released a staged approach for students to return to on-site schooling.

The purpose of the plan is to get students back in the classroom as soon and as safely as possible without putting at risk all that has been achieved through the period of restrictions to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

For our school, the following arrangements apply:

 

5–9 October (what was in place this week)

·         remote and flexible learning was continued for all students

·         on-site supervision for children of permitted workers and vulnerable students

 

From 12 October (second week of Term 4)

·         students in Prep to Grade 6 will return to on-site schooling. The existing remote      learning program will not continue.

 

Outside School Hours Care

During the staged return, outside school hours care will be available to students. Irrespective of our staggered drop off and pick up times, students attending before care will be released from the centre at 8.45am where the school will be supervised by a yard duty teacher until 9.00am when they go to class. Students attending after care will remain will their class until 3.30pm and then go to the centre.

 

Health and safety measures

The Term 3 remote and flexible learning arrangements were put in place to significantly reduce the movement of more than one million students and their families across Victoria, to help slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Thanks to you and your family for contributing to this on behalf of our school community.

As on-site schooling resumes, we will continue to have in place strong measures to protect the health and safety of students, staff, families and the community. This includes staggering start and finish times, restricting parent access to school grounds and continued emphasis on hand hygiene and physical distancing where possible.

Please give particular attention to reducing the risks associated with congregation at school gates and taking steps to contribute to physical distancing within the school.

We will be focussing on three key priorities in Term 4:

 

Mental health and wellbeing

Our highest priority will be the wellbeing, particularly the mental health, of every student and member of staff. This means effectively mobilising all available resources to support our most vulnerable students and enabling staff to access the relevant support services.

 

Learning and excellence

Some of our students have thrived in the remote and flexible learning environment, others have maintained their learning progress, and some have fallen behind, despite their best efforts and those of their families and teachers. Our priority will be supporting both those who need it to catch up and those who have progressed to continue to extend their learning.

 

Transitions

We will make every effort to ensure successful transitions for children moving from kindergarten into Prep and Grade 6s moving into Year 7.

We know some families are worried that their child may have to repeat a year due to the disruptions of coronavirus (COVID-19). There is little evidence to support the benefits of repeating a year to catch up. Instead, we will use teaching strategies that draw on the best evidence available to help students meet their learning needs. 

Parents, families and carers can be confident that the best option for almost every child is to stay with their peer group, whether that is moving from kindergarten into Prep, moving from Grade 6 into Year 7 at secondary school, or students moving up any year level in between.

Our school, working with you, has shown it can be flexible and adaptable in responding to the challenges of coronavirus (COVID-19) and will continue to meet student needs as we look towards the end of the 2020 school year and ahead to 2021.

 

Kind regards

Sue Dyos

Principal

 

For your convenience I’m including the correspondence that was sent out via Konnective on Tuesday.

 

Key points to remember from this:

·         Hats are required from Monday

·         Bring a water bottle - these can be refilled but students can't drink directly from bubble taps

·         Students who have borrowed devices are to bring them to school each day and take them home each night (for accessibility in the event of a school closure. Please ensure these are transported safely. If possible provide a bag/case to protect the laptop

·         Staggered drop off and pick up times according to surnames

·         All adults to wear masks and parents/carers encouraged not to enter school grounds unless essential. Any parent/carer who is on the school grounds for more than 15 minutes, must sign the visitors book and indicate the areas of the the school they visited.

·         No entering classrooms or undercover areas

·         Remote learning ceases to operated yet Google Classrooms and SeeSaw will remain operational and students will be completing some work at school each week using these platforms

 

ACPS assemblies will be virtual for the remainder of this year. 

 

Students will be attending the assembly each Tuesday at 11.50am via Zoom from their classrooms. We welcome you to join us. 

 

Sue Dyos is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 

 

Time: Oct 13, 2020 12:50 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

        Every week on Tue, until Dec 15, 2020, 10 occurrence(s)

        Oct 13, 2020 12:50

        Oct 20, 2020 12:50

        Oct 27, 2020 12:50

        Nov 3, 2020 12:50 - Melbourne Cup Day, no assembly will be held

        Nov 10, 2020 12:50

        Nov 17, 2020 12:50

        Nov 24, 2020 12:50

        Dec 1, 2020 12:50

        Dec 8, 2020 12:50

        Dec 15, 2020 12:50

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Weekly: https://zoom.us/meeting/tJ0rceiqpjsiH9cdkQOiEub_IKg8YXdGlvrW/ics?icsToken=98tyKuChqD0rGNyVuByERox5BI_od-rxiGJHgvpemBTULCl2dwHJH8lFaotHFP_c

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/99661280853?pwd=MUZ3Zm90MzUrcjBPb2Jqcmt1V1FHQT09

 

Meeting ID: 996 6128 0853

Passcode: skG8t4

 

COMMUNITY SPIRIT ALIVE AND WELL AT ACPS

 

Despite the difficult year we have had and its many ups and downs, it's wonderful to see community spirit continue in our school community.

 

Thank you to Alison, Jesse's Mum 1/2B who organised and put together a beautiful video from the school community to thank all of the staff at ACPS.  Over 100 children got involved. It is really awesome and had me crying tears of joy within the first few seconds of viewing it. 

Thank you to Alison and all the children who got involved - another proud ACPS moment.

 

We will share this video at our first Zoom assembly on Tuesday 13 October at 12.50pm. 

 

 

Recently I nominated James (Jimmy) Harris for the Warrandyte Bank Community Spirit Award.

Jimmy is our School Council President and has been instrumental to ACPS' success in so many ways and I always know he is only ever a phone call away to assist our school.

I have worked with many School Council Presidents over the years and Jimmy is most certainly a standout.

To name but a few of Jimmy's contributions: President, Finance committee, Oval committee, transition and marketing logistics, interview panels, , Facebook page, Grounds Committee and more.

Jimmy has been shortlisted and will feature in November's Warrandyte Diary edition.

Irrespective of the outcome of this award, Jimmy is a winner and an absolute asset to ACPS.

 

Thank you Jimmy for all that you are and all that you do to make ACPS a great school!