Welcome to Term 4. I hope the first week back has been a positive experience for everyone.
Firstly, thank you to all our OLPS community for your work with remote learning and for your care of each other. As the term commences we continue to be grateful for the way we have worked together through this pandemic. I feel blessed to have walked alongside such an enthusiastic and professional staff, supportive families and resilient students. It has been challenging and the struggle very real but remaining positive and continuing to look for the goodness that surrounds us every day, sustains us.
With the Premier’s recent announcement, we now have a clearer idea what term four will look like. There are lots of logistical issues we need to work through but we remain 100% committed and excited to have the children back on-site living and learning in a ‘ new COVID normal.’
Returning to Onsite Learning
The return to school will be a phased approach.
Phase A is planned to begin on Monday the 4th of October
- from Monday 4th October to Friday 15th October
- remote and flexible learning will continue for all class levels
- from Monday 18th October to Monday 25th October
- Prep students return three days a week (this to be Mon-Wed)
- Years 1 and 2 students return two days a week (this to be Thur–Fri)
- Years 3 to 6 will continue with remote and flexible learning
Phase B - From Tuesday 26th October
- all school students will return on-site at least part time in a similar manner to Prep to Year 2 students in the previous week
- it is anticipated that
- Prep students will remain as Mon-Wed
- Years 1 & 2 will remain Thur-Fri
- Years 3 & 4 will attend Tues-Wed
- Years 5 & 6 will attend Thu-Fri
Phase C - expected to begin on Monday 8th November
- all students will return to school with additional safety measures in place. This advice will be further informed by Health advice as the weeks progress throughout Term 4 and we will keep you updated accordingly. We anticipate that there will be more detailed advice available specifically for Phase A later this week.
Vaccinations
The Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, the Hon. James Merlino, made a number of significant announcements recently.
The Victorian Government will require all teachers and school staff to have their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by 18 October or a booking within one week of that date, with full vaccination required by 29 November unless a medical exemption applies. Many people working in schools will already be fully vaccinated.
Health experts advise that the safest way out of this pandemic is for the vast majority of people to be vaccinated as soon as possible. They now require that it is compulsory in industries most at risk, including education. We continue to follow the advice of the Chief Health Officer and the public health team, whose work is being done in the public interest.
I take this opportunity to thank all the staff for their outstanding work. If you know a teacher, you will have some appreciation for the complexity of their work. The staff at OLPS are incredibly dedicated to your children, and our students are blessed to have their gentle guidance and support. I express my sincerest gratitude to Fee, Tania, Ann, Charlotte, Fran, Holly, Katie, Antonella, Kathy, Lynette, Liana, Rose Simone, Michelle, Brendan, Carissa, Jacinta, Jane, Chaoying, Connie, Jenny, Bern, Julie, and the timetabling and organisational genius of Clare.
Thank you to our students for continuing to have high expectations despite the challenges you have faced. In 20 years, people will ask you “What was like to be in lockdown?”, “ How did you cope with remote learning?”
You will forever be made stronger for this unique time, even though it may be hard to imagine just now. I encourage you to stay focussed on the future and be aware that despite how hard things seem at the moment, things will get better.
We are really looking forward to having you back at school. You are the reason we do what we do and we are very proud of you.
Term Four
The teachers met in the last week of the term to plan the learning and teaching program for term four. We do hope to be able to continue with some of the programs that we have in place for term four, such as our sailing program, but it is too early to confirm. Unfortunalely on Friday, I was informed that our Year 3 /4 Swimming Programs has been cancelled this year. We have rebooked for 2022.
We are in consultation with MACS regarding rebates for incursions/excursions and the swimming program levies. It is antipated that a process will be applied, similiar to last year. A formal communication will be sent home in the week begining 18th October clarifying this.
It is important to note that there has been significant expenditure on curriculum resources to enhance our online learning program over the past two years eg: PM Online Readers, Online Assessment Tools - Essential Accessment, Maths Seeds and Mathletics. These expenses have exceeded our curriculum levies.
School Advisory Council
There is no doubt that the success of remote learning at OLPS has been in the hands of our community’s ability to communicate and processes that allows this to happen seamlessly. This clear communication has allowed our family to delight in Ms. Lynch’s morning giggles and Mr. Hawk’s Friday cooking/dance party. Therefore, one of the School Advisory Board’s key actions has been to improve the ways information is shared. The “below” infographic has been created to support all of the members of the school to better communicate. It spells out the ‘where to find information, the ‘why’ we communicate via this channel, and how to share. Please note that we understand the constant evolution of online platforms and this graphic is at the moment best practice.
This year one of the major focuses of the SAC has been the developement of a formalised statement regarding the schools communication channels. I thank the SAC for sharing their expertise and professional experince in creating this document.
School Uniform - Sun Smart/ Delayed transition to the new school uniform.
A reminder that students will be required to wear their school sun hat when playing or learning outside in term four. This is in line with our SunSmart Policy. Students will be required to wear their summer uniform when they return to school in week three.
At our recent School Advisory Council meeting, it was agreed that we would extend the transition to our new school uniform to 2023. We had planned to have all students in our new uniform for the start of the 2022 school year. However due to the past 18months, we feel it reasonable and sensitive to delay this change over. We trust that our community finds this supportive.
