04-Feb-2022
Dear Families,
Firstly I hope that all students and families who are, currently, or have recently had to isolate, are all safe and well and feeling fine. We have had a number of students and families impacted already this week and we are thinking of them at this time.
A huge thank you to our community for helping us to stay safe and keep our school open by keeping us informed of any illness and following the guidelines for managing COVID. It really does help.
What an exciting and rewarding week it has been. Our Foundation students commenced this week and they, along with the rest of our student body have coped with the heat and transition back into school brilliantly well. We couldn’t be prouder of their efforts and attitude this week. Some students may fatigue a little quicker than usual for the first few weeks of the school year and this is very normal as they adjust back to school life and build up their stamina to learn.
Annual privacy reminder for 2022
Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.
Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.
NO Dogs on School Grounds please A reminder that dogs are not permitted inside the school grounds. We love our four-legged friends but not all of our students are comfortable with them, so for the safety of our community we ask that you please leave them at home or stay with your dog outside the school grounds. Dogs should not be left unattended or tethered to the fence either. Thank you for understanding.
Sunsmart – Throughout terms 1 and 4 we invoke a ‘no hat no play’ policy to help protect our students and staff from damaging UV radiation. We have sunscreen in each classroom for students who may have left theirs at home that day and staff are asked to remind students to apply sunscreen before heading outside. We’d love it if you can remind your child of the importance to do this each day and help them to apply sunscreen in the morning before school starts. In this way we can work together to teach them how to stay safe and protected from the harsh Summer sun.
Sun protection is more than just sunscreen. For the best protection when the UV is 3 and above, use all 5 forms of protection – appropriate clothing, a broad – brim hat, shade, sunglasses AND sunscreen.
A fact sheet from the Sunsmart website can be viewed here:
Family notice we are a Sunsmart Primary School
and our school’s policy can be seen using the link below
Policy Edithvale Primary School Policies & Procedures (edithvaleps.vic.edu.au)
Student Free days (TBC):
* Friday March 11. We are aiming to have DET representatives present to our staff information on the new Disability Inclusion rollout on this day. Our School and Curriculum leaders have chosen the day leading in to the Labour day long weekend, as we did last year, believing that the middle of the term offers a great chance for our students to have a mini-break and reset for the final 4 weeks of the term. This will also (hopefully) be one of the first dates that all staff can meet together without breaking our Covid safe protocols.
*Friday June 24. This will be a focus on Writing instruction and vocabulary development with an external provider. We will embed our Writing Instructional Model in the early part of the day and plan ahead for Term 3.
Bike Compound: We love that our students stay active by riding and scooting to school. In the last couple of years and with the improved bike compound, we are seeing more and more students using these modes of transport to get to and from school. The bike compound gates are locked around 9:15 am and reopened at 3:30 pm. Please note that the compound is NOT locked after school or on the weekends and we cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage to the scooters or bikes.
Breakfast Club is up and running again. This service runs from 8:15 -8:45 EVERY morning and is available to ALL students. Brekky Club runs out of the STEM centre and the best gate to access this is opposite the lights on Edithvale Rd. If you would like to get involved and lend a hand, please let us know at school and you can join a great bunch of volunteers who help our students have a great start to the day
Timetable for the first 4 weeks: Your child’s Specialist class schedule for February has now been created and we will be running with this for the next few weeks while current Covid restrictions are in place. The schedule allows for every class to have a 50 minute session over the course of the week in Art, French, Physical Education and Science.
Year Level Overviews An overview of this term’s Learning and Teaching will be sent home next week. This will include important information specific to your child’s Year level along with details on what and how lessons are delivered. A copy of the Progress Report statements that identify key learning areas that will be a focus over the next 8 weeks will accompany the overviews.
Assembly: With current Department Guidelines encouraging minimal mixing of student groups, assemblies will be completely weather dependent for the next few weeks. When we can, we will hold 2 short assemblies that are aimed at getting our students back into a regular Friday routine. Assemblies will be held outside with Year levels spread far and wide over the basketball and Netball courts. For the time being these will be for students only.
Student accident insurance, ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to school
Each year we are required to provide the following information to all families:
The Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents/carers of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs.
In some circumstances, medical or other expenses will be paid by the Department where it is assessed that it is likely that the Department is liable for negligent acts or omissions of its staff or volunteers. More information about the claims process is available below.
It is the responsibility of parents/carers to look into their preferred insurance options in this regard. The Department cannot provide advice to parents/carers on the purchase of individual student accident policy or ambulance cover.
Private property brought to school by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage.
This can include mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. As the Department does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property, students and staff should be discouraged from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school.
Rapid Antigen Tests
Next Thursday- February 10 we aim to distribute our allocated RATs to families. Again, there will be 5 tests in a pack and there should be enough for testing to be undertaken during the 3rd and 4th weeks of school.
An update in our DET operations guide states that “Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, have completed their 7-day isolation period and are subsequently asymptomatic do not need to undertake surveillance testing for 30 days.”
Students and staff should continue to conduct the tests at home and must report any positive test results to their school and the Department of Health. In Primary tests should be conducted twice weekly, on days that suit families – no particular days are prescribed, but it is suggested school encourage common days for tests to be done at home such as Monday and Wednesday, or Tuesday and Thursday, in order to enable common reminders to be given to students by teachers at the end of each preceding day.
If staff or students receive a positive test result at any time, they must report this through the Department of Health system (Rapid antigen tests | Coronavirus Victoria) or via the coronavirus hotline at 1800 675 398.
Please continue to report a student’s positive result to us here at school, either through the COVID Test portal or by phone or written notification. This is so that we can support you, record that your child will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case onsite and that they should monitor for symptoms.
| Scenario | Required actions for the staff member or student/family | Required actions for the school |
|---|---|---|
| A student or staff member tests positive to COVID-19, either through RA test or PCR test | Isolate at home or in private accommodation for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and do not attend school during this period. Inform the school, that they have tested positive to COVID-19.
A negative test is not required to return to school following the completion of 7 days of isolation. Follow the Checklist for COVID cases. |
The school must notify DET of positive student cases via the Vic Ed COVID Tool.
Staff members must report a positive test result and submit a leave request via eduPay on the first day of leave See COVID-19 Leave Management Guidance for details. The school should notify the school community that there has been a case at the school using the communication templates available. |
| A student or staff member is a household contact or house-like contact*.
You have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation, or care facility. Contact at school is not included in this definition, unless contact has occurred in a school-based residential setting, e.g. school camp or boarding school. |
Notify the school that they are a household or household-like contact. Follow the Checklist for COVID contacts. Students must quarantine for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and must not attend school during this period. Staff members must quarantine for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and must not attend school during this period unless a critical work exemption has been agreed (see Page 9, Exemptions for staff who are household contacts). |
No further action. |
| A student or staff member has been in contact with a case of COVID-19, including at school or at work. | If asymptomatic, students and staff should continue to attend school and monitor for symptoms. If symptomatic, all students/staff must stay/return home, take a rapid antigen test, or get a PCR test if a rapid antigen testing kit unavailable. On receipt of a negative test result, the student/staff member can return to school. If staff/students are too unwell to attend school, usual leave/absence policies apply. Follow the Checklist for COVID contacts. |
No further action.
The school is not required to seek rapid antigen test results from the students or staff unless a positive test is returned. |
| Staff/student has contracted COVID-19, completed their 7-day isolation period and is asymptomatic. | Staff/ students can safely return to school. They do not need to be tested for 30 days. |
No further action. |
| Staff member/student has completed their quarantine period as a household contact and has returned a negative test result. However, during the quarantine period an additional member of the household has returned a positive result. |
Student/staff household contacts should quarantine for 7 days from the date of the first positive test of the household index case. Household contacts are not subject to rolling quarantine periods. If the index case remains in the household, or if subsequent cases are identified within the household, the quarantine end date for the close contact is unchanged. Staff/ students can safely return to school and do not require negative test documentation. Please note, if the staff or student becomes symptomatic, they should get tested and not attend school. |
No further action |