Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome
Welcome to this edition of our newsletter. As I sit and compose this, I am astounded at the changes that have occurred for our school community in the last fortnight. We have entered into a strict lockdown at very short notice, converted to learning at home, either through our online platforms or paper copies of lessons and returned to school to pick up our daily routines and once again resume school life. This has been a lot for adults to handle and so I have pondered how our students not only manage this well but continue to succeed and meet our high expectations. Why do our students cope through these changes so well? I believe the answer lies within the values that we embed in our everyday life at school. Pride, Unity, Respect and Excellence – or “PURE”. They are the values our entire school community live and breathe – students, staff, parents, caregivers and support personnel. They are the reason our teachers dedicated themselves to ensure their students were provided with the best learning from home curriculum and resources. They are the reason our teacher aides and specialist teachers stepped up and supervised our students at school and gave so much of themselves in the process. They are the reason our community of parents and caregivers provided so much support for our students and co-operated so willingly with the restrictions. They are the reason our students were so happy to work at home and produce tasks they knew would please their teachers. Together we make a great team. I am reminded of a saying that I feel is very relevant at this time. “The sum of us is greater than all of our parts”. In isolation, over the past week, none of these groups would have functioned well but together we were brilliant. So, I take this opportunity to thank everyone for their dedication and resilience during lockdown and I look forward to a time when we can come together again to celebrate Team Banksia.
COVID19
Although our school population has returned, there are still some stringent restrictions in place that impact upon our school community. The most significant of these is that, where at all possible, parents should refrain from coming onto the school grounds. This is a big change, particularly for some of our younger students when exiting and entering our grounds. To make this less challenging, staff will be at the entrances to the grounds before and after school to assist with the transition and we will position students for easy access. There is never going to be a perfect system for this and so we ask you work with us to make it as calm and supportive as possible. Please let your child know where they will be leaving the school from in the afternoon and by what means they are travelling home as information like this puts minds at ease.
All adults onsite are now required to wear a mask. This includes parents and staff. At this stage, primary school students are not required to wear masks, however, they may choose to do so. If your child is at all unwell, please keep them at home. There is no instrumental music, dance, choir or parades until further notice and interschool sport has been postponed. There have been some changes to the Prep Open Morning next Wednesday so please be aware of more notifications on this to come. As the position on any of these things changes we will keep you informed.
Stop, Drop and Go
Our new carpark and stop, drop and go is now fully completed with the lights installed last week. It is now being used very successfully and is an asset to then school. Thank you to all those responsible for it’s planning and construction! A reminder it is a left turn only on exit and please be patient when traffic is at its peak.