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BELLBRIDGE NEWS

Bellbridge Primary School

120 Bellbridge Drive, Hoppers Crossing, 3029 Telephone: 9749 6161 Email: bellbridge.ps@education.vic.gov.au Web Page: www.bellbridgeps.vic.edu.au

Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Bellbridge Primary School actively promotes the

safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or

harm in the school environment in accordance with their legal obligations including the Child Safe Standards.

CANTEEN IS CLOSED for the remainder of TERM 2 ALL students will need to bring SNACK AND LUNCH,

as well as their own WATER BOTTLE for personal use.

UNWELL STUDENTS Recent health advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer to the Department of Education and Training states that “all unwell staff and students must stay home”. It also stated that “students experiencing compatible symptoms with coronavirus, such as fever, cough or sore throat, should be [...] collected by a parent”. If/when staff observe a student with compatible symptoms, students will be referred to Sick Bay and our First Aid Officer will notify parents, if deemed necessary.

SCHOOL CROSSING SUPERVISION We wish to alert parents/carers of some changes to the supervision times at our three school crossings so that you can plan your route to and from school accordingly. Below is a list of the crossings that Wyndham Council are able to cover near our school and the times of supervision:

Bellbridge Drive North (near Rewards Shop) – 8:00am-9:00am and 2:30pm-3:30pm

Bellbridge Drive South (near roundabout) – 8:00am-9:00am and 2:30pm-3:30pm

Matlock Street - 8:00am-9:00am and 2:30pm-3:30pm

SUPPORTING FLEXIBLE AND REMOTE LEARNING AT HOME Since the beginning of the Learning from Home period, our school loaned 44 laptops to families who did not have devices to support their children’s learning. When all students returned to school in Week 9, all of the laptops had been accounted for and most of them had already been returned to school. We are pleased and proud that our families were so respectful and responsible with the school equipment and that it allowed our students to maintain connections with teachers and peers through the use of the laptops.

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ARRANGEMENTS for STAGE 2 (will continue until further notice)

ENTRY to (8:10 – 8:30am) and EXIT from (2:30 – 2:40pm) SCHOOL All parents are expected to remain outside the school gates and maintain appropriate physical distancing (if they choose to leave their cars) as per the markings (white dots) placed on the footpath around our school to indicate safe physical spacing.

The school gates will be opened for students to ENTER from 8:10am.

Students may enter and exit through any gate (Gate #1, Gate #3, Gate #4) that suits their family’s arrangements, e.g. walking to school, riding a bike, parking the car and walking, travelling by bus.

Gate#1: Matlock Street Gate#3: Bus Stop (Bellbridge Dr) Gate#4: Rewards Shop (Bellbridge Dr) Staff will be supervising each entry/exit gate to promote a safe and orderly process, and we request that everyone be patient and respectful as we work through this ‘new’ stage. We will be managing the EXITING of students using a staggered approach as follows:

2:30 PM Students with surnames beginning with A – L will exit via any gate.

2:40PM Students with surnames beginning with M – Z will exit via any gate.

Parents are encouraged to develop a ‘pick up’ plan for their children and make it very clear to their

children (especially because parents cannot enter the school grounds).

PARENTS MAY NOT ENTER THE SCHOOL GROUNDS unless it is deemed to be essential Staff will be supervising the entry and exit gates each morning and afternoon and can assist with questions and/or concerns. If parents do need to be on-site, they must minimise their time and practise physical distancing. They must also STOP at the front door of the school and wait for assistance from Office staff before entering the building.

Reasons to be on-site may include:

Making payments, e.g. netbooks

Picking up a child for an appointment during the school day

HOME LEARNING When we reflect on the period of flexible and remote learning, there is much that our school community can be proud of:

the connectedness between home and school

the quality of the home learning tasks, activities and resources prepared by staff

the successful avenues of communication provided by families and staff

the individualised support provided for many students and their families

the distribution of leadership that maintained key aspects of education and management, as well as

the extraordinary generosity of spirit demonstrated by many in our school community.

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OTHER PROCEDURES in operation during the return to on-site learning

All classrooms with access to sinks will have hand soap and sanitiser available for student use

All classrooms without access to sinks will have sanitiser available for student use

All students must bring their own water bottle, as drink taps will be out of use

Playground equipment can be used, however, students will be expected to practise hand hygiene

before and after use

Playgrounds will receive enhanced cleaning each day as per DET guidelines

The Canteen will not be open until further notice – this will be reviewed for Term 3

No school Assembly in the gym until further notice – these are held in classrooms via MS Teams

Teachers will minimise the use of shared equipment used for teaching and learning, and strict hand

hygiene will be followed before and after the use of shared equipment

We will not have daily Buddy Reading between Prep and Grade 6 (and 5D) buddy grades

There will be no external health providers or parent helpers on-site until further notice

We appreciate the support and understanding demonstrated by our school community during these challenging times. It truly embodies our school’s SWPBS approach with everyone maintaining consistent safe, respectful and responsible behaviours.

STUDENT ENROLMENTS FOR 2021 All enrolments for 2021 are being managed using an online process that is accessible via our school website. A virtual tour of the school is also included as tours will not be conducted at school until we feel it is a safe and appropriate option for our students, staff and prospective visitors. SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING via Webex (summary) Key discussions and business arising from the School Council meeting (15/6/20) included:

- FINANCE REPORT was presented, discussed and approved. - CORRESPONDENCE (in/out) was shared, including information about opportunities for virtual

training available online for school councillors. - PRINCIPAL’S REPORT was presented. It included information about remote learning,

progress with the return to on-site learning, a summary of the parent survey re. flexible and remote learning, an explanation about ‘conflict of interest’ processes relating to school councillors, the need for parent members of school council to sign a Child Safe Policy re. Code of Conduct and safe guarding children, plans for Semester 1 reporting and Parent Teacher Interviews, a report on our current cleaning procedures and other precautions related to COVID-19.

- Discussion about reconsidering our plans for fundraising this year in light of the current health situation – it was determined that the school continue with Free Dress days on the last day of each term (with gold coin donation), continue with Subway Lunches in Term 3 and that we await further guidelines from the Chief Health Officer before planning for Wheel & Walkathon and Christmas Concert proposed for Term 4.

- Discussion about the current COVID-19 restrictions and the impact on camps, excursions, swimming programs, school photos, etc. and the impact on schools and program delivery. We continue to follow guidelines and updates provided by the Chief Health Officer, the Minister for Health and the Department of Education and Training.

- Discussion about the closure of the Canteen – benefits, concerns, possible alternatives. It was decided that a survey would be considered for parents, staff and students to complete with their thoughts, opinions and ideas.

Next meeting, Monday, July 20th

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STUDENT REPORTS and INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS (ILPs): SEMESTER 1 Teachers are finalising students’ Semester 1 reports and these will be available for parents to view via Compass from 1:00pm this Friday, June 19th. Parent-Teacher Interviews form an important part of the reporting process, and have been organised to occur next week to further discuss the student reports. For those students on a Semester 1 Individual Learning Plan, goals will not be given an achievement rating due to the lengthy remote learning period, however the ILPs will be discussed during parent-teacher phone calls and this will help to inform suitable updates to the ILP to continue with these goals in Semester 2. Updated ILPs for Semester 2 will be provided early in Term 3. PARENT TEACHER (PHONE CALL) INTERVIEWS (SEMESTER 1)

Parent-Teacher Interviews via PHONE will occur on Monday, June 22nd (2:50 – 6:30pm), Tuesday, June 23rd, (2:50 - 5:30pm) and Wednesday, June 24th (2:50 - 5:30pm). Parents will not be attending the school in the usual manner. Teachers will be conducting interviews by making phone calls to parents due to COVID-19 restrictions re. physical distancing and the recommendation to limit visitors on school grounds, where possible. Bookings for these meetings must be made via Compass – under “Conferences”. LOG IN TO COMPASS TO BOOK YOUR PARENT-TEACHER PHONE CALL The bookings for Semester 1 Parent-Teacher Interviews is now available. Login to Compass using the mobile app or Compass web link on our school homepage. (https://bellbridgeps-vic.compass.education/) If you can’t remember your password for Compass, please go to the Compass Portal and select “Can’t access your account?” This link will take you to: https://bellbridgeps-vic.compass.education/Portal/ForgotPassword.aspx where you can take steps to change your password. Our teachers look forward to having phone conversations with as many families as possible during the upcoming Parent Teacher PHONE Interviews on Monday 22/6/20, Tuesday 23/6/20, and Wednesday 24/6/20.

Debbie Clancy

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