Dear families,
Further to my previous blog, we are following The Department’s recommendations in reducing the number of possible contact opportunities during the school day.
Hence;
- Classroom volunteers will not be able to work with children at school. Thankyou for your fantastic help during the school term and we hope that in the not too distant future we can relax this restriction.
- Party/Birthday food will no longer be allowed at school. Birthdays will still be celebrated by class teachers with their own class, but without food.
- The Kitchen Program has ceased for the remainder of the school term. This coincides with the retirement of Amanda Whitrod who has been instrumental in the development of the Kitchen program since the start of the school. She was also a member of Governing Council for some time. We will acknowledge Amanda’s contribution to Woodend Primary School later in the school year.
- As per the Department for Education recommendation, families are encouraged to kiss-and-drop wherever possible. This may be at the car door or at the classroom door, depending on the age of your child. Please note that only students are to enter classrooms. Teachers will keep doors ajar/open so that it is not necessary to use the door handle (where possible).
- Contact with teachers can be through email, Seesaw or phone etc. We are limiting the times that we all have to be in contact with each other at this time.
- The school canteen is using a single line system to keep the number of students together at anyone time to a minimum. This seems to be working well. At this stage the canteen remains open at recess and lunchtime for students to use.
Although it is disappointing to have to implement such changes, the safety of students, staff and our community remains our focus.
Kind regards,
Steve Freeman
Principal
March 19, 2020 at 7:20 pm
Thanks for the update and for all the effort the staff are going putting in to keep our kids safe.
March 19, 2020 at 8:50 pm
Thanks Courtney. Teachers and SSO’s are all working hard to keep the anxiety levels of children as low as possible during this time. They have also been preparing for the possibility of providing continuity of learning for children at home if we really do go into any sort of lock down. We know that some families in our Woodend community are going to do it tough over the next months. Kids are safe at the moment and staff are truly dedicated to keeping each and every child that way.
March 19, 2020 at 8:53 pm
Is there going to be more teachers on yard duty if we are leaving younger kids at the gate or doing kiss and drop, some for the first time.
March 19, 2020 at 9:05 pm
Hi Haylie, we have been monitoring students movements in the schoolyard over the last days as quite a few have been home either ill, or because families have made their decision to keep children at home. It has made a noticeable change to yard duty teachers being able to move around the designated areas. We are continuing to assess how many teachers are required. Leadership has been out there as well at times. You can always drop children at the classroom door if the gate is too far away. We just ask parents not to come into the classrooms. Regards, Steve
March 20, 2020 at 12:37 pm
What is happening inside the classrooms as far as spacing goes? Its recommended to have 1.5m between each person. What measures are the school taking with this
March 20, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Hi Tiffany,, while schools are exempt from those recommendations for obvious reasons, teachers have been working with children about good health and hygiene practices. This includes washing hands (now to Happy Birthday 2X), how to use a tissue, using sanitiser and not sharing eating items or food et al. One of our classes carried out a math task where they had to work out how many students could be in a classroom if we adhered to the 1.5 m spacing. They found that they could have just 19 students in the room itself. Regards, Steve
March 20, 2020 at 1:23 pm
I tried to do kiss and drop with my year year one for the FIRST time because of this blog and was surprised the the gate near the street was still closed a 8.40.
Thought it would of opened at 8.30 especially seeings more of us are trying to follow your instructions.
I then parked and walked her in.
March 20, 2020 at 1:55 pm
Hi Karen, yes we have noted that point. Thankyou for working with us on the drop off at the gate – much appreciated. The gates are each allocated to staff whose role it is to open and close them. Occasionally staff get tied up with a parent or student concerns first thing and the gates are not opened by 8:30am. When Ken (Groundsperson) is here, he cross checks all gates. This week he is on annual leave and so a few times gates have been opened later than usual. Gates will normally be opened at 8:30am. Regards, Steve