Holbrook Public School

A huge welcome back to the whole Holbrook school community. I hope you are all rested and are looking forward to another year of learning. 

Staffing

It is lovely to have Tracey Mullavey return to our school in the role of School Administrative Manager after her year’s adventures travelling. There have been several staffing changes, but there are still many familiar faces. We welcome Amelia White to our team as Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction, who will share her expertise and valuable professional learning.

We will once again focus on literacy and numeracy across the school. This will see us have seven classes for the first session (English) and the second session (mathematics), before returning to our entitled six classes for the afternoon session (other areas such as Personal Development/Health/PE (including sport), science and technology, history/geography and creative arts).

Home Class Teachers

Kindergarten: Miss Ashleigh Hemphill

Year 1: Mrs Christine Biar

Year 2: Mrs Chontelle Henderson

Year 3/4: Miss Felicity Morgan

Year 4/5: Mr Steve Leitch

Year 6: Miss Chrissy Lavis

Staffing Information

• Miss Barraclough: RFF and 3-6 Literacy and Numeracy – 5 days
• Mrs Biar: Assistant Principal – 5 days
• Miss Samantha Campbell: School Counsellor – Mondays (approximately 7 per term)
• Mrs Liz de Steiger: Student Learning Support Officer (SLSO) – 5 days
• Mrs Sonja Dionysius: School Chaplain – Tuesdays and Fridays
• Mr Brenton Earl: Student Learning Support Officer (SLSO) – 5 days
• Mrs Henderson: AP C&I – Thursday
• Mrs Kate Hicks: Intensive Literacy and Numeracy Program – Wednesdays
• Mrs Brenda Jones: Student Learning Support Officer (SLSO) – Centre for Effective Reading and MultiLit teacher – 5 days
• Miss Wendy Knust: Student Learning Support Officer (SLSO) – 5 days
• Miss Lavis: Assistant Principal – 5 days
• Mrs Lara McEachern: Senior Psychologist, Education
• Mrs Tracey Mullavey: School Administration Manager – 5 days
• Ms Judith Mullins: School Administrative Officer – Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
• Mrs Judy Ross: School Targets and RFF – Mondays and Tuesdays
• Mrs Kimbery Ross: COVID ILSP and RFF – Tuesdays and Wednesdays
• Mrs Jessica Trethowan – School Targets and RFF Mondays and Fridays
• Mrs Wedgwood: Acting Principal (Term 1) – 5 days
• Mr Mark Wedgwood: School General Assistant – Mondays and Thursdays
• Mrs Judy Wettenhall: RFF – Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Mrs Amelia White: AP C&I – Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
• Mrs Young: Intervention Groups – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Our staff are experienced and dedicated and will cater for the diverse needs of all the children in our care. As always, if you have any concerns, please get in touch with the school, and arrange a meeting with the class teacher first, or myself, as needed.

Our new Kindergarten students arrive for their first day of school, on Friday, 4 February, after completing Best Start assessments. I want to take this opportunity to welcome all new families to Holbrook Public School.

COVID has dictated how we are returning to school, but Holbrook Public School is always ready to welcome back all our students. Please read all the information provided on Skoolbag, as we endeavour to keep you informed and up-to-date on the latest news.

I want to acknowledge all our staff's exceptional work throughout the holidays. Thank you to Judith Mullins and Tanya Slater, who readied all the RAT kits and distributed them to parents and carers. Please remember to collect these tests from the front office and use them twice weekly.

Congratulations to Mrs Biar and the Holbrook Public School choir. Thank you for representing us so splendidly at the Holbrook Australia Day ceremony. 

Parent Information Sessions

We will provide further information when it comes to hand.

Special Religious Education (SRE)

Due to a shortage of SRE instructors, we can only offer Combined or Non-Scripture for students in Kindergarten to Year 2. Students in Years 3 to 6 will not participate in SRE this year.

Assemblies

This term, we will have whole school assemblies each Friday on even weeks starting at 11:00 a.m. (the change in time allows for our Aurora students to attend). However, at this stage, unfortunately, parents and carers will not be able to participate, as the Term 1 Guidelines for Schools state that non-essential adults are not allowed at the school or school events.

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS): External Providers

As part of the NDIS, some parents/carers request that externally funded service providers attend our school setting to deliver specialist services, such as speech therapy and occupational therapy. If your child has an NDIS plan and you would like this to occur, a process needs to be followed. This process needs to begin or be renewed at the start of each school year. Step 1 involves the parents/carers providing a written request to the school. Step 2 involves the parents/carers meeting with the principal to discuss the need, intended impact, alignment with the child’s Personalised Learning and Support Plan, requested delivery times and frequency, and why the child needs to access the service during school time. Decisions to allow external providers to deliver support at the school are made case-by-case and are at the principal’s discretion. Agreements are reviewed each year or as the school sees fit. A school’s core business is curriculum delivery and looking after the learning and wellbeing of each child. Therefore, the impact of such provisions needs to be considered to serve the child's best interests and ensure the school is meeting its curriculum delivery responsibilities. Making sure there are no gaps in the child’s learning is a priority. Step 3, if approved, the timing and frequency of external service delivery are negotiated with the principal. Less intrusive times are preferable, such as before school, during lunch, recess, or during Special Religious Education (SRE) times. At Holbrook Public School, we want to remove the obstacles preventing any child from receiving the support they need, but in doing so, we need to consider our responsibilities as a school. Please note: requests from external providers (e.g. speech pathologists) will not be considered unless parents/carers have initiated contact and made a request.

We are all looking forward to a year of continuity of learning.

Kate Wedgwood

Acting Principal

Welcome to a new school year, an exciting time as our students start or return to their school journey. I want to share how we are building on our experiences of the last 2 years and continuing to safeguard our school community while keeping our school open, where we know the best learning happens.

We will start 2022 with a layered approach to COVID-smart measures developed in partnership with NSW Health to help minimise transmissions at school. The health and wellbeing of our students and staff remain our priority, and these measures are designed to help keep our school open and our students learning in the classroom.

These key measures include:

• Rapid antigen test (RAT) kits will be provided to all students to help monitor your child’s health and minimise transmission of COVID-19 across our school.
• Wearing surgical masks indoors is required for all staff and students in Year 7 and above and strongly recommended for all primary students. Masks will be provided by the school if needed.
• Only fully vaccinated visitors essential to delivering and supporting learning or wellbeing can come on a school site.
• Two parents or carers can accompany their child into school on their first day of Kindergarten or Year 7 or students starting at a new school.
• Students will be kept in their year groups on school grounds to minimise the spread of COVID-19 across cohorts.
• We will continue to use good hygiene, enhanced cleaning, good airflow and ventilation in learning spaces, and physical distancing practices.

While this is not going to be a normal start to the school year, we know that being together in the classroom is the most effective way for students to learn and grow. Your child's relationship with their teacher is important, but as we manage potential disruptions to staffing due to COVID-19, they may get to meet more teachers than usual.

Rapid antigen test (RAT) kits for all students and staff have been distributed.

The use of RAT kits is an important step to support the health and wellbeing of our students and staff. They are a quick and easy screening tool to help detect COVID-19. It is a simple process of placing a nose or throat swab in a chemical solution, which is put onto a scanning device. Results can be ready within 15 minutes. Use of RAT kits twice per week is highly recommended but not mandatory.

Instructions are included in the kits detailing how to use the tests, check the results and dispose of the tests safely. You can also download the instructions through the Therapeutic Goods Administration website. The user guides will also contain a contact number for the suppliers if you need additional support.

Additional information

School staff will not be administering the rapid antigen tests to students.

Each student will receive an initial supply of 4 RATs to be used twice a week in the morning before attending school.

If a student or staff member receives a positive RAT result, they need to:

• record the positive RAT result through the Service NSW website or Service NSW app
• notify the school of the positive RAT or PCR test result as soon as possible
• follow NSW Health advice to isolate for 7 days.
• Negative results do not need to be reported to Service NSW or the school.

Unwell at school

Any student or staff member who is unwell and/or displays symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to go home and stay until they can complete a RAT or PCR test.

• If symptoms continue, they should stay at home and take another RAT in 24 hours or have a PCR test.
• If the second RAT or initial PCR test result is negative, the student or staff member can return to school.

What happens when a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19?

Under the new close contact rules, schools are no longer included in contact tracing. I will inform the school community when there is a positive case in our school and advise families on public health advice, including monitoring for symptoms.

All primary and secondary school staff will be required to wear masks indoors.

No vented or cloth masks should be worn. If required, surgical masks will be available at schools.

Primary school students are strongly recommended to wear well-fitted masks indoors.

Masks are also strongly encouraged in outdoor settings where you cannot physically distance. Your child can remove their mask when eating, exercising or playing a musical instrument.

For more information, refer to Face masks in NSW.

No parents, carers or visitors will be allowed on the school site until further notice, with the following exceptions:

• Two parents or carers can accompany their child into school on their first day of Kindergarten or Year 7 or students starting at a new school.
• Volunteers or staff operating uniform shops and canteens must be fully vaccinated.
• Visitors supporting school operations and curriculum delivery must be fully vaccinated.
• Allied health partners for the wellbeing of students must be fully vaccinated.

All staff on school sites must be fully vaccinated, including having their booster when eligible.

We strongly encourage our students and their families to consider vaccination when eligible. Find a vaccination clinic to book an appointment near you.

Ventilation

We will continue to follow NSW Health ventilation guidelines that natural ventilation is the most effective measure, so we will maximise fresh air flow in learning spaces through opening doors and windows.

This approach is strongly supported by expert advice. Where natural ventilation is not sufficient, mechanical ventilation and/or air purification will be used, and we will continue to use outdoor settings where possible.

Air purifiers have been provided to schools as an additional measure to support common areas in schools and can be deployed at the principal's discretion. These purifiers could be located in areas where high levels of student and staff mixing occurs, such as staffrooms, internal canteens, student centres and music rooms.

We continue to have enhanced cleaning focusing on high-touch and high-traffic areas.

We will continue to follow physical distancing guidelines and maintain 1.5 metres distance wherever possible.

Thank you again for your continued support during this school term.

School photographs have been booked for Tuesday, 8 February. Envelopes will be sent home soon and need to be returned to the photographers on the day; please do not send them into the school. Students are to come dressed in clean full summer uniforms.

Dear Parents and Carers

This is Henry, who is in Miss Hemphill’s Kindergarten class this year. Henry turned 5 in June 2021 and has Down Syndrome (DS).

He lives in Holbrook and loves swimming, riding his bike, running, ice cream, playing hide and seek, spending time with his cousin Charlotte, who is in Year 6 at Holbrook Public, music by Gorillaz, and has a brilliant sense of humour.

Children are naturally curious and often ask questions about things they observe as different to them. Your child might have questions about Henry such as “Why doesn’t he talk?”, “Is he a baby?” or “Does he want to be my friend?”

The fact that Henry is different is not something to be ignored, sorry, or embarrassed about. I would like to take the opportunity to provide some information about Down Syndrome, so you might be better placed to answer any questions your child may have. Our children will spend many years together and most people don’t know much about Down Syndrome, which is why I have written this letter.

Down Syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person has an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. Scientists still don’t know why DS occurs, but it has been documented throughout history, and 1 in every 700 babies is born with DS every year in Australia. It is not a disease or an illness, and it is a lifelong condition.

People with DS are all different, but they share the same traits as their families, just like everyone else.

Some common characteristics include speech difficulties, low muscle tone, developmental and intellectual delay. In other words, Henry will conquer many things, but it will take him a bit longer than everyone else.

Henry can say many words, but because the muscles in his mouth are still getting strong, it might sometimes be hard to understand what he is saying. When you talk to Henry, slow down and be patient with his response. He uses key sign language and a communication device to communicate, whilst his spoken language catches up and he understands most of what you say.

In the past, children with disabilities were taught in segregated ‘special’ schools. Research now shows that all children with disabilities do better, socially and academically, if they are educated in inclusive mainstream schools. We are excited to be part of the Holbrook Public School community. Being in Kindergarten at Holbrook Public School is a really important step for Henry, and your children are an essential part of his success. Henry will require additional support to meet his needs, but his needs are the same as everyone’s needs. They aren’t special needs; they are human needs.

Henry is a very kind and loving little boy, who loves to make people laugh. He is an individual first, and his disability always comes second, so please don’t hesitate to talk to me if you have any questions. I won’t be offended, and I’m always happy to talk about the wonderful world of Down Syndrome.

Cheers

Ruth Millard

The 2022 Premier's Reading Challenge starts on 28 February 2022. Any books you have read since the last challenge are able to be entered into next year's records, so start your list now!

Please ring or email your uniform order through to the office. Payments can be made online by clicking the 'Make a Payment' option on our website or by cash or EFTPOS at the office. We can no longer take EFTPOS payments over the telephone. We will then place your order in the front office for collection on Monday's, Tuesdays and Wednesdays or give it to your child to take home with them.

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