From the Principal
Dear Families, carers and school community,
Thank you again for all the support, love and guidance you have provided your children over these past weeks. The work you have done at home has helped to flatten the curve and Yarrabah School are very grateful and proud of your achievement during this period.
Please stay up to date on everything by:
- joining our Facebook Page
- receive it first on Yarrabah’s Twitter page
- keep up to date and communicate with your child’s teacher on the Family Seesaw account
- read the news on the web page
- stay linked on our LinkIT portal
Some of you probably know that I follow the Geelong FC. Chris Scott said, "[Be] as prepared as you can be, but agile enough when things change that we can keep calm and focus on what is important in the moment. We know that long-term those priorities are probably not going to change but we can't be distracted by things we can't control."
The announcement at the beginning of this week that school returns on the 26th of May was met with some mixed emotions. These ranged from excitement to worry however our schools’ purpose must remain central in efforts to resume face to face learning. Yarrabah school is focussed on ‘maximising student potential by providing individualised safe learning environments…’ at this time.
Yarrabah preparations for the return of all students is going very well. Our school environment will be prepared for your child to resume. The classroom staff are preparing your child’s learning environment, cleaners have completed a school wide clean and will continue to do this each day with extra efforts placed in cross infection; maintenance has prepared some new surprises for children around school. The school grounds are in great shape. There might even be a new playground opening soon for the lower and upper juniors to enjoy, keep them regulated and calm.
I think the message for us all at the moment is to stay calm and remain focussed on what we can control. The things you have absolute control over at this time differ from family to family. We aim to help you feel a sense of calm and assurance in relation to getting your children to and from school.
Arrangements for pick up and drop off:
The front office is open for all enquiries. Kim and Lindy will be in the front office all day, taking calls and enquiries face to face.
Numbers of people in the office will be limited. Signage will guide you in terms of distancing expectations and protocols.
Mill Street School Entrance:
Mill Street entrance is reserved for EEP and Primary aged students and their families only. Unless you need to speak with someone in the office, only EEP and Primary families and their children will be using this Mill Street entrance. Exceptional circumstances may apply and we ask that these families contact the school to discuss those arrangements.
All EEP and Primary aged families will drop off from their respective courtyards following the guidance sent home to families. EEP will drop off at 9:00am.
Primary aged students will begin drop off from 9:20am, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Primary aged students can be picked up from 3:15pm however earlier pick up is possible upon arrangement with the school. This is to assist social distancing and reduce congestion of adults in and around the front of the school. Unfortunately, at this stage we cannot afford to enter into lengthy conversations with other adults at pick up or drop off times. Instead our primary communication channel will be the Seesaw Family account.
All families will be provided a designated pick up and drop off location by their homeroom and section. You will find out the details next week.
Once you have dropped your child off, we ask that you leave the premises immediately, refraining from group chat or social catch ups on site. We are trying to reduce the contact between adults as much as possible, making the environment safer for all.
Secondary aged families and students will be dropped off at the rear of the site (Browns Lane). Next week we have a contractor coming to the site to make the car park a safer place to walk for students, from the Scout Hall gate to the classroom. Families will drop their children off at the regular times in the morning and pick them up at the same time in the afternoon.
All senior section students will enter and leave via the nurture group gate, while the remainder of students will enter and leave via the regular gate. Families of respective groups will wait in designated areas to increase the social distancing between adults.
Home pick ups and drop offs by the designated bus service remain the same. There will not be a change to the times your child is picked up or dropped off at home.
Next week:
Next week you can expect some more detail about pick up and drop off locations. You will also be receiving invitations to participate in chats online. Next week is about homeroom catch up, homeroom check in and homeroom staff re-acquaintance.
You will also receive some individualised correspondence from your section and homeroom teacher. This will be more specific in terms of what is happening organisationally and in the program.
There will be a focus on getting to know students again, re-establishing routines, remembering school rules and of course having fun. There will also be a focus on working with peers, socialisation and play. These are areas your child has had little of in recent weeks.
Our next newsletter will be sent out on Friday, May 22nd and outline organisational elements related to our return to school.
We look forward to seeing you and your children’s happy faces very soon.
Matthew Harris
Principal
Yarrabah School