IMPORTANT DATES!
TERM 2 2020
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Welcome to the newsletter for week 5 of remote learning. Like you all, I am so pleased to be writing with the news that our return is now just around the corner. I am extremely grateful for the support of all the RGLPS families who have helped slow the spread of COVID – 19 by supporting a remote learning program that has allowed us to return to school earlier than expected. The Victorian Chief Health Officer has advised that it is now safe for students and teachers to return to school in a two staged approach and we continue to ask for your support to ensure that we keep our students, staff and community safe during this transitional time.
Before I continue I would like to thank the RGLPS staff for their dedication and commitment during this extremely challenging time. It has been amazing to step into a school and see such a swift transition into remote learning and I cannot underestimate the significant learnings that our staff have undertaken. While this has been a challenging and difficult time, it has also provided us with the opportunity to learn new ways of working with our students, our families, our colleagues and our communities. One of the exciting tasks ahead is to work together to ensure what we have learnt is captured and refined.
Staged Return
Schools will commence a staged return from remote and flexible learning from Tuesday 26 May 2020.
To support all school staff to prepare for the transition, Monday 25 May will be a pupil-free day. This is important to enable the planning necessary to ensure the successful transition back to school can be completed.
The return to school will take place in two stages.
Stage 1: 25 May – 5 June
In the first stage, students in Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 will return to school from Tuesday 26 May.
Remote and flexible learning will continue for all students in grades 3 to 6 until Tuesday 9 June.
During Stage 1, the existing model of on-site schooling for students who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children will remain in place.
Stage 2: from 9 June
All other grades and year levels will return to school from Tuesday 9 June. All students will be expected to attend school as normal.
The greatest risk of transmission of COVID – 19 is between adults and as such we will be taking every precaution necessary to avoid close contact between adults. We believe that we can maintain safe drop off and pick up from school without staggering times if we follow some new safety requirements. We ask that all children with a surname commencing with the letters A – L use the front gate on Interlaken Parade and all children with a surname commencing with the letters M – Z use the back gate on Finlayson Street. We will monitor this and make alterations if they are necessary. Staff will be standing at the gate to support students into the school. The advice we have received from the Victorian Chief Health Medical Officer will also place restrictions on access to the school site for anyone other than immediate school staff and students. It is also important to avoid gathering in a group outside of the school. I thank you for your continued cooperation and patience.
Please note that enhanced cleaning of the school will remain in place for the remainder of term 2 and term 3. This will include frequent cleaning of high touch points and other surfaces throughout the day. Students will also be encouraged to wash their hands frequently and hand sanitizer will be available in all classrooms.
We will also stagger our break times to decrease the number of students using the grounds. To safely supervise students we will continue to have 90 minutes of break times for the students however, these will be staggered into shorter breaks across the school day.
Instrumental Music Program
Thank you to all of the parents who have taken the time to complete the Instrumental Music Program survey. The survey closes today and we will collate the information over the next few days with the intention to publish findings, further actions and recommendations. As a school we want to be responsive and transparent with the decisions we make and believe that feedback is a key component to the successful and smooth operation of a school. We value the information we have already received from you and we will continue to ask for feedback through these platforms throughout the year. I look forward to continuing the work of improving our practices with your feedback and support.
Kirrily Lamers
Principal
2021 – YEAR 7 APPLICATIONS
NEW RETURN DATE
Emails were sent out to all grade 6 families on Tuesday 14th April. These emails contained:
- – Year 6 to Year 7 Transition Information pack
- – Application for Year 7 Placement form
Please let the school office know if you did not receive this information.
Application forms are due back before Friday 29th May. Thank you to the families who have already returned their form.
CAMPS, SPORTS, EXCURSIONS FUND (CSEF)
If you hold a Health Care Card or a Veterans Affairs Gold Card or are a temporary foster parent and have not previously applied for CSEF funding, please call past the office to collect an application form. The Heath Care Card must be in the name of the parent, not in the name of the student and the eligibility date on the card must be 2020.
If you have a child who has started Prep this year, a new application form must be completed even if you have previously received CSEF funding.
If eligible, you will be entitled to $125 per student to pay for camps, sports and excursions. The grant cannot be used for school fees, however School Council offer a 50% reduction in school fees if you are eligible for the CSEF funding.
Please contact Susan or Kaylene in the office if you have any queries.
SUSTAINABILITY
TEACHING AND LEARNING
‘Virtual Wellbeing Check Ins’
We have received great feedback from parents, students and teachers around our ‘Virtual Wellbeing Check Ins’ using WebEx. From all reports, students are loving being able to see their teachers and classmates again and our teachers were very happy to see student faces as well. We have had a very high proportion (~95%) of students attending their ‘Virtual Wellbeing Check In’ meetings which is fantastic! We are well aware that setting up the WebEx meeting has been a difficult technical challenge for many families to accommodate and we thank you for enabling these meetings to occur. A reminder that these meetings are the chance for the teacher to check in with students and monitor their wellbeing. If parents have questions for their child’s teacher, we kindly ask that you use email as one hour Virtual Wellbeing Check In’ is precious time intended for the teacher to meet with their students online.
Remote Learning
While our teachers are busy preparing a range of remote learning activities for students to complete, we understand that some students and families are coping with remote learning better than others. If your child is struggling or feeling overwhelmed, please make any necessary adjustments to the timing and amount of remote learning tasks that your child completes on a day to day basis. Given all the COVID-19 uncertainty, we understand that there are days when it will not be suitable for children to complete all the tasks assigned. As parents, you are in a better position to monitor your child’s wellbeing needs than teachers who are on the other end of a computer. Please use your parental judgment about when it might be appropriate to ease up on the remote schooling workload.
To support with some students feeling overwhelmed, teachers are now archiving Seesaw activities on a weekly basis to remove the backlog of incomplete activities your child sees when they login to Seesaw. This means that each week will start with a fresh batch of activities for that week.
Education Support Week
This week is Education Support Week. Our ES staff perform a great many tasks around the school and provide a wealth of support to students and teachers. In our present remote learning circumstances, ES staff have been attending multiple class ‘Virtual Wellbeing Check Ins,’ supporting the children they work with remotely through phone calls and many have been attending on site throughout the week to assist with supervision duties.
A huge thankyou to our ES staff from all the teachers and wider school community!
Maths Olympiad
Most members of the Maths Olympiad Team were able to submit their responses to the Olympiad to me on Seesaw last week. Some people experienced technical issues in accessing the test on the day but I was able to extend the submission timeframe, given that the Olympiad is only an internal school based competition this year. The next Olympiad is on Wednesday June 17th when all students will be back learning onsite.
Kerron Worsdell
Teaching and Learning Coach
SPORT NEWS
Dear Parents,
It would appear that our students are fitness crazy! I am so proud to announce that we are currently coming FIRST IN AUSTRALIA for the RH Sports Fitness Challenge! Thank you to those parents who have encouraged their child to head out into the sunshine and do the activities. In case you have not seen the challenges, three of the activities are for two minutes (Basketball Bounce, Tennis Ball Wall Catch and Skipping Rope) and the final activity is how many metres can you walk/run in 20 minutes. The competition runs until the end of May and students may enter scores as many times per day as they like J It really is so wonderful to see our kids rallying around RGLPS during this time and having something to be part of and look forward to. The website is https://sites.google.com/view/rhsportsfitnesschallenge/home
Let’s keep up the effort and win the free sports equipment for our school!
Mr Peters.
PE and Sports Coordintor
2021 Year 7 Information
Please find the following information provided by local High Schools regarding year 7 in 2021:
Macleod College
Dear Parents and Guardians
Unfortunately, due to the COVID -19 virus pandemic it is not possible for Macleod College to run school tours and information nights at the moment. We understand that this makes the already difficult decision of choosing a school even more so. We have placed a series of information videos on our website that will hopefully give you some perspective of what Macleod has to offer – the information can be accessed via the link below.
https://www.macleod.vic.edu.au/year-7-2021-transition
In addition, I am conducting online conferences so please feel free to book a time if you would like any additional or specific information.
Click here to book:
https://compasstix.com/e/vvoeuee3g4
Stay safe
Kind regards
Mario Panaccio
Principal, Macleod College
Viewbank College
Grade 6 (2020) into Year 7 (2021) Virtual Tour
Dear Parents/Guardians and Prospective Year 7 Students,
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, our face to face tours and Information Evening were unable to be continued as planned.
We acknowledge this is a very important and challenging time in your decision making for choosing a secondary school for your child. We believe it is important that you look holistically at schools to see which one will meet the needs of your child.
We believe that Viewbank College offers the right blend of academic focus, of wellbeing support and it being a community that welcomes and caters for all.
Please see below our Virtual Tour of Viewbank College, we hope you enjoy and see all the wonderful opportunities that Viewbank College can provide for your child.
Q & A Sessions for Parent/Guardians (Year 7 in 2021)
These sessions are for parents/guardians who have further questions for an Assistant Principal after watching our Virtual Tour.
These sessions (are not essential or required) will run for approximately 30 minutes and are limited to 15 families per session.
Q & A Dates and Times
Thursday 14th May | 6.30pm |
Tuesday 19th May | 7.00pm |
Thursday 21st May | 7.30pm |
Monday 25th May | 7.00pm |
Please reserve your place by booking here.
CANTEEN
Unfortunately we will not be able to run the canteen during this unusual period. If your child is attending school please ensure you have sent them with food for recess and lunch.
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
Entertainment Books are available for sale, online only this year at www.entertainment.com.au . Please nominate Rosanna Golf Links Primary School in the Fundraiser section; 20% of each sale goes towards providing improved facilities at RGLPS.
OSHC NEWS
LUNCH TIME CLUBS
Due to the current circumstances, Lunch Time Clubs will be postponed until further notice.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Disclaimer: Rosanna Golf Links Primary School (RGLPS) does not endorse any product or service advertised in this newsletter. RGLPS takes no responsibility for the content of advertisements or the quality and reliability of products or services offered in the advertisements
