The Issue Highlights

Literacy & Numeracy / Book Week Special - including door competition winners and a visit from Natalie Suleyman MP (Member of Parliament for St Albans & Deputy Speaker)
A reminder to families selected to complete the annual DET Parent / Carergiver / Guardian Opinion Survey (PCGOS) by 16th September 2022. We thank you in advance for your feedback and support.
You may have heard in the news that the National Cabinet agreed to reduce the isolation periods for COVID-19 positive cases from seven to five following a positive test. These changes will come into effect from Friday 9th September 2022.
On Thursday 8th September, we are holding an event for R U OK? Day by students and staff wearing yellow to school and activities. Families are welcome to attend.
Next week is eSMART Week. Since Term 1 2020 there has been a ministerial mobile phone policy in place for all government schools. The policy means phones brought to school must be switched off and stored securely during the school day. The eSafety Commissioner website has many resources for families and students to be Cyber Safe, Digitally Responsible and Respectful Online.
Your child's Semester 2 Individual Learning Plan (ILP) has been emailed to families and will also be available on Xuno for you to access anytime.
Thank you to Nerida (School Council President) and volunteers (Loretta S, Loreta P, Vandana) as part of our Parents, Carers and Friends Association (PCFA) for running the Father's Day Stall today at school. Happy Father's Day for Sunday!
Student of the Week from our PBIS rewards system.
Showcase of students' learning from across the school in Primary (including a Late Night / Sleep Over Special) and Secondary (including Year 9/10 Swimming and highlights from the Year 9-12 Winter Formal).
Allied Health (Video from Speech Pathology Week) and Wellbeing information to support you and your child.
Community news including from Jackson OSHC provider TheirCare.
For the most up-to-date calendar dates, always refer to the Xuno Calendar in your Parent Portal.

Dear Families,

Last week we celebrated Literacy and Numeracy / Book Week. Thank you to all of the students who dressed up on Friday. Thank you to the staff for their creativity in developing exciting and engaging activities for our students. The classroom doors looked amazing! We were lucky to have Natalie Suleyman MP (Member of Parliament for St Albans & Deputy Speaker) help judge the door competition today. Click here to see Instagram Post (login required). The winners were:

Natalie Suleyman MP Awards: 34B (Primary), 78B (Secondary)
P-2 Winner: 12A
3/4 Winner: 34C
5/6 Winner: 56C
7/8 Winner: 78C
9/10 Winner: 9/10D
Primary Highly Commended: 12B
Secondary Highly Commended 12B

Congratulations winners and thank you everyone for doing such an amazing job!

Parent / Carergiver / Guardian Opinion Survey (PCGOS)

The annual Parent / Carergiver / Guardian Opinion Survey (PCGOS) will be released to a random sample of families (83 parents/carers around 30%) between 15th August to 16th September 2022. The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek. You will have been contacted if you have been randomly selected to participate in the survey. Currently, only 18% of selected families have completed the survey. We thank you in advance for your feedback and support.

COVID-19 Update

PM Press Release: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/meeting-national-cabinet-0

You may have heard in the news that the National Cabinet agreed to reduce the isolation periods for COVID-19 positive cases from seven to five following a positive test, with the following conditions:

This would apply to people with no symptoms at five days.
Seven days isolation remains for workers in high risk setting including aged care, disability care, those providing care in the home.

These changes will come into effect from Friday 9 September 2022. No further guidance has yet been given by the Victorian government. Once further information is provided by DET I will make this available to families.

Rapid Antigen Testing (RATs) & Suspected/Positive Cases

A reminder that it is recommended that rapid antigen tests are used by students and staff when symptomatic. Rapid antigen tests are also required to be used for five days if a student or staff member is an identified close contact of a confirmed case, and they are attending or working at a school onsite. Any students displaying symptoms for COVID-19 should continue to stay home and do a rapid antigen test. If your child comes to school with new COVID-19 symptoms or becomes unwell at school these will be managed as a suspected case of COVID-19 until a test result has been received. Therefore, following DET policy, your child will be isolated and you will be asked to collect your child from school. Thank you for your cooperation in advance.

The symptoms to watch out for are:

fever
chills or sweats
cough
sore throat
shortness of breath
runny nose
loss or change in sense of smell or taste
headache
muscle soreness
stuffy nose
nausea
vomiting
diarrhoea

Families must continue to notify the Department of Health and the school if their child returns a positive RAT result. Additionally, you should inform us if any of your children are household contacts.

After doing the tests at home, if it is positive, you will need to:

let the school know on the via the Jackson COVID Hotline 03 9366 4322; Option 4 and/or dedicated email address covid@jacksons.vic.edu.au. There is a message bank on the phone for when the phone is unmanned by our rostered COVID Officer. Families are able to message the mobile number and/or email address 24 hours a day. Please note we will only be able to respond to messages and calls within office hours.
keep your child at home for 7 days (5 days after 9th September 2022)
contact the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form or call centre on 1800 675 398.

Hopefully, now we are in spring, winter cold and flu symptoms will reduce.

R U OK? Day - Thursday 8th September 2022

R U OK? is a harm prevention charity that encourages people to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times in their lives. It’s our national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, ‘are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they spot the signs that someone they care about might be struggling.

On Thursday 8th September, we are holding an event for R U OK? Day by students and staff wearing yellow to school and completing activities. Families are welcome to attend.

For more information, please see the Wellbeing Page or visit: https://www.ruok.org.au/

eSMART Week 2022 & Mobile Phones at School

From Monday 5th September – Sunday 11th September students will also participate in National eSmart Week 2022 with the theme ‘Proud to be me, digitally’. During eSMART Week students will learn about their rights and responsibilities online and empower them to be positive digital citizens.

The eSafety Commissioner website has many resources for families, such as:

Screen time for your child – 7 tips on how families can balance their time on and offline
Online Safety: A guide for parents and carers is a great guide on how to tackle the big online issues
Screen Smart Parent Tour provides advice on social media, screen time, personal information, cyber-bullying, stranger contact and inappropriate content.
Be an eSafe kid for students with limited literacy.
REPORT ABUSE ONLINE report a complaint about cyberbullying, adult cyber abuse, image-based abuse or illegal and restricted online content.

Since Term 1 2020 there has been a ministerial mobile phone policy in place for all government schools. The policy means phones brought to school must be switched off and stored securely during the school day. Wearable devices, iPads and other personal devices are excluded from the policy, however, if they are brought to school, students must switch off all notifications during the school day.

The aim of this policy is to provide:

a safe environment to learn without inappropriate mobile phone use (including cyberbullying) or distractions
greater opportunities for social interaction and physical activity during recess and lunchtimes.

Talking about mobile phone use as a family is a great way to support safe and responsible technology use. The eSafety Commisioner also has a How To Video Library on common issues with teens and mobile phones.

In emergencies, parents can contact their children through the school office. Mobile phones are permitted when travelling to and from school. However, SDTP Bus Supervisors must report any inappropriate use of or behaviour in relation to mobile phone use by students (inappropriate context, videoing other students, taking photos on the bus). Thank you for your ongoing support.

For more information, please visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/mobile-phones-schools

Vietnamese:

Student Support Group (SSGs) Meetings & Individual Learning Plans (ILPs)

We aim to have every child’s parent or carer meet with the classroom teacher to discuss the learning of each child. We apologise that due to staff absence not all SSGs have yet been able to be held as planned. If you have not yet had an opportunity to make an appointment to meet with your child's teacher, please contact them on SeeSaw to make a time.

Your child's Semester 2 Individual Learning Plan (ILP) has been emailed to families and will also be available on Xuno for you to access anytime. An ILP outlines a modified educational program with long term (annual) and short term goals (semester) are based upon the Victorian Curriculum (Prep-Year 10). These are informed from our current assessments of what your child can already do. If you have any questions about your child's ILP please contact your child's teacher through SeeSaw Messages.

Thank you to Nerida (School Council President) and volunteers as part of our Parents, Carers and Friends Association (PCFA) for running the Father's Day Stall today at school. I hope all of the Dads and Grandads within our community have a lovely Father's Day this weekend.

Best wishes,

Anthony

Book Week Special