Lambton Public School

Welcome back everyone for the start of another school term at Lambton PS. Unfortunately, the tide has shifted since our final week of Term 2 and there is a sense of Déjà vu descending upon our State and the school system. The feeling is similar to what we felt in March last year with growing Covid-19 case numbers and a looming threat of potential lockdown and/or learning from home for areas outside of the Sydney Metropolitan areas. For now we are extremely grateful to be able to teach face to face, although it is still very disappointing that there are once again restrictions for parents and carer entering school sites. The staff and I were very aware at the end of last term of the need for parents and carers to re-connect and participate in school life. We had two major events and several minor events planned for this term, whereby parents and carers could join us on-site for activities – NAIDOC Week BBQ this Friday and Book Week Parade in Week 3 were going to be great opportunities for you to reconnect. Both are unable to proceed with parent involvement at present. For now, my hope is that the athletics carnival, parent-teacher interviews and the school branding launch in Week 10 of last term have all helped to meet that need that many of you have had to reconnect. We will cross our fingers that restrictions ease soon. There is quite a lot to share with you today, so my apologies in advance for the longer than usual principal messages.

NAIDOC Week

As explained last term, our school is celebrating NAIDOC Week this week with a range of activities for the students to participate in. This includes: an Aboriginal themed colouring competition, classroom cultural activities, a presentation (online) from Hunter Water called ‘Where’s our water’, an assembly led by Aboriginal students on Thursday and a special NAIDOC day on Friday where students are invited to come to school out of uniform wearing the colours of the Aboriginal (Red, Black or Yellow) or Torres Strait Islander (Green, Blue, White) flags. On Friday the students will play indigenous games, plant native trees and will get to sample foods including emu, kangaroo and crocodile. There is more information further on in today’s newsletter, but we hope it is a special week for all of our students.

 Covid-19 Guidelines

We published the updated Covid-19 guidelines on Skoolbag last Friday, and these have been also reproduced for your reference further on in today’s newsletter. Please take a moment to review them, along with the updated exit procedures that commenced today. Whilst it is difficult to predict what will happen in NSW moving forward over the next few weeks, please be encouraged that the teachers and I have already begun planning and preparing 2 weeks of learning from home activities and re-establishing Google Classrooms, so if a call is made for our school to move to Learning from Home, we are ready to go. We hope it won’t be needed but we want to be able to support our students should the need arise.

Finally, a number of student-related activities do need to be modified, postponed or cancelled under the new guidelines. Two significant activities that you would be aware of are the Stage 2 Taronga and Stage 3 Canberra excursions. At this stage, we would like to reschedule them if that opportunity arises. For now, if you have made payments towards these activities, we would ask for your patience to see how things develop over the next few weeks. If they are unable to proceed, we will then provide information about refunds.

School Rebranding Launch

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us for the rebranding launch on Thursday evening the 24th June. For those unable to attend, hopefully by now you have seen the new school logo on the gifts that were sent home with the students on the last day of Term 2. I have to say, whilst I wasn’t looking for thanks, I was absolutely chuffed with how many of the students went out of their way to say ‘thank you’ to me for the gifts we gave them last term. It speaks volumes of the student culture (and the families behind it) at Lambton.  My sincere thanks to those families that have sent through positive feedback about our new rebranding. You will start to see the new logo being used more frequently as the term progresses, with the first place being on the awards the students bring home from assembly and some of the school letters and notes being drafted this term. This will be followed by the introduction of new school signs which are currently in development.

 Selective High School Placement

I was delighted to return for the start of this term to learn that 6 of our current Year 6 students have been successful in obtaining an offer of placement at Merewether High School for Year 7 in 2022. This is absolutely fantastic and well-deserved in each individual case. This comes off the back of the news last term that 11 of our Year 6 students were offered places in Lambton High’s e3 or CAPA extension classes for 2022 (with 2nd round offers still to come). Whilst a selective high school placement is not suited for everyone, I congratulate each of these students on their offers of placement and know that regardless of where each of current Year 6 group attend high school, they will be wonderful assets to the schools they attend. As you can imagine, the class of 2021 is a high achieving group that makes the pathway to School Dux very interesting!

Warm Regards,

David Holland

Congratulations to the following students who were selected as the Junior and Senior students of the week for their work in Term 2, Week 10

Today, all students should bring home an Aboriginal themed colouring in sheet for our NAIDOC Competition. The students are asked to complete them early this week and return them on Thursday morning.

Judging will take place at school on Thursday with NAIDOC themed prizes being awarded to 2 students from each stage. The awards will be presented at Thursday’s assembly.

Please allow the students to complete the sheets themselves without assistance from other family members. If you have any questions about the colouring competition, please contact Mrs Brown via the school office.

Summary of Guidelines (as at 9/7/21):

 1.       A reminder that students should not attend school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms should be sent home and should not return until they have received a negative test result and are symptom-free.

2.       Any students and/or staff that have visited the Greater Sydney area (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong or Shellharbour) on, or after, Monday 21st June MUST follow stay at home orders for 14 days and are required to return a negative Covid-19 test before returning to school.

3.       Lambton PS falls into what NSW Health deemed 'Regional NSW" and therefore students will return to school for face to face teaching on Tuesday 13 July.

4.       Non-essential visitors including parents and carers are not permitted in schools. Some visitors are permitted in schools based on the guidelines that follow. 

5.       Parents and carers are unable to enter school grounds for drop-off and pick-up. Whilst waiting to collect children from school outside of the school gates, please physically distance from others and it is recommended that you wear a face mask. (More specific instructions about drop-off and pick up arrangements to be shared on Monday) 

6.       Wearing of face masks is recommended for all students in Year 7 and above; all staff in school settings and all essential visitors to site.

7.       All staff and essential visitors to school sites, must sign-in using the school's QR Code prior to entering the site as well as sign-in at the office as a visitor. 

8.       Essential visitors include: employees and volunteers assisting in the canteen or uniform shop, maintenance contractors, scripture and ethics teachers and cleaners. 

9.       Things permitted during school hours with limited restrictions- scripture/ethics classes, work experience students, emergency drills, maintenance and contractor tasks, sport within school grounds.

10.   Things permitted with modifications include: school assemblies (no visitors permitted), singing and choirs in outdoor and well-ventilated areas, school band; after hours community use activities such as OSHC; school canteen and uniform shops, school orientation activities and excursions within the local government area. 

11.   Things not permitted or on hold include: out of area camps or excursions (sadly this is highly likely to affect our planned Stage 3 Canberra and Stage 2 Taronga excursions); student visits to aged-care facilities; official visitors and dignitaries and community events within school hours. 

12.   Enhanced cleaning arrangements remain in place whereby high touch surfaces are wiped down throughout the school day. Bathrooms will be well stocked with hand soap and paper towels and students will have ongoing access to hand sanitiser. 

These guidelines are in place with respect to public health orders and are impacted heavily by the more active and contagious delta-strain of Covid-19. All members of the school community are required to understand and abide by these guidelines while they are in place. Although, the Newcastle region has been extremely fortunate to be without active cases of Covid-19 for some time, each of us has a part to play in keeping one another safe. For the most up to date advice please visit https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/ and https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families .

As of today and until further notice, there are changes to how students enter and exit school each day as follows:

• Parents and Carers are advised not to enter the school grounds for dropping off or picking up children
• Parents are asked to drop children off in the morning at your preferred gate. Children should walk in unaccompanied by their parents or carers
• Several staff members will be present at gates this week to help welcome children into school and make this transition more smooth
• Changes to exit procedures will have the biggest impact upon those families that physically collect their children from school on foot
• Children who meet a parent or carer for collection at 3:00pm will exit in a staged way via one of 3 gates
• Students whose surname starts with the letters A-G will meet at the side gate in Armstrong Street adjacent to the school crossing zone
• Students whose surname starts with the letters H-O will meet at the canteen gate on Croudace Street.
• Students whose surname starts with the letters P- Z will meet at the northern pedestrian gate on Croudace Street (near staff carpark)
• Parents and carers are asked to physically distance (1.5m) from other adults and family groups while waiting to collect children outside of the school gates
• It is highly recommended that adults wear a face mask whilst lining up outside at the end of the school day; please do not arrive unnecessarily early
• Students will be released after 3pm from the Top Cola by executive staff in a staged way to help facilitate a smooth exit; with each group escorted by teachers
• Once your child/ren have been collected, please exit swiftly and do not linger to talk
• Students who exit via the back gate, kiss and drop or who make their way home on foot without a parent or carer will continue to exit as they have previously
• If a child becomes unwell during the day, parents and carers may be called to collect them from school. When you arrive, please call the school number from the gate and a member of staff will walk them down to meet you at the gate. 

We would ask all families to consider the best way to collect your child/ren from school from tomorrow onwards and please be sure to explain to your children how they are to exit in order to help us help them tomorrow onwards. We thank you for your cooperation, patience and understanding.

The transition visits to Lambton High School will go ahead tomorrow and again Wednesday 28th July (Week 3) and Wednesday 4th August (Week 4) for all Year 6 students. 

• Students aged 12 years and over will be required to wear a mask whilst travelling to and from Lambton High School on the bus however students will not be required to wear masks whilst at Lambton High. 
• Masks will be provided to students for both  the forward and return journeys however students can bring their own mask should they wish.
• Students will be accompanied by Mr Semmens and Miss Nichols and will participate in a French, Science and Drama lessons
• Students are reminded to wear enclosed leather upper shoes and full school uniform. 
• Students will be unable to participate in the above activities if the incorrect footwear is worn.

BandLink has been postponed until Week 1 Term 4 (Tuesday 5th Oct and Wednesday 6th Oct) due to current Covid-19 regional restrictions for NSW.

An updated permission note with new dates will be sent home soon.

Weekly Band rehearsals will proceed as normal under the current health advice for Regional NSW (Department of Education Guidelines).

Congratulations to all our amazing students who competed in our Athletics Carnival late last term.

It was fantastic to see the school community come together and to see students step way outside their comfort zone to participate to the best of their ability, all striving to do their best for their house.  LPS spirit was alive and well !!

Certificates for place getters will be awarded during our Week 3 assembly.  

The upcoming Zone Athletics Carnival is scheduled to take place on Friday 6th August.  Further details of this event will be communicated as soon as they become available.