Dear Parents,

Last week it was wonderful to welcome back the students from Years 3 to 6 at school. All students transitioned back with a minimum of fuss and classes have had a focus on the new routines and revising learning expectations.

CURRENT COVID RESTRICTIONS
Thank you to everyone for following the protocols for drop-off and pick-up times. The transition back to school has gone very smoothly. These protocols will remain in place until at least the end of this term.

All students have adapted very well to the new routines. It is particularly pleasing to see our younger students being able to enter their classroom and set themselves up independently in the morning ready to start the day. Regular hand hygiene is undertaken in all classrooms. Wherever we have sinks, soap and paper towel dispensers have been installed. Hand sanitisers are near all entrances and bottles of hand sanitisers and wipes in each classroom. On top of the normal cleaners, we have a cleaner at school from 10.00am to 4.00pm who cleans playgrounds, toilets and high-touch areas around the school during the day.

At this stage the COVID restrictions have resulted in some changes to programs and opportunities both at school but also in relation to the involvement of outside providers. Due to these restriction all sports, incursions, excursions, camps and various educational activities were cancelled for Term 2.  We are currently awaiting direction from the Department of Education (DET) in regards to these activities for Term 3. 

One of the events that this will have an impact on is our School Concert. We are still hoping that we will be able to hold this much-anticipated event late next term but will have to make a call early next term as to whether we can proceed given the amount of preparation that goes in to organising this whole school event.

Please be assured, families that have paid the year level excursion levy at the start of the 2020 school year, will be refunded any unused part of the excursion levy.

5/6 CAMP
Yesterday we received notification from DET that camps can go ahead in Term 3. This is great news for our Year 5/6 students who were due to go on camp in early Term 3. We have contacted the camp and will inform the Year 5 & 6 families very soon in reference to this with more details. 

STUDENT ILLNESS
Thank you to the parents who have notified their child’s teacher that they have been kept home as a precaution. Please do not send your child to school even with a mild cold, runny nose or cough. If your child presents with any flu or cold like symptoms, they will be sent to the first aid room and you will be called to collect them from school.

SEMESTER 1 REPORTS & PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS
You will receive a report for your child outlining their progress in Semester 1. The report will look different from the usual one provided, as it was not possible to implement our standard report writing process due to the impact of the remote learning this semester. As a result, we will not be providing a 5 point scale for curriculum areas. On the report will be a comment from the classroom teacher/s on English and Maths, as well as a general comment including how your child adjusted to the remote and flexible learning environment.

There will be opportunity for feedback through Parent Teacher interviews in week 3 of Term 3. Interviews will be conducted via Webex. Early next term information on how to book a Webex meeting with your child’s teacher will be sent out via Compass. In previous years, students in Years 3 to 6 participated in 3-way interviews, but due to the current extenuating circumstances all interviews will be held between the parents and the classroom teacher.

2021 PREP ENROLMENTS
We are currently taking Prep enrolments for 2021. If you haven’t yet submitted an enrolment form for next year please do so as soon as possible to help with our forward planning. Enrolment forms for 2021 are available on this link: Prep 2021.

SCHOOL DEVICES
Thank you to all the families who returned the borrowed school iPads and laptops during the remote learning period. We had over 80 devices go out and have received them all back – much appreciated.

VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY
We had a “virtual” assembly last Friday to welcome back all students to school. We are having an assembly at 9.15am this Friday morning to give out classroom awards and officially hand out badges to this year’s Student Representative Committee (SRC). We are planning to go live so parents can view this assembly online. We will send out a reminder and the link on Friday morning before school and hope you can join us.

TEAPOT MORNING TEA

Students who display our school values: Achievement, Empathy, Respect, Resilience and Honesty are recognised by being awarded with a Tea Pot ticket.

At our virtual assembly on Friday the following students (pictured) were drawn out of our tea pot and took part in a morning tea today hosted by our Wellbeing team.

 

 










CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
As part of their integrated unit the Year 1s celebrated the “Good Old Days”. Students dressed up in olden day clothes and listened to the special guest speaker, Mrs Robyn Challis, talk about school life in the olden days. The morning started with the ringing of the old school bell, marching to the assembly to a drum beat, reciting the oath and listening to God Save the Queen (our national anthem back in the day). Unfortunately I had to admit it was exactly how I remembered it. During the day they played some old-fashioned games as well as completed some craft activities. Everyone got in to the spirit of the 1900’s and it was be a fun-filled day for everyone.

LIBRARY NEWS …. from Krista
It is wonderful to see students back in the Library using the resources, and borrowing books for home.  As books are retuned they are being thoroughly sanitised before being re shelved.  Please return all books that were borrowed for use during remote learning.

There are lots of fantastic new books to borrow and include in the Premiers' Reading Challenge.  The challenge has started well.  So far we have read 994 books.  This is fantastic - keep going!!!

LOST PROPERTY
Just a reminder that the lost property basket is located in the main building under the stairwell. At the moment the basket is overflowing! At the end of each term, we donate the unclaimed and un-named school uniforms to the second hand uniform shop.

SCHOOL SPONSORS
I would like to acknowledge our school sponsors who have continued to support our school despite the fact we have not been able to run any functions this term. Thank you to Neumode, Fletcher’s Real Estate and Smile Place Dental who have again renewed their sponsorship for this year and we welcome Ashburton Cycles and Bendigo Bank who have signed up this year to sponsor our events. We are grateful to these local businesses for supporting our GIPS community.

LAST DAY OF TERM 2 – Friday 26 June
The last day of the term is on Friday 26 June. The SRC have organised a free dress day on this day. Students are being encouraged to bring a “gold coin donation” and all money raised will go to a very worthy cause – The Salvation Army.

Students will be dismissed an hour earlier on this day, continuing with the staggered departure times: Preps at 2.15pm, Year 1s at 2.20pm, Year 2s at 2.25pm and the Year 3s, Year 4s and Year 5/6s at 2.30pm.

Team Kids will be running a holiday program over this period. There is a limit to the number of students on any given day. Please book via their website.

Wishing all families a restful holiday period.

Garry Collins
Principal