15-MAY-2020
Good afternoon Families and I hope this week has been a rewarding one for you.
It is a privilege to be part of our great community. Your hard work and commitment to remote learning has helped ensure that we can start to lay the foundations for a successful return to school.
I promised that we would get some information about return to school plans to you as soon as it was received from the Department of Education. Today a ‘Return to School’ guide landed on my desk and we are working through this to get our return to school processes right.
Next week we will be in a better position to provide greater details about this but I felt that it would still be useful to share what we have at this stage.
All of our planning centres around a safe and successful transition back into school and for some, the return to school may be more difficult than the start of our remote learning journey. The plans will not be perfect and will acknowledge the differences in each of our current situations. We’re all doing our very best and none of us have had to live, learn, teach and parent during a pandemic before and your support and belief is not underestimated.
The strategies we will put in place are designed to support physical distancing and good hygiene practices to reduce the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission within the practical limitations of a school environment. Next week we will be better placed to outline recommended health and safety measures including hygiene, learning environments, cleaning and recreation. In the meantime
Staged return for students will be as follows:
Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students on-site from Tuesday 26 May 2020
Students in Year 3 to Year 6 continue remote and flexible learning program until 5 June 2020
On-site supervision for students/families who have accessed this service over the past 7 weeks will still be available for our Year 3-6 students. The existing model of on-site schooling for students who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children will remain in place. These students must learn at home unless they cannot and must meet the already established DET requirements for on-site learning.
All students in the year levels returning to on-site schooling are expected to attend school. Schools are not expected to provide remote learning where parents elect to keep these students at home, except where this is based on medical advice.
To support all school staff to prepare for the transition Monday 25 May 2020 will be a pupil-free day.
Staggered start and finish times
As the main risk of introducing coronavirus (COVID-19) to the school environment is from adults, close proximity between adult members of the school community should be avoided, particularly during school drop-off and pick-up.
We will have a staggered start and end to each day- organised by year levels (for example, junior/senior), while also enabling siblings to arrive/leave together at the same time and be safely supervised while on the school site (noting there may be some impact on total instructional time). Times will be confirmed next week.
Attendance on-site
All unwell staff and students must stay home.
Visitors to school grounds will be limited to those delivering or supporting essential school services and operations
Additional staff, including parent volunteers, should not be attending school at this time. Activities dependent on and involving parents (e.g. 1:1 reading) have been cancelled.
Parent-teacher information sessions and interviews will be conducted virtually.
Activities that involve on-site attendance by students from different educational institutions (e.g. interschool sport) will not take place
School assemblies, excursions, camps and other non-essential large gatherings must be postponed or adapted considering use of technology.
Sincerely
James Whitla
Important links:
- DET Learning from home tips, advice and resources
- Seesaw Help Center
Additional Information:
COVID-19 Return to School Policy (534 KB) – 19-May-2020
Important Information for a Return to School (680 KB) – 19-May-2020
Return to School Information (168 KB) – 12-May-2020
Acceptable Use Agreement – ICT (372 KB) – 10-Apr-2020
DET Secretary Open Letter to Parents (851 KB) – 15-Apr-2020
Digital Technologies Policy (484 KB) – 14-Apr-2020
Edithvale Remote Learning – for parents (263 KB) – 13-Apr-2020
Information about EPS Home Learning with SEESAW (121 KB) – 25-Mar-2020
Information Collection Notice (247 KB) – 10-Apr-2020
Learning from Home: Information for parents and carers (208 KB) – 10-Apr-2020
Loan of Assets Agreement (444 KB) – 10-Apr-2020
On site attendance form (629 KB) – 10-Apr-2020
Online Learning Handbook Student Edition (218 KB)
Physical Distancing Guidance for Schools (142 KB)
WebEx Instructions for Families (509 KB) – 01-May-2020
WebEx Meeting Update (359 KB) – 06-May-2020
Resources for all year levels
