COVIDSafe Measures & Reminders (Term 1, 2022) as of 4.2.2022

Please see below for some COVIDSafe measures (in no particular order) that will continue to be in place (in line with the latest CECV School Operations Guide), as we begin the 2022 school year.

These measures will be in place for at least the first 4 weeks of Term 1, 2022.

These include:

Vaccination requirements

Parents and carers must have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid medical exception (with limited exceptions) to enter school buildings.

COVID-19 vaccinations for students are not required for them to attend school but vaccination for students is highly encouraged. If your child has not yet had their first dose, please try to organise this soon.

For more information on how to book a vaccination, including important information about vaccination for children aged 5 to 11, visit the Vaccination information for children and teenagers page on the coronavirus.vic.gov.au website.

Bookings for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the paediatric Pfizer vaccine are open and we encourage parents and carers to get your child vaccinated, if you haven’t already done so.

The Pfizer vaccine is safe and recommended for children. The vaccine will help protect your child from getting sick from COVID-19, reduce the spread of COVID-19, and ensure kids can have more time at school and playing with their friends.

Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 years old are delivered at two appointments, eight weeks apart. Children with specific medical vulnerabilities can access their second dose three weeks after their first dose.

If you’d like more information about this, you can read a recent statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI): www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-update-following-weekly-covid-19-meeting-19-january-2022.

To book an appointment

You can book an appointment at your local GP or pharmacy: https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking.

You can also book at a family-friendly vaccination centre by calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.

You can make vaccination centre bookings for your children online, though you will need to use an email address that has not been used in the system before: https://portal.cvms.vic.gov.au.

Helping children to get their vaccination

Vaccination centres understand that children may feel anxious about vaccination or have other support needs. A range of options is available to help children get vaccinated. Please discuss your child’s needs with the vaccination centre when you book an appointment.

Appointments are also available at Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.

Find out more about vaccination for kids: www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccination-information-children-and-teenagers

Staff COVID-19 Vaccination mandate

As was previously mentioned last year, ALL staff who attend on-site at Sacred Heart Kew have complied with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate ordered by the Victorian Chief Health Officer. All staff who work at Sacred Heart Kew are double vaccinated.

Please note - Visitors and volunteers performing work on school sites (both inside and outdoors) are required to have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by 25 February 2022 if they became fully vaccinated on or before 25 October 2021. For those that became fully vaccinated after 25 October 2021, the deadline is 15 March 2022, or have a valid medical exemption.

Face masks will be worn by ALL staff when indoors at school.

Cleaning and Hygiene

Our school buildings and classrooms continue to be regularly cleaned and sanitised each day. Our children and staff continue to practise regular COVIDSafe hygiene practices each day, with both soap and Hand sanitiser available for use in all areas of the school.

Classrooms/Buildings (ventilation and fresh air flow in all areas)

All classrooms and shared spaces have increased fresh air flow. This includes natural ventilation such as: keeping windows, doors and vents open during the day in indoor spaces. The use of mechanical ventilation (such as air conditioning units and ceiling fans) is also operating in these indoor spaces, to maintain a comfortable temperature and sufficient air flow at all times. Flexible and physically distanced seating arrangements where possible will also occur.

Air Purifiers

Air Purifiers have been placed in all classroom/learning spaces, including 'high traffic' areas across the school. These will continue to operate throughout the school each day.

Staffing at our school

I know many of you will have questions about what happens if your child’s teacher gets COVID-19. While there may be some disruption because of staff absences, we will be able to bring in extra teachers and other staff if we need them, and will be doing everything that we can to make sure our school stays safe and open.

Parents On-site

As per the current School Operations Guide, parents are able to come on-site at this time. However, you are encouraged to drop off and pick up children outside the school gates. If parents do require access to any buildings, please check in using the relevant QR code. These can be found on the relevant doors at each building entry point.

Parents can drop their children off at their classroom each day. Parents have to be double vaccinated to enter all school buildings.

We kindly ask that you drop your child off at the classroom and leave immediately. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding with this.

Please also support the following:

Please do not congregate in groups anywhere on-site or outside the school boundary area.
Once you have dropped off/picked up your child(ren), please leave the school and surrounding grounds immediately. This includes ALL playground areas.

Before and After School arrangements - School Drop Off/Pick Up

All school gates will open from 8.30am each morning. At the moment, when all children arrive at school they are to go straight to their classrooms.
We will continue to make use of multiple entry and exit points to further prevent mixing of people.
All our normal entrance and exit points are in use (Kiss and Drop, Glenferrie Road Pedestrian Gate, St John’s Parade, and Cotham Road gate), with Kiss and Drop being our preferred method for children to enter and exit the school grounds at this time.

COVIDSafe and ‘general safety’ behaviours at School Drop Off and Pick Up (as previously mentioned earlier in our newsletter):

St John’s Parade

If waiting to collect your children from the St John’s Parade exit, please spread out along the school side of the footpath. If parents are waiting for their children on the other side of St John’s Parade, the children will come out of the gate and cross the road (at the school crossing), with the aid of the traffic supervisor.
Please also note that if picking up your children from the St John’s Parade ‘2 minute pick up’ point, please do not park in this area. This is solely a ‘pick up’ point and constant traffic flow is vitally important in this area.

Cotham Road

A reminder too that each afternoon parents can wait (physically distanced) for your child(ren) outside the Church and on the footpath (Cotham Road), in front of the school. This area is larger than the St John’s Parade area and can be accessed from the Cotham Road pedestrian entrance.

Kiss and Drop

Our Kiss and Drop gates open from 8.30am - 8.45am in the morning and again from 3.15pm - 3.35pm in the afternoon.
As stated above, ‘Kiss and Drop’ continues to be our preferred method of drop off and pick up of children. For this practice to run smoothly we greatly rely on all parents' support. As a whole school community we need to ensure that traffic flow is maintained, we cannot have cars parked during this process.
If your children cannot do their seat belt up immediately upon entering the car, you must use the 2 minute drop off, pick up instead. Please have your surname displayed on your visor (or in an elevated vertical position) so we can ensure smooth delivery of your child(ren) to each awaiting car.

The school day

As we can all appreciate, within the school setting, separating children from their peers (at all times) can be a difficult task. With this in mind, (where possible) we have reduced the times and activities where children from different year levels interact with each other indoors and where avoidable, outdoors.

Other important COVIDSafe measures include:

Single class ‘bubbles’ will operate indoors. Please be aware that the children can still play outside in their Year level ‘bubbles’ and amongst other children as they are (spread out and outdoors), as this is considered a low risk setting.
Face masks are to be worn indoors by all Year 3-6 children (unless an exemption applies). If an exemption applies, please email your child’s classroom teacher with this information. It is very important that your child brings their own mask to school. Masks are not to be shared between children.
Children in Prep - Year 2 do not have to wear face masks indoors, but this is highly encouraged. This is an individual family choice.
A rotating playground roster continues to apply at both recess and lunchtime, to keep the mixing of children to a minimum.
The use of hand sanitiser and appropriate hygiene will be practised on a daily basis, across all classes in the school.

New measures in place include:

Rapid Antigen Testing

As was recently announced by the Victorian Government, the Department of Health is strongly recommending that students complete a test twice a week to help proactively identify any cases, reducing the risks of an outbreak. On Monday afternoon, all families finally received these packs for the next 2 weeks.

As we all know there have been changes to the definition of ‘close contacts’ and also the isolation period of 7 days now only applies to ‘Household contacts’ and those people who have tested COVID positive.

Process for positive COVID cases within the school community

Parents are to contact the school ONLY if their child tests positive to COVID-19. Parents are also to lodge the positive COVID-19 test result with the DH Covid hotline/website.

When a Covid positive case is identified with the school setting, ONLY the class/year level families of the positive case will be notified and encouraged to monitor their child for symptoms. All other school families will be notified that there is a Covid positive case within the school and that the relevant class/year level has been notified.
If your child tests Covid positive and/or is a household contact of a Covid positive case, requiring them to isolate for 7 days, ‘learning materials’ will be provided to your child for this time away from school. Please be aware that as per the updated School Operations Guide (CECV) - no remote learning will be provided during this period of isolation.

Children who are unwell (with Covid like symptoms)

A reminder of the importance of children not attending school if they are feeling unwell, however mild their symptoms may be. Any child who presents with symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, should get tested as soon as possible.

If a child presents as unwell, parents will be contacted immediately to collect their child. As you can appreciate we are unable to have unwell children remain at school under our current COVIDSafe plan.

Families are highly encouraged to follow ALL directions provided to them by the Department of Health (DH) in regard to any isolation or quarantine periods you or your family may have to undertake. Please also inform the school of any of these situations as soon as practicable.

Children should not return to school until all symptoms have been resolved.

There’s no doubt that this term is going to be challenging for all of us, but we are also very excited to kick off the school year and welcome back all of our students.

Thanks to all parents for your support and cooperation with the above items as we do our very best to keep all school community members healthy and safe during this time.

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