14 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

It has been wonderful to have all of our students back this week for one day. Our year 5 & 6 students enjoyed catching up with their friends on Monday and it was a welcome change to have the face to face teaching with every grade this week. Ms Vanessa began her dance classes with Kindergarten, years 1 & 2 this week in our new hall with the use of a professional sound system and stage area. We hope to have dance everyday our students are attending and build up to a K-2 Dance concert next term.

Next week the arrangements will remain the same with the addition of gymnastics catch up lessons for Stage 3 students on the Monday. The timetable will be as follows:

Monday – Years 5 & 6 - Gym catch up lessons - sport uniform
Tuesday – Kindergarten - Dance lessons - sport uniform
Wednesday – Years 1 & 2 - Dance lessons - sport uniform
Thursday – Years 3 & 4 - Gymnastics lessons - sport uniform

Please ensure that you pack a jumper and a raincoat for the days your child is attending. We are keeping the use of air-conditioning and heating to a minimum during these next few months. Track pants can be worn for all school days not just sports days.

Drink bottles need to be packed daily as the bubblers are all closed until further notice. Lunch orders and recess snacks may be ordered from the canteen using Flexischools. No cash orders until further notice.

Lessons will be sent out via the Class Coordinators on the weekend prior. Hard copy of the online packs will be available from Monday 18 May. Students are expected to complete the online learning on the remainder of the days they are not attending school.

Cleaning and Hygiene

We have been given additional cleaners and cleaning products to assist in keeping the school as clean as possible. The school has never looked better and the cleaners diligently wipe every door handle and surface throughout the day. All railings are wiped after each break and toilets are cleaned continuously throughout the day. We will send students home who are sick and this will be an ongoing concern for us as winter colds and flu set in. All teachers on site have had the flu shot which the school paid for. Our thanks to Manly Vale Pharmacy who organised the staff to have this done in the holidays. There will be no borrowing of home readers or library books this term so we are currently purchasing e-borrowing for the library.

Reduced Excursion Costs

All excursions for this term have been cancelled. A new schedule of fees will be sent out next week reflecting the changes in excursions and the cancellations. The Year 5 Dancesport program will become an in-school event with a reduced cost to take place next term. Our gymnastic and other dance programs will be able to be run to their full capacity at this stage.

The Stage 3 camp (31 August – 2 September) is due to go ahead, payment not required until we confirm camp. If you have already paid for some of these excursions that have been cancelled, the refund will go into a “Fees in Advance” which means that these refunds will go towards other unpaid school fees/programs. Please do not pay for any excursions until it is announced that they are going ahead. Separate notes will be sent out in this case.

Changed Parking Signs

On the street surrounding the school there has been changes to parking and an extension of the bus zone on Gibbs Street. There is now a 5 minute parking limit on the southern side of Sunshine Street which allows for a quick drop off and pick up. On the opposite side of the road on Sunshine Street there is “no parking” in school drop off and pick up times. Whilst you can’t park, you can remain in the car for a short time for students to get in. You must not be more than 1 metre from your car.

On Gibbs Street there is an all day bus zone on the corner of Arana and Gibbs Streets to allow for all buses including PSSA and school excursion buses, as well as our normal bus zone for the school bus service between 8.30am-9.30am and 2.30pm-4.30pm (school days). Traffic wardens and controllers will be assisting with the implementation of these changed conditions over the next few weeks. Please take care when parking around the school.

Ethics (SEE) Online

All Ethics classes have been cancelled for this term. Please follow the following link for online lessons.

Scripture (SEE) classes

All scripture classes have been cancelled for this term. The Anglican and Catholic churches have provided the following online resources below to replace these cancelled lessons.

School Bus Services

State Transit are working closely with the Department of Education to ensure school students across the state get back to the classroom safely. Transport NSW is providing full public transport services across all modes during COVID-19. Cleaning across the entire transport network has been ramped up to protect students. Buses are sanitised every day, with a focus on high-touch areas like hand-rails, stop buttons and Opal readers. Social distancing is encouraged but may not be possible at all times on buses carrying school students as no child is to be left at bus stop for any reason. Please see brochures attached for more information.

Online Learning support for Parents and Students

The NSW DoE has made available to support parents and carers with Learning from Home and have created 'Learning Packages for Parents and Carers'. The DoE explains them as follows:

"Learning packages contain explicit teaching activities with self-guided videos to complement the learning program provided by your child's school or teacher. Remember the program provided by your child's school or class teacher is the priority learning program for your child. You can choose one or more learning packages from any of the four streams in literacy/English, numeracy/mathematics, physical activity and more key learning areas. Select your child's year level and choose one or more of the learning activities that best meet the needs of your child/ren."

These packages are completely optional and don’t replace your child’s google classroom yet can be used as additional activities or for families looking for complementary activities for their child/ren.

Tina Lee - Principal

Scholastic Book Club

Book club orders are due by Monday 18 May 2020.

In these unprecedented times we’re all being asked to change the way we work and live. Our tradition of putting books into the hands of kids isn’t going to change, but for Term 2, we're doing things a little differently. We ask that you continue to work with us to maintain our unique distribution partnership with schools. This means we can keep on putting traditional delivery costs back into offering the best prices and the best selection of books!

Dates for Your Diary

2C Working from Home

Community Notices

The Link Community Care ‘LUNCHBOX’

Need help with the kid’s lunches during school holidays or while schooling from home? What about your own lunch? Maybe an elderly relative or neighbour?

The Link is partnering with Pittwater Sport Centre and the businesses within the Centre, to help those in most need on the Northern Beaches during this challenging time. The program is called ‘LUNCHBOX’ and provides people with a sandwich, a drink, a piece of fruit and a snack. The ‘LUNCHBOX’ is provided free, although a gold coin donation would be appreciated but not essential.

The program is provided as a drive-through service to adhere to social distancing protocols and will be available Monday to Friday from 11.00am to 2.00pm. The ‘LUNCHBOX’ can be collected from Pittwater Sports Centre, 1525 Pittwater Road, North Narrabeen.

See our website for more details

Northern Beaches Council Covid-19 and shared paths

In these strange Covid-19 times, many more families than usual are using our shared paths. This is a very positive thing to do, for so many reasons; exercise, getting out of the house and mental health being some of those reasons. However, the extra people means that we have to take extra care with our etiquette on shared paths, so that we reduce the risk of injury to ourselves and others.

Please see this short Shared Path video, that is on the Northern Beaches Council YouTube channel.

Please note that everyone can still maintain the required 1.5 metres separation while keeping the Shared Path etiquette, such as walking single file in order to keep to the left and allow others to pass in both directions.