Dear families

DETECT COVID-19 in Schools Study

Last Monday and Tuesday 125 students and staff were tested as part of the DETECT COVID-19 Study.  The children tested said it “tickled” and “felt a bit funny up your nose” but they were very brave.  The staff showed an equal amount of bravery!

The next phase of the study is for Year 4-6 children to complete an online survey before the end of term.  Unless you have specifically asked that your children not participate, all children will do the survey during class time.  The survey takes about 15 minutes and the information is being used to find out how COVID-19 has affected them at school and home and their relationships with others. 

If you are parents of K-Year 3 children, you will receive an email which contains a link to a survey for you to complete at home.

In the highly unlikely event that someone tests positive to COVID-19, the Department of Health will give us very clear directions about how to respond and they will provide all of the required resources to ensure everyone’s safety.  Considering the advice that community transmission is very low, we are not planning on anything changing at school.

Thank you to all of the children and staff who have elected to be involved in the study.  This is important research which will help everyone understand how COVID-19 is spread in the community and how it has impacted on each of us. 

P&C Association News

At the last P&C Association meeting all of the executive roles for 2020 were filled and the office bearers are: 

President:               Amy Stewart

Vice President:        Hazel Brooks

Secretary:              Joanne Salmons

Treasurer:              Lina Chua

Having these key positions filled ensures the ongoing operation of things, such as the canteen.  It is wonderful to have parents who are keen to be involved in the school in this way. Please visit our P&C News to find out a little bit more about them.

Cleaners Appreciation Day

Earlier this week we acknowledged the work of the school cleaners.  Thank you to Mr Neil Knobbe, Ms Gail Pickavance, Ms Supin Henderson and Ms Yani Zulyani who work before and after school, and to Ms Sharon Doyle, Mrs Camilla Rosvall, Ms Jiranan Scholes and Ms Christel McEnvoy who work during the day. Their combined efforts to keep the school clean is appreciated.  Cleaners are often the unsung, and sometimes unnoticed, staff members who make a difference.  We are very fortunate to have a dedicated team who will push the vacuum cleaner, squirt disinfectant and wipe every surface that we touch. 

School in Pyjamas

We aren’t the Bananas in Pyjamas.  Instead we will be the School in Pyjamas next Monday 22 June 2020.  Please bring a gold coin which will be donated to our sister school in Cambodia, Srang Primary School.  We have an ongoing partnership with the Cambodian school by funding many things that we take for granted. 

Kindy 2021 enrolments

We are accepting applications for enrolment for the Kindy 2021 program at school.  The closing date for enrolments is 24 July 2020.  Please contact the school for information. 

Assembly update

Whilst we cannot have assemblies where everyone attends, we can have smaller assemblies for the staff and children only.  We are currently working on a new schedule for Terms 3 and 4 for the classes.  If your child receives an honour certificate at the assembly, we will continue to send you a photograph as a memento.  Thank you to Mrs Barrett who has been ensuring that everyone gets a photo.

Great student work

Last week Mrs Perry, Mrs Hanrahan and I were spoilt with lots of children who shared excellent work with us.  It was so good to read about how children can “fill a bucket” with kindness, care, hugs and by being helpful.  We also saw lots of words that started with J.  As always, it is a real pleasure to celebrate student learning in the office. 

Playground behaviour

We are having a blitz on playground behaviour. For 99 percent of the time, everything is great and children play beautifully together.  It is timely though that we up the number of faction tokens and ice cream vouchers that are given out to those children who wear hats, walk on the pavement, and play safely.  We are focusing on “Being safe” which is one of the parts of the Code of Conduct. 

Faction tokens

Help!  If you find faction tokens at home, please ask your children to drop them in the box so that we can count them and then put them back into circulation.  I know that children are hoarding them because they love being able to drop over 100 tokens into the box at once!  We need the tokens back so that we can give them to the next children.

After the tokens are counted they are put through the washing machine before being returned to the classrooms.

Key dates

Please note these dates in your diary:

Please note that there are no school development days in Term 3.