No 5 – 26th March

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

The following information is provided to keep families in our community fully informed of the latest developments and actions the Education Department and Dunsborough Primary are taking in response to the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic.

KEY MESSAGES

Today, the Government has announced all public schools in Western Australia will remain open until the end of term – Thursday, 9 April 2020.

However, families are now encouraged to keep their children at home if they have the capacity to do so. The Department’s learning from home resources are available to them. (see below under CURRICULUM SUPPORT GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS)

What does this mean for Dunsborough Primary School?

From Monday, 30 March to Friday, 3 April all children who attend school will be taught as normal.
The following week (6 to 9 April) teachers and education assistants will prepare teaching programs for Term 2.
During this time (6 to 9 April), students who attend school will be supervised.
The Government also recognises there will still be families who need to send their children to school to continue their learning during this period. These may include:

Children of parents and carers who need their children to attend school to maintain employment.
Children who live in families with aged relatives.
Children where it is safer for them to be at school.

The Education Department is working closely with the Department of Health, particularly Dr Andrew Robertson, the WA Chief Health Officer. Our School will continue to follow their expert advice.

CURRICULUM SUPPORT GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS

The Education Department has made available to parents an extensive range of resources which students can use at home to continue their learning for the remainder of term 1. These resources can be found at their Learning at home website.

In addition, our school has also developed for parents a “Learning From Home” pack for each year level which can be accessed from our school’s website - https://www.dunsborough.wa.edu.au/

Parents are also asked to please not make any requests to the school or to individual teachers for additional resources/work packages for their children to do at home this term.

The Education Department wants all teachers at our school to focus on ensuring appropriate classroom learning programs are maintained for children who need to attend school until 3 April.

STUDENT WELL-BEING

Given the extensive media coverage, some children are already aware of the impact of the coronavirus and will pick up on the concerns and anxiety of others. This could be through listening and observing what is happening online, at home and school.

The Learning at home website provides advice and resources for parents and carers, educators and students. This includes a wide range of resources and information related to the impact of COVID-19 on students’ health and wellbeing and the impact on families. The website will continue to be updated over the coming weeks.

BYOD WATER BOTTLES

As per advice received from the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC), it is preferable that students bring their own individual water bottles to school that can be filled from our drinking fountains as necessary. This will reduce the need for students to drink directly from fountains. All students are being instructed on safe usage of water fountains at school e.g. not putting their mouth onto equipment. Note: Our water fountains are cleaned daily.

CLASS RESTRUCTURING

To provide a more authentic learning experience for children who attend school for the rest of the term, the School’s Admin may start, where student numbers are low, temporarily amalgamating classes together. If this done, the required student to teacher ratio will be maintained and a normal classroom learning program will be delivered.

BORROWING OF BOOKS FROM THE SCHOOL LIBRARY

Enquiries have been received from some parents regarding being able to borrow books from the School’s Library for their child/children to read at home, as public libraries are closed. Unfortunately, the school cannot accommodate this request at this time.

However, parents are encouraged to allow their children to go access one of the many online book sites which give children access to large numbers of books which they can read or listen to at home e.g. stories.audible.com and www.vooks.com are two such sites.

I will continue to keep all families in our school community fully informed as new information and updates come through.

If parents have any questions on any of the points I have covered in this update or would like to discuss any other aspect to do with the way our school is responding to COVID-19, please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

Kind regards

GARRY JONES

PRINCIPAL

DUNSBOROUGH PRIMARY SCHOOL