COVID-19 Update #16 – 28/04/2020

by mindarieps | Apr 28, 2020 | | COVID

• Our on-line learning ‘Home Education Learning Packages (HELP)’ are live.  Please have a look on the Mindarie Primary School ‘Learning’ Hub – password is MPS2020
• These packages will be available in hard copy on Monday March 27 from the front of the school between 10.00 am to 12.00 noon.
• ‘Can do’ packages for each phase level (K-P, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6) will be available at the same time.
• The Distance Learning guide has the suggested timetables for given year levels.  Note that these timetables are punctuated with ‘Brain Breaks’ and so forth.  As a student’s normal day at school is.
• The resource pack for your family has been provided to support the students learning from home.
• Teachers have set up Seesaw for their classes, this will enable regular communication with students.
• Student will access Matific, Reading Eggs, Reading Express and Literacy Pro.

• When students arrive at school in the morning they will go to their regular classroom.
• The ‘Home Education Learning Packs (HELP)’ content will be the content that teachers will teach for the first two weeks in Mathematics, English and Specialist subjects.
• Dependent on numbers teachers will have their own classes for the majority of the day.  Please note this can only be established once we know numbers.  To provide clarity for example if we have 80% of students at school this will be our action, if we have 50% then we will need to review this, as we need to also be catering for ‘Distance Learning’.
• These following teachers will not be teaching their classes due to issues – Mrs Kidgill (TA10), and Mrs Gill (TA27).  Mrs Kidgill suffered a brain aneurysm in the second week of the holidays and will be absent for the remainder of term two.  Our thoughts are with her and her family.
• Mrs Williamson will be teaching TA 10 and Ms Clark will be teaching TA 9 full time. Mrs Atkinson will be teaching full time in TA 3. Mr Steel will be taking on the role of Junior Science. 
• Student will access Matific, Reading Eggs, Reading Express and Literacy Pro, as they currently do and in line with what students participating in ‘Distance Education are doing.
• Students will have access to specialist teachers, teaching in the student’s classrooms.  These teachers will be delivering face-to-face the same content that is included in the ‘HELP’ packs.  The only difference will be that this will be timetables through the teaching day as one specialist cannot teach a whole year level of students at the same time.
• Students will be having ‘Brain Breaks’ and access to manipulable objects in their classrooms.  This will be dependent of hygiene regimes.
• Dependent on numbers Education Assistants may be working in classrooms or supporting with the preparation of ‘Distance Learning’ materials.

• All gates around the school will open at 8.25am.  Staff will open these and will be at these to monitor student’s arrival.  Parents therefore have a window of 20 minutes to effect drop.  Please make sure you physically distance at this time.
• Pre-Primary and Kindergarten students are to enter and exit from the gate at the base of the stairs leading up to the Early Childhood yard.  This is at the western end of the basketball courts.  Early childhood teachers will greet the students at the top of the stairs. The exception to this is if you have an older child who can accompany your younger child to their class.
• Parents are best placed to determine which other gates suit their families for entrance to the school.  Please ensure that your children know which gates they will be dropped off to and collected from. Please remind older children to collect younger siblings at the end of the day, if this is what is happening.
• No scooters or bikes are to be ridden to school, this is because we cannot supervise access to the bike cage at the start and finish of the school day or be responsible for the cleaning of this equipment. 
• All students must have left the school grounds by 2.55pm at the latest.
• No use of the playgrounds before or after school.

• Following recess and lunch breaks students line up in pairs at 1.5 distance each way.  Positions marked on the veranda to support this.  The line will start from the wet area doors and progress around the veranda.  Our verandas are 1.6 meters wide.  We will have in excess of 35 meters on each side of the blocks.
• Students enter classrooms via the wet area doors, this is because these doors are wider and can be held open, allowing for distancing and also reduction of touch points.  Doors from the wet area into the classrooms will remain open during the day and will be the classroom entrance and exit doors. (Last term we had the external doors open, however with winter approaching this is not an environmentally friendly solution for the students or teachers).
• At this point in time we are planning to split the students eating time at recess and lunch time to reduce the number of students on playgrounds and also to reduce the likely hood of students not self-distancing. Our breaks will look like this-
• Recess – Siren sounds – Kindy, year one, three and five students eat in classrooms for 10 minutes at their desks.
• Recess – Siren sounds – PP, year two, four and six students play for 10 minutes.
• Then they swap.  Each year group gets 10 minutes play time. 10 minutes supervised eating, talking time.
• Lunch – Siren sounds – Kindy, year one, three and five students eat in classrooms for 15 minutes.  At desks.
• Lunch – Siren sounds – PP, year two, four and six students play for 15 minutes.
• Then they swap.  Each year group gets 15 minutes’ play time.  15 minutes supervised eating, talking time.

• Early Childhood Areas – Not the climbing equipment as cleaners cannot clean at a height above 1 meter off the ground and we have been instructed that this equipment must be wiped down.
• Junior play area and grass area. Not the climbing equipment as cleaners cannot clean at a height above 1 meter off the ground and we have been instructed that this equipment must be wiped down.
• Tiger turf and central quadrangle.
• Senior play area.
• No oval and Basket-Ball courts as these areas are open to the general public for use.

• If your child is unwell – keep them at home.
• Notify the school, via email or through the school website, that they are sick and provide the school with information as to what you are doing for the child and the possible duration of the absence.
• Do not return your child to school if they are still unwell.
• Teachers will send home any children who complain of being unwell or present with symptoms of illness, such as a cough or sneezing.  

COVID-19 Update – 24/04/2020

by mindarieps | Apr 24, 2020 | | COVID

• Our on-line learning ‘Home Education Learning Packages (HELP)’ went live today.  Please have a look on the Mindarie Primary School ‘Learning’ Hub – password is MPS2020
• These packages will be available in hard copy on Monday March 27 from the front of the school between 10.00 am to 12.00 noon.
• ‘Can do’ packages for each phase level (K-P, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6) will be available at the same time.
• The Distance Learning guide has the suggested timetables for given year levels.  Note that these timetables are punctuated with ‘Brain Breaks’ and so forth.  As a student’s normal day at school is.
• The resource pack for your family has been provided to support the students learning from home.
• Teachers have set up Seesaw for their classes, this will enable regular communication with students.
• Student will access Matific, Reading Eggs, Reading Express and Literacy Pro.

• When students arrive at school in the morning they will go to their regular classroom.
• The ‘Home Education Learning Packs (HELP)’ content will be the content that teachers will teach for the first two weeks in Mathematics, English and Specialist subjects.
• Dependent on numbers teachers will have their own classes for the majority of the day.  Please note this can only be established once we know numbers.  To provide clarity for example if we have 80% of students at school this will be our action, if we have 50% then we will need to review this, as we need to also be catering for ‘Distance Learning’.
• Some classes will not have their own teacher as those staff are on leave due to COVID 19 and it’s possible impact on their health. Some teachers will be working elsewhere due to some Administration staff being on leave.
• Student will access Matific, Reading Eggs, Reading Express and Literacy Pro, as they currently do and in line with what students participating in ‘Distance Education are doing.
• Students will have access to specialist teachers, teaching in the student’s classrooms.  These teachers will be delivering face-to-face the same content that is included in the ‘HELP’ packs.  The only difference will be that this will be timetables through the teaching day as one specialist cannot teach a whole year level of students at the same time.
• Students will be having ‘Brain Breaks’ and access to manipulable objects in their classrooms.  This will be dependent of hygiene regimes.
• Dependent on numbers Education Assistants may be working in classrooms or supporting with the preparation of ‘Distance Learning’ materials.

• All gates around the school will open at 8.25am.  Staff will open these and will be at these to monitor student’s arrival.  Parents therefore have a window of 20 minutes to effect drop.  Please make sure you physically distance at this time.
• Pre-Primary and Kindergarten students are to enter and exit from the gate at the base of the stairs leading up to the Early Childhood yard.  This is at the western end of the basketball courts.  Early childhood teachers will greet the students at the top of the stairs. The exception to this is if you have an older child who can accompany your younger child to their class.
• Parents are best placed to determine which other gates suit their families for entrance to the school.  Please ensure that your children know which gates they will be dropped off to and collected from. Please remind older children to collect younger siblings at the end of the day, if this is what is happening.
• No scooters or bikes are to be ridden to school, this is because we cannot supervise access to the bike cage at the start and finish of the school day.
• All students must have left the school grounds by 2.55pm at the latest.
• No use of the playgrounds before or after school.

• Following recess and lunch breaks students line up in pairs at 1.5 distance each way.  Positions marked on the veranda to support this.  The line will start from the wet area doors and progress around the veranda.  Our verandas are 1.6 meters wide.  We will have in excess of 35 meters on each side of the blocks.
• Students enter classrooms via the wet area doors, this is because these doors are wider and can be held open, allowing for distancing and also reduction of touch points.  Doors from the wet area into the classrooms will remain open during the day and will be the classroom entrance and exit doors. (Last term we had the external doors open, however with winter approaching this is not an environmentally friendly solution for the students or teachers).
• No mat time.  Mat time will be conducted from desks.
• Children will be seated end to end on desks.  PP and K children will also have a desk.
• To provide the extra space and also reduce touch points all non-essential classroom materials will be removed from the classrooms.  This will be things such as book corners, dramatic play areas and so forth as these do use up valuable floor space.  These areas also promote close proximity of children, something we are striving to alleviate.  Please let your children know that their classroom will look a little different.

• Recess – Siren sounds – Kindy, year one, three and five students eat in classrooms for 10 minutes at their desks.
• Recess – Siren sounds – PP, year two, four and six students play for 10 minutes.
• Then they swap.  Each year group gets 10 minutes play time. 10 minutes supervised eating, talking time.
• Lunch – Siren sounds – Kindy, year one, three and five students eat in classrooms for 15 minutes.  At desks.
• Lunch – Siren sounds – PP, year two, four and six students play for 15 minutes.
• Then they swap.  Each year group gets 15 minutes’ play time.  15 minutes supervised eating, talking time.

• Early Childhood Areas.
• Junior play area and grass area.
• Tiger turf and central quadrangle.
• Senior play area.
• No oval and Basket-Ball courts as these areas are open to the general public for use.

• If your child is unwell – keep them at home.
• Notify the school, via email or through the school website, that they are sick and provide the school with information as to what you are doing for the child and the possible duration of the absence.
• Do not return your child to school if they are still unwell.
• Teachers will send home any children who complain of being unwell or present with symptoms of illness, such as a cough or sneezing.

• No shared equipment (except at the Early Childhood level and this is being cleaned regularly).
• No use of drink fountains, all children must have their own drink bottle.
• No sharing of home cooked food e.g. cup-cakes. Please send packaged food such as Freddo Frogs etc. to celebrate birthdays.
• Hand sanitiser in all classrooms and used regularly.
• Hand hygiene posters and explicit teaching of in classes.
• Hand washing enforced before eating and before transitioning.
• Cough and sneeze posters in all areas, and protocol reinforced regularly during the day.
• Pedal operated bins with a lid for used tissues.
• Soap and paper towels in all bathrooms and wet areas.
• Glen 20 or disinfectant wipes in classrooms to disinfect communal equipment such as iPads and clip boards between uses.
• Toilet doors propped open (not cubicle doors) to reduce touch points.
• Reduced manipulable equipment in classrooms to ensure that they are able to be cleaned daily.
• No library or reading books (as these go home and we cannot control the home situation), students may have access to these materials at school, this will be dependent on teachers wiping them down after use and also ensuring students wash or sanitise hand before use.
• No borrowing of hats.
• Only teachers use the Promethean boards.
• Chairs stacked with touch points facing into the classroom for ease of daily cleaning.
• Increased cleaning of door handles and so forth.
• No group work, as distancing cannot be maintained.
• No assemblies.  We will continue to think of ways we can be together virtually.
• No incursions.
• No excursions.
• No Choir.
• No after school activities.
• Students will still do middle, junior and senior sport.  It will be with their class only.
• Students have their designated toilets and play areas.
• Cashless office.
• On line only uniform shop.
• No icy poles or lunch orders.

• No over the shoulder marking.
• Marking at a point the teacher determines with spacers in place to delineate the spacing required.
• No cushions, dress-ups etc in classrooms and these cannot be cleaned daily.
• No games involving touching such as ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ or ‘Heads Down, Thumbs Up’.
• Specialist teachers go to classrooms.  Specialist rooms closed.
• Toilets being cleaned during the day, especially following recess and lunch breaks.
• Touch points being cleaned during the day.
• Playgrounds cleaned between use.
• Sports equipment cleaned after use.
• Cleaning of the gates, touch points, morning and afternoon.
• Regular cleaning of work spaces – students will be taught how to do this and be provided with the tools to do so.  (It is a life skill).
• Taps and high level touch points will be cleaned by day cleaners.

COVID-19 Update – 20/04/2020

by mindarieps | Apr 20, 2020 | | COVID

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I do hope that you have had a peaceful week of school holidays with your children.

These are unprecedented times and therefore, we need to continue the approach that we have implemented in Term One over the coming weeks, to support the safety and well being of your children and our staff.

I understand that this is an uncertain and difficult period for you and your family. 

Today, the School Administration team met to discuss the statements and advice that the State Government provided on Friday the 17th of April 2020. 

As you are aware from previous updates, we have already in place a plan for supported ‘Distance Learning’ and well prepared lessons that can be done at home to support you. At this point in time, this is our preferred approach, however, we fully understand that some families may not be in a position to provide supervision for ‘Distance Learning’ at home. Students who attend school on site during term two will engage with the Learning Packs in an alternative classroom setting. This will most likely not be with their own classroom teacher.

‘Distance Learning’ HELP Package Pickup

• For your information, and to assist you with your preparation the Week 1-2 ‘Distance Learning’ HELP package will be available online through the Mindarie Primary School ‘Learning’ page for parents to access on Friday the 24th of April. Password is MPS2020
• Printed HELP packages will be available for collection from volunteer staff members at Mindarie Primary School on Monday the 27th of April (ANZAC Day Public Holiday) from 10:00am-12:00pm. Socially distant queues will be established at the front of the school. The staff car park will be open and available for access. Please ensure that you practice good social distancing when at school. Only one person per family please.

We are expecting further details from the Department of Education this week and will provide another update to you on Friday the 24th April with greater details of the required actions. 

This week we will also release the Mindarie Primary School virtual ANZAC service. This will be posted through all outlets as usual.

COVID-19 Update – 07/04/2020

by mindarieps | Apr 7, 2020 | | COVID