LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
BUT WE'RE NOT QUITE THERE YET....
It's now been more than 2 years that schools have been grappling with the fallout of the pandemic. During that time we've lost so many activities that used to be regular events on our calendar.
With the department's easing of restrictions this term, schools were getting ready to return to many of these activities and events we enjoyed 'pre-covid'. Unfortunately, the rapid rise in student and staff illness hit many schools and has thrown us back into some disarray. While this was not unanticipated, clearly many of our school's programs and activities will continue to be impacted until things settle down again.
More than 30% of our children have been absent each day over the past two weeks. A number of staff absences have impacted class supervision and other activities. How long this wave will last is unclear however regular covid testing of children will provide us with some ability to track the virus within the school. It won't, however, help us track non-covid viruses also doing the rounds, so we continue to seek parent support in keeping sick children home in an effort to minimise the spread of both viruses.
Due to the increased spread of covid in recent weeks, the Department of Education has advised schools that they will be continuing the distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests for the remainder of term 2. RAT kits arrived today and were distributed to all children this afternoon. Please check your child's school bag and put these to use!
This 'last wave' has provided our teachers with a final frustrating hurdle to overcome in working towards the re-opening of our school to the community, but this will pass and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel:
- Parents are once again in the kitchen preparing fruit and veggie snacks for the children as part of the Fresh Fruit Friday program. Thank you to our small team of parent volunteers who have been working to get this program up and running again after a two-year hiatus!
- Our teachers are working towards an Open Day event on May 25 with a series of activities for the children based on the theme of 150 years of State Education. The day will operate on the model used for our pre-covid Super Science Days and we invite everyone to come along on the day.
- Next term we will be inviting parent volunteers back into our classrooms to support reading programs and other class-based activities.