26/3/20
Please see here for the latest information regarding the last week of Term 1.
25/3/20
Dear Parents /Caregivers,
Whilst we await further instructions from the Federal and
State Governments regarding schooling arrangements, we continue to implement
the recommended strategies. We do recommend that where ever possible children
are kept at home. Our school will remain open for as long as we are able should
you be working and not be in a position to keep your child/children at home.
Further restrictions will be in place from Thursday March 26
until further notice:
·
All outdoor play will be at the teachers
discretion in open areas only
·
All forts and playground equipment will be out
of bounds
·
Student materials will not be shared with other
students
·
All sporting trials have been cancelled
·
Additional online learning materials will be
made available by the end of this week for the first 3 weeks of term 2
·
Staff who fall into the high risk category will be
encouraged to work from home.
·
With reduced staff classes will be combined
·
Any student who presents as unwell will be sent
home. Please ensure emergency contact details are current
Please continue to check our
Facebook page and website for updates.
Greg Horrigan
Principal
Springfield Lakes State School
24/3/20
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I am writing to
update you on the ongoing response to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 across the
education sector.
These are unprecedented times for
schooling systems and you can be assured that all Queensland state schools are
working closely with the Department of Education as we respond to this
significant and evolving public health issue.
Thank you for your support and
understanding our school and the broader education community manage the impact
of COVID-19.
I also acknowledge the excellent work
being done by teachers and support staff in our school in ensuring your
children are safe and continuing their learning during this difficult time.
School
operations
As you may have heard in his press
conference on 22 March 2020, the Prime Minister reiterated the view that
schools are an essential part of our community and should remain open. This
continues to be the advice of Australia’s chief health officers.
Leaders agreed that we cannot see
children lose up to an entire year of their education as a result of possible school
closures caused by COVID-19.
From Tuesday 24 March, Queensland state
school parents and caregivers have been offered a choice as to how their
children receive their learning.
State schools will remain open and
parents and caregivers can send their children to school in the knowledge they
will be safe.
If, however, you wish to keep your children
home from school, you may do so. If you choose to keep your children at home,
learning materials will be available on the Department of Education’s new learning@home website (qld.gov.au/learningathome). This website has downloadable learning materials, tips
for parents and links to other well-regarded, free education websites that
parents and caregivers and their children can use.
If you choose to keep your child at
home, you must be responsible for them. You must ensure they stay at home and
that they continue their learning using the material and websites that you can
access online.
Student
attendance
As is always the case, I ask parents and caregivers to let our school
know if your child will not be attending school, for how long and the reason
why.
If
you choose to keep your child home due to concerns about COVID-19 you can be
assured that you have made an acceptable decision.
You may have seen media reports last
week that claim Education Queensland is ‘cracking down’ on parents who choose
not to send their children to school due to COVID-19 concerns and that you are
risking prosecution if you have made this decision.
The
Department of Education has assured all schools that this is incorrect.
As outlined above, if you choose to keep
your children at home, you can access materials available on the department’s learning@home website (qld.gov.au/learningathome) or other websites with curriculum materials. These
materials have been available from the department for times when children have
not attended school for extended periods.
School routines
As you would be aware, schools have been
asked to change routines and some specific planned activities over the last few
weeks to assist in managing the spread of COVID-19.
These include:
·
ceasing
all international school/departmental travel for students and teachers;
·
postponing
or cancelling external school activities such as fetes, concerts, fairs, etc.;
·
in
schools of greater than 500 students, stopping full school assemblies,
arranging staggered lunch breaks where possible and rescheduling other large
in-school student gatherings and events.
Schools have also been asked to postpone
or cancel all school trips, camps and excursions including interschool and
representative school sport competitions as a further step in reducing the risk
of transmission in our schools and communities.
School
hygiene
I can assure all parents and caregivers
that during this time we are paying close attention to the cleaning of our
schools. Queensland schools have excellent, dedicated cleaners and the
department has provided them with additional advice on cleaning techniques
since the onset of COVID-19.
To support this work the Government has also
increased the amount of cleaning in Queensland state schools in response to the
COVID-19 outbreak.
Our schools will be able to provide
additional time to cleaners to enable them to pay extra attention to high touch
point surfaces such as door handles, light switches, desks, toilets, taps and
sinks.
Teachers at our school have also been
focusing on the importance of effective hand and sneeze/cough hygiene with
students.
Thank
you
I sincerely thank parents
and caregivers for the support you are giving your children and for the
understanding you are showing to our school staff as they respond to this
unique situation. It is important we continue to ensure our schools are safe
and positive places for our children during these challenging times.
As always, the health and
wellbeing of your children, and our staff, remain our focus.
It is likely that these circumstances
will be in place for many months ahead and we will all continue to work
together in the interest of our schools and our school communities.
Yours sincerely
Greg Horrigan
Principal
23/3/20
Dear Parents and
Care Givers,
Thank you for
your understanding during this time of extreme uncertainty. As you will know,
the Prime Minister last night advised that schools will remain open until
the end of term. When we have further advice from our Premier and the Education
Minister we will communicate this to you in a timely manner.
As per the Prime
Minister’s address on Sunday March 22nd, families who choose for
their children to stay at home prior to the school holidays will not be penalised.
Curriculum provided at school for the remainder of the term will focus on
revision. Students will not be participating in any new learning or assessment
tasks this term.
Packages of
curriculum resources uploaded onto our students’ homepage will provide learning
opportunities for students to continue their educational development and
progress whilst not being able to access school. Student usernames and
passwords will be sent home by class teachers this week so that students can
access their homepage. Information will be provided to parents as to how to
access the homepage.
Our priority
currently is to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff and
students, so to this end the following will be implemented and reviewed as
necessary:
·
To
limit the number of people on site, students are to be dropped off and
collected through the pick-up zone whenever possible.
·
For students who are unable to use the pick-up
and drop off facility, please drop off and collect students from outside the
classroom. Please be mindful of social distancing protocols and wait away from
classroom doors.
·
Face-to-face parent meetings will be replaced by
online communications e.g. email, Class Dojo, telephone calls.
·
It is preferred that all student resources
remain in school. Materials required for learning to continue at home will be
sent home in the event of a school closure.
·
In the event of school closures, home readers
will not be sent home. Please access online reading materials e.g. You Tube,
Reading Rockets, Scholastics, Reading Eggs, Study Ladder, audio books etc.
Kind Regards
Admin at
SLSS