This week I am grateful for…

Returning to school! Especially the fact that all our students are coming back next week. We cannot wait to see everyone and get back to learning and connecting face to face!

Parent Wonderings

In our Weekly Family Check Ins last term we asked what you were concerned about with returning to school. There were three main themes that came out from the survey and I want to take a moment to address them and what we are doing as a school to support our students.

What do you have in place to make sure that the school is a safe space?

We are taking an enormous amount of precautions to protect our students, parents, and staff.

The office will be closed except by appointment, please phone or email if you need to make an appointment or if you wish to talk to staff.
We will have ‘student bubbles’ where we will be minimizing the interaction between each year level team. This will include the rotation of yard play spaces over days to make sure that all the students get a variety of play spaces and to still reduce mingling.
We have ‘staff workforce bubbles’ in place where the members of each team will minimize their interaction with other teams in the school. This has included us setting up different kitchen spaces and bathrooms for the staff.
We are have our allocated pick up and drop off locations for families to prevent congregation.
We ask that all our families really strictly adhere to social distancing, mask wearing, and hand hygiene at all times.
We have extensive cleaning throughout the school, and our cleaners will be constantly cleaning areas that we use throughout the day.
We will be minimizing all visitors to the school except for those essential to school operation.
While staff will not be wearing masks while they are teaching, at all other times when they are moving around the school they will be wearing them.

I am concerned that my child will have a hard time readjusting to school and rebuilding their friendships.

Social connection and wellbeing is a huge focus for our school in Term 4. All our teachers are actively planning for opportunities for the students to spend time rebuilding friendships and connecting. We are also adding some more structured activities in the yard, such as boardgames and art supplies, to allow multiple opportunities for students to connect in and spend time with one another.

I am worried that my child has fallen behind, what are you going to do to catch them up?

The major focuses for our school are Wellbeing, Literacy and Mathematics, and we will be prioritizing these three things exclusively in Term 4. We will be running supportive intervention to check for any students that have fallen further behind than expected and we will be working intensively with those students to fill any ‘gaps’. On the other hand, we know that we have students that have shot ahead during this time learning remotely, and we will be looking for opportunities to extend these students and continue their growth. Please reach out to your teacher if you are having concerns and keep the communication up. The more we all know the better we are able to support each other.

Important Information - Term 4

We are really excited to see all our students back on site on Monday the 12 October (Week 2 EVEN), and hope our families had a bit of a chance to rest and have some downtime over the holidays after such a great effort by everyone in Term 3.

We will follow our pick up and drop off procedures that we used in Term 3.

Prep E and Prep L - Front gate (via the office), drop off at front gate
Prep W and Prep S – West side gate (near the Art House), drop off at front gate
Year 1 – East side gate (near the net ball court)
Team Multi-Age – Back of school (between the gym and the multi-age space)

Specialist Timetables

Below are the Specialist timetables for Term 4, for your convenience.

Book Week

It is wonderful news that all our students will be attending school onsite for Book Week which is October 17-25. Our amazing Literacy Leaders have been busy preparing our Book Week, and this year's theme is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds. Along with a variety of events for students, SMPPS will be hosting our Book Week Parade on Monday 19 October. Please see the Student News section for more details.

The parade will be live streamed so families can enjoy the fun!.

Book Week - 17 - 25 October | Book Week Parade Monday 19 October

2020 Parents Victoria Online Conference

Parents / carers, school leadership, staff and school councillors, are invited to attend the 2020 Parents Victoria Online Conference.

The theme of the forum is a Brave New World: Changes, Challenges and Opportunities for Families and Schools.

This year’s conference program includes presentations from expert speakers and groups on mental health support for students and parents, connecting school communities and engaging families.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education James Merlino will open the conference and answer questions submitted by schools and families.

To submit a question email office@parentsvictoria.asn.au by Sunday 11 October.

Details on the conference and how to register are provided below.

Date: Monday 19 October 2020

Time: 10am to 1.15pm

Cost: The conference is free but registration is essential.

Registration: The conference will take place on Zoom. Participants will be emailed a Zoom link on 18 October.

For more information visit the Parents Victoria Website:

THE SIGNAL

Newsletter 14 | 09 October 2020

Issue 14 · 09 Oct 2020

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