Newsletter 23.08.2021

Issue 26


From the Principal


Please read the following letter prepared by the Department of Education regarding changes for this lockdown/remote learning period:

Parent letter regional Victoria 21 August 2021

Dear parents,

 Due to the ongoing level of community transmission of coronavirus in Victoria, the Victorian Government announced changes to current restrictions across Victoria until 11.59pm, Thursday 2 September.

All regional schools will move back to remote and flexible learning from Monday 23 August, which means all students at our school will learn from home, until Thursday 2 September inclusive. There will be no remote and flexible learning provided on Monday 23 August to enable teachers to prepare for the transition to remote learning. However, regional schools will provide on-site care and supervision for vulnerable students and children of authorised workers on Monday 23 August.

To help slow the spread of the virus, we need your support in complying with the new strengthened restrictions and helping our public health team to get ahead of this virus.

We request parents, carers and families continue to do the right thing by following all health directives. This includes making careful and supportive choices about accessing on-site supervision at school.

On-site supervision

From Monday 23 August, under the new strengthened restrictions in place across Victoria, an authorised worker permit will be required for authorised workers to attend a workplace.

This also means that from Monday, parents and carers can only request on-site supervision at school for their child/ren in the below categories.

Category A

Children where both parents and or carers are considered authorised workers who cannot work from home, work for an authorised provider and where no other supervision arrangements can be made.

Where there are two parents/carers, both must be authorised workers, working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision at school.

For single parents/ carers, the authorised worker must be working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision at school.

Parents and carers who are authorised workers will need an authorised worker permit from their employers to access on-site supervision for their child/ren in Category A.

 For those requesting on-site learning under Category A, a copy of your authorised worker permit or permits must be submitted to our school as soon as practicable after it is issued.

Category B

Children experiencing vulnerability, including:

  • in out-of-home care
  • deemed vulnerable by a government agency, funded family or family violence service, and assessed as requiring education and care outside the family home
  • identified by a school or early childhood service as vulnerable, (including via referral from a government agency, or funded family or family violence service, homeless or youth justice service or mental health or other health service)
  • where a parent/carer indicates that a student with a disability is vulnerable because they cannot learn from home, and/or informs the school the student is vulnerable due to family stress, the school must provide on-site supervision for that student. This may apply to students enrolled in specialist schools and students with a disability enrolled in mainstream schools.

An authorised worker permit is not required for accessing on-site supervision under Category B.

When a permit is not required

In rare circumstances, a parent/carer does not need a worker permit. This includes law enforcement, emergency services or health care workers who carry employer-issued photographic identification. More information is available at Authorised provider and authorised worker permit.

Face masks

Based on advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the following requirements for wearing a face mask apply to all schools.

It is now recommended primary-school-age children wear masks while indoors and outdoors, except when in the home or when an exception applies. However, it is not mandatory.

School staff and secondary school students aged 12 or older must always wear a face mask indoors and outdoors at school, including when attending an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program, unless a lawful exception applies. This includes while travelling to and from school on public transport and when in taxis or ride-share vehicles.

For communication purposes, teachers and education support staff are not required to wear face masks while teaching, but it is recommended that they wear face masks while teaching wherever practicable.

Support resources

I know this may well be a challenging time. There are supports available, which include:

 As part of the phased COVID-19 vaccination rollout, more Victorian parents, carers, and students are now able to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

With more appointments now available over the next two weeks, we encourage you to book your vaccine through  Victorian Government’s COVID-19 vaccine online booking system.

For more information about eligibility, refer to coronavirus.vic.gov.au or use the Australian Government’s COVID-19 vaccine eligibility checker.

I trust our school community will ensure we do the right thing at this time, by complying with the restrictions in place and making careful and supportive decisions that limit movement through the community.

Thank you again, for supporting your child’s learning during this time.

Please contact me on (02) 60271431 with any questions.

Michael Edwards
Principal
Yackandandah Primary School

Once again, thank you for your understanding.



From the Office

Skiing Refunds
A refund/credit form was emailed home to families who had paid for the skiing days last Friday.  Please complete the form and return it to the office as soon as possible so as refunds can be processed.

Absences
Just a reminder that if your child is absent from remote learning please let your classroom teacher know as well as sending an email to the school on yackandandah.ps@education.vic.gov.au so the absence can be marked accordingly.

Onsite Attendance
A new onsite attendance form will need to be completed for each week.  These forms can be emailed to the school email or Michael or Sandra.

Enjoy your week and take care.
Sandra



Achievement Awards

Grace O’Dwyer for being a fabulous classroom helper and also putting 100% into all activities.
Miles Thornton for striving to include new features from our writing sessions in your own writing!
Lucas Stagg for striving to write more during Big Writes and Cold Writes.
Richie Burston for amazing effort and focus during our Cold Write and remembering to use full stops and capital letters consistently.
Aiden Hillier for demonstrating improved active listening during class discussions.
Savannah Lockett for being a hardworking writer during all writing activities.
Jake Blair for striving to create an exciting Cold Write ‘My Robot”.
Lara Bebbington for ALWAYS showing diligence towards her school work and completing activities to a high standard.  You’re legendary, Lara!
Emily Sheppard for putting in a great effort during writing and taking pride in her work.  Keep it up, Em!
Ted Attwood for being a focused learner during guided reading and making thoughtful contributions to the group.  You’re tip top, Ted!
Oliver Boddenberg for transforming himself from a good writer to a great writer.
Emma Pinard for being a positive role model in class and achieving great results across the curriculum.
Zac Davis for always getting the most out of every learning opportunity.
Mia Bebbington for a fantastic effort with her Cold Write and including lots of content and detail.
Nate Millward for settling in really quickly and making an excellent start in your new class in F/1R.
Gabrielle Gargiulo for writing a wonderful hybrid text that wove together interesting information and narrative.
Matilda Ridgeway for contributing with enthusiasm during our "area" lessons this week.
Jack Summons for demonstrating initiative by assisting with the creation of class displays.
Alfie Lebner for seeking feedback and working solidly and creatively on his writing
Clancy O'Sullivan for making relevant observations during class discussions
Charlie Killen for always being well organised and ready to learn.
Jayde Pritchard for sharing a clear reflection of her progress towards her learning goal.



Art News

SAVE THE DATE!

“Over the Fence” is a project sponsored by Regional Arts Victoria and the Creative Workers in Schools program that is currently being undertaken by Yackandandah Primary School.

The vision is to create a whole school, collaborative “nature map” of Yackandandah where students can explore their own understandings of where we live through the media of drawing, painting and printmaking with local artist, Kirsten Coates.

The final works will be displayed inside and outside the Yackandandah Library for a day of celebration and contemplation. Everyone is welcome to drop in and take a walk through the images of our town as seen through the eyes of the students.

BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY!

Wednesday, 15 September 2021
8:00am - 6:00pm
Yackandandah Library

Artwork of the week

Foam prints of Yackandandah creek animals by F/1C. 
Artists - Henry, Ezzie, Mim, Jim, Ned, Patrick, Kyle, Neve, Milla, Beau, Maeve & Claudia.               


Foam prints of Yackandandah creek animals by F/1R.
Artists - Kayden, Ruby, Felix, Jed, Renn, Nate, Sully, Grace, Will, Jono & Ella.                       

 



Sports News

Unfortunately, the House Athletics Carnival scheduled for this Wednesday has been postponed. The back-up day (August 31) also falls within the current lockdown, ending on September 2. At this stage, the District Athletics Carnival is scheduled for September 15. Should we return to on-site learning before then, and the District event goes ahead, our priority will be to sort out qualifying for this event for students in Years 3-6. This will be completed at school. We still hope to have the House Athletics Carnival either before the end of Term 3 or at the beginning of Term 4, Covid-willing. Thanks to all the parents and carers who offered to help out. Hopefully we will all have the opportunity to enjoy a day out in the sun, having fun, and competing for our ‘houses’, in the not too distant future.

Brendan



Library News

It’s been a quite a few weeks since I’ve contributed to the Newsletter- going in and out of Lockdown and Remote Learning has been discombobulating…and here we are again!

More than ever, at times like this, books are a great place to escape and retreat into to. They can be a wonderful opportunity for ‘down time’ or ‘quiet time’ for yourself and your children. Ensuring there is a selection of books in the house for multiple situations is helpful during Lockdown. Students can read by themselves, share in a picture book read by a parent, or pour over facts in a good non-fiction book of interest.

Our school library can provide an excellent range of books for your children so please do get in touch with me anytime this week. I’ll be working at school doing supervision most afternoons, so please email me to request books for your children: sarah.mcalister@education.vic.gov.au  I’ll then let you know when they are ready for collection.

Book Week 2021
It is officially Book Week this week! But don’t panic- our school celebrations will be happening in Term 4. This year’s theme is: Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. On Friday the CBCA winners were announced- check them out here: https://www.cbca.org.au/

Save the date: Friday 15 October will be our YPS Book Week Dress-up Day! In the lead up, we’ve got a week of exciting activities planned for the students. We can’t wait to share for more information with you closer to the date. In the meantime- get thinking about and planning those costumes!


Overdue & Missing Books
With everyone at home- now is a great time to help your children find any overdue Library books please! I’ll be chasing some of these over the coming weeks. Any books being returned to school can be left in the clearly marked box in the foyer.

In particular, we are missing a few books from the library that may not have been scanned before being taken home:

  1. Not Cute by Philip Bunting (hardcover picture book)


   2. The Unwilling Twin by Freya Blackwood (hardcover picture book)



  3. The Star Wars Alien Archive (large hardcover book)



New Books
We are so fortunate to have received some wonderful donations at the end of Term 2 and now in Term 3. Border Karate School has donated $150 to the school library, as a way of saying thank you to the school for letting classes take place here each week. I’ve used this money to buy some great new graphic novels, picture books and junior fiction. Carly has again donated some great new Junior Fiction for young readers- Pizzaz by Sophie Henn- Volumes 1 & 2. Thank you, Carly! And the Jones family have donated some popular titles: Alex Ryder: Stormbreaker, Book 1 by Anthony Horowitz; The 78-Storey Tree House by Andy Griffiths; Ink Heart by Cornelia Funke; and Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman. Thank you so much!


Please take care of yourself and each other- and remember: Stay calm and read a book!

Sarah McAlister

 



Other School News



2022 Enrolments

If you have a child starting at school next year Enrolment packs can be collected from the school office.  If you would like to book a school tour or have any questions please contact Michael or Sandra at school.



Birthdays

21st August – Harriet Brinsdon

21st August – Lachy O’Brien

22nd August – Jayde Pritchard

23rd August – Lily Schultz

23rd August – Archie Korn



Community Notices