29 May 2020
Dear Parent/Caregiver,
I am writing to you today with Week 5 of Term 2 is drawing to a close. All students have now returned to school and are attending face to face lessons each day.
· Normal school uniform and behaviour expectations apply to all students.
· There are still some classes operating in a modified approach at this stage such as practical PDHPE/Sport.
· The Talented Sports Program training sessions (TSP) are not yet operating as normal as we are still not permitted to use staff who are not employees of the department of education such as our coaches. At the time of writing this program will still not resume next week which means Year 11/12 TSP students will still leave school early on Tuesdays at 12:30pm and arrive late on Thursdays in time for period 3 at 10:40am. Year 7-10 students will have other timetabled classes or supervision during TSP. When TSP resumes I will inform all students/parents in the program.
· Teachers have now switched from online lessons to face-to-face lessons for their classes and our normal timetable has resumed.
· As is normal in a school, for students who are absent for any length of time, teachers will attempt to provide work for them to do during their absence but it is impossible to provide the exact same lessons as those occurring in the school.
· Any student who borrowed school equipment to work form home online must now return this equipment to the school.
· Students cannot attend TAFE for study but classes continue to be online at the direction of the TAFE.
· VET Work Placement for Year 12 will commence on June 1 subject to the availability of the workplace, all other VET work placements may commence from Term 3.
· School -based apprenticeships and traineeships can commence once the relevant workplaces are back in operation.
· Work experience has not resumed and will not run this term.
Attendance
All students should now be attending school unless:
· they have a medical certificate which states that they are unable to return to school due to an ongoing medical condition.
· they are currently unwell.
If your child is unwell, do not send them to school.
If they are unwell at school, you or your nominated emergency contact will need to collect them immediately. Please ensure your child’s contact details are up to date.
If a student is absent without a medical reason for more than three days, this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
Social Distancing and Other Precautions
· Normal classes are resuming although every student/staff member entering a room will be expected to sanitise hands. The teachers have supplies of this sanitiser to assist but it is appreciated if students could carry their own small bottle of sanitiser to use upon entry to the school grounds and throughout the day if washing hands is not an option.
· Furniture is wiped down regularly throughout the day.
· All students are encouraged to wash their hands frequently with soap from dispensers installed in each of the toilets. These dispensers are re-filled throughout the day.
· We continue to have extra cleaning staff ensuring that rooms are ready for students each day. Equipment in in practical rooms is cleaned between uses.
· The canteen is open with social distance markings for the queues in use and only one entry and one exit are in use. Teachers are on duty to supervise this area for each of the breaks in the day.
· We have been instructed to restrict visitors to the school and this includes parents. Teachers will conduct meetings via telephone where necessary and practicable.
· We have also been instructed to cancel all excursions and interschool visits and competitions until further notice. Hopefully we can get back to some of these in the near future.
· Students travelling on public transport must attempt to maintain the social distancing requirements whilst on buses, trains, at platforms or bus stops.
· If your child or any other household member receives a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, please advise the school immediately. If we are required to close the school as a result of a confirmed case of COVID-19 impacting our school then we will follow our COVID-19 School Closure Plan which is attached to the end of this letter.
Other School Events
· The School Athletics Carnival scheduled for June has been cancelled.
· Parent/teacher nights for Years 7-11 scheduled for the last week of this term have been postponed until Term 3 (date to be determined).
Student Reports
· The Year 7-11 reports, will be modified for semester one (Year 12 reports have already been issued). The reports will only contain an assessment of student progress made on various outcomes for each course and also a comment written by the teacher for each subject. All other information normally included in end of semester reports will not appear at the end of semester one. Results on tasks from Semester One will be used for the Semester Two report later in the year. The reports will be issued early Term 3.
· Special Education Classes have also resumed full-time. Assisted School Transport (Taxis) has resumed for those students who use this service. There will still be no work experience.
Basically, our school is open and operating normal lessons, normal timetable and we expect the students to follow the normal school rules and expectations. We have hygiene routines and procedures to keep everyone as safe as possible. The students and staff all seem happy to be back and working in our school once more! I thank all students for the great cooperation they have shown since returning.
I will try and keep you up-to date as quickly as possible should anything change.
Thanks again, your cooperation and support are much appreciated.
Yours sincerely
M. Struyve
Principal
29 May 2020