Dear Parents and Guardians,

May I begin this newsletter with a heart-felt thank-you to you all for supporting your children during Lock Down 6.0. From all accounts more and more children are joining their teacher and friends online through daily WebEx links and small teacher groups, including intervention. Your support in checking daily schedule and helping your child get on-line at the right time is fantastic and much appreciated by us all.

Another huge thank-you needs to be extended to all our staff. Some teachers are at home, teaching the children online, on the computer for a long time, which can be very tiring. These teachers are trying really hard to keep the children engaged, thinking of ways to get them to join in the daily WebEx meeting. It is a mammoth effort and we thank them for their agility to respond, adapt and innovate to ensure this learning period is successful.

We also have a team of teachers who deserve a huge thank-you as well. They come on-site to supervise children of essential workers and children deemed vulnerable. This role can be quite challenging given that the children on-site miss their own teacher and their friends, and require intensive interaction through-out the day to keep them engaged. The children coming on-site are learning in the same way as their peers at home. They are linked to their classroom teacher through technology whilst at school and are expected to complete the same work as their peers. Thank-you to these teachers for stepping into this role so that the classroom teachers can focus on supporting and teaching their class.

Our Education Support Staff team are working diligently to support individual students through WebEx for students if they need extra assistance. They are also making phone calls to families checking in with them and their children. Some Education Support staff are supporting children who are on-site. Some of our admin staff have been on-site every day and supported many families through accessing technology, or answering questions, administering first aid etc, whilst others continue to support our school in various ways from home.

In short, the Melton west Primary School staff and our Community are AWESOME. Thank-you everyone.

Social Distancing: I think this resurgence of the Covid virus, prompting the need to be back to another Lock Down, is a timely reminder of the importance of socially distancing whilst on-site at school and when we return to on-site learning. We know many parents and carers follow the health advice and ensure social distancing between themselves and other adults whilst collecting their child, including limiting the time they are on-site. Thank-you for doing this and helping to keep everyone safe. Can I urge all adults to follow these guidelines for the health and safety of yourself, your children and others in our school community. It is difficult for staff to monitor and supervise adults to do the right thing whilst on-site. Please consider only entering the school when absolutely necessary. The children have shown great resilience and independence getting to their class on their own in the morning and I’m sure they would be able to meet you at a certain gate if it was pre-arranged. We have a number of staff on yard duty afterschool that look out for children who looked lost. We can certainly support them to find their special person who is picking them up. Please trust that they can do the right thing, especially the older children.

Exposure Site: Please check out the following link regularly to see if you have attended a tier 1 or 2 exposure site, given that Melton has recently become an area with lots of exposure sites. The sooner we identify all the cases, the sooner we can get back to on-site learning – something we are all aiming for. https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites

eSmart links: The eSafety Commissioner Website is a fantastic resource for parents and educators around how to help children keep safe online. There are some upcoming parent training webinars that you may find useful to help keep your child safe online. Please check out the link if it is something you would like to explore further. https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

The following link https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide has information about the common Aps children tend to use and is also a valuable resource.

I have included the Schools Digital Technologies Policy as part of this newsletter for your information. This is available on the school website as well.

Parent Opinion Survey: A random sample of parents have been invited to complete a confidential Opinion Survey. Information from past surveys were recently used as we reflected on the past 4 years. Your input can have a positive impact on what happens at school and I strongly encourage you to complete it if you received a link. Please let us know if you received a link and have any questions.

High Expectations for All

Michelle Costa

Community News