Welcome Back

I hope everyone has had a fantastic last couple of weeks and a relaxing and enjoyable break.

We certainly noticed students becoming increasingly tired as Term 1 progressed, with this being our first full term of onsite learning since the beginning of 2020. Between Remote Learning periods and “circuit breaker” lockdowns, our terms have either been completely remote, shortened or had a break right in the middle. Whilst it has been fantastic to be able to complete a whole term at school without interruptions, we were seeing the signs of fatigue. over the past couple of weeks. It has been uplifting to see our students return with that extra zing in their steps and a willingness to get back to routine and enjoying a catch up with friends.

I went caravanning to Daylesford for one week (hoping that the caravan hadn’t deteriorated over the past two years) and apart from the amazing location and scenery, the absolute best part was enjoying the company of friends and family for the week.

It was fantastic seeing parents back at Athletics Day and our Cross-Country assembly last term and I know the students enjoyed it also. With the lifting of restrictions, we hope to return to having some assemblies face to face in the near future. For those of you that aren’t aware, assemblies are held at 2:50pm on Friday afternoons. We will notify families when these are happening. Otherwise, we will continue with our virtual assemblies every Friday. We look forward to you joining us.

Term 2 is shaping up already as an extremely busy and exciting term. Our Year 6 students are returning from camp tomorrow. They have had an amazing time with fantastic weather as an extra bonus!

RESTRICTIONS LIFTED

Following the government announcement last week regarding changes to COVID Safe measures below are the changes that are relevant to BHPS.

Face masks - Face masks, while recommended, are no longer required in any school setting. Any student or staff member who wishes to wear a mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.

Screening requirements - Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously 8 weeks.

Household contacts - Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are no longer required to quarantine. They can return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times within their 7-day period and wear face masks indoors if they are aged 8 and above unless they have a valid exemption. If any household contact returns a positive RAT result during this period, they must isolate for 7 days and not attend school.

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools - Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

However, the 3rd dose vaccination requirements for any visitors or volunteers that attend a school and that work in close proximity to children, students or staff (including parent helpers).

Community use of school facilities - Schools will no longer need to request evidence of vaccination of staff or workers from external community groups who use premises outside the school’s normal operating hours.

RAT screening program extension reminder - The supply of RATs will continue for the first 4 weeks of this term. The screening recommendations remain the same:

mainstream schools – recommended to test at home twice a week

The roll-out of air purifiers to schools will continue, with another 21 units delivered to BHPS at the beginning of this term. This will ensure there is a purifier in every single classroom and also high-risk areas of schools and specialist classrooms.

ANZAC DAY

Our Year 6 leaders represented our school at the Boronia Arboretum with other local schools, organised and run by the Boronia Rotary Club on April 7th. I was extremely proud of all of our leaders who laid a wreath representing our Boronia Heights community and listened to some amazing guest speakers. Thank you to the Rotary Club for supporting schools, providing buses for our students and providing a motivating and engaging experience.

Congratulations to all our leaders who participated in the day, you all were an absolute credit to our school.

Prep Enrolments for 2023

If you have a child that will be attending Boronia Heights PS in 2023, we are taking enrolments NOW. The Education Department are requesting that all prep enrolments are completed by August 12th. If you know anyone who would like to have further information about our school or enrol their child, please ask them to phone the school so we can talk them through the process or book a tour on our website.

Easter Donations

A huge thank you to our community for the beautiful and extensive Easter raffle items that were donated. Our community is truly wonderful, and we thank you for your very generous donations. We had many very happy families and students that took home Easter goodies.

Education week 2022: Celebrating 150 years of public education.

Education Week (Tuesday the 24th of May)

This year the theme for Education Week is “The Evolution of Education”. Education week 2022: celebrating 150 years of public education. Boronia Heights warmly welcomes our school community to attend a fabulous morning and evening with your children. Full details will be sent out next week on your child’s BLOG with the specific details of the day and night celebrations. You will also receive a personal invitation from your child to have a special morning tea with them after the morning activities. This morning tea will take place at around 10:30am. We understand that many parents work so the invitation extends to other family members or someone special in their life. We ask that parents or special guests bring along something small to share with their child for morning tea. The morning session will end at 11am.

Our school will then re-open at 5pm for a Special Prep Expo for prospective families and then the whole school will open at 6pm with buskers around the school showcasing their wonderful musical talents, classrooms will also be open. Our Open Night concert will commence at 7pm in the gym where we will be presenting our School Band, Senior Choir, and some Year 6 instrumental soloists, and Junior School Choir.

Come and enjoy a school wide Art Show featuring creations from every child in the school in their classrooms and around the corridors of our school.

Please join us and allow your child to show you their classroom, chat to their teacher/specialist teacher either in the morning or in the evening and enjoy being back in our wonderful school. We look forward to seeing you there as it is always a delight to see the children engaged in truly wonderful activities. Please put the date on your calendar.

Pupil Free Day- Tuesday 14th June

For Term 2, 2022, the Department of Education and Training has provided schools with the option to hold each teacher’s allocated professional practice day on the same day for all staff. This is to enable the most effective and efficient use of this day.

As a result, we have scheduled our professional practice day for Tuesday 14th June. Students will therefore not be required to attend school on this day.

OSHClub will be open if you need child minding facility, please contact OSCHClub as soon as possible if you require support on the day.

2022 Federal Elections

On Saturday the 21st May our school gym will be open as a Polling Booth for you to vote in the upcoming Federal Elections. All of our gates will be open for the day for easy access to the school. Gates will be open from 8am until 6pm. Our HUBSTERS will be putting on a cake stall to help raise funds for the school and will be selling sausages on the day. We are asking for volunteers to help with the cooking of sausages and selling of cakes and the sausages. If you are able to support on the day for an hour or more, we would greatly appreciate it.

We are also asking for donations of any cakes, biscuits, jams, chutneys etc to sell on the day. We are not able to sell cakes with cream in it so please….. NO CREAM….. all cakes/chutneys/baked goods need to have the ingredients listed on a label and put on a paper plate, or into containers etc. Paper plates will be sent home with your child closer to the date.

If you are able to help on the day, we have a roster organised starting at 7am going through to around 3pm. Please let the office know if you can support this event. We thank you in advance for your support.

Mother's Day Stall

On Thursday 5th May, the wonderful Hubsters are co-ordinating the Mother's Day Stall. Please support your child by sending them along with a bag to pop their purchase into. Items will be priced between $1 and $5. For ease, please send your child with a gold coin or small note.

Have a great Weekend.

Leanne Jennings

Principal

Hubsters

Coffee for the Kids