Dear Parents and Carers,
I greatly appreciate your support as we continue to navigate our way through these challenging times.
Further to the communication sent on Friday, please see the information below which includes the most recent advice regarding government schools for Term 3.
Based on advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer, Victorian Government schools in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will have specific arrangements in place for Week 1 of Term 3 as outlined below. Schools will then move to remote and flexible learning for students in Prep to Year 10 from the start of Week 2.
It is very important to note that the advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer is that schools can continue to operate. The Victorian Chief Health Officer has also provided advice about the health measures that should be taken by staff and students, and we will be following these at CSPS.
The purpose of the arrangements outlined is to reduce the number of students, parents and guardians moving across metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
It is, however, also important that face-to-face teaching be maintained for some students and in our school, this is required to support families where parents and carers are unable work from home and no other arrangements can be made to supervise children as well as to support vulnerable students who need the support that on-site provision enables.
To provide further assurance, our school, along with all other government schools in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, will be conducting temperature checks of all students at the start of the day. If your child is in attendance at school and does have a temperature, you will be asked to take them home from school.
The arrangements as set out by the government and Department of Education are detailed below.
This Week: Monday 13 – Friday 17 July
Students in Years 11 and 12, students in Year 10 undertaking VCE or VCAL studies, and students enrolled in specialist schools, will return to school on Monday 13 July.
Monday 13 – Friday 17 July are pupil free days for students Prep to Year 10. These pupil-free days will enable our staff to prepare for the change to remote and flexible learning from Monday 20 July.
At CSPS, we are providing an on-site supervision program for eligible students during this week. This program is available for students where parents/carers cannot work from home and no other arrangements can be made and for vulnerable students and students with disabilities.
If you need this support program and have not done so, parents should complete the attached form and return it to caulfield.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au as soon as possible so that suitable arrangements are in place for student supervision and duty of care.
These same arrangements will be in place across schools in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire.
From Monday 20 July on
From Monday 20 July, our school will be moving to remote and flexible learning. This will be for all students apart from the following students who are able to attend school for on-site supervision, whilst they will also undertake the remote learning program:
- children of parents/carers who cannot make suitable arrangements to supervise children at home, including children of teachers in government schools who are required to return to work on-site
- vulnerable students
- students with disabilities who choose to attend on site.
We will follow similar arrangements to those we put in place for remote and flexible learning in Term 2.
Our teachers and support staff have done much reflection on our previous experience of remote and flexible learning and this week, they are planning for how best to continue now that we find ourselves back in this position. It is certainly not what staff expected to be doing in Term 3 however, together our teams will do their level best to implement an engaging and effective teaching and learning program for our students, taking into account the learning from Term 2 experience.
The Department has a range of options for parents and carers to continue to support your children in their learning, available at the Learning from Home website education.vic.gov.au/homelearning.
The latest information about coronavirus (COVID-19) and schools is on the Department of Education and Training website: education.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
The Victorian Chief Health Officer has confirmed that the use of face masks or coverings by adults or children is not recommended in schools at this time. As has always been the case, students who wish to wear face masks in school and in going to and from school may do so.
And, importantly, a reminder that if you, your child, or a family member develops symptoms of a fever, chills or sweats, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of smell or taste, you should get tested at a coronavirus (COVID-19) testing facility and stay home.
This is vital to help keep our school community safe.
If you would like health information from the Department of Health and Human Services, you can visit dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus
As happened previously, parents who require a loan device from school should email caulfield.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au with this request and we will advise by return email when these devices will be available for collection later this week.
If there is anything the school or teachers should be aware of, particularly in relation to wellbeing issues, I encourage parents to contact me or our Assistant Principal, Bianca Kotsonas so we may be able to support families or arrange appropriate support where possible.
I thank you for your ongoing patience, kindness and understanding and I will continue to communicate with you as we receive further information.
Please stay home where possible, stay safe and healthy and take care of each other.
Warm regards to all,
Gayle
Gayle Yardley
Principal