We write this week’s newsletter in recognition of a fantastic term – there are many things to celebrate and be grateful for:
Our school staying open all term!
The vigilance of our community to continue twice weekly RAT testing and in doing so, keeping each other safe.
Whole school celebrations such as our SRC and Grade 6 Leadership assemblies, the Easter Raffle
Our outstanding staff, who have put the health and safety of our students first (often before themselves!) while fostering a safe and inclusive classroom community.
School events such as the Swimming Carnival and Grade 5 camp – our first camp in a long time!
Our solid and consistent team of Casual Relief Teachers have supported our teaching team to navigate the requirements of isolation and COVID safety throughout the term. We are so fortunate to have a number of regular members of our team - Vanessa Gadea, Sue Curtis, Jo Bingham, Anoushka Prockiw, Claire Paitaridis and Linda McCaffery.
Easter Celebrations: Many thanks to our Prep/Grade 1 Parent Team for their organisation of our annual Easter Raffle – our assembly takes place tomorrow morning. Thank you for all the generous donations, our children are very lucky! Prep and Grade 1 Easter Raffle Parent Helpers are welcome to attend the assembly at 10am on Exon.
Latest DET COVID guidelines have outlined that our current school operational settings will continue for the first four weeks of term 2. This means:
RAT Testing twice weekly is recommended. New RATs went home in bags or can be picked up at the office.
Adults to wear masks inside buildings – we know this is different to other public settings, mask wearing continues to be a priority due to our primary aged population. We again ask all parents to wear a mask when entering the school building, both during school hours and after. Staff are also required to do the same.
Students 3-6 to continue to wear masks indoors
If a person tests positive in the household, all family/household members must go into isolation for the seven day period, regardless of whether they are testing negative on a RAT. The only exceptions are if they child has had COVID recently, see below.
Students and staff who have tested positive and completed their 7 day isolation period are not required to participate in the RAT screening for 8 weeks from their day of release from isolation. In addition, if they are re-exposed to a positive case within 8 weeks of ending their isolation period they will not be required to again isolate/quarantine. The period was previously 30 days.
Grade 5 Camp: Grade 5 have had an outstanding time on school camp this week in Phillip Island. We thank our staff – Kylie White, Josh Ancrum, Shanti Treloar, Will Crossland and Jack Wilmot (Pre-service teacher) for taking time away from their own families to provide our students with such a sensational week away from home.
NAPLAN 2022: Next term grade 3 and 5 students will engage in national testing in the areas of Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy. These assessments take place using a school device, except for Grade 3 Writing which is a pen and paper test. Further information about the NAPLAN testing will be shared with families at the start of term. You may have noticed that students are already preparing for these assessments as part of their learning program.
NAPLAN testing will take place between May 10-May 18. Specific testing dates can be found on the Compass Calendar. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact your classroom teacher. Students can access practice tests via the NAPLAN Public Demonstration Site, which teachers are using to support student preparation.
Buildings and Grounds Update: The resurfacing of asphalt areas is progressing brilliantly – we acknowledge all our students efforts in adaptability as entry and exit points and pathways have changed throughout the project. The contractors have consistently praised the kids too. This project is on track to be completed over the holidays, ready for the return of our students.
School Review: We value your feedback and are interested in your thoughts about what we do well at BBPS and where to next. You might have noticed some of our grade 6 leaders out in the playground conducting a short feedback survey – thank you for supporting this initiative. If you haven’t completed the survey, we appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete this https://forms.gle/bQ4iL8Nh1JPRdF1y6. We will be running feedback focus groups week 2, term 2. If you would like to be involved please complete the survey using the link above.
School finishes tomorrow at 2:30pm. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday.
School returns on Tuesday, 26th April.
We will be holding our ANZAC Day Assembly at 2:45pm on Tuesday – Grade 4 parents are welcome to attend assembly on Exon Playground as the Grade 4s will be facilitating this event.
Also in our first week of term …
Thursday 28th April is the 3-6 Cross Country at Dendy Park. Please keep an eye out for a Compass Event, out shortly.
Other Term 2 dates for the diary: With shifting COVID restrictions, term 2 presents itself as a fantastic opportunity for us to reconnect as a community. We have a number of sessions planned for parent involvement.