Let us know how we are doing

At the time of writing, we have now (almost) completed five days of our Remote and Flexible learning program which has been a step into the unknown for teachers, parents and children alike.

We are determined to make the program as positive as possible for all involved and have made a commitment to seeking feedback throughout the term, reading this closely and making changes to ensure we are doing the best job that we can.

To allow us to do this, we have created a short follow-up survey for parents and carers to find out whether we hit the mark during week 1. We would appreciate it if you could spend five minutes completing this by the evening of Sunday 26th April.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6MF9NDN

Student Google Accounts

From the start of next week, our students in Years F-4 will begin to participate in live online meetings with their teachers and classmates.

These meetings will be short check-ins for staff to chat to students, finding out more about how they are managing with this new way of learning, explaining any learning tasks and answering any questions that there may be.

The platform that we will use for these meetings will be Google Meet which has been chosen for its security and ease of use. Your child will use their personal SKiPPS Google Education accounts to participate in these meetings. Login details for these accounts will be emailed out to parents later this week.

Once students are logged into their Google account, teachers will share a meeting link and students will simply need to click on the link in order to access the online chats.

Look out for further details on this later on this week via email.

Year 5/6 students will continue to use Google Meet as they have been doing all term.

TheirCare

Currently the school is providing on-site learning for children whose parents cannot work from home and also vulnerable students without access to a suitable learning environment at home.

To support these families, TheirCare are continuing to operate a reduced service at the school before and after school each day.

As recently announced by the Federal Government, all childcare services will be free until the end of Term 2. As a result, anyone that uses a TheirCare service from the week commencing April 6, 2020 through to the end of Term 2 this year will not be charged any fees during this time.

Any families wanting to use TheirCare's service will need to register and make a booking at www.theircare.com.au.

In addition, we ask that, if you are planning to make a booking for TheirCare but your children are not currently attending school during the day for on-site learning, you please email me on scott.neil.n@edumail.vic.gov.au. This allows us to manage demand and ensure we are able to minimise the risks involved with COVID-19 transmission.

2021 Enrolments

Believe it or not but we are already starting to think about 2021. Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions we have cancelled our first couple of parent tours, but will be going ahead with the following tour dates (either in person or remotely)

Michelle and I will welcome visitors to our School and give an overview of our curriculum, values and ethos. We will also be available to answer specific questions about transition from Kindergarten to Foundation, and what’s on offer in terms of our programs and facilities.

A walking tour of Foundation facilities and other learning areas, including our specialist subjects (The Arts – Visual and Performing, Italian and Library) will follow. Please contact Kat on 8598 6444 or on st.kilda.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au if you wish to book for any future dates.

For any families already familiar with the school and a child starting school in 2021, we encourage you to complete and submit your enrolment forms as soon as possible to allow us to start understanding likely Foundation numbers next year.

This form can be downloaded from;

http://www.skipps.vic.edu.au/assets/uploads/2019/05/Student_Enrolment_Form.pdf and emailed or dropped off to the school office.

SKiPPS Newsletter

Issue 5 · 21 Apr 2020

In this issue