Dear Monty South families,

The return of our students has been incredibly smooth so far and students have quickly transitioned back into the routine of school life. It has been wonderful seeing the school grounds filled with smiles and laughter! And watching the Year 4 students depart for camp, brought joy that they could enjoy the things that have not been possible the last two years.

Many of our neighbouring schools have already had cases of Covid within the school community and as such have had to return to remote learning for classes affected. Whilst we have not yet had a case, it is likely to be just a matter of time until we do.

We are doing our very best to maintain a high level of Covid-safe processes throughout the school. This includes maintaining class bubbles, no mixed group activities and no assembly. It is difficult to maintain year level segregation in the playground so outdoor play is not restricted at this stage. Masks must be worn indoors (by those required to do so), we encourage social distancing and the use of hand sanitiser as much as possible. If a child is unwell or shows COVID type symptoms, they should be kept at home, likewise if they are unwell at school you will be called to come and collect your child.

We would like to express our thanks to students and families for adhering to these rules to minimise risk of exposure. We’ve already had substantial amount of remote learning this year; let’s keep up the great effort so we don’t have much more.

We’ve been asked to share information on how we will respond to a confirmed case within the school. The Department of Education and Training has provided a process for us to follow in the event of a positive case of Covid-19. The procedures are current as of 5 November 2021 and are as follow:

Our first step will be to identify and notify potential primary close contacts.
DET may instruct the school to close for an initial period of up to 24 hours to allow for identification and notification of primary close contacts. This instruction will be provided as soon as possible after the IRIS alert is received by the school.
DET provide clear instructions for schools to complete the identification of primary close contacts (PCCs). Schools will then contact the identified PCCs with instructions that they should stay at home and get tested as soon as possible.
Cleaning contractors are to conduct their daily COVID-Safe Routine Cleaning as usual, however are not required to do a deep clean.
In primary schools, PCCs are likely to be limited to those in the same class as the confirmed COVID-19 case. However, this will depend on the level of compliance with facemask requirements and how much classes might have mixed.
The Dept of Health will send an SMS to the PCCs advising them of their quarantine, testing and release dates (this may take some days).
The quarantine period required for PCCs is 7 days for vaccinated and 14 days for unvaccinated contacts. Primary school student PCCs will be asked to isolate until they return a negative Day 13 test, unless they are vaccinated and should isolate for 7 days until they return a negative day 6 test.
If the PCCs are unvaccinated, they will be required to isolate for 14 days and can return to school after a Day 13 test. Students will need to show evidence of their test when they return to school.
Families/households of PCCs will no longer be required to limit their movements or stay at home.
When any necessary cleaning has been arranged and PCCs identified and contacted, schools will notify all other students they should return to school the following day. The school can reopen the following day without requiring further notification.

Health and Wellbeing Information and Support

We know that for many of our school community, the current restrictions have caused some angst. None of us are alone in this and some professional supports might be helpful moving forward. Head to Health https://www.headtohealth.gov.au/ can help you find digital mental health services from some of Australia’s most trusted mental health organisations. Provided by the Australian Department of Health, Head to Health brings together apps, online programs, online forums, and phone services, as well as a range of digital information resources. Whether you are trying to improve your own sense of wellbeing, looking for help with something that is bothering you, or helping someone you care about—Head to Health is a good place to start.

Library update & Book Parade

With less than 25 school days left and so much happening, we have decided to postpone the book parade until Book Week next year. There has already been a lot of work put in by Clare and the teachers in planning for their always amazing performance, but we know that it will be sensational next year.

Please note that as the year is coming to a close, there will be no library books going home from now until the end of the year. Please return any overdue school books asap.

Clare Bear has purchased a huge number of new books for the library at a cost of over $20,000 as well as library furniture costing $7000. The new books include: a large collection of Hi-Lo books, the complete sets of “Little People, Big Dreams” and “Superwomen in STEM”, many autobiographical books suitable for primary schoolers as well as all the latest, up to date chapter and picture books. Plenty of non-fiction books are on the way as well. A new display case will also hold the new Literature Circle book collection for the Years 4-6s.

Assessment and reporting

Teachers are in the process of writing reports for Semester Two. As part of the report writing process, teachers have been involved in moderation sessions which allows for consistent teacher judgement across all year levels. All teacher reports are proofread by year level coordinators and the Executive Team. Reports will be sent home via Compass on Wednesday 15th December.

Year 4 Camp

Our Year 4s returned from a 2 night camp at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton East this week. They had a great time with everyone giving all the activities their best effort. Students are always excited by the Giant Swing at Arrabri. It’s quite a challenge for many, and this year all students gave it a shot which is a fantastic. The weather was clear and luckily stayed that way for the final adventure on Puffing Billy. We want to acknowledge the great behaviour of the students on this camp and in particular their efforts in spending two nights away from home. After so much time spent in lockdown, in close contact with family, it is no small effort for these students to be away from home; so well done to you all. Thanks to our staff for their support to all students and their successful management of this camp.

Shade Sail Grant

Our application for the Victorian Government school grant for a large shade sail has been approved. The Shade Sails Grant is a covid-19 prevention initiative to set up outdoor teaching spaces. It provides up to $25,000 for schools to install shade sails over suitable teaching areas. With the funding we receive, we plan to install a circus style “big top” tent near the Year 4 portables in the area where a portable was removed earlier this year. We anticipate this will happen in early 2022.

Please note we were unfortunately not successful in our application for a shade sail over the existing playground equipment. We had submitted this application, early in Term 3. We will continue to apply for this grant in the ensuing years.

Play equipment

Last year we advised that we were successful in receiving funding via an Inclusive Schools Grant for play equipment. This week surveyors from the DET visited the school in preparation for the installation of the climbing frame. Additionally, our adventure playground is well underway on the Reichelt St side of the school grounds, so we can anticipate fantastic new play areas ready for the 2022 school year.

Mural

Now that lockdown has lifted we are finally able to move ahead with installing our enormous rubbish mosaic in the undercroft! Tara De Bondi is the driver behind this project and we are very excited that it is now underway.

The base-boards went up on the wall last week and the design has been outlined. This six metre long mural incorporates designs from Indigenous artist Lisa Kennedy, who has kindly given us her permission to replicate her images within our artwork. The scene we are depicting represents Wurundjeri Country both past and present and invites viewers to think about the future of this land we now share. This artwork will be formed out of thousands of pieces of coloured plastic rubbish. Students will be involved in the creation of the mural by helping to paint and adhere the plastic items to the mural.

Thank you to all the families who have donated their clean, hard plastic waste over the year. We are still collecting for this project over the next two weeks, so please keep bringing in your donations of plastic bottle tops etc. and leaving them in the tub provided at the front of the office.

Captains Corner from Phoebe Hogan and Ben Maywald (Captains) and Amalia Gomez and Ziggy Maddison-Grey (Vice)

Remembrance Day thank you

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Poppy Appeal charity. Overall, we raised $400, on the dot and ran out of stock (which doesn’t happen often) so a big thank you to all those who donated; the poppies will be back with the new 2022 captains next year.

Community Library

Alison Champion, Banyule Councillor and former parent of MSPS has generously donated a Community Library. This is a great addition to the growing community library movement so please feel free to add books to the collection to get it started, and borrow and swap your used books. Thank you Alison and sons Nick and Chris Zandegu.

Colouring Competition

The Victorian Government Level Crossing Removal Project has supplied a number of gifts for their colouring in competition. This project is building the new Montmorency Train Station and duplicating the Hurstbridge train line. Each school has been given six prizes for the competition. You can find images of prizes on our school Facebook page and you can download the Eltham Copper Butterfly Factsheet below that includes the colouring in. Please print this (page 3) or ask for a copy from the office. Entries can be given to your teacher or the office by Friday 26th November.

Parents and Friends’ Committee Activities

Donation by Jellis Craig Greensborough

We would like to thank Jellis Craig Greensborough for their generous donation of $1320 towards Parents’ and Friends’ fundraising activities. Jellis Craig had donated the funds to sponsor the Movie Night planned for Term 3 however due to lockdown, we were unable to run the event. Rather than return the funds they have suggested we use it to improve the school grounds instead. It is likely at this stage we will spend it on outdoor furniture.

As outlined in our last newsletter the following activities are planned for this term.

Free Dress and Hamper donation drive – Friday 26th November

Second hand Uniform Sale – Tuesday 7th December, 8:30am - 9:00am

Colour Fun Run – Friday 10th December

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY IN 2022

Monday 24th January - School Administration will return
Tuesday 1st February - Year 1-6 Students return to school
Wednesday 2nd February - Prep assessments being
Thursday 3rd February - Prep students begin school
Wednesday 27th July - Pupil-free Curriculum Day
Friday 16th September - Pupil-free Curriculum Day
Monday 31st October - Pupil-free Curriculum Day (Day before Melb Cup)
Monday 19th December – Final day of school for students
Tuesday 20th December - Pupil-free Curriculum Day

Until next time,

Kind regards,

Leanne Sheean

Montmorency South PS Newsletter

Issue 14 · 12 Nov 2021

In this issue