COVID-19 Update #19 14/05/2020

by mindarieps | May 14, 2020 | | COVID

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

First and foremost, thank you for the support that you have provided and continue to provide to Mindarie Primary. We know that these are very different times and therefore we all have to operate differently. At all times, the safety of our students and staff takes precedence. We have also been very focused on providing continuity of schooling to our students learning from home and at school.

As I stated in earlier updates, there was going to be a review of the ‘soft’ start to the commencement of term two.  This has happened and today. The Premier, Mark McGowan and the Minister for Education, Sue Ellery, announced the future direction for schooling across the state of Western Australia.

The decisions and direction given were based on the advice of the Chief Health Officer, Dr Andy Robertson. This is attached. The Premier and Minister once again reiterated that all medical advice shows that schools are a safe place for your children to be.

What will schools look like from week four onwards?

As of Monday, 18 May 2020 all students are expected to attend school, except for those students medically referred to learn from home.

This means students are either:
•    at school;
•    have a medical referral to learn from home; or
•    recorded as absent if they do not attend.

Over the last three weeks we have seen 92% of our students return to school, which has been fantastic. Our normal attendance rate is 94% to 95%, so the decision released today will only impact on 8% of our students.

What about children with medical conditions that require on going distance education?

For parents with medical advice that their child should not attend school, we will work with you in partnership with the School of Special Educational Needs: Medical and Mental Health to support your child’s learning from home.  If you feel your child is in this category, please do not hesitate to contact me and we will work together on the next steps.

What about children who have immediate family members, residing in the same home as them, who have medical conditions that require that the student continues with ongoing distance education?

For parents who have medical advice that their health would be compromised if their child/children attend face to face learning, we will work with you in partnership with the School of Special Educational Needs: Medical and Mental Health to support your child’s learning from home.  If you feel you are in this category, please do not hesitate to contact me and we will work together on the next steps.

I’m still unsure about school and COVID, can I continue to home school?

The simple answer is no.  If your child is absent and they are not unwell or at a medical appointment, then they are expected to be at school from Monday May 18, 2020.  If they are not at school from this time forward they will be marked as absent and we will follow up on absences in the normal way.

We are aware that some students may find the move back to face to face learning difficult and possibly stressful.  Please, if this is the case, reach out to us at the school and we can put a plan in place to support your child in this area.  We can assure you that our students currently back at school, are feeling safe and connected.

We will still be providing ‘Distance Learning’ and Seesaw videos?

Again, the simple answer is no.  Teachers will, as of week four, be reverting back to their normal teaching programs and will also be implementing our assessment schedule.

COVID-19 health and hygiene practices.

All of our existing practices will remain in place as we move forward into week four and beyond.

The extra cleaning and hygiene practices implemented at the start of Term 2 will continue.

As part of the social distancing measures, parents/carers still need to drop children at the school gates and not enter the school grounds.  Our students are becoming experts at being independent around their arrival and exit from the school.  Our staff have also become experts at managing the arrivals and departures from school.  I know that some parents have concerns around the youngest children (kindergarten and pre-primary) will become lost.  This has not been the case over the past three weeks.  We have 95% of our kindergarten students at school today and 91% of our pre-primary students at school.  These students have shown huge resilience and independence and their teachers report that they are not showing any concerns.  However, if you have concerns around pick up and drop off please contact Mrs Appleton to discuss these.

Moving forwards at Mindarie Primary.

Currently we are looking at the end of the year, especially around special events such as Graduation and Book Awards.  We are looking at ways we can make these events meaningful and still adhere to the directions from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC).

Please be assured that the State Government will continue to make decisions based on the best health advice. Thank you for your continued support as we move forward.

Kind regards
Barbara Bromley

14 May 2020

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.