From the Principal

Dear families,

With great excitement we start to welcome some of our students back to school next week. I hope that children and families are as excited as we are!

Can I please take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for keeping your children at home and supporting our staggered return. It is equally wonderful and humbling to feel and see your support in action. We are very grateful!

Please be assured that the best possible protocols are being put in place to maintain the safest practices across the school for your children. I have included information about “what you need to know” in this newsletter. It should answer most of your queries.

Along with this newsletter I have included our logistical arrangements for ensuring A Safe Return to School. This will inform all parents of pick-up arrangements and inform students about movement around the school. The logistics of this return to school are complex and while it is certainly not our preference nor reflects normal practice, our plans must comply with all public health requirements. The arrangements outlined will certainly not be ideal or convenient for some and I sincerely apologise in advance for that, however, it is impossible to operate under normal conditions at this point in time. Again, we would greatly appreciate your patience and support as we implement this model.

We are very excited to be returning our students to school. This is a very positive and welcome step. We will continue to operate under Level 3 Plus restrictions at school until advised otherwise.

Further information can be found here

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families/level-3-plus-schools

 

Once again, thank you all so very much for your ongoing support.

Ms Jodie Holt

Principal

A Safe Return to School

These are the details the logistical requirement for our safe return of Stockton Public School students to site. As you know the dates for our return are as follows:

·                from 18 October – Preschool, Kindergarten, Year 1.

·                from 25 October – all remaining year groups. 

Preschool next week will be Bathu Bila Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Garuwa are returning Thursday and Friday.

We urge our community to stick to these dates as much as possible to allow us sufficient time to plan and prepare the premises.

 

In the event of illness

Our COVID-safe return to school plan is NSW Health approved and includes numerous effective practices to support the health and wellbeing of our students and staff. These practices include vaccinations, mask wearing, reduced mingling of student groups and staff, ventilation in classrooms and continued good hygiene and cleaning.

Students and staff must not attend school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms must be sent home and not return to school unless:

- they have isolated for 10 days, when no medical certificate is available

- they have a negative COVID-19 test result and are symptom free.

In circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms, a letter from their GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test. Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms is strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received.

 

Cohorting

As we return to school students will be kept in their cohorts to minimise opportunities for transmission of COVID-19 and to enable effective contact tracing and containment. This means minimising interaction between students on school grounds and keeping cohorts together where possible. Our plan is as follows:

Cohort

Playground

LUNCH

RECESS

END TIME

KM

KW

Infants

10:50am -11am eating

11am -11:30am play

1:10pm -1:20pm eating

1:20pm -1:50pm play

2:45pm

1/2S

1/2M

Infants

11:30–11:40am eating

11:40-12:10pm play

1:50-2pm eating

2-2:30pm play

2:50pm

2/3T

3/4D

3/4H

Primary

10:50am -11am eating

11am -11:30am play

1:10pm -1:20pm eating

1:20pm -1:50pm play

2:55pm

4/5S

5/6W

5/6K

Primary

11:30–11:40am eating

11:40-12:10pm play

1:50-2pm eating

2-2:30pm play

3pm

 

Before school - parents are asked to drop all students as close as possible to 8:55am.

 

Cohort

Playground Area

KM

KW

½ of infants playground – teacher on duty will support

1/2S

1/2M

Other ½ of infants playground – teacher on duty will support

2/3T

3/4D

3/4H

½ of primary playground – teacher on duty will support

4/5S

5/6W

5/6K

Other ½ of primary playground – teacher on duty will support

 

 

In addition to student cohorts, staff will operate in two groups. Staff groups will remain separated as much as possible when indoors.

These precautions will make it much easier for contact tracing and ensure the continued operation of the school should we be unfortunate enough to have a positive COVID-19 case.

 

Pick up routines

  • The gate system has not changed.
  • Parents and carers are not permitted on school grounds. Please wait outside your child’s designated school gate.

 

If your child’s surname begins with

Gate

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H or I

Monmouth Street gate

J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q or R

Lomond Street gate – near canteen

S, T, U, V, W, X, Y or Z

Clyde Street gate

Additionally

rides a bike or scooter

Lomond Street gate – near library

catches a bus home

Monmouth Street gate as usual

OOSH after school

under the COLA

sibling in preschool

Clyde street gate

 

 

Preschool

In the mornings –

The sign in book will be outside the front gate. Please use hand sanitizer if you are using the pen on the table. Once your child is signed in, a staff member will open the gate for your child to enter.

In the afternoons –

At pick up time, the students will be in the front playground with the educators. Please sign your child out of the sign out book outside the gates. An educator will open the gate to allow your child to come through the gate to you.

  • We will open the gates at 9:00am and will keep arrival open until 9:30am. This should give us plenty of time for all families to arrive. Pick up time will be from 2:30pm onwards.
  • If you arrive later than this or need to collect earlier than this time, you will need to call the office, who will transfer the call through to the preschool and an educator will come to the gate to help you. Please do not come through the gates.
  • If you need to contact the educators for any reason, please call the school office, who can transfer you through, if need be.

  

Mask wearing

Masks are required to be worn on school site by staff indoors. Masks are strongly recommended for students indoors. Students are encouraged to bring their own masks. Students who choose not (or are unable) to wear masks will not need to provide an explanation. The only circumstance in which a staff member will suggest a face mask be worn by a child not wearing a mask is if they are in sick bay with symptoms of respiratory illness, waiting to be collected.

Canteen 

 Our school canteen will continue to be non operational for the first few weeks of the return to school. I will communicate with the community when it is opening. Please ensure your child has enough food and drink for the day. All classes will still have a fruit break in the morning session of the school day.

STAY CONNECTED

School Security Hotline

Should you become aware of a security incident at our school please contact the School Security Unit's hotline 24/7 on 1300 88 00 21.

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