Spring Farm Public School

Please download the Skoolbag app for all school information: https://www.skoolbag.com.au/parentinstructions.pdf

 Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope all our mothers and carers had a lovely Mother’s Day. Thank you to the P&C for organising and distributing gifts for our mothers. This year has certainly provided its challenges in terms of COVID19, physical distancing, health and safety procedures and learning from home. Thank you for your continued support of your children when learning at home.

Please keep your child or children at home if they are unwell and inform the school that they are sick.

As you would have seen from the NSW Minister of Education’s announcement, there will be a gradual phased return of students from Week 3, Monday 11th May 2020.

NSW Department of Education Managed Return to School Guidelines for Families

Week 3 and 4 Plans

In line with the State Government and NSW Department of Education guidelines, students will return for 1 day per week.

As a school, we considered a number of possible models with consideration given to students’ wellbeing & staff numbers.

Students will be taught by their own teacher for that one day per week.  Please view the Phase One timetable and any enquiries regarding your child or children’s classes, please email the school.

This current model allows students to maintain social connections with their classmates and teachers to check in with the students in their own classes. As full classes will be attending one day per week and with an increase of student numbers, the school will organise and utilise spare classrooms (when available) for these students as well as implement social distancing and hygiene procedures. The school is now working on a Phase 2 plan and this will be published onto Care monkey. Please update you details on Care Monkey!  Please update your details on Care Monkey.

Please be advised, if you decide to send all of your children on one day, and it is not their class day, they will be supervised by an alternative teacher to complete their single unit of work on line.

As the school is working from the State Government and NSW Department of Education guidelines, staff are now balancing their usual fulltime on class load, with their online/at home learning responsibilities which has drastically reduced the amount of time they have to manage their seesaw classes. Teachers will be approving and 'liking' the work posted by students to acknowledge it has been received.  Students will receive explicit feedback on their learning when they are at school for their authentic and explicit day of learning.

Thank you to NSW Department of Education who have organised additional cleaning during the day. Our school cleaners have had their times extended and are cleaning additional railings and door handles throughout the day.

Please view the return to school procedures set out by the NSW Department of Education:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families/managed-return-to-school-guide-for-families#Download0

Mornings: Please drop your child/children to the gates either via the Kiss & Ride area or front gate.

Afternoons:  Please observe the 1.5m/4m2 social distancing rules when collecting child/children. Please stay around the       green and blue zone while waiting to collect your child/children.

Parents with Kindergarten children, please wait for when the music plays before going up to the rooms to collect your child.                                                                    

General: Please do not bring cupcakes/food for sharing. Students to be in full school uniform (they can wear winter uniform) Please label all of your child’s belongings i.e. uniforms, drink bottles and lunch boxes!

Canteen: Canteen will be open 5 days a week with a limited menu from Week 4 of this Term. Please continue to access the online ordering for lunch order Canteen Online Ordering; please download the Flexischools App on your phone to utilise this optional service.

For further information visit: https://exischools.com.au/mobile-apps

Thank you to the families who are using Kiss & Ride in the morning and afternoons. To ensure a smooth and quick run, please display your number properly (contact the office to obtain a number) so that staff can see from a far and get students ready to get into their car!

Please continue to remind your child or children their number and to listen over the loud speaker as you only have a 2-minute limit to be in that zone.

If you are asking close elderly relatives who are not familiar the Kiss & Ride area, please remind them to follow the rules: 2-minutes maximum for drop off and pick ups only and they must stay 3 metres with their vehicle at all times!  Rangers regular patrol this area!

Please view the disabled parking sign on Harland road and what to do within the kiss & ride area. 

Being a good role model for our children

I can appreciate the frustration by families about this pandemic and the current return to school organisation. However, Spring Farm Public school is working within the procedures and guidelines set out by the NSW State Government and by the NSW Department of Education. Therefore, I ask all members of the community to email the school with concerns or suggestions. Issues raised will be addressed with one of our executives within a timely matter!

Posting complaints or writing slanderous things about school procedures on social media pages such as group facebook pages, is not the appropriate way to deal with any concerns or issues and cannot be dealt with properly! 

Please view the Department of Education’s expectations on Respectful communication:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/going-to-a-public-school/school-community-charter

Importantly, our children pick up on how parents and carers react and deal with various situations. It is important that we all model a high standard in how we communicate or deal with various situations in our lives, as this provides important life skills for children to learn and deal with future issues.  

Spring Farm Public School is an official member of the Positive Behaviour for Learning. Please visit the PBL site to access more information https://pbl.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Spring Farm Public School’s fortnightly focus: Being and Staying Safe during the current situation!