Calm in a time of uncertainty

Our children are a captive audience. Our fears become their fears, our calm becomes their calm. Of course this is a burden we carry as parents, we never thought we would have to parent through a pandemic. As families start to take precautions to stay safe and healthy, we acknowledge the extraordinary gift you have, as a parent, to model peace and calm in our child's life. We can express our fears and vulnerabilities, but in a way that inspires hope and resolve for our family. Maintaining routines at home instills calm for children, they are reassured that things remain constant and unchanged. The old World War 2 poster that stated "Keep Calm and Carry On" has never been truer.

This is the message we are spreading to our teaching staff, too. When your children are with us at school we are able to model what it means to be calm and collected. At school, calm and collected looks like our normal classroom teaching programs, regular routines being undertaken, classes occurring each day.

I thank all of our families for their patience and understanding as the landscape changes each day. I have been working to provide daily updates about changes at the school level and encourage you to make contact with me if you have any concerns.

Some key websites that could assist you in your own inquiries are:

Department of Health

https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-public-coronavirus-disease-covid-19

Department of Education and Training

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Classes are operating as usual

Check out what has been happening in the classrooms this week. We even had a visit from Benji, Lauren Caceres puppy.

Minimising risk of infection

We are implementing many measures to minimise the risk of infection within the school and enable our school to remain open for as long as possible. With our measures in place, and following all guidelines from Department of Health and Department of Education, Mullum Primary School will remain open until we are told we cannot.

We are doing everything possible to provide a safe and healthy environment for your child when they are at school, this includes:

teaching hand sanitizing practices
avoiding unnecessary large gatherings
conducting all assemblies outdoors
contacting parents if we are concerned about a child's health
encouraging families to keep children at home if their child is unwell
Ringing families to check reasons for absences and encouraging families to keep Compass attendance up to date

The following link explains why it is so important for schools to remain open:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/CHO_advicetoschools_16March2020.pdf?utm_source=email+marketing+Mailigen&utm_campaign=Direct+Send+-+Emergency&utm_medium=email

Cancelled programs

As mentioned in my Compass notice on Monday evening the following programs have been cancelled at school, to minimise risk of infection and to keep the school open for as long as possible:

All Inter-school sport matches for Grade 5/6 students
Grade 5/6 Camp in April
All excursions or incursions
All Team Victoria trials (some students affected)

Postponed Programs

The following programs have been postponed, and will be rescheduled when the school resumes normal programming:

School Council AGM and Meeting - set for Monday 23 March
Student-led Walk through - set for Tuesday 24 March
All instrumental lessons
All dance lessons
All tennis lessons
Teeth on Wheels (until November)
Playgroup
Parent volunteers where attendance is non-essential
All therapy services provided at school by external therapists
Term 2 Inter-school sport
Term 2 Whole-School Cross Country

Preparing for possible closure

We do understand that, at some point, schools may be asked to close and in event that this could happen we are making preparations for the continuation of student learning. Our staff are currently preparing resources and programs for students to use at home, this will be communicated to you all when and if the need arises. These resources will be mostly be online resources that require student access to digital technology and wi-fi. It is a good time to start thinking about what resources you have at home for this to occur. Are there any devices your child can use? How will these devices be used if you have more than one child? Do you have wi-fi? Do you have a reasonable filtering system in place to keep your child safe online? Does your family have capacity to print at home if needed? As mentioned in my email to you all on Wednesday we are not expecting families to rush out and purchase additional devices and resources for home, however, we would appreciate you letting your child's classroom teacher know if your child does not have access to technology at home, enabling us to consider alternative options.

Leadership Badge Presentation

On a more upbeat note, last Monday morning we celebrated the school leadership positions with a badge presentation ceremony. Michael Sukkar MP attended the ceremony and congratulated our Junior School Council representatives, House Captains, Specialist Captains and our School Captains on the roles they are undertaking across the school. Michael also presented the school with a new Australian flag to fly on our flag pole.

Grade 3 and Grade 4 Joke Books

Over a number of weeks our Grade 3 and Grade 4 students have been writing Joke Books to send to primary schools in the bush fire affected areas of Victoria. These books are headed to Lakes Entrance Primary School, Buchan Primary School, Marlo Primary School, Sarsfield Primary School, Cann River Primary School and Clifton Creek Primary School. The books are now ready to send but before we do check out these jokes:

Annual Privacy Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy

Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website http://www.mullumps.vic.edu.au/school-policies

For more information about privacy, see: Schools’ Privacy Policy – information for parents. This information also available in nine community languages.

Pick up and drop off in Panfield Ave

Mullum Primary and Maroondah City Council have ongoing concerns about the way some families are parking and accessing the school, most particularly before and after school. Please remember some key safety points, for the benefit of the whole community and the safety of your child:

park your car on the edge of the road before allowing children to enter or exit the vehicle
please ensure your children are entering or exiting the car on the curb side only
please continue driving in the direction your car is pointing and drive around the block, in preference to completing a U-turn on driveways children are walking across
please refrain from taking calls or looking up directions in the drop off only zone

Uniform Reminders

While school remains open, it is important arrive at school in correct school uniform. Please be reminded of the following:

plain black tracksuit pants, with polo shirt and jumper are to be worn by both boys and girls as we move into Autumn and Winter
Leggings or stockings, under the summer dress, are not uniform unless special exemption has been gained from me
rain jackets are for outside play and children will be asked to remove them in class
when purchasing new shoes for school please buy plain black shoes or runners, we are eliminating all other coloured shoes
Children are to remain in school uniform while on the school property

Sport

Cancellation of Sporting Activities