Engagement and Wellbeing 

Schooling with COVID-Normal - Keeping each other safe

As we know, Victoria has been working exceptionally well in managing COVID over the Summer break, meaning that there have been no community transfer cases in the last 26 days. Whilst this is a wonderful effort by all, It’s also highly important that we remain vigilant and use this time to reinforce strong COVID-safe practices. For us as a school that means following all Departmental Guidelines and enacting the following practices:

Staying at home if unwell - Only sending students if they are 100% well. Everyone was exceptional with this last year and we want this to continue going forward. We also know that there is no set time that an illness will present with symptoms and that this may occur over the school day. Should your child become unwell at school and display COVID-related symptoms, we will call home for an adult to come and collect the child as soon as possible. Once all symptoms have gone, we then look forward to seeing your child back on deck.

Practising good hand hygiene at all times - All staff will be modelling the appropriate use of hand washing facilities and sanitiser for the students over the year.. To support sanitisation, key stations with foaming sanitiser have been installed in all areas of the school so that children can access this as they enter and leave buildings. All students will be reminded to wash/sanitise their hands at key times across the day to reduce the risk of secondary contact infection from touch. Should your family want to send in sanitiser with your child, you are more than welcome.

Ensuring we practise and model physical distancing of 1.5 m - It’s important that we keep up the great work in avoiding making contact with others unnecessarily. Our staff want to be friendly and will certainly be there to support children, but we ask that adults avoid handshakes and hugs for the time being. Please also remember to wear a mask in situations where you cannot physically distance yourself from others.

Staggered end of the day dismissal - Last year we implemented a staggered end of the day finish to help parents/carers to physically distance themselves a bit more upon collection time. This term, we will again keep this going, with students being released at the following times (please check your child’s Compass to see whether their class is an A/B/C/D/E/F/G or H):

• A & E Classes – 3:24 pm
• B & F – 3:26 pm
• C & G – 3:28 pm
• D & H – 3:30 pm

Thorough cleaning routine - We have additional cleaning taking place over the term to ensure all key touch points, commonly shared areas and toilets are cleaned and sanitised thoroughly to again decrease the risk of contamination for both our staff and students.

Managing visitors to the school in a strategic manner - We ask that all visitors who enter the school for longer than a drop off or collection (quick message to the teacher) to sign in at the office. This helps us to keep track of any person on our site for 15 mins or longer and in the event that contact tracing may be required, we will be easily able to support this.

Assemblies - We are now able to run assemblies with staff and students only. Assemblies will be live-streamed to the community so that parents/carers can watch these as they see fit.

Excursions/Camps - At this stage camps and excursions are permitted across Victoria with no restrictions between Melbourne and regional Victoria. As with any excursion, our staff will be planning carefully to ensure these support the learning of our students in a manner that does not increase their risk of exposure to COVID.

School buses - School buses will run as normal with the Department of Education working with bus providers to implement measures to keep students safe and comfortable with community travel.

Should anyone have further questions that they would like clarified, please unsure of, please come and see Scott, Bernie or Dave.

High Risk Medical Student Meetings

Over the next 2 weeks families with students with high risk medical needs will be contacted to review and update health plans for their child. If you have a child with a high risk medical need (Anaphylaxis, Diabetes, Heart Condition, Epilepsy, etc) please be prepared to come along with updated medical advice from your health professional in order to make the plan as effective as possible. Thank you!

Grade 6 Roles of Responsibility

Late last year, we were able to present our new school captains for 2021 to the community and the next step is presenting all of our year 6 students with their roles of responsibility and badges. As such, we endeavour to have teams finalised late this week and will then find a suitable time to present the students with their badges in the following week.

Parent Liaison Person… Are you interested in becoming the link between home and school?

At Buninyong we have our  PLP program functioning  with the aim of strengthening the partnership between home and school. Through various feedback forums, we also aim to increase the effectiveness of communication as well as creating opportunities for our parents and families to contribute to the broader school community.

Our teachers are now seeking the support of at least one parent to take on the role of PLP for their class. The role generally entails:

• Representing your child’s class at each of the PLP Meetings (2 per term)
• Supporting new families to connect with others in their classroom
• Assisting teachers to organise events and activities that are inclusive of all members of the classroom (Helper roster, catch ups, play dates, etc)
• Supporting major event development throughout the year.

 If this is something that may interest you, please read a bit more about the program below and contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible.

Parent/Carer Event Schedule

Attached to this newsletter is a copy of our current community event schedule for the term. We’re sure that you will find this helpful in planning your term and any holidays going forward.