Dear Families,
What a great start to 2022! I am grateful that we can have staff and students onsite this year. There is a commitment from the Department of Education to keep schools open as much as possible which is great news for our school community. Students are settling in well, particularly our new Preps. Thank you to our Grade 4 Big Buddies who are helping their Prep buddies out each day. It is great to see their leadership and kindness.
Exposure Notifications
We are sending home Exposure Notifications each day, in line with government regulations. From today you will see a slight change. The cases will be split into newly reported and previously reported cases. Thank you to those families who have promptly reported a positive case. I strongly encourage families to test children on Monday and Thursday evenings.
Welcome New Staff
Welcome to our new staff for 2021. Olivia Cowie (Prep B), Emily Waddington (Prep C), Stephen Franklin (2B), Thi Thi Hong (4B), Justine Miller (5B), Hannah Dundas (6B) and Rebecca McCallion (Tutor Learning) have all joined our team this year. It is great to have them all on board. If you see someone in the yard with a staff badge on who you don’t recognise, please introduce yourself.
Welcome New Families
Welcome to our new families, it is great to see your kids making friends and settling into Mansfield Primary School. We are hoping to be able to run our New Families Pizza Night this term. It is a great opportunity for families to meet other new families to MPS. If you are a new family to MPS please keep an eye out for a date.
Communication
The values that I would like all staff and families to base their communication on are:
· Listen
· Be kind, everyone is doing their best.
· Communicate early and often
· In person is best, then phone, then email.
One piece of communication that families appreciated from remote learning was weekly messages letting you know what is happening in your child’s class each week. We will continue to send these out in 2022. We will also be attaching an Isolation Learning Plan each week to support those students who are required to isolate. This is not ‘remote learning’ as we have been used to, but a way for students to stay engaged with what is happening in class. Please contact your classroom teacher if you have any questions.
Tutor Learning Initiative
The Department of Education has continued the funding for the Tutor Learning Program. Amy Jacob and Rebecca McCallion will work with small groups of students throughout the year. This will allow us to support those students whose learning has been significantly impacted by remote learning in 2020 and 2021.
Arriving at School
Please be aware that Students are not able to be at school prior to 8:30am. Staff are on Yard Duty from 8:30am until the start of school. Students who arrive earlier than this will be asked to wait in the office until 8:30am and parents will be called as a reminder.
Vaccinations
Alongside ventilation and other vital COVIDSafe steps such as regular rapid antigen testing, supporting as many students as possible to be vaccinated will help make our school as safe as possible.
Bookings for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the paediatric Pfizer vaccine are open and we encourage parents and carers to get your child vaccinated if you haven’t already done so. The Pfizer vaccine is safe and recommended for children. The vaccine will help protect your child from getting sick from COVID-19, help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and help ensure kids can have more time at school and playing with their friends.
Vaccinations for children aged 5-11 years old are delivered at 2 appointments, 8 weeks apart. Children with specific medical vulnerabilities can access their second dose 3 weeks after their first dose.
If you’d like more information about this, you can read a recent statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI): https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-update-following-weekly-covid-19-meeting-19-january-2022
To book an appointment you can book at your local GP or pharmacy: https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking
You can also book at a family-friendly vaccination centre by calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.
You can also make vaccination centre bookings for your children online, though you will need to use an email address that has not been used in the system before: https://portal.cvms.vic.gov.au/
Like always, please get in touch with us with any questions or concerns. Call or email your classroom teacher, call the front office or email me tom.macmunn@education.vic.gov.au.
Have a lovely weekend.
Take Care,
Tom
