principal's message

dear families

2020, a time of continual change..

Last Sunday most of us listened to the Premier, Daniel Andrews’ announcements. There was some great news, lifting of the 5km radius being one. I can now see my daughter! 

After each announcement, we wait for the Department of Education to provide an update. Unfortunately there is usually a delay, which this week, meant that we received this update last night. Once received we review our procedures and processes ensuring that we are following Covid safe processes and meeting all DET and State Government requirements. Please see the attached 22 Oct, update document attached.

I sent to the staff this morning so they are constantly kept informed. It is also important to note that all staff are also required to read the whole Update.

When planning school events such as camps, excursion and important transition activities including graduation and Foundation transitions, it is always our intention to provide consistent and accurate information. We do this so that children, families and staff can be organised and, depending on the activity, have rich and exciting things to look forward to. Unfortunately one of the victims of this pandemic is surety. Things are constantly changing and with that, we are unable to be definitive about any of the above mentioned activities. 

But all is not lost!

• We can now do school photos and we’ve been investigating how they can occur. Further information will be provided when it is confirmed.
• Our grade 6 students will make ‘lunchtime announcements’ across the school instead of morning announcements.
• We are working on creating a student led virtual assembly, and
• Our JSC and student leaders have been asked to present at a conference…more details will follow.

While we are navigating these changes, I ask that you are patient with us and have confidence that we are working hard to find creative ways of keeping your children safe while acknowledging and trying in part to address some of the losses of 2020. 

We need your help!

As the table in the attachments clearly states, your children aren’t allowed to engage in contact sports. We ask that you please discuss this with them as well as ensuring that they don’t bring sports equipment from home. We are providing equipment so that we are able to ensure that it has been sanitised which supports keeping everyone safe.

We will continue to provide you with up to date information, hoping that as the term progresses, the new Covid normal is able to be implemented which celebrating our community and all that it has to offer.

class formation

As per our class formation policy, today I am publishing our forecasted numbers for 2021 and inviting any fresh and new ideas of potential class structures. We are aware of the increased numbers in some year levels that reflect changes to enrolment policies and practices over the past few years. We are also aware that COVID-19 has had impacts to students’ academic development, social connection, and feelings of readiness. Our Education Committee will be discussing these issues at next Tuesday’s meeting and we will be seeking information and input from students themselves. In addition to this, the school is keen to hear any ideas of how we might create grade structures that support positive and productive classroom environments. 

We have some constraints to our planning, including a budget we must fit within and a limit of 21 classroom spaces (although this will increase once our STELLA building has been finished!). Yet we also have a philosophy we hold dear, including small class sizes wherever possible. In addition to this, our teaching teams collaborate in all of their planning and therefore like to have distinct teams formed wherever possible. If you have any ideas that you wish to share, please email them to the school or bring them to the front office before Friday 30th October.

school photos

We are pleased to announce that we have organised school photos for this term! Earlier this week, Premier Daniel Andrews made the announcement that outdoor photography is now allowed in schools. We had to wait on confirmation from the Department of Education, which has only recently been received, but we can confirm that school photo week will be Monday 16th - Friday 20th November. More information on how to make your order will be sent through Sentral and in next week’s newsletter. We apologise for the late notice on this; however we are responding to changes to COVID-safe practices as quickly as possible. We are delighted to be able to offer this to our community, as there was such positive feedback from last year’s photographs. 

Stay tuned!