Message from the Principals

Melbourne Cup Eve

A notice was sent home earlier this month to gauge students’ attendance for Monday 2nd November 2020 as the School understands that many families take the opportunity to have some family and holiday time before the rush of Christmas.

In response to our recent letter, we have 9 Foundation, 13 Grade 1's, 9 Grade 2's, 5 Grade 3's, 9 Grade 4's, 6 Grade 5's and 4 Grade 6 students indicate that they will be attending. Based on these numbers, we have organised a special program for the school day and have 3 staff members to cover supervision of these children. Please inform your child to go straight to the blue area at the start of the day (not their usual classroom).

Reception will only be open from 9am to 3pm on that day. Many staff will be working remotely.

Grade 6 Graduation

We were very pleased to see that the latest announcements regarding COVID-19 restrictions include allowing some graduation ceremonies to go ahead.

We know this will be welcome news to our Grade 6 students. We are now awaiting final advice from the Department of Education. After considering any further advice we will inform the school community of our revised 2020 Graduation plans.

GPAs

The latest progress reports will be released on Friday 30th. It has been a little while since our last progress reports. Progress reports provide parents with information about your child’s learning behaviours at school as experienced by their teachers. We did not report on learning behaviours during the remote learning period as we were sure you knew exactly how your children were behaving at home! Thanks again for all your support during this challenging period.

By analysing GPA data teachers are able to better understand which students have made a successful transition back to school. We will then be providing additional support to those students that need it. If you have concerns about your child’s return to school we encourage you to contact your child’s teacher. Email is usually the easiest way to do this. Teacher’s emails are available on Compass. Or you can contact the school directly via the website.

Orang-Artan Competition shortlisters

During remote learning a number of our students participated in an art competition as part of Orang-Artan Project's efforts to raise funds to protect these amazing animals. The Orang-Artan Project received 430 entries from all over the world! This included twelve school groups from Australia, the UK and Portugal!

Thank you to the parents, grandparents, carers, aunts, uncles, friends and of course the teachers who registered and sent beautiful artwork that celebrates orangutans and wildlife conservation. And thank you to all the young artists who sent in their beautiful, creative artworks. You should all feel so proud.

Shortlisted Artists

Two students were shortlisted from our school these were Ruby, and J.J. We'd like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS for being shortlisted. Congratulations on taking part, on your talent and creativity, and on making it to the shortlist.

The judging panel are now finalising their choices for the winners of the first, second and third prizes. As you can imagine, it's a huge task! The final winners will be announced at a special live streamed ceremony in Orangutan Caring Week.

Orang-Artan Prize Ceremony

Date: Thursday 12 November (Australia)

Time: 5 to 6pm AEDT (Australian Daylight Savings Time)

Please save the date - a link to the webinar will be sent to you next week.

The founder and President of Orang-Artan Project, Leif Cocks will be there, along with Kylie Bullo, our Conservation Manager, and the team of amazing volunteers who made this competition such a success. Shortlisted student will also get to meet the judges! Judges Max Hamilton, Emma Quay, Ben Pearmain and Camila and Chris form Eggpicnic will announce the winners and talk about their favourite pieces.

The event will be recorded, so if you can't get there for any reason, you'll be able to see the announcements later.

2021 Chromebook Program

All students from year 3 to 6 will be expected to have a Chromebook in 2021.

You will need to act promptly if you wish to have the device delivered prior to Christmas.

More information about the program can be found here.

Prepare your school for thunderstorm asthma season

There are important steps that schools can take to ensure students are safe during this thunderstorm asthma season. Grass pollen season occurs between October and December. Schools are reminded of an increased risk of seasonal asthma, hay fever and epidemic thunderstorm asthma during this time.

Epidemic thunderstorm asthma events are triggered by an uncommon combination of high grass pollen levels and a certain type of thunderstorm, resulting in large numbers of people developing asthma symptoms over a short period of time.

People with a history of asthma, undiagnosed asthma or hay fever are at an increased risk of epidemic thunderstorm asthma during this time. Having both hay fever and asthma that are poorly managed increases the risk further.

More than ever before, this year it’s important for staff and students to manage any hay fever or asthma symptoms, as these conditions can produce symptoms that are similar to coronavirus (COVID-19) such as runny nose, cough or shortness of breath.

The best way to reduce and prevent symptoms of asthma or hay fever and reduce unnecessary absences from school is to follow an up-to-date asthma action plan or hay fever treatment plan.

While it’s important to increase outside air ventilation and move activities outside where possible in order to minimise the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission, schools should monitor the VicEmergency App and on days when there is a heightened risk of thunderstorm asthma, windows and doors should be closed and then reopened when the risk reduces.

A factsheet is available to help school principals prepare for the pollen season in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

What can schools do?

To prepare for the grass pollen season, schools can:

review the Department’s Asthma policy and your school’s asthma policy, and ensure that appropriate staff are trained in asthma first aid
ensure your school has an asthma emergency kit with in-date emergency reliever medication (available over the counter from a pharmacy without a prescription)
ensure all students diagnosed with asthma have an up-to-date Asthma Action Plan in line with current recommendations, and a Student Health Support Plan, as well as a student asthma kit
encourage staff or students with a history of seasonal hay fever symptoms to see a GP if they don’t have a hay fever treatment plan
keep asthma medication readily accessible
download the VicEmergency app and create a ‘watch zone’ for epidemic thunderstorm asthma advice and warnings
on days with a heightened risk of thunderstorm asthma, avoid being outside during thunderstorms and during wind gusts that come before a storm. Close doors and windows and turn air conditioners on to re-circulate air. Note that this measure is only to be used on days with heightened risk of thunderstorm asthma; at other times schools should be ventilating rooms with fresh air as much as possible, and not using the air conditioner on recirculate.
encourage staff and students to manage hay fever and asthma symptoms – particularly important as the symptoms can be similar to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Remain vigilant for coronavirus (COVID-19)

Don’t assume symptoms are due to hay fever or asthma.

If staff or students experience symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, and loss or change of sense of smell or taste, that are different in any way to their usual hay fever or asthma symptoms, they should self-isolate immediately and test for coronavirus (COVID-19).

For information about managing a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19), refer to the Term 4 Operations Guide.

Find out more

For more information, refer to:

Asthma Australia for a free online learning course about thunderstorm asthma
Better Health Channel for more about epidemic thunderstorm asthma
Department guidance about asthma attacks, cleaning asthma puffers and key information.

For information responding to epidemic thunderstorm asthma, contact the Operations and Emergency Management manager or emergency management support officer in your region.

For information about coronavirus (COVID-19) visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria