Dear families,

Thank you for all your support during these past few weeks of remote and flexible learning.

Following advice from the Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government has advised that schools can begin a

phased return to on-site schooling. At Queenscliff Primary School, the phased return will follow DET guidelines

and will be as follows:

• All staff will be onsite working from the 25th May. Monday 25th of May is a student free curriculum day which

will be used to determine how health advice will be followed at our school, re-establish school routines,

establish an approach to assessing student learning progress during the period of remote and flexible

learning, and identify students in need of immediate health and wellbeing support. No students will be in

attendance on this day. Monday 8th June is the Queen’s Birthday public holiday and no students or staff will

be in attendance on this day.

• Prep, years 1 and 2 students will return to on-site learning on Tuesday 26th May. Our year 2 classes will be

combined into one class during this time and will be alternately taught by Mr Hale, Miss Baird and Mrs

Fitzgerald.

• Students in years 3-6 continue the remote and flexible learning program until 5th June. Tuesday 9th June is

the first day of onsite learning for years 3-6 students. At this time our regular structure of two years 2-4

classes resumes.

• Between the 26th May and the 5th June, for those students in years 3-6 who cannot be supervised at home

and vulnerable children, the existing model of on-site schooling will remain in place during the two-week

period. The current process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days

for which on-site schooling is required will continue for this two-week period. All other students in these

grades and year levels will continue learning from home until Tuesday the 9th June.

• All students in the year levels returning to on-site schooling are expected to attend school. The school will

not be providing remote learning where parents elect to keep these students at home.

• An increase in the frequency of the regular cleaning beyond what is normally required, using

detergent/disinfectant to wipe high frequency areas will be implemented.

Thursday 21st May 2020

There will be unavoidable changes to our regular routines. These changes are as follows:

• Between the 26th May and the 5th of June our years P-2 students will attend school between the regular hours

of 9.00am and 3.00pm.

• Entry to the school for all students, at the start of the day, will be through the front main entrance only and

hand sanitiser will be provided to all students to use. Only staff, students and official school visitors are

permitted in the school buildings and grounds.

• There will be distance markers placed at the front of the school for students to adhere to social distancing

guidelines. Staff will monitor social distancing during recess/lunch, before and after school as well as during

class time.

• Student group work will be limited, and classrooms arranged to cater for social distancing requirements.

Hand washing and personal hygiene will be explicitly referenced and adhered to in each class regularly

throughout the school day.

• Classroom teachers will dismiss their classes from the gate nearest their classrooms at the end of the school

day. Gates will be locked until dismissal time and we ask all parents to please remain outside the

schoolgrounds and make meeting point arrangements with their child/ren that reflect social distancing

guidelines.

• If children become unwell during the school day, they will be isolated in the first aid room and must be

picked up promptly. We remind all families to keep any unwell child at home until they have fully

recovered.

• All parent enquiries are to be made via telephone call to the general office or email to the relevant staff. Office

staff will be available for contactless drop offs of lunch/snack, jumpers etc. should this be needed. Preferred method

of parent/teacher meetings are via telephone, email or scheduled WebEx video conferences.

• From the 9th of June onwards, recess and lunch times will be staggered for P/1s (10.30-11.00am & 1.00-1.30pm)

and 2-6s (11.00-11.30am & 1.30-2.00pm). Between 26th May and 5th June, recess/lunch times will remain as

normal. Our dismissal time of 3.00pm will remain the same but be monitored should this need to be staggered also.

From the 9th June, student entry point through the main entrance will be monitored and emended if needed

Thursday 21st May 2020

• Playground equipment and shared sports equipment can be used by students. However, students should

practise hand hygiene before and after use.

• Students should bring their own water bottle for use at school as students should not drink directly from

drinking fountains at this time. Taps may be used to refill water bottles only. For the remainder of term 2, our kitchen/

garden program will focus solely on the garden component.

• After school care will continue to be provided by Lonsdale House Childcare for all schools within the Borough

of Queenscliffe and will continue to be based at Queenscliff Primary School. Parents/carers of after school

care participants will not be permitted in the buildings or grounds of the school and students will be walked

by an after-school care staff member to the main entrance for collection. All afterschool care participants will

follow Lonsdale House and Queenscliff Primary School’s COVID-19 procedures.

• Our 2021 prep transition sessions have been postponed until term 3 and will take place in an amended format

taking into consideration social distancing recommendations. Advice on these sessions will be emailed to all

2021 enrolled prep families next week.

We understand that this is a different way for QPS to operate. Please remember that we are here to assist and

that we look forward to when we can return to our normal way of being. Until then, the safety and well-being

of our students, staff and families is at the forefront of all of our programs. We understand that some families

may feel anxious about this move back to classroom teaching and learning. I can assure you that this decision

has been taken on the basis of the best health advice available to our state.

More information about the return to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) can be found on the Department’s

website, which will continue to be updated:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Thank you for your continued support and patience during this time. We look forward to welcoming our students

back to the classroom.

Kind regards,

Richard Buckingham

Thursday 21st May 2020

School Office Hours Monday - Friday 8am to 4pm

Phone: 5258 1696

School Office Hours Monday - Friday 8am to 4pm

Phone: 5258 1696

Biggest Morning Tea: Thursday 28th May : This will be a ‘virtual morning tea’, we will keep you informed with the

details for the morning tea.

Back To School P-2: Tuesday 26th May : We welcome back to school our Grade Preps, Grade 1’s and Grade 2’s.

Can these returning students please return any borrowed school laptops on Tuesday morning,

We request that the laptops please be cleaned and sanitised before returning them to the

office.

School Bus : Normal school bus timetable.

Bus companies have implemented an increased cleaning regime

for all buses, this includes the closing of the front seat on buses

to create distance between the driver and passengers.

Book Club : Book Club Issue 4 brochures will soon be available at school.

Monday 25th May: Curriculum Day. Student Free

Tuesday 26th May: P– 2 Return to School

Thursday 28th May: Biggest Morning Tea . (virtual)

Monday 8th June: Queens Birthday

Tuesday 9th June: Years 3—6 Return to School

Richard Buckingham (DET, Executive)

Melissa Fitzgerald (DET), Cameron Brown (DET)

Mark Lang, Naomi Grillinzoni, Rinsky Webb,

Chris Bramwell, Alex Giannuzi, Lisa Golightly

Heidi Volders-Boyd (Community Representative)

Music lessons are still going ahead online!

For expressions of interest for music lessons Please email

jarrahwishart@gmail.com or text Jarrah on 0466829496 if your child is interested

in learning Guitar, Drums or Violin.

Keep practicing your dances. We can’t wait to see all

of your faces soon!