Manor Lakes P12 College response to COVID19

Update 18/3/20 re Manor Lakes P12 College response to COVID19.

 

Dear Families,

I continue to have advice forwarded to me from the Department of Education. This advice has not changed substantially.

• If a student or staff member has symptoms of COVID19, they should not attend school and should seek medical advice.
• If a student or staff member is tested for COVID19, they are to remain in self isolation until they have their results.
• Students and staff who may be at increased risk due to underlying health issues or other reasons are encouraged to seek medical advice about the steps they can take to protect their health and wellbeing.

If the medical advice for a student with an underlying health issue is not to attend school, parents are requested to contact a member of leadership so suitable assistance can be provided for learning continuity.

Primary:

Daniel Condon: daniel.condon@education.vic.gov.au

Chelsey Marks: chelsey.marks@education.vic.gov.au

Kim McCabe: kimberley.mccabe@education.vic.gov.au

Tsering Sherpa: tsering.sherpa@education.vic.gov.au

Natalie Vulic: natalie.vulic@education.vic.gov.au

Secondary:

Wayne Abrahams year 9 & 10 students: wayne.abrahams@education.vic.gov.au

Krystal Jessop year 11 & 12 students: krystal.jessop@education.vic.gov.au

Renee Liprino: renee.liprino@education.vic.gov.au

Penny Owens: Penelope.owens@education.vic.gov.au

Billy Vasilevski year 7 & 8 students: blagoj.vasilevski@education.vic.gov.au

Sam Watkins: samuel.watkins@education.vic.gov.au

Supported:

Francesca Ahearn: francesca.ahearn@education.vic.gov.au

Joseph Beech Alliance leader: joseph.beech@education.vic.gov.au

Michelle Fastuca Secondary leader: michelle.fastuca@education.vic.gov.au

Emma Hyett Primary leader: emmahyett@education.vic.gov.au

 

• Schools in Victoria remain open until they are instructed to close by the Department of Health. A closure has occurred at one government school in Victoria so far.
• Teachers are reminding students about appropriate hygiene practices to minimise infection. These are:

• cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing with a tissue, or cough into your elbow.
• dispose of the tissue into a bin and then wash your hands afterwards.
• wash your hands regularly, after using the toilet, and before eating.

 

In my last update to families I listed strategies adopted by the school. Some of our hygiene expectations have been compromised by the difficulty in accessing supplies of soap, sanitizers and disinfectant wipes. Limited supplies are available, but we have been unsuccessful in accessing enough to effectively manage hygiene practices.

I recommend families assist by:

• provide their child a bar of soap in a zip-lock bag they can take to the bathroom
• provide their child with a personal supply of disinfectant wipes in a zip-lock bag, up to 20 would be sufficient for a few days, to be used to wipe surfaces they may be required to use, eg shared keyboards/tables
• provide their child with hand sanitizer to use as required.

The school will continue to source hygiene products and these will be used as the first option, with any personal supplies from students as a back-up when school supplies are exhausted or insufficient.

 

Students in face masks

I have observed a small number of students, mainly at primary level, wearing a face mask. The advice provided by Department of Health is:

Face masks are not recommended for use by members of the public in Victoria for the prevention of infections like novel coronavirus.

Follow Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education guidance regarding safe hand and respiratory hygiene practices.  The easiest way to protect yourself and your community is to pay attention to good hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene

The main purpose of a face mask is to prevent an unwell person spreading an infection, or to protect a medical practitioner who is consulting with a number of patients who could be infected with an illness. If a student is wearing a face mask, parents will be contacted to check if the student should be at school and to request parents get medical advice.

 

Absences:

A number of families are opting to keep their children at home as a preventative measure. The following school work options are provided for parents who choose to do this and want school work for their children.

Teachers cannot provide full programs for students who are being kept home through parent choice. The current focus of teaching staff is providing classroom programs. If the school is instructed to close, the focus of teachers will switch to providing online learning programs. It is unreasonable and unrealistic for me to expect teachers to run two teaching programs at once.

 

Secondary:

• Revise and continue work from text books
• Study and revision of prior learning
• Personal reading – novels, non-fiction, current affairs
• Reading of English texts

Teachers will post the current topics to be studied, parents and students, should refer to these to identify personal research.

 

Primary:

Handwriting:

• Use Handwriting Text Book

Spelling:

• Practice SMART Spelling Words

Maths:

• Practice automatic response, addition, subtractions, multiplication and division facts (timetables).
• Measurement facts (millilitres to litres, kilograms to tonnes, millimetres to centimetres, etc…)
• Estimation of time, distance, weight, volume, then measure

Reading:

• Personal Novels, Non-fiction, current affairs (subject to age),
• Continue Author Study exploration
• Access digital resources through Manor Lakes Community Library

Writing:

• Diary/Journal writing, Writer’s Notebook,
• Author Study Writing Innovation,
• Genre writing

Teachers will post the current topics to be studied on Compass, including Individual Learning Goals.

Parents and students should refer to these to identify personal research.