A message from James Whitla

08-Jun-2020

Dear Families,

Tomorrow we welcome back our Year 3-6 students as part of the staged and staggered return to school. It is an exciting time for us all and we are hopeful that our Year 3-6 students transition back into school as well as our Foundation – Year 2 students have over the past fortnight. We can’t wait to have ALL of our students back!

Details of the changes to the regular school day have been distributed previously and included below are some key points for consideration over the next 3 weeks.

Changes to the start and finish times for different year levels are designed to reduce the number of adults congregating outside the school at any one time, including parents and carers at peak times such as drop-off and pick-ups.

We understand that for families with more than one child attending school that this may be difficult and we are keen for siblings to arrive/leave together at the same time and be safely supervised while on the school site. Please organise with your children which entry/exit points they will be using and we can support them with this.

We have opened as many entry and exit points to the school as possible, and allocated staff to ensure students are supported to enter the school grounds confidently and be safely supervised at the start and the end of the school day. Our goal is that all students and parents feel confident with the arrival/departure from school.

Each of our entry points will be unlocked and opened close to 8:30am and each gate has been labelled to show which Year level or Classes should be using them. Gates will be locked again at 9:15am and reopened from 3:15pm

We have staggered lunch and recess times to reduce mixing of year levels where possible and reduce possible congestion in staff rooms. We also have an extra 6 hours of cleaning services to help keep our learning and teaching environment safe. This includes regular cleaning of surfaces, playgrounds and classrooms throughout the day.

The attached map has been created by the Kingston Council’s SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL- TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT PLANNING TEAM. It is provided as additional support to encourage families to keep traffic to a minimum around the school, to be able to physically distance, and also to get in a little walk. We hope that this is helpful.

All of these strategies to support physical distancing and good hygiene practices to reduce the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission within the practical limitations of our school environment.

As always, on behalf of our staff, thank you for your ongoing support and positive response during this challenging time. Our students have shown incredible resilience over the past two months and the strong home/school partnership has been a key to this.

Parking around Edithvale Primary School