Newsletter #8 June 4 2020

Glen Huntly Primary School > Newsletter #8 June 4 2020

Principal’s Report

Can’t Wait Once Again!  Five sleeps to go!!

It’s now great to know that the Grade 3, 4, 5 & 6 students will be welcomed back on site to school on Tuesday 9 June. Having successfully transitioned the Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2’s back on Tuesday 26 May, we have everything in place for a smooth re-entry. I have absolutely loved welcoming everyone when I’ve been on gate duty.

The following is to remind and help everyone to know what to expect and how we will be helping you.

Return To School Information on Tuesday 9 June 3-6.

FOR PARENTS:

  • “All students in the year levels returning to on-site schooling are expected to attend Schools are not expected to provide remote learning where parents elect to keep these students home, except where this is based on medical advice.” Please contact us at school if you have a medical reason provided to you by your child’s doctor and we will work with you to help.
  • All unwell students must stay at home.
  • Parents are discouraged from attending on site at this time. Please look at the map to find the gate your child will enter the school. Our wonderful teachers will be at each gate to welcome your child and can you please say goodbye here and we will do the rest. Your child will be leaving here at 3.30pm too. PLEASE wait outside the gates.
  • It’s very important that parents stand 1.5 m from each other, so patience is important when waiting with your child to come on site. We can take your name and contact number if you wish to have your child’s teacher or any staff member contact you, but sorry we can’t do face to face just yet. As always, emails are welcomed and will be responded to as soon as is practicable.
  • Talking to your child about COVID-19: Be sure to take the time you need to help them understand. Ms Tinetti may be contacted to further help you here
  • https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/covid-19/talking-to-your-child-during-coronavirus.docx
  • Being grateful for the good things in our life is a great daily practice. By shifting our thinking to include gratitude, it expands our ability to cope and builds a positive mindset. Simple things to be thankful for might be having good health, connecting with friends, or playing games together. Bring this into daily life by talking about three things that went well each day.

School entry / exit for each Year Level:

From Tuesday 26th May each Year Level will enter/exit the school grounds from their allocated Gate. Please click on the link to see where your child will now be entering the school:

LINK TO MAP 

Each gate will have this map and other signs informing you of the new guidelines.

It’s important to get the students ready by:

  • Getting back into your regular school day routine, as the more time your child must prepare and adjust the better.  Be sure to wake up, eat meals, exercise, and go to bed at the usual times on a school day. It’s best to keep the evenings for relaxation, so your child has time to wind down before bed.
  • A good night’s sleep is key to overall health and wellbeing, and most children need eight to 10 hours sleep each night. To re-establish healthy sleep habits, prioritise sleep as early as you can and encourage earlier bedtimes to prepare for earlier mornings. Turn off devices at least one hour before bed. Encourage reading before bed. Keep your child’s room dark, quiet, and comfortable (around 18 to 21 degrees is ideal).
  • Involving your child in preparing their return to school can help ease them back and give them a sense of control. Talk through what they can expect so they’re well informed and prepared for their return. Consider asking them what they’d like in their school lunches or what drink bottle they’d like to bring.

At the School Council on Wednesday night we ratified the GHPS Return to School Policy which is aligned with the advice in the DET Guide. A link to the policy follows but there are some things we especially want to highlight:

Hygiene and Extra Cleaning at School:

  • Extended and increased cleaning arrangements have been introduced and will continue. This involves progressive cleaning throughout the day to ensure that risks of transmission are reduced for high-touch services.
  • Hand sanitiser and cleaning products will be used in each room of the school
  • Extra hand hygiene practices for all students and staff will be reinforced

First Aid:

  • A trained First Aid officer will take the temperature of an unwell staff member or student if required

Compass:

We will continue to provide regular updates on Compass as per the advice provided to us via the Department and the Chief Health Medical Officer.

Semester One Student Reports

DET has developed a guidance document to support teachers across P-6 with maintaining ongoing assessment of each student’s performance. Assessment will continue to be embedded into curriculum planning however, adjustments in assessment strategies have been required to reflect the change in teaching and learning environments and to capture student progress.

All teachers have diligently continued to:

  • Understand each student’s learning environment
  • Set clear expectations and procedures
  • Set appropriate assessment tasks
  • Monitor student learning
  • Communicate and provide regular, targeted, and meaningful feedback
  • Collect a range of evidence and work samples that have been requested by them for students to submit
  • Keep detailed and extensive records
  • Select appropriate tools that allow for students to demonstrate their learning
  • Adapt learning and assessment to support each child in the most effective way possible

Consistent with DET advice, our school (as with many) has elected not to use the usual five-point scale for reporting in semester one. This means that there will not be a progression point on their report until Semester 2. I am sure we are all in awe of the amount of learning each of our students have attempted and achieved during this unprecedented time. Thank you to Mr David Jenkins and Ms Amy Tinetti for providing such high level guidance, advice and assistance to all staff during this unusual reporting period, including the new shift to Compass, which on its own has been a huge achievement. I highly commend all the teachers for their agility and skill that they have applied and shown to each new challenge with learning, assessment and reporting of which there have been many! I am sure that as parents after your endeavors with teaching your child remotely you also feel very grateful for the outstanding teaching at GHPS.

Together with Ms Tinetti, I look forward to reading the reports and having them ready and available for parents in Compass on Thursday 25 June.

Cabaret

Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic and restrictions it will not be possible to hold the Cabaret this year.

We understand how disappointing this will be for everyone, but we will try to do something a little more in term 4 to show case and celebrate the musical talents of our students.

Together with Mr Aitken we will consider what options are possible within the guidelines and let you know.

Capital Works

Further to the announcement reported in the last newsletter that we received confirmation of $7.12 million in capital works funding for GHPS, we have recommenced meetings with the Victorian School Building Authority, Regional Personnel, and AOA Architects.

The School Council President Ross Donnan, Ms Amy Tinetti and I are working closely during the next stages of the school’s project to ensure that the educational vision of our school is realized as best as we can and to utilise the funding that we have available.

We will inform the school community of the progress.

Term 1 Donation

It seems like a very long time ago when we had a casual dress day on 19 March, but on that day, we were supporting Sandringham PS which is a school in our Bayside Peninsula Area. After their community was devastated by damage caused accidentally by fire at their school earlier in the year we decided that as a gesture of kindness we would like do something to show we were thinking of them and donate the gold coin donation and profits sold from icy poles on this day to them. Then, of course the landscape changed and remote learning commenced so it is today that I have had the pleasure of contacting them to tell them that we have $310 to use for their students in the best way they see fit. Thank you to everyone who supported the day.

Libby Alessi     Principal

A message from your Assistant Principal

It has been lovely hearing the chitter chatter and laughter of the children coming from the classroom and we are counting down the days until our Year 3 – Year 6 students return. Here are some return to school resources that you may find useful to help prepare your child for their return to school.

Student Wellbeing- Returning to School:

This article is fantastic and has some great tips at the end of the article for parents and schools

Resources for sleep hygiene and returning to a sleep routine:

Resources for possible back to school anxiety:

Resource for school refusal:

Social story about returning to school

Parent Wellbeing:

Here are the resources and links I shared with you in April. I thought it was important to share this information with you again as a reminder to make sure you are looking after your own wellbeing to!

Here are some resources and links which may help:

Remember I am here to help in any way I can and I am just a phone call away if you need any assistance or if you just need to have a chat. Please call me on 9571 2931.

 

Only 1 more day to DONATE!

With all that is happening, there are some in our community that are doing it quite tough.

Local agencies have said that they are seeing an increase in need and some families’ pantries are getting low. That’s where you come in.

Please bring one or two long-life pantry items to school this week to put into the collection baskets at the gate on the West side or in the office on the East side.

The last day for collection is tomorrow, Friday 5th June. Every little bit helps and together we can make a difference for those in need during this time.

Thank you!

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra”

Amy Tinetti         Assistant Principal

Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award during the past 2 weeks.

Suhana 0S – For your excellent work during our very first recount writing session this morning. Great work sounding out your words. Well done!

Dhruva 0S – Excellent manners and fantastic behaviour that you show towards your friends.

Nistha 2C – Your amazing maths skills. You have improved so much – WOW! Keep up the great work.

Vihaan 2L – For showing huge improvements in contributing during class discussions and actively asking questions when he is unsure.

Sanjeev 4C – For consistently submitting work that is to the best of your ability, and for always communicating professionally and respectfully on Google Classroom, Microsoft teams and e-mail. Keep up the phenomenal work.

Nabil 4R – For your impressive persuasive writing this week! Your text was engaging and highly persuasive. Congratulations on such fantastic writing, Nabil!

Coco 4R – For working hard this week to complete all of your learning tasks to a high standard. Keep up the awesome work, Coco!

Aradhya 5O – For your fantastically detailed non-fiction book report on Ancient Egypt. Well done on such a comprehensive report!

To all members of 5S – you have been resilient, helpful, inspiring and motivating throughout the Remote Learning of Term 2. Well done and looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Anthony 6J – For quickly building a routine and asking a variety of questions in order to clarify his understanding.

Lakshmi 6J – For consistently completing all work tasks to a high standard throughout her Remote Learning endeavours.

Kushal 6P – For his outstanding Animal Adaptations project which used rich vocabulary and deep creativity. Well done Kushal!

Education Week “Tower Challenge”

  

Sahara 2S and Sully 5O

Year 3 News

                                                                                    by Zoya 3F

3D Newspaper Shape – Elka 3F

Library News

Exciting updates for the Premiers’ Reading Challenge!

Glen Huntly Primary School have read a total of 1,802 books and 19 students have completed the Premiers’ Reading Challenge so far.

Well done to the Grade 4 students for reading the most amount of books, with 4J leading with 118 books read by the whole class.

Congratulations to all those who have been reading at home and keep up the great work!

I also hope that all the Grade 3 to 6s are looking forward to coming back to school next week, so please remember to have a look around your home for any books you may have borrowed from the library to bring back to school next week so you can return them.

Thank you and keep up the great reading everybody!

Miss Lucas-Lely

Primary school teacher Marie, 26, says adapting to remote learning has only increased the pressure on educators.

Source: Tia Kass

“Since the start of Term 2, I’ve had a sign on my door saying ‘I’m in a meeting. Do not bother me’. It’s kept me guarded against family disturbances.

Remote learning has been a huge adjustment for teachers, students and parents. Many of my colleagues have had to upskill and become digital experts, teaching other staff members, parents and their students. It’s been a new and challenging experience for all of us.

Workload and well-being are two issues constantly facing teachers and it has become even more prominent throughout this pandemic. As a physical education teacher, I’ve been filming my own lessons, teaching various fundamental motor skills, it’s actually been quite enjoyable.

My colleagues and I have continued to be resourceful, creative and committed.

As schools begin to reopen, I hope there is a newfound respect for the profession. Teachers and education support staff are undervalued, unappreciated and underpaid.”

Tia Kass is a Walkley-nominated freelance illustrator and street artist. 

People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits. 

Testing for coronavirus is now widely available across Australia. If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.

The federal government’s coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone’s app store.

SBS is committed to informing Australia’s diverse communities about the latest COVID-19 developments. News and information is available in 63 languages at sbs.com.au/coronavirus

A digital link to the 2020 Government Schools guide for Year 6 parents

To assist your decision making in relation to your child’s secondary education for 2021 and beyond, please find below a link to a useful digital resource tool for the 2020 edition of the Government Secondary School guide.

https://victoriaschoolguides.starcommunity.com.au/government-schools-guide/

Calendar

JUNE

Mon 8              Queen’s Birthday Holiday

Tue 9               Year 3-6 Students return to school

Fri 26               End of Term 2

JULY

Mon 13           Term 3 Commences

Get ready for the back to school sports games. Approximately 30% of kids experience a sports related knock to their teeth at some stage in their life. We all wear seat belts to prevent injury from a car accident and to prevent a lifelong chipped or cracked tooth growing kids need a new custom made mouth guard every 12 months!

DentalCare Carnegie is offering NO out of pocket sports mouth guards with most major health funds*

Kids without health insurance will receive a 25% discount on sports mouth guards.

Call the clinic today to book in 03 9571 6667 or book online http://www.dentalcarecarnegie.com.au

*BUPA,HCF,Medibank with most family covers.

Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or foster parents are eligible to apply for the Education State Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund.

To be eligible for the fund, a parent or legal guardian of a student attending a Victorian Primary School MUST hold a Pension or Concession Card or Centrelink Health Care Card.

This form is available from the office and must be filled out each year.

For more information, contact the office