Dear Families,

This past week has seen many Victorian communities face the worst flooding the state has experienced in decades.

The effects on impacted communities will likely continue for some time, especially given the predictions of ongoing rain in some areas.

Our thoughts go out these communities and hope that all your friends and families are safe.

I would like to personally thank families for their support in responding to the damage we had onsite last week with the rain. This was directly related to a town issue where the storm water and sewerage pumps could not cope with the amount of rain fall we had.

We could not have done anything different at a school level to stop this occurring. We do have toilets working back onsite and the sewage spill is being assessed by a team of specialists.

The school site was made safe this morning and we will be able to access the site again on Monday.

Temporary toilets have been provided as a backup with the amount of rain we are forecast to have on Sunday and Monday.

Temporary fencing has gone up around the affected area out the front of the school. No one is allowed to enter this zone as a precaution until the findings of the hygienist are given back to the school and the next steps are determined.

There will be a few changes to the way we use the school site:

There will be no access to the office via the front gate. Parents and visitors will need to enter the students gate near the staff car park on Chapman Street and walk up the path.
Students will have no access to the front playground/grass area next week. I will keep families up to date on when this can be used again.
The students in the BER building (Prep S, Prep/1S and 1/2A) will enter the building from the back door where the new shade sail has been installed.
3/4Q and 3/4S will have no access to their doors that open out to the front playground. They will enter through the corridors.
The Junior students will be using the Senior toilets for the first few days to ensure we don't have issues with our toilets again with the current weather forecast.
Students will be dismissed at the Chapman Street gate near the staff car park and the Murlong St gate near the shed at the end of the day.

We are very excited to be back onsite and can't wait to see the students on Monday. There may be some further modifications that we will need to make to ensure these plans work smoothly for families. This will be communicated with families.

I would once again like to thank all the local schools for their support in hosting us whilst we continued learning offsite. This has been amazing and so nice to build partnerships with these schools.

Thank you to all the staff who went above and beyond in catering for students. The staff at SHNPS are amazing and were always thinking about the best way to support students.

Information for Emergencies

Please take note of the following information/apps that is provided for the community if there are any emergency warnings.

-For up-to-date emergency warnings and information, refer to the VicEmergency respond webpage.

-For information on relief and recovery, refer to the VicEmergency relief webpage.

-For emergency assistance in a flood or storm, call the Victoria State Emergency Service (SES) on 13 25 00.

-For emergency information about floods and storms, call the SES information line on 1300 842 737.

World Teachers Day

I encourage students to celebrate World Teachers’ Day, held in Australia on Friday 28 October 2022. While the day is held internationally on 5 October, in many parts of Australia this usually falls during the school holidays, so we celebrate a little later. Some ways your child could do this is by:

encourage students to send thank-you cards to their favourite teachers
use the hashtag #thanksvicteachers on social media

Camps

We have our 3/4 and 5/6 Camps coming up in a couple of weeks. Please be assured we will be monitoring the conditions of the flood affected areas and the roads before sending students on camps. A risk assessment will be completed before leaving to ensure everyone's safety.

2023 Enrolments

If you haven’t yet enrolled your child/ren for 2023 we urge you to do so as soon as possible. Planning for 2023 is complex work which begins now. If you know of any families who would like a tour of the school, please encourage them to contact the office for book a personalised tour.

2023 Classes

At this time of year we begin to plan for 2023. If you have a wellbeing request for 2023 please address this to me in writing ASAP. Please note request for teachers will not be taken.

Similarly, if by chance you know that your circumstances will be changing in 2023 and you are leaving our school community, we would be so grateful if you could contact the Office and let us know.

Have a lovely and safe weekend.

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