PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

I understand that this is a very stressful time for children, parents and staff. We will continue to update you daily as we are updated.

We are taking our direction from the Department of Education. The advice of the Chief Health Officer remains at present that our schools should stay open, except in the case of a confirmed case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

COVID-19 Cases
The school has no known cases or contacts with known cases at present, but we continue to monitor this situation.

OSPS Ongoing Operation
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has advised that all schools should continue to operate as planned for now. Please click link to his letter: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/CHO_advicetoschools_16March2020.pdf

Department COVID-19 Website
For the latest information from the Department of Education on COVID-19 please visit: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Declaration of State of Emergency
The declaration by the Victorian Government of a State of Emergency means that the state now has the power to do the following, among other measures:

• enforce a mandatory self-quarantine period for returning travellers
• enforce a ban on non-essential gatherings of more than 100 people

The mandatory self-quarantine period of 14 days for travellers returning from overseas does have implications for students and staff. In brief, students who travel overseas will not be able to attend school for 14 days when they return. Similarly, staff who travel overseas will not be able to attend school for 14 days.

Clearly, in line with Commonwealth Government revised travel advice, staff and students should reconsider any planned overseas travel during these coming school holidays.

Thank you and take care.

Ron Cantlon
Principal

TERM DATES

Term 3:

Monday 13th July – Friday 18th September

Term 4:

Monday 5th October – Thursday 18th December (2.30pm school students finish)
Friday 19th December (school teachers finish)

Last day of each term is a 2.30pm finish

PAYMENTS DUE

2020 Payments Due

Essential Learning Fees – Under School Payments
Voluntary Contributions – Library, ICT, Working Bee – Under Specialist Charges

SUPERVISION AND PARKING

Parking

A reminder to parents and carers are NOT to use the Staff Car Park, or the disabled parks, regardless of the time of day. It is NOT to be used as a quick drop off or collection point.

This includes after Choir on a Wednesday

Please make sure you do your civic duty to follow the road laws and rules. This includes parking correctly in the signed areas, and completing 3 point turns in the middle in the intersection!

We also urge parents to please remember to be patient and polite when using the Oval Carpark, and be good role models for all the children witnessing their behaviour. With over 800 families, drop off and collection times will be busy and you will need to plan your time accordingly.

Please click here for further parking information oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au/about-us/#parking

Supervision

Yard duty before school commences at 8:45 am.

After school teachers are in the grounds until 3:45 pm. Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity).

Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not arrive early or stay late after school unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity (i.e. running club).

SCHOOL MATTERS

Learning Continuity at Home

Learning continuity is very important to your child’s development. Oakleigh South Primary School staff remain committed to helping create an exceptional learning experience, exploring many options to support the learning continuity for students at home.  If you choose to keep your child at home we advise that you use the following programs to support your child’s learning:

Literacy

• • Reading Eggs & Reading Eggspress
  • myON reading program

Numeracy

• • Mathletics tasks

In the event of a school closure, Google Classrooms will be used as an additional resource in all year levels through accessing online learning for you at home. Google Classrooms is a purpose built system aimed at streamlining the process of sharing files and information between teachers and students. Step by step instructions will be provided to parents/guardians in regards to uploaded work and supported by teachers during this time. Further information regarding the process will be communicated to families should a school closure occur.

Should you wish to discuss further information please don’t hesitate to contact your class teacher.

School Banking

Dear Principal and School Banking Co-ordinator,

Over the past few weeks, you will have seen the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation continue to unfold. We’ve been consulting with our schools, P&Cs and the relevant health authorities on the best approach moving forward.

As a result of this feedback, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily pause the School Banking Program from close of business 20 March 2020 until the start of Term 2 in your state. We will of course keep the start date flexible as the situation continues to change.

Our primary goal will always be to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our communities and our people. By taking these precautionary measures, we hope to minimise any potential impact.

With regards to the impact to children collecting Dollarmites tokens and the impact to schools regarding School Banking contribution payments, we will circle back to you once our program resumes.

To help you communicate this to your school community, we have attached a newsletter article at the end of this email to distribute to parents as you wish.

We kindly ask that any monies outstanding relating to deposits accepted to the program are paid into your school’s clearing account by Friday 27 March 2020 at the latest. This will ensure there is no delay in the accurate processing of deposits to children’s accounts.

Please note, our team of School Banking Specialists are still available to support you and your school via mobile and email. Our School Banking Helpdesk also remains available on 1800 674 496, Monday – Friday 9am-5pm Sydney time.

Regards,

Veronica

Veronica Howarth
Head of School Banking
Retail Banking Services

Visiting Japanese Sensai

Sayonara, Ayaka Sensei!

Ayaka Sensen has spent last 4 weeks at Oakleigh South Primary School. She loved meeting you all and she is planning to come back to OSPS in not too distant future. Having volunteer assistant language teachers helps students to develop better pronunciation of Japanese language by mimicking the way native speakers pronounce words and correcting their mistakes in activities like role plays. It has been so wonderful having her at OSPS. Here is a comment from Ayaka’s host family!

“We have had so much fun with Ayaka! It has been such a brilliant experience for the whole family. We’ve learnt about Ayaka’s life at home in Tokyo and we’ve got to share in wonderful sightseeing adventures with her. We have most definitely made a new friend and we can’t wait till Ayaka comes back to Melbourne!!” From Lisa, Ayaka’s host mother.

Thank you to the Goudie family for hosting Ayaka during her time in Australia!

Table – free to a new home

Dear Parents,

At the start of the year a parent expressed interest at the office in taking this furniture as it had a sign on it ‘free to take’.

As there is now no use for it at OSPS, could that parent please contact virtuoso.nicole.b@edumail.vic.gov.au by Friday 20th March if it your family is interested, please e-mail Nikki and you’ll be contacted as ‘next in line’.

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Grandparent’s Day

On Tuesday the 10th of March, the Grade 1’s celebrated Grandparents Day. Our grandparents and grand-friends came in to the classroom at 11:30am and we spent time with them doing fun activities and games.
We worked together to complete word-searches, crosswords, badge making, ‘Grandparents Bingo’, ‘Draw Me & I Draw You’ and ‘Roll a Grandparent’. 

We made our way to the hall at 12:15pm and performed the songs we have been practicing in music with Mrs Barnard and in class with our teachers for our grandparents. We sang, ‘I Love You, Your Button Nose’, ‘L.O.V.E’, the ‘Grandparents Day’ song and the ‘Grandpa, Grandma’ song. After our performance, we sat down and enjoyed our lunch with our grandparents while they had some food from the lovely afternoon tea that was provided by the Year 1 teachers and the parent helpers.

It was wonderful to have our grandparents come and visit us, our classrooms and to meet our friends and teachers. A big thank-you to Mrs Barnard for all of your hard work during music, which helped ensure the day was a success. And an extra big thank-you to all of the grandparents who came to make the day so special!

COMMUNITY NEWS

Disclaimer – The organisations advertised in this newsletter are not affiliated with and have no relationship to Oakleigh South Primary School. The publishing of these advertisements does not imply endorsement or recommendation of these products or services by the school. They are provided as a community service.