Learning Programs

From next Monday we will be following a normal school timetable and break times for students in Preschool, Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2.  Remote learning is available for students who can’t attend school due to health reasons. Please advise the school if your child is staying home.

Remote learning for P-2 students not returning in week 4

Preschool 

Our teachers will continue to post learning tasks in Seesaw Classes. For those families returning to school we will begin to use Seesaw Family for learning portfolios once again.

K-2 

Our teachers will continue to post core learning through slide presentations in the same google classroom you have been using. These are the same slides that will be used by the children who are attending school. There will be no specialist tasks.

This wil be the same system for our years 3-6 students as they transition back to school. The google meetings and videos will not continue as our teachers will now be face to face teaching.

P-2 families looking for more

There is no obligation to do addtional tasks but for those families looking for more there will home learning packs for P-2 only available here:

https://sites.google.com/ed.act.edu.au/act-home-learning/resources/home-learning-packs

Health and Hygiene

There will be a strong focus on ensuring good health and hygiene practices – like hand washing – when we return. Our school has stocked up on soap, hand sanitiser and paper towels and all students and staff will be regularly reminded to wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Parents should also encourage their children to wash their hands before they arrive at school.

There will also be a focus on other hygiene measures, including encouraging everyone to cough into elbows or a tissue, placing used tissues in bins, avoiding touching eyes, noses or mouths, no sharing food or drink, not using water fountains or bubblers directly, as well as hygiene measures in the preparation of food products.

Cleaning

Our cleaning services will be extended to deliver dedicated cleaning activities during each school day – particularly on high touch points such as door handles – and an updated cleaning plan will be in place prior to resumption of face to face learning.

If your child is sick

When students return to the classroom, it is important we are vigilant about health and hygiene. This means if your child has any kind of illness, even if it is just a runny nose, they must not come to school. If your child comes to school unwell, you will be asked to collect them. We will be stricter in implementing these rules than you are perhaps used to, but it is for the health and safety of everyone in our school community.

Physical distancing

New physical distancing measures will be in place for adults in our schools. This will be a big change to the way we are used to interacting with our school community.

The ACT Chief Health Officer has advised that schools should limit the gathering of adults on school sites. At our school this will mean adults, including parents and staff, will need to maintain physical distancing between themselves and other adults. 

Adults in ACT public schools will need to ensure they keep to the guidelines of maintaining 1.5 metres between themselves and no more than one adult per four square metres in an indoor space (for example in classrooms).

In limiting the number of adults on site, we encourage you to contact us via e-mail or telephone before visiting. If a face-to-face meeting is required, we ask you to book a time so that physical distancing can be planned.

School Canteen

As we transition back to school the canteen will NOT operate a normal service.  Orders will ONLY be available through the flexischools app. This is the only way we can provide contact free lunch orders for students. The link to flexischools is on our SZ App home page or can be found on https://www.flexischools.com.au/

Library

Our library will reopen next week. Any materials that have been sent home will go into a quarantine area for 24 hours before rentering circulation.

Reading at Home

Truck loads of books went home last term so our students could continue to read every day. As you return to school can you please return these books so we can quarantine them and rebuild our resource collection.

Contact us

If you need to discuss any of the above with us, please email us on info@ngunnawalps.act.edu.au or call 61421500.

We look forward to seeing your children return to the classroom in the weeks ahead.

Kind regards,

Rebecca Turner

Principal

For some of our families, remote learning will finish up this week, for others there will be a transition back to school over several weeks.

This week our school is prioritising planning for our students to return, we can’t wait to see you all! A significant aspect of this planning are our strategies to minimise adult physical contact. Please be aware of how things will work a little differently, particularly for adults:

Communication

Our preferred method of communication is email. If you need to speak with a teacher, school leader or the front office please send an email and we will get back to you as quickly as possibly. There is a limit of 3 adults in our foyer at any one time.

Transitions at the beginning and end of each day

The school will be heavily reliant on our families maintaining social distancing at this time. We ask that you resist the temptation to gather in the courtyard to catch up. Your family may even identify a new meeting point.

Kindergarten Handover

We recognise the handover in the kindergarten area is very busy so teachers will be bringing their classes out to the courtyard. Please stand back from classroom doors and wait until your child's class is organised and the teacher is able to see you to direct your child to walk to you.

We anticipate some teething problems with this but please be patient and work with us we get this system working to keep you all protected.

Riding and Walking to School

Where possible we encourage you to walk or ride to school to ease the congestion in the car park. There will be a teacher on duty in the courtyard so parents have the option to drop children close to 9am and leave the area. When the bell goes children will be directed to line up as usual. We ask if families can say goodbye at this time and limit entry to classrooms. 

K-6 Car Park - Unaipon Ave

Drop Off K-6

We are asking adults to remain in their cars for pick up and drop off where possible. We know some children will struggle with transitioning back to school, our friendly staff will support you if needed.

The school will have several staff in the carpark each morning to support families to drop their children off. There will be an executive teacher on duty in the courtyard to provide supervision before 9am.

We will be directing people to enter via the gates versus through the front office.

Pick Up K-6

Pick up in the front carpark will work in the same way, please remain in your car and we will direct students to you when your car has stopped moving.

Preschool – Wanganeen Ave

Remember when waiting outside to social distance from each other. This will be hard when we have had limited contact with people but important in keeping everyone safe.

Preschool Drop Off

We ask that one adult bring each child into the school. Teachers will meet children outside the classroom. If you can, say your goodbyes before the children enter the building. We know some children will struggle with transitioning back to school, our friendly staff will support you if needed.

Preschool Pick Up

In the afternoon we are asking for our adults to wait outside the classroom. Your child’s teacher will send your child out to you. 

What do I do if I have loaned a device?

While students are learning remotely they are able to continue to use school devices on loan to them. Once your child returns to school please return the device and charger to the school library. All of our devices are on loan so we will not be able to incorporate technology in learning programs until we have a good number of devices returned.

What will learning look like when my child returns to school?

When your child returns to school we will be prioritising the following:

• building positive relationships
• arts and play
• literacy and numeracy

In week 7 all year levels will commence our Humanities and Social Sciences learning units with a focus on indigenous perspectives and truth telling.

What will learning look like for Years 3-6 during week 4?

For years 3,4, 5 and 6 all of our teachers will be on site providing face to face learning programs or delivering remote learning. 

For those students in Years 3-6 who are coming to school in week 4 please go to the following areas:

Year 3- line up outside 3SB Brindabella building

Year 4- line up at Year 4 lines area outside Kosciuszko buiding

Year 5/6 - line up at 5/6NG, 5/6MN Budawang building

Students need to bring their devices so they can continue connecting with their class and completing tasks in the morning session.

The specialist teacher remote learning schedule will now discontinue. Specialists will post one task on Monday for students to complete at a time of their choosing. There will be no specialist Q and A time during week 4.

How can we help keep everyone healthy?

In preparing for returning to school please discuss good hygiene practices as a family: