Welcome to IPS.

How exciting it has been this week to see our youngest students returning to school.

Year 2s have been sharing their experiences of learning from home. They were asked to reflect on:

What did a day in my like look like? What I missed most? What am I looking forward to?

The first few days have gone very well with students enjoying getting back to class and seeing familiar faces. Having Foundation to Year 2 has tested our processes and we will continue to refine them as we move closer to having a full return to school on the 9th June.

Please note the changes to the PICK UP process outlined below and familiarise yourself with the new routine. In this scenario pick up will lend itself more favourably to those (if they must drive) to park at Coles and walk down the lane or behind Bryant Reserve.

Pick up times will be staggered between 3pm, 3.15pm and 3.30pm and because the parent can wait inside the grounds you will be easier to unite with your child and quickly leave the area.

You will enter from the Ailsa Grove Gate and exit through the Lowe Street Pedestrian Gate.

The Drop Off process in the morning will remain the same.

Updates

If you ride a bike to school from Friday you can also park it behind the Treehouse as well as at the front of the school on Waterdale Rd (Entry through Lowe Street gate) prior to going to your classes entry gate. Ensure your bike is locked up.

A first aid trained staff member may use a non contact thermometer to take a student's temperature prior to Mr Kent or Mrs Wright contacting a parent should their child present as having flu like symptoms. Primarily to minimise sending children home unnecessarily.

Given our school's boundaries consist of three dead end streets my personal view is that the biggest chance of passing on any illness will be at drop off and pick up. We know our streets are congested at the best of times so the usual driving behaviours will not serve anyone well.

For the sake of your health and that of my staff I am pleading with you to not drive down Ailsa Grove, Tate Street or Lowe Street unless you absolutely have no alternative. That you park behind Bryant Reserve or Coles Carpark or the Aquatic Centre or any number of local streets and walk your child to school.

The weather is going to deteriorate so make sure you have an umbrella because chances are you will be standing in the rain until those gates open. As children will be going straight to classrooms supervised from 8.45pm the gates will not be opened early.

Remember we are not health professionals. If your child presents with an apparent cold or a streaming nose Mrs Wright or I will need to phone you to pick your child up. While we know this can be inconvenient we ask you to work with us to safeguard the entire community including staff, children and parents. This is approximately 1000 people.

If your child appears to be coming down with something please do not send them to school.

Mrs Wright and I, along with a small band of volunteers, will continue to be at four gates to encourage a quick drop off and out in the yard during staggered pick up. Please try not to take offence if asked to leave the area so we can expedite this process. A huge thank you to our parent helpers Richard and Kerri and all the education support staff who come early and stay late to help make this work.

Please bring an umbrella next week and dress warmly as the weather looks like it might be wet.

Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to reflect on our shared histories and relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation. The week is framed by the anniversaries of two significant milestones in our reconciliation journey - the successful 1967 Referendum (27 May) and the High Court Mabo decision (3 June). The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2020 is'In This Together'.

OSHC - Out of School Hours Care.

With the children returning to school we need to know your child’s before care and after care booking arrangement to plan our program accordingly. Edwina and Rekha (and the team) are very much looking forward to welcoming your children back to OSHC. Bookings now open by email on iposhc@optusnet.com.au If you would like to speak with Edwina call 0417 528 584.

Children enrolled in OSHC will be walked to the service in the afternoons and from the service in the mornings.

Social Distancing at Drop Off.

Note that there are distancing markers on the pavement outside your child's gate. Please use these as a guide, take turns and obey any instructions from gate staff.

Social Distancing at Pick Up. (FROM FRIDAY 29TH)

In order to facilitate a more efficient process for pick up we are changing our practice.

There will be a staggered finishing time based on alphabetical last names which will both reduce the number of children exiting school at any one time and ensure that siblings are released together.

The times will be:

3pm last names beginning with A to G

3.15pm last names beginning with H to O

3.30pm last names beginning with P to Z

The process will be:

Parent enters school through the Ailsa Grove Gate (see map below) at their designated time.

Parents wait in area designated on the map below and social distances themselves from other adults.

Children are sent out. Parent picks up child and leaves through the Lowe Street pedestrian gate.

Note this is deliberately a one way thoroughfare. You cannot leave the school through the Ailsa Grove gate.

From when?

From this Friday the 29th May.

This process will remain in place until otherwise advised and should make pick up more manageable as the weather becomes more unpleasant.

Hi from our Crossing Supervisor.

Our crossing supervisor loves seeing you all returning to school but be sure to social distance.

She will be wearing a badge to remind people to do the right thing.

There are some beautiful new rainbows on the school fence created by some of our onsite students to welcome everyone back to school.

Canteen is open with a limited menu.

(Not for counter service at this time)

We are being very cautious with our back to school program including the tentative re opening of our canteen. Annette and Rita are keen to service the community but also understand the need to move slowly.

Therefore, initially, there will be a limited menu but no counter service. See the welcome back message from Annette and access the limited menu and ordering instructions on the canteen page of this newsletter.

Come share with us.

This week's inspiring writing is actually a rap by Ryan Z (6K) to music he composed. His rap is from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"Inside Ivanhoe" has proved a lovely way for the community to stay connected.

Please show your children and inspire them to send me something for next week's newsletter. Email your contributions to ivanhoeprimaryvic@gmail.com

Letters to Wuhan.

As you may be aware we had planned to host children from Wuhan Number 2 School earlier this year but when the Corona Virus struck this was no longer an option.

After a discussion with their teachers our students wrote letters of support to the children of Wuhan little knowing that their trouble were soon to become ours.

This week on ABC's 7.30 Report Leigh Sales closed out the program with this delightful story that captures the heart and soul of our lovely community.

I couldn't have been more proud of our students.

Finally,

A few families have inquired whether Remote School can continue until the school break.

The Department of Education's instructions are very clear that families who choose to keep their children at home for the remainder of the term will not be supported with curriculum materials. Absences of this nature will be recorded as Parent Choice. However, we will make note that this is due to COVID-19 and this will not jeopardize you child's transition through the school.

Families who intend to keep their child(ren) at home should contact the school and we can point you to some online resources that will support a modified home program, (not intended to replicate the school's program), but will keep students engaged in learning prior to resuming school.

Remember we are all in the care of one another. Understand that we intend to keep everyone safe and well and have planned as much as we can, for the return to school.

Please remember that some of the rules may prove inconvenient but it is important for all of us to adhere to the procedures that are in place. The consequences of failing to comply may very well lead to illness resulting, at best, in the backward step of closing our school for a significant period of time.

Stay safe.

Thank you.

Mark Kent

Principal

Staff thank you

Kelly Toghill School Council President