COVID Risk Management

Over the past few days you may have heard of a new variant that has made it to Australia, which is thought to be more transmissible but less severe. After two highly disruptive years, we have been incredibly happy to spend all term with school operating almost-as-usual and focussing on the two DET priorities for 2022: student learning and wellbeing. 

While we know of a number of individual families who have spent time in isolation this term, we are thrilled that we have managed to avoid a breakout across classrooms or cohorts. The success of our infection control is multi-pronged; our students, staff and families have all worked together to mitigate transmission and keep our community safe. We know that this has come with sacrifices, such as parents and carers not being able to come on site, but we also know that the safety of our students and staff is vitally important.

We will continue to ease restrictions as guided by the Department of Education. From next Wednesday, parents and carers will be allowed back on school grounds but must remain outside (unless an appointment has been made) and must wear a mask if students are present, unless a lawful exemption applies. 

We acknowledge that this may feel slow for some families who are keen to ‘get back to normal’ and we want to assure families that we too want to reconnect without enforced restrictions hanging over us (teachers have not yet been allowed to conduct staff meetings in the same room this year). The wearing of masks, even when outdoors, is required by all adults on government school grounds and is an action we can take to protect everyone.

We also acknowledge that this may feel quick for some other families, who remain anxious about their child’s or family’s health and we want to assure any families who feel this way that we also want to feel safe in our workplace and will therefore continue to adhere to our COVID safety measures.

The diversity of needs and wants within our community has perhaps never been so evident as over the past two years; slow and gentle steps help us move forward while we continue to meet safety requirements through these changes of behaviour. We thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation.

More Rapid Antigen Tests will be available on Tuesday (15/03) at 9.30 - 10.00am from the undercover area. A separate notification will be sent through Sentral over the weekend.

Due to these COVID restrictions, we have unfortunately had to cancel or reschedule all of the community events that we hoped would take place in term 1.  Whilst this has been disappointing for us as a close-knit community who  prides itself on strength in connection, we must make everyone's safety our top priority and follow the advice of the department. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding and cannot wait to safely gather together  and celebrate community as soon as we are able.