Dear Parents, Families and Community members,

Well... this wasn't the Newsletter I was expecting to send a few hours ago!

You will no doubt be aware of the breaking news regarding the snap lock down that will apply across Victoria from midnight tonight. Please be aware that we are literally being provided with this news at the same time as you and we are awaiting more formal and more detailed information from DET.

I will provide further details later this afternoon when we are clearer about the conditions and guidance.

What we know for now;

We will be in lock down until Wednesday
Schools are only available to children who are vulnerable as well as those of essential workers from Monday 15 February to Wednesday 17 February, 2021
Schools are only available to children who are vulnerable, including children in out-of-home care, children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm and children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service).
Different to the last period of Remote Learning, students with a disability or enrolled in Specialist School setting are also subject to the 'vulnerable' and 'essential worker' criteria
This applies to all Year Levels
An electronic form has been sent out this afternoon for families who meet the above criteria and require their children to be supervised at school on any of these days or times https://forms.gle/UgTtqQQuWwjSC9RHA
There will not be a Home Learning Program provided for Monday; however, all families will be provided with a ‘bank’ of activities to access via the school’s Remote Learning Launch Pad (details to follow over the weekend).
At this stage our focus is on our students and community being; ‘Happy, Safe, and Well’.

Please be aware this information is current at the time of writing and likely to change and be updated in the coming hours/days

Whilst this is yet another challenge on top of all of our recent challenges, let's remember that as a Community we have shown we can pull together and through these sorts of situations and will again.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Learning From Home Social Story

We know the changes that come with 'Lockdown' can be difficult for many students and families, so we have developed this Social Story that may assist over the next few days.

Late Arrivals/Early Pickup

Late Arrivals

Each day student learning starts promptly at 8.55 am.

If students arrive at school after 8.55 am, please ensure that a parent\carer accompanies them to the office to be signed in on the Compass Kiosk before they head to their Learning Community. Students will receive a pass to give to their teacher so that they know they have been signed in.

Early Pickup

If a student needs to be picked up early, please call the school prior to pick up. Students will be waiting for parents in the office. Please knock on the office door and the office staff will organise for your child to leave with you.

Auslan

We are beyond excited to introduce Andrew Welshe, the inaugural teacher of Auslan at our school. Auslan adds to our already rich specialist curriculum, and if the first week of these classes is anything to go by, it will soon become a firm favourite of many!

"Hi, I’m Andrew the lucky man who is now part of the ASC family and is here to deliver Auslan as a language. You may be wondering about the term “Auslan”, which is short for Australian Sign Language. It is a visual-gestural language that uses distinct movements called "signs" instead of spoken or written components which we know as "words". These movements include shapes made with the hands and arms, eyes and facial expressions, and head and body postures. The language is supplemented by fingerspelling which is the spelling of words with the fingers representing letters in the alphabet.

For those of you who don’t know, I am profoundly Deaf. I have used Auslan since I was born and am very happy to be able to share this knowledge through the teaching of Auslan here at the School."

Take care and enjoy!

Evan Savage

Principal

Armstrong Creek School Newsletter

Care, Collaboration, Commitment

Issue 2 · 12 Feb 2021

In this issue