Term 2 - Important Dates to Remember

A note from the Principal

Welcome to the Clairgate Chronicle

for Week 8, Term 2, 2020

How we are travelling…

This is our third week of full-time learning on site for students and we are travelling very well at this stage. The NSW Department of Education has allowed more activities to recommence at schools – I have attached the Dept. advice to this newsletter for more detailed information. We will still adhere to the following protocols:

- Students and staff must stay home if they are unwell. If any student exhibits signs of respiratory illness at school, parents will be contacted to take the student home until symptoms resolve – in some cases a clearance will be required for the student to return to school;

- Good hygiene practices will be adopted – regular handwashing, no sharing of food, no bubblers, cough and sneeze etiquette followed;

- Parents/visitors/volunteers to remain off site – unless approved by the principal to be on site;

- Afternoon staged pick-ups to continue;

- Morning routine to continue – students to go straight to classrooms from 8.50am;

- Canteen to remain open for recess and lunch orders only by pre-order the night before. Canteen will reopen in Term 3 with extra social distancing protocols in place;

- Uniform shop to remain closed at this stage – orders can be placed through the front office;

- School Photos – Term 4 - date to be confirmed;

- P&C meetings allowed from next term – with strict social distancing to be observed – numbers may be restricted;

Reports (revised)

Our teachers are busily writing their mid-year reports on your children. These revised reports will be handed out at the end of week 10 (Friday, 3rd July). If you have any concerns about these reports I would encourage you to seek a phone appointment with the teacher in the first instance to discuss this.

Enrol now for Kindergarten – 2021

If your child is turning 5 years of age before the 31st July 2021, they can enrol at Clairgate PS for 2021 if they are in our drawing area. Please collect an enrolment form from the front office and return it as soon as possible. Proof of age is required – original birth certificate or passport, as is your child’s immunisation certificate and proof of residence. Please ask if you require support to complete any part of this form.

Thanks everyone, be safe.

Regards,

Michelle Lawrow

A Note from the Office

Refunds Camps and Dance Groups Unfortunately there will be no Camps or Dance Groups in 2020. All students who have made payments have been given a letter regarding refunds. Please complete and return to the office as soon as possible so that we can expedite your refund.

P & C News

Uniforms As you are aware, the office is currently attending to uniform orders due to COVID-19 restrictions. If you require uniforms, please download an order form from the school website and send it to the office along with your CASH payment (correct money please) in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and class. Please do not use the POP (Parent Online Payment) system as the P&C bank account is completely separate to the school.

Friday 3rd July

Semester 1 Reports go home

Last day of Term 2

Tuesday 21st July

Students return to school

Colorado Drive, St Clair NSW 2759 P: 9670 1408 F: 9834 3869 E: clairgate-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

CLAIRGATE CHRONICLE

Care, Excellence, Innovation, Opportunity

in a positive, dynamic environment

Term 2, Week 8 Thursday, 18th June 2020

Sport and Dance

We received confirmation late last week that many NSW PSSA events have been cancelled for the year. For specific information please visit:

https://app.education.nsw.gov.au/sport/NSWPSSA .

As we receive information about events we can participate in we will keep you posted. At this stage all local Friday PSSA sport is cancelled for the year as well. We understand this is disappointing for many students, we are hoping to plan some in school sports fun soon.

Our School Cross Country Carnival will be held early next term. Whilst we cannot have any family and friends on school grounds, we still wanted to give the students the opportunity to run in our annual carnival. The carnival will allow us to crown our school cross country champions even though there is no District level for them to progress to this year.

Classes will begin cross country course practice next term. Our carnival will be held on Monday August 3rd for all children in years 3 to 6 with year 2 children who turn 8 this year also invited to participate.

COVID-19 will not stop us!

The dance groups continued to learn dance combinations through Google Classroom and Seesaw during home learning time. We will use these combinations together with the choreography that we started before the world went crazy to make a 2020 performance piece. This piece will be performed at our Annual Christmas Celebration in December.

Costumes will be Christmas themed and supplied by each student. As a result, any student who paid their costume hire fee will receive a refund.

Please return your Request for Refund slip to the office money box and the lovely ladies in the office will process your refund.

Library

The library has continued to provide books for all of our Clairgate community during our remote learning phase. Lessons have recommenced in classrooms for now. Every class has the opportunity to borrow books.

In years K-2 individual class tubs have been created with a selection of books for the children to choose from in their library lesson. In years 3-6

the children have all been reminded how to use the reservation system to request books. The books are picked, processed and packaged in the library then delivered “Uber style” to their classrooms. Many children have enjoyed receiving their books this way. All returns are placed in our returns box to begin their quarantine process before returning to the shelves. During remote learning children were given the opportunity to borrow books above their usual quota to allow for extra reading at home. These books are now overdue and should be returned ASAP. Overdue notices have been sent home each week to remind students of the books currently on loan to them. Mrs Thurling will be working at another school for the next two weeks as a part of her Masters of Education university study. Miss Bromley and Mrs Lipitz will continue to deliver library lessons in the classrooms for weeks 9 and 10. During this time there will be no borrowing to allow time for all books to be returned and processed before the holidays. Borrowing will recommence week 1 next term. Thank you again to our fabulous Clairgate community that have continued to support Book Club. The rewards from Book Club purchases are used to buy resources for the school each month. Book Week has been moved to mid-October. We will move our Book Character Parade to coincide with Book Week. We are still in negotiations about Book Fair. More details when we have them!

NSW Department of Education

This guide is for parents and carers A guide to NSW school students returning to face-to-face learning Information has been updated as at 11 June 2020, until further notice.

education.nsw.gov.au

In line with health advice, schools are operating full time, and many additional activities are now able to recommence All schools have returned to full-time on-campus learning. With updated health advice and changes to state and national restrictions, schools are able to recommence the majority of school-based activities from either 15 June 2020 or the start of Term 3 (20 July 2020). Some activities are continuing to be considered.

The following principles underpin these guidelines:

• schools continue to be safe and operationsare in line with Australian Health ProtectionPrincipal Committee (AHPPC) and NSWHealth guidelines

• existing infection control protocols at schools,and new health and safety measures put inplace will help maintain the health and safetyof students and staff

• all activities permitted at school are safeand appropriate in a living with COVID-19environment.

School students do not need to follow strict adult physical distancing guidelines, but should follow good hygiene practices like:

• regularly washing hands• avoiding sharing drinks or food• coughing or sneezing into your elbow, or a

tissue which should be discarded immediately• filling water bottles from bubblers rather than

using the bubbler directly.

School attendance

All students should be at school unless:

• they have a medical certificate which statesthat they are unable to return to school dueto an ongoing medical condition and theexpected timeframe

• they are currently unwell.

School activities/ school site usage

The majority of school-based activities can recommence, as long as the following measures are observed:

• all visitors and external to school providersmust adhere to relevant hygiene, distancingand safety protocols

• principals may continue to restrict, limit orprohibit activities if they are seen as contraryto the current health advice

• external providers and visitors are requiredto demonstrate compliance with health andsafety requirements including adhering tostrict guidelines and completing relevantforms

• non-essential adults are still not permittedon school grounds or at school events – thisincludes parents/carers unless specificallyapproved by the principal.

Physical distancing

Physical distancing of children in schools is not required under the Australian HPPC guidelines. Research has shown limited transmission risk associated with school children in the school environment.

2 A guide to NSW school students returning to face-to- face learning – Guidelines for parents and carers

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All adults must maintain physical distance from each other (1.5m) including teachers and support staff, and parents.Schools should ensure school pick up and drop off arrangements enable parents to physically distance from one another and from staff.

School cleaning and hygiene supplies

Your school will continue to receive additional cleaning in line with the AHPPC guidelines and advice from NSW Health. Target areas include high-touch areas and other hard surfaces, door handles, lockers, light switches and handrails in stairways and movement areas. There will also be additional cleaning of toilets and bubblers and topping up of supplies like soap.Your school has received supplies of soap, hand sanitiser, toilet paper, paper towels, disinfectant wipes and personal protective equipment. The school is able to order more as needed.

School activities return and timeline

Activities/site usage that can already take place:• Use the school library• Engage in non-contact sporting activities• Canteens and uniform shops can open at

principal’s discretion• Year 11 and 12 students only may attend

classes/activities relating to subjects onlyavailable on other campuses is allowed

• VET work placement for Year 12 students isable to proceed from 1 June 2020. Schoolbased apprenticeships and traineeships canrecommence once the relevant workplacesare back in operation

• Trade Training Centres can operate on schoolsites.

Activities/site usage that can take place from Monday 15 June 2020• School assemblies (limited to 15 minutes and

no external visitors)• Choirs and performing arts at school, with

safety protocols in place• Students may attend other schools for

essential curriculum related reasons orplacements (e.g. auditions or placement tests)

• Hydrotherapy pools can be used• Incursions/external providers can provide

activities that support delivery of curriculum(e.g. music tutors, sport skills developmentprograms, science demonstrations, dramatutors, Healthy Harold).

• Community use activities used by studentssuch as dance classes, and student sport skillsdevelopment, outside of school hours withlimited adult attendance)

• Day field trips to outdoor locations with nophysical distancing requirements can takeplace

• Face to face TAFE attendance (see TAFEwebsite for further information)

• School photos• Department of Community and Justice

services and programs.

Activities/site usage that can take place from beginning of Term 3• All school sport and activities including

competitions aligned with current healthadvice (including those activities run byexternal organisations)

education.nsw.gov.au 3

• Inter-school student events and competitions(choirs, sport , debating, public speaking,performing arts, Selective Sports High Schooltrials etc)

• SRE/SEE lessons• Work experience for students (with

appropriate risk assessment)• VET work placements can proceed subject to

the availability of placement and appropriaterisk assessments. For any that can’t proceed,please see the NESA website

• School based apprenticeships andtraineeships can recommence once therelevant workplaces are back in operation

• P&C meetings – with a strong preference foron-line where possible

• Parent/teacher meetings – where these needto take place – strong preference for on-line where possible unless involving seriousmatters that require face to face discussion

• Community use activities involving generaladult attendance (such as communitymarkets).

Activities under consideration from Term 3The following events will be reconsidered in Term 3. For now these events must remain on hold.

• School camps• Excursions (other than field trips explained

above)• Parent attendance at assemblies and other

school events (e.g. graduation ceremonies orstudent speech events)

• Parent volunteers – e.g. parent readinghelpers (note: canteen and uniform shopvolunteers are permitted)

• Interstate excursions• School based activities that involve large

gathering of adults are not permitted atthis time. These include parent/communitygatherings such as parent functions, workingbees, fundraisers, school BBQs, large parentinformation evenings, and large on-sitecultural events. These large gatherings andthe following activities will continue to bereviewed and assessed based on AHPPC andNSW Health advice and may be permitted ata later date.

Activities that are cancelled, delayed or not permittedCertain large arts and sports events are cancelled or delayed because they require feeder activities and have long-lead time organisational arrangements. Please speak to your schools if you would like to know more.International excursions are cancelled until further notice.

Reporting and assessment

You will receive your child’s semester 1 report before the end of August (Week 6, Term 3).This will be a simplified version of the report you normally receive. Schools are encouraged to discuss your child’s progress with you before the written report is issued.

Responding to COVID-19 cases

There is a clear plan in place for schools to respond to any suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our schools. We are working closely with NSW Health and will communicate with parents if a situation arises. Find out more at the response protocols page.

TransportFor travel advice to and from school refer to the NSW public transport service.

4 A guide to NSW school students returning to face-to- face learning – Guidelines for parents and carers

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