Management of Coronavirus (COVID-19) @ Swansea Public School:
Swansea Public School will continue to adhere to the advice of NSW Department of Education. As this advice changes, so too will our response. We encourage all parents and carers to regularly visit the NSW Department of Education’s dedicated website for up-to-date information regarding the management of COVID-19:
https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus.html
In response to COVID-19 we have implemented the following;
- Daily morning briefing for staff and students,
- Supervised hand washing routines throughout the day (coming in from the playground / prior to eating),
- Supervised eating in classrooms (avoid large gatherings of students for lengthy period of time)
- Suspended Friday assembly until further notice (avoid large gathering of students for lengthy period of time),
- Postponed major Term 1 events; Cross Country, Easter Hat Parade and the Touch Football Gala Day,
- Postponed the P&C Meeting for two weeks – currently set for Wednesday 1st April (Week 10 – TBC),
- Cancelled all non-local excursions,
- Maintained a focus on the continuity of learning by keeping all other school programs operational,
- Enforcing the 14 day non-attendance period for students returning from overseas travel, and
- Working on strategies to provide continuity in learning for students unable to return to school.
We thank parents and carers for supporting the school in our efforts to normalise changes at such a dynamic time. I would like to also reinforce that if students are unwell, they are required to remain at home until they are well enough to return to school. If students have flu like symptoms as part of their illness, parents and carers are advised to seek medical assistance.
Communication Strategy:
The school continues to reflect on how we communicate with parents and carers. Throughout the remainder of Term 1 we will be developing refined methods of communication. To avoid duplication and/or miscommunication, we are working in the following areas to update information and systems:
School Website: This is where we will publish detailed information related to the school, including information around curriculum and school standards and procedures. This also links parents to key NSW Department of Education information to support student learning and wellbeing.
- Facebook: This is where we will regularly promote our good news stories. Facebook is our platform to celebrate and share our fun and our achievements. The NSW Department of Education will also share information via our Facebook page from time to time for important updates.
SkoolBag: This is an app where we send parents and carers notifications directly to their phones regarding school events, excursions and reminders. SkoolBag is an important app for all parents and carers to have. We strongly recommend parents and carers install this app if they haven’t done so already. Please note that information related to the management of COVID-19 will be predominantly through this communication channel.
School Newsletter: Our fortnightly newsletter will remain relatively unchanged. The main key feature we will work on to improve in this publication is the sharing of school events via our calendar. We know parents and carers value advanced warning on things, so we are making a commitment to plan ahead with a more detailed approach for Term 2 and beyond.
- Sentral: Sentral is a school management system that allows us as a school to record information about attendance, learning and student wellbeing. As we become more skilled at using Sentral, we will look to open features of the ‘Sentral Parent Portal’ to allow parents and carers to see things like; attendance, school reports and personalised learning and support plans. This will be a focus area for the second half of 2020.
Future Aspirations for Swansea Public School - Community Conversation:
Thank you to parents and carers who have provided feedback through our recent survey. A summary of the feedback will be shared at our next P&C Meeting to continue our discussions around future school planning.
Year 6-7 Transition:
Reminder to Year 6 parents and carers to return their completed ‘Moving into Year 7 in a NSW Government school in 2021’ by Friday, March 20th. If you intend to send your child to our outstanding local school, Swansea High School, parents and carers only need to complete Sections A and B of their expression of interest form.
Closing
In closing, I’d like to again acknowledge the commitment and confidence of our parents and carers in their support of the school. I am blessed to be working with such an invested community, with many people I speak to, proud to see fourth and fifth generation students attending our great school. I must also acknowledge the professionalism and unwavering commitment of our school staff. Over the last few weeks in particular, it has been an amazing team effort to keep our attention on learning and ensuring our students remain informed, connected and safe. Thank you.
Regards,
Brett Carr
