PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Key Dates
25 May Student Free Day
26 May Return to On-site schooling Years 11 and 12 (Year 10's onsite for VCE subjects)
8 June Queen's Birthday Public Holiday (Student free day)
9 June Return to On-site Schooling Years 7 - 10
9, 10 & 11 June Summative Tasks
12 June Assessment and Reporting Day (Student free day)
26 June Term 2 Ends at 1:30 pm finish
Semester Reports published
Mr Nicholas Adamou
Principal
Returning to face-to-face teaching
In the first stage, students in senior secondary (Year 11 & 12 VCE and VCAL) will return to school from Tuesday, 26 May. Year 10 students undertaking VCE studies, including VET studies, should also attend school for those classes. A designated space will be allocated to Year 10 students who may need to remain at school all day.
All other Year 7 to 10 students will continue learning from home until Tuesday, 9 June.
To support all school staff to prepare for this transition, Monday, 25 May will be a pupil-free day.
In the second stage of our return to on-site schooling, all other Year levels will return to school from Tuesday, 9 June.
For those students who cannot be supervised at home, and vulnerable children, the existing model of on-site schooling will remain in place during the two-week period from Tuesday, 26 May to Tuesday, 9 June. The current process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days for which on-site schooling is required will continue for this two-week period.
Once a Year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their Year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home. This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact the school and speak to the relevant Year Level Manager to make an appropriate plan.
In light of resuming face to face schooling the following operational guidelines will be in place to minimise risks, ensuring the safety of all students and staff.
Hygiene
- All students will be encouraged to regularly wash their hands - not just after toilet breaks, but also at the beginning and end of recess and lunch breaks
- Soap and hand sanitiser will be available in all student bathrooms
- Students are encouraged to bring and use their own hand sanitiser, however, hand sanitiser will be available in all classrooms at the teacher’s desk
- Hand sanitiser, disinfectant spray (Glen 20), wipes and gloves, will be available in all staff rooms and offices
- Supplementary cleaning of taps, door handles, communally used surfaces, bathrooms and high used areas will be carried out during the school day. This will be undertaken by our Cleaning Services and is additional to the normal cleaning. Cleaners will be on-site all day
- If any confirmed cases of Covid-19 are identified amongst the student or staff cohorts at the school, those persons will be isolated immediately and the relevant authorities notified ASAP. The school will be locked-down at the end of that school day for deep cleaning. It will not re-open until declared “safe” by the authorities
Health checks
- There will be temperature checks for unwell students, using a laser thermometer
- Staff will be encouraged to have their temperature checked on a daily basis
- Staff who seek a health check will be supported in accessing tests
- Staff will be regularly reminded that if they are feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms – even mild symptoms - they should seek a health check if they are at school when they begin to feel unwell. If at home and feeling unwell, they should not attend school. Education staff are entitled to priority health checks if they experience symptoms
- If the school First Aid Officer declares a child “ill” following a presentation during the day, the child’s parents will be notified immediately and the child will be sent home ASAP. The child will be isolated until they are collected
Operations & return details
- Parents and carers need to be mindful of social distancing when dropping-off and picking-up children. No parents will be allowed on the school grounds before, during or after the school day. In the event that parents need to access the office in person, no more than one parent will be allowed to be in the school foyer at any time
- Students who elect to remain at home when expected to be at school will not be supported with remote learning, unless there are unique circumstances
- There will be no assembly-type gatherings until further notice
- There will be no large staff gatherings until further notice
- There will be no inter-school sport until further notice
- There will be no camps and excursions until further notice
Social Distancing
- All staff will be responsible for their own social distancing and out-of- classroom social distancing, wherever students congregate
- In the classroom it will be the responsibility of the teacher to implement social distancing as much as the classroom environment permits
- Students will be encouraged to follow social distancing rules in high usage areas such as; locker bays, corridors and the canteen area
PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
- Staff will be encouraged to wear facial protection
- Disposable gloves will be worn where appropriate and will be provided to staff
- Students who bring personal protective equipment from home will be encouraged to make use of it
Students
- Students are strongly encouraged not to use taps for drinking. They are encouraged to bring their own water bottles from home for refilling from non-drinking taps
- Students should be observing social-distancing of 1.5 metres as much as possible
Once again, thank you for your continued support and patience during this time. We look forward to welcoming our students and staff back to the classroom.
Local Works
During the remote and flexible learning period we have taken the opportunity to complete a number of local works, while the students were not on site. A big thank you to our Facilities/Maintenance Coordinator Mel West and her team (Peter, Claire and John) for their work during this time.
The following list of works has either been completed or is in the process to be completed;
- Refurbishment of Junior sub-school
- Refurbishment of A Block classrooms
- A Block roof and leakage around the nurse’s room
- Gym Foyer
- Refurbishment of canteen to meet the Health Department’s standards
- Replacement of gutters and down pipes
- Extension of Year 9 and 10 locker bay, including more undercover space for students
- Replacement of B, C and D Blocks classroom doors
- Replacing B, C and D Blocks lights to LED lights
- Archives Room – rectified the issues with flooding, installed compacters for archive files
- Upgrading outdoor spaces/outdoor furniture and gardens
Grade 6 Parent Information Evening for 2021 intake
We were lucky enough to be able to run our Parent/Carer/Student Information Evening for our 2021 Year 7 intake just before the Covid-19 lockdown on 12 March. It was a great success with a large number of families in attendance. I could not have been more proud to lead such a fantastic school community.
The information evening provided prospective parents/carers the opportunity to visit our school, talk to teachers, students and current parents about the NGSC community and what we have to offer.
Since the beginning of Term One, Mr Koullas – Transition/Pathways Leader and his team have conducted many feeder Primary school visits and personalised tours. Thank you to Stan Koullas, his team, all the teachers and of course all the outstanding student helpers and great ambassadors that supported such a successful information evening.
During the Covid-19 Remote and Flexible Learning period, I encourage parents/carers to visit the school website and take a virtual tour of the school www.ngsc.vic.edu.au. Please click on the following link to see the school’s fantastic facilities. http://360.tspvic.com.au/ngsc3215/
School zones
Every school boundary is now referred to as a zone
According to DET this language ensures that everyone is clear and consistent with language being used by the community.
If the zone is required to be smaller than a standard zone to respond to local enrolment demand, it will be called a ‘restricted zone’.
Most schools will not experience any changes
Only a small number of schools across Victoria have experienced a change in their zone. Most changes relate to new schools coming online or older restricted zones being retired.
In line with previous zone changes, no students will be required to re-enrol or change schools.
All children have a right to attend their designated neighbourhood school, but families can also choose to enrol at another school if that school has space.
If the zone line intersects the block of land containing a residence, then the children in the residence have the right to attend either school.
Click on the link below to visit the NGSC zone and any other school in the state.