IMPORTANT DATES!
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
We are all so very excited in anticipation of next week. With the return of our Prep – Year 2 students and with the prospect of our Year 3 – Year 6 students returning only 1 week later. We are extremely focussed on ensuring that our students have every opportunity to access quality learning as we also focus on their wellbeing. I know that many families have a few concerns around safety and I will outline our plans as we await further instruction around safety from the Department of education. I will outline only the first week as our ever changing surroundings can alter so quickly that we have learnt to adapt quickly and set nothing in concrete.
Return to On-site Learning
Next Monday the 18th of October is the return to school date for all of our Prep students. We want to make sure that this exciting moment is as safe as possible, so we will take some precautions as part of our new process. As has been the case previously we will have a welcome team at each gate to support our students to come in to school. We anticipate that the lengthy absence from onsite learning may mean that it takes a little time to adjust to the return and we will have a large team of teachers and staff ready to greet all children at the gate. To reduce the foot traffic inside the school and to ensure that non-essential visitors are not onsite, entry to the school grounds will be restricted to staff and students only. As the cohort of students is smaller than our usual number we will not stagger arrival and departure but this may alter at a later time.
Please note the following arrangements for drop off and pick up. Drop off will be at 9:00am and pick up will be at 3:30pm. We will be splitting the gates by surname to reduce the number of parents waiting for their child to depart school. Students whose surname commences with the letter A-M will enter and exit from the front gate on Interlaken Parade and students whose surname commences with an N – Z will enter and exit from the back gate on Finlayson Street.
Please note that we will be flexible with this arrangement and adapt as necessary. To avoid confusion for your child/ren please use the same gate at am drop off as you use for pm pick up. Please give particular attention to reducing the risks associated with congregation at school gates and take steps to contribute to physical distancing within the school. We will follow this same process for our Year 1 and 2 students who return to onsite learning on Thursday the 21st of October. We are grateful for your support as we all do our part to reduce the risk of transmission.
Please refer to the following diagram outlining all return dates.
Remote and flexible learning will be delivered to students on the days they are not onsite.
Vulnerable children and children of parents or guardians who are on the authorised provider and authorised worker list can continue attending onsite. Please note that conditions for the vulnerable category have not altered during the course of the lockdown.
TheirCare is open for all students during Term 4 in line with their return to onsite attendance at school.
RGLPS COVID Safety Planning
There are many actions that we need to take place to ensure the safety of our students, staff and greater community. At the time of writing, I am awaiting direction around face masks for students and air ventilation systems but I can outline what has been put in place to support a safe return.
Lunchtime and Recess
Whilst we will not stagger the break times, we have opted to bubble groups of children into specific areas of the school. Our Prep students will have their own play space, as will our 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 cohorts. Each space will have sufficient shaded areas to ensure safety from the sun and hats must be worn at all times.
Hand Hygiene
Hand Hygiene will continue to be a high priority with sanitiser in every room and constant reminders to wash hands prior to eating and after every break.
Ventilation
Every class room will have open windows and doors. Heating and cooling devices are not to be used during this time.
Outdoor Learning Spaces
We have already applied for grants to fund additional shade cloths and we have ordered outdoor classroom furniture to allow for additional learning spaces.
Staff Vaccination
As you may be aware all school staff in Victoria are mandated to be vaccinated.
Masks
All staff except for those who are exempt will wear face masks at all times. I too have heard that from Monday all year 3 – 6 students are now mandated to wear masks and students in Prep – 2 are strongly recommended to wear masks. I will communicate further around this as soon as the DET give direction.
Air Purification Devices
These devices are currently being rolled out to schools with priority to schools in hotspot areas. RGLPS is yet to receive these devices but we are expecting to be given access during the rollout.
Transitioning to 2022
It sounds a little funny considering our term 3 and current term 4 conditions but we are currently making preparations for the organisation of grade placements for 2022. This is always a tricky process as multiple considerations must be made to ensure that all of our students are placed in an environment that will best support their learning needs. As such this does need to be a collaborative process where students, parents and staff combine their collective knowledge to ensure success.
The Process:
- – Upon our return to school children will be asked by their teachers to nominate children they would like to be with in 2022. Conversations will be had regarding what makes a good learning friend and the students will be able to nominate those friends who support their learning and reduce distractions. During the process the teachers will ensure that every child is with at least one of these.
- – Parent considerations are also collected and considered during this process. Often parents have specific insights into student need and this additional knowledge plays a significant part in how we structure our classes. These insights often include but are not limited to health, emotional or learning matters, peer or sibling relationships or changes in the home situation. Selecting a particular teacher does not fit within the realm of special circumstances. If parents want to provide extra personal information to be considered in the process please email the school office. Letters should be addressed to “The Principal” and reach the office no later than October 29.
- – Classroom teachers will predict where students would be best suited based on learning, behavioural and social needs and any relevant information they have gathered throughout the year. All of this information will then be used to develop the 2022 classes with the use of Class Creator, a program that assists with the formulations of balanced grades.
- – Specialists will check the lists for any anomalies and then the leadership team will confirm grade placements.
- – Towards the end of term, children and their new teacher will have an opportunity to spend the whole day in their 2022 classroom and step up into the next grade level. The children and new teacher will complete an activity during this day notifying parents of their new grade.
That completes a dense instructional component from myself this week. I do apologise for the abundant amount of text this week but under the current circumstances it is unavoidable.
Take care and looking forward to seeing you all,
Kirrily Lamers
Principal
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT
Outdoor Classroom
As Kirrily has outlined already we are working hard to provide additional outdoor learning spaces for classes to use. We have applied for the Government’s shade grants and assume we will have funds available to cover these spaces.
We currently have a large concrete pad which was our old site for the sports shed. During the recent school upgrade, we needed to relocate this due to the equipment needing access through this space. It is an ideal site for an outdoor classroom and provides a solid base to fix outdoor furniture. Below is a virtual design of the area and gives an idea of the furniture ordered this week. We are very excited and will complete this as soon as possible. The shade sail section of the project will follow as we need to await the outcome of the grant application.
Supporting children in their return to onsite learning
Take some time over the weekend to watch this video posted yesterday by the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). It features a panel of experts from the RHC and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Melbourne in COVID-safe practices for children, mental health and educational development.
Panel members include:
- Host: Anthea Rhodes -paediatrician
- Associate Professor Margie Danshen – Paediatrician, Researcher, expert in vaccines
- Professor Fiona Russell – Researcher with MCRI and the University of Melbourne- epidemiologist
- Associate Professor Daryl Efron – Developmental and RCH Behavioural Paediatrician
- Sophie Morris – Educational and Developmental psychologist with the University of Melboure
Royal Children’s Hospital – Supporting primary school children in their return to onsite learning
Please note that we have heard that from Monday all year 3 – 6 students will be mandated to wear masks and students in Prep – 2 are strongly recommended to wear masks. We will communicate further around this as soon as the DET give direction.
Below are some tips from panel member, Sophie Morris – Educational Psychologist.
- If your child has not tried wearing a mask before, like all new experiences, it’s new until they give it a go.
- Parents are encouraged to give your child a go at wearing a mask over the next few days, particularly over the weekend before children return onsite.
- Give it a try, ask your children what their thoughts are about it, be curious about what they know or feel about mask wearing. Have they tried it yet? What do they notice about masks? What have they noticed some of the differences in people are when they’re wearing a mask on their face and when they’re not? What does it mean when half of the face is covered? Can we still see emotion in people? Can we still understand people? Can we still hear them and listen to them?
- Be curious and playful with your child. Try popping one on. Pop the mask on your child, wear a mask yourself, talk to them and make a little game. Try practising humming a song. Can your child work out the song you are humming? Can your child hum a song back to you?
- Practise making faces with the mask on. Make a happy face and ask your child to guess what face your making. Try other emotions: sad, angry, confused, disgust etc.
- Doing this before your child returns to school takes away some of the anxiety about the newness of mask wearing.
- Put as much control about mask wearing into the hands of your child. Make mask wearing fun. Can the child choose a mask themselves? Can they decorate a mask? They can put some stickers on the surgical masks. Can they do a drawing on the outside? What’s one of their favourite characters?
Associate Professor Dr Daryl Efron, Paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital makes some points about helping your child remain calm before their return. He says:
- Be positive and enthusiastic with your child about returning to school as this is an exciting time in the pandemic. This is a great opportunity for children to reintegrate with their peers. Social integration is what this is all about between now and Christmas. Getting children back so that they feel that the school is a safe place emotionally, they want to be there, seeing their friends and doing normal things and gradually getting back to a normal life.
- Anxiety is an infectious disease. We know that parents are stressed about this and that it completely understandable. Lots of children are also stressed about this but if parents can convey positivity, enthusiasm and optimism, it will go an enormous way for that to be carried through with their children. Try not to convey your worries to your children.
- Most children will be absolutely fine, it will a bit like coming back after the summer holidays; some butterflies in the tummy, some nerves and some worries. This break has been a bit longer than summer break so there are some extra considerations to thinks about, but it will be a variation on that. Most children, for a couple of days will be a bit nervous and a bit tentative, there will be some dramas, tears, some playground issues but they’ll sort themselves out.
- Children get used to things very quickly.
- If you pick up that the children are worried, talk to them and try to understand what it is they’re worried about. Don’t assume. Sometimes they might be thoughts of worries that are fairly easy to deal with facts and information. Help them to be brave and go to school and overcome those worries, like you would at the start of any school year.
World Teachers’ Day is a chance to recognise and celebrate the incredible contributions our teachers have made to our school community.
At RGLPS we will celebrate this day on Friday 5th November when all students and staff return to school.
This year, teachers have continued to show their resilience, leadership and adaptability throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers have adapted their learning environments, supported their students and school communities, and continue to share their knowledge with students.
World Teachers’ Day 2021 is an opportunity to celebrate the teachers who are making, or have made, an impact on our lives.
Whether you’re a current student, have children in school, or have been out of school for many years, World Teachers’ Day is a chance to say, ‘thank you’.
Return to school - What to do if your Child is Sick
Luke Franklin & Denisse Lobos
Assistant Principals
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Our teachers are so excited for students to transition back to learning onsite from next week. It will be wonderful for our staff to see all the children and be able to teach them in person once again!
Running Records
Kirrily made a Compass alert earlier this week outlining the Running Record assessments that teachers will be conducting from home over the next few weeks. A Running Record is an individual reading assessment that enables teachers to determine reading achievement and identify the decoding and comprehension strategies that each child uses. This information informs our teaching as it illustrates what each student needs to be taught next to progress their reading skills. Classroom teachers will be arranging 30 min sessions to meet individually with each child to do these assessments via Webex. Teachers will share their screen and ask the child to read the text displayed. At the end of the text, the teacher will engage the child in a conversation to assess their comprehension and understanding. Teachers may need to go through this process several times to determine the child’s reading instructional level.
Please ensure that you do not assist your child in any way during these assessments. This will ensure that teachers get a true indication of what instruction your child needs moving forward. Thank-you for your support around this.
Portfolio Tasks
As mentioned last week, the school has decided that annotated portfolio learning samples will not be shared on Seesaw for the remainder of the 2021 school year. As a school, we are looking forward to the resumption of ongoing portfolio samples illustrating your child’s achievement and progress in 2022.
ICAS 2021
The Writing ICAS was successfully accessed from home by students and families this week. A big thank-you to all parents and registered students for battling through the challenge to access this remotely.
Unfortunately, I have had to make further changes to dates of the other five ICAS to ensure availability of staffing supervisors. The new dates are listed below and all these ICAS will all be administered onsite. I am aware that some of these new dates fall during the proposed Year 3/4 camp, which may or may not proceed, depending on DET advice. If any student misses an ICAS date due to camp, these tests will be made up on the dates listed below. My apologies for these ongoing adjustments to the 2021 ICAS dates.
Term 4 Team Newsletters
Term 4 Team Newsletter have now been released to parents via a recent Compass alert. These newsletters are able to be accessed at any anytime through Compass. Please see Compass Community Icon -> School Documentation –> Year Level Newsletters -> 2021 -> Term 4 2021.
Have a great week everyone. Looking forward to seeing our Prep – Year 2 students back at school from next week!
Kerron Worsdell
Learning Specialist
Kerron Worsdell
Learning Specialist
STATE SCHOOLS RELIEF
State Schools Relief
We have received information from State Schools Relief offering assistance to any family who is
doing it a bit tough this year.
Listed below are some items which are available.
• General uniform items including hats;
• Underwear, socks and singlets;
• Sunscreen;
• Plain black face masks;
• Plain maroon school bags.
These items are free of charge for families who are needing some financial assistance.
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Due to the prolonged lockdown in Term 3, 2021 State Schools Relief have extended the 2021
Prep CSEF uniform package until the end of Term 4, 2021. This is for families where a parent
holds a health care card. The package includes uniform items and shoes.
Please contact Kaylene in the office – phone 9457 4178 or email
kaylene.ingham@education.vic.gov.au – if you would like an order placed on your behalf
MATHS QUIZ
Maths Riddle:
Well done to everyone who solved the problem from last week. The answer to the Tablet Challenge is 34. Each tablet shows the answer to the previous two tablets being added together.
See if you can solve this week’s riddle below. I’ll share the answer in the newsletter next week.
Pyramid Perception: Can you figure out which birds eye view is the correct match for the pyramid?
HINT: Imagine you are looking down from above the pyramid. Start by looking at the colours of the base of the pyramid.
Extra challenge: Try creating your own coloured three-dimensional shapes and drawing what the shape would look like from a birds eye view.
If you’d like to share, please send your solutions and challenges to sarah.mclellan@education.vic.gov.au
Sarah McLellan
Learning Specialist
SCIENCE NEWS
BIRDLIFE AUSTRALIA – AUSSIE BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
Our annual national Bird count starts on 18th October. If you would like to do some citizen science activities at home, please look up the details here: https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/faq/ or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ziO5ebxnc&t=1s
“Taking part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count is easy! Just spend 20 minutes in your favourite outdoor space and tell us about the birds you see during that period. You can submit your results using the app or the web form. Every count helps. There is a Field Guide/Bird Finder built into the app and on the website to help you identify birds or check the poster below for common species”.
This is also a wonderful resource for identifying Melbourne birds: https://cindyehauser.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/melbirds_v2_oct2018.pdf
SCHOOL CROSSING NEWS
Note for families using the Finlayson Street school crossing
Liz, the crossing supervisor at the Finlayson Street crossing, has advised us that the builders working at the construction site opposite the school are not wearing masks, so in order to put distance between herself and them she will always stand on the school side of the crossing. In addition to this there are often vehicles parked in the No Standing zone near the crossing so parents please be mindful of the potential hazard this may cause.
MANGO DRIVE
CANTEEN
Canteen Open from Monday 18th October
Dear Parents,
The canteen will be open from next Monday October 18.
The canteen operates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.
Please continue using the Winter Menu for the time being.
Looking forward to catching up with all the kids again.
Regards Margaret.
THEIRCARE – BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE
COMMUNITY NOTICES
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
