Newsletter – Term 1, Week 2, 2022

WELCOME BACK to all Bellaire Primary School students, staff, and families. It has been wonderful to have all the students back this week, enjoying catching up with their teachers and friends. The atmosphere across the school has been buzzing with energy and classes have all very quickly settled. I hope the transition back to school is a smooth one for your child/children.

Special welcome to all our new Prep students in their very first week of school and to all new students and families who have relocated to Bellaire Primary School in all other year levels.

The staff and I remain optimistic that we can look forward to a productive year for our students. The focus initially for our teachers will be on settling the students back in, building positive relationships with them and their classmates, helping students get back into classroom routines and reviewing expected learning behaviours. Our Learning to Learn Program has been occurring this year and then we move into introducing our regular learning routines next week.

We also wish our year 6 students a wonderful last year of school! This week they received their new Year 6 polo tops and have been proudly wearing them this week.

I would like to thank all the parents who have collected their child’s allocated Rapid Antigen Test box. If you wish to collect one, and have not done so, please contact the office. These tests are not mandatory, but the suggestion is to complete two a week. Victorian Schools are expected to receive a further delivery of tests, and these will be provided for students to take home.

All classrooms have air purifiers and masks are to be worn by all staff and students in Years 3-6. We encourage families of students in Years Prep-2 to also supply masks to students to wear while at school.

There will be other impacts that may occur due to the impact of Covid. These have been discussed in the media. One of these may be the need to ‘split’ classes into other classes in the same learning area if we are unable to secure a teacher to replace a teacher who is absent. We hope this will not be the case, however it may occur. By ensuring the students are split into classes in the same year level, due to our team planning and consistency in teaching and learning, the students learning will not be impacted.

We will continue to run our assemblies virtually until further notice.

If your child is a home close contact or tests positive and needs to isolate for 7 days we have learning activities available on our website.

Please see below for information

If we have a confirmed COVID case at school? 

If we have a confirmed case of COVID on-site at Bellaire Primary School while infectious, parents of students in that learning area will be notified and asked to monitor their child/ren for symptoms. All communication will be via Sentral.

Within the communication, the impacted classrooms and year levels will be identified and will also include any extra-curricular activities including OSHC.

A reminder that If your child is not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, they can continue to attend school, but you should continue to monitor for symptoms.

Students who show symptoms of COVID-19 cannot attend school and should get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Students who have recovered from COVID-19 do not need to participate in rapid testing for 30 days after their isolation period has ended.

For information on symptoms visit: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/symptoms-and-risks

For more information on how to get tested visit:

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/taking-test-covid-19.

If your child returns a positive result, your child has COVID-19. 

• You must quarantine your child for seven days
• You must advise the school about the positive result
• Your child must stay home until their symptoms have resolved and they are well
• Everyone in your household is a close contact and must isolate for 7 days.

Reporting your child’s positive test

If your child was at school when they were infectious you need to report the positive case through the Student COVID-19 Test Portal and please notify the school in writing or by phone.

You must also report your child’s positive test to the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form or call centre on 1800 675 398.

Further information for languages other than English

• For school information in languages other than English, call TIS National on 131 450.
• Please ask them to call the DET COVID-19 hotline on 1800 338 663 and they will help interpret.
• For translated written information about COVID-19, please visit: Translated information about COVID-19 | Coronavirus Victoria.
• For health advice in languages other than English, visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/translated-information-about-coronavirus-covid-19

Financial support available to people affected by COVID-19:

For more information, visit:

Financial and other support for COVID-19 | Coronavirus Victoria

If you need a payment during coronavirus (COVID-19) – Getting help during coronavirus (COVID-19) – Services Australia

Advice and further resources about what to do if you test positive to COVID-19, or you have been told you are a contact, are at: Your COVID Checklist | Coronavirus Victoria, or call the 24/7 Coronavirus hotline on: 1800 675 398

Information about how to do a test and how to read RAT results, including a how-to video translated into 33 languages, is available online.

Parents and carers must have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid medical exception (with limited exceptions) to enter the school office. All staff working in schools need to be fully vaccinated or have a verified medical exception. COVID-19 vaccinations for students are not required for them to attend school but vaccination for students is highly encouraged by the Department of Education. For more information on how to book a vaccination, including important information about vaccination for children aged 5 to 11, visit Vaccination information for children and teenagers.

Our scheduled Parent/Carer meet and greet will be taking place on Wednesday 16^th February remotely via WebEx.

We will be opening up bookings via Sentral next week.

The Parent Meet and Greet is a terrific opportunity for you to make initial contact early in the year in communicating any important information with your child’s classroom teacher. In addition to the Meet and Greet, you will have a further opportunity to meet with your child/s classroom teacher again in Term 3 this year to review their progress.

Aside from these planned meetings, if at any stage, you would like to see your child’s classroom teacher or myself please don’t hesitate to contact the school to arrange a convenient time.

This information is for parents, carers, and guardians about the Tutor Learning Initiative, which will support students in their learning in 2022.

The 2021 school year was an extraordinary and challenging one for every school community with many Victorian students spending time in both 2020 and 2021 learning remotely. Victorian schools and their communities have made an exceptional effort to provide continuity of teaching and learning to our students during this time.

We are very fortunate that funding has been made available for schools in 2022 to continue this terrific initiative.  School leadership have been working closely with teachers to use all available information to determine suitability for tutoring and we believe we have identified those students who will benefit most and are in the greatest need of the tutoring support.

We will be contacting the families of the students who are eligible to be involved shortly.

Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website and was also sent out with our start of year information.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/Schools-Privacy-Policy-information-for-parents.aspx

Just a reminder to all parents that students are required to have their hat at school each day. Please ensure that your child’s hat is clearly named to prevent it from going missing.

With the weather heating up and high-level UV, we encourage parents to support their child in applying sunscreen before arriving at school. Sunscreen is also available within learning areas.

A reminder to parents if your child has a medical condition (Asthma, Anaphylaxis, Diabetes etc.) Please ensure that their management plan is updated and endorsed by a GP and promptly returned to the school front office.

School Council elections will take place this term and I encourage parents to read the information below and consider expressing interest for School Council membership in 2022. We have an active and engaged School Council and welcome new members.

For existing members of School Council, if you are at the conclusion of your term of office and are keen to continue on School Council you are still required to self-nominate and complete a nomination form which are available at the front office.

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with their constituting Order and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a School Council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the School Council?

For most primary School Councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected Parent member category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. DET employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school
• A mandated elected DET employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of School Council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members
• An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the Council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

For all schools with a Year 7 and above cohort, there is a fourth category of membership:

• A mandated elected Student member category, 2 positions.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual School Council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help inform and shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of Conduct for School Councillors

School Councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004. School councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct – Employees issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

• act with honesty and integrity (be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty)
• act in good faith in the best interests of the school (work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds)
• act fairly and impartially (consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self interest)
• use information appropriately (respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available)
• exercise due care, diligence and skill (accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school)
• use the position appropriately (not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage)
• act in a financially responsible manner (observe all the above principles when making financial decisions)
• comply with relevant legislation and policies (know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law)
• demonstrate leadership and stewardship (set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable).

Indemnity for School Council members

School councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the Council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the councillor in good faith in:

• the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a councillor, or
• the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Council.

In other words, School Councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by Council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the School Council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider: standing for election as a member of the School Council or encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The Principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All School Council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual time line has been varied by the Minister. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent member category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the School Council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the Principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via post, email or by hand following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on Council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Information regarding our elections will be sent out in a separate post next week.

Principal

Please do NOT park in the Kiss and Drop area at the front of the school in Larcombe Street at the start and end of the day.

You must not leave your car in this area. It causes alot of congestion and problems with traffic flow.

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