Principal's Report
Dear Parents and Carers
It has been a long time since I have written an article for the newsletter. A lot of the information I have below I have already sent out to you on Class DOJO.
2020 has turned out to be an extraordinary year and one which has given us unprecedented challenges. It has been an absolute privilege to lead the staff at Cloverdale ESC who have risen to every challenge put in front of them and have worked tirelessly to ensure your children have not missed out on their education.
I would also like to thank you all for your support in what was one of the most unusual starts to a school term we have ever seen. Together, we have been able to make the best of this situation and ensure your child’s safety and continuity of learning.
We averaged 80% attendance during last week which has meant that the majority of our classes are running normally, with normal programs. We have also seen some therapy services start up again in school and of course we have Music Rocks back. The thing that I have noticed is it now sounds like a school again which is wonderful.
On Thursday WA Premier Mark McGowan and Hon Sue Ellery the Minister of Education Announced that as from 18th May school attendance will be compulsory again.
This means students are either:
- at school;
- have a medical referral to learn from home; or
- recorded as absent if they do not attend.
School and the Department of Education will continue to support any of our students who still need to access distance education due to the fact they have a pre-existing medically condition which makes them vulnerable or live with a family member with a chronic illness. This will be negotiated with the individual families but will be either through work packs supplied by school or through the School of Special Education: Needs Medical Mental Health.
Current health advice states that schools remain safe for staff and students and should remain open. We want to make sure all children get the best education possible, which is why attending school is so important. We are here to make sure all children are learning and there’s no doubt, schools are the best place for them to learn.
Although we are moving back to compulsory school attendance a lot of the restrictions are still in place to ensure that school is a safe place to be as we cannot become complacent.
I would ask you to keep your child at home if they show any signs of illness and we will be sending staff and students alike home if they start to show symptoms whilst at school.
The extra cleaning and hygiene practices implemented at the start of Term 2 will continue and as part of the social distancing measures, we continue to ask parents/carers to drop children at the school gate and not enter the school grounds.
Also large school gatherings such as assemblies, interschool sports and incursions and excursions are still not permitted. P&C meetings and School Board meetings can occur but they have to be out of school contact hours and much not be more than 20 people.
We will be continuing to have a staggered school finish time; classes will continue to finish at either 2.30 or 2.45pm which means our finish time is 15 minutes before the Primary School. The gates will be manned in the morning from 8.30am to 8.45am we will be starting our teaching programs at 8.45am. A plan has been sent to you in Class Dojo and you will be sent a reminder by your child’s teacher.
I will be surveying you in the next couple of weeks to see how you feel about keeping the 2.45pm finish time, once this pandemic is over, as it seems to be working very well for everyone. Also to find out from your point of view what has worked well and what could have been better in our support of you during the crisis. This is so we are able to have some processes in place in the unlikely event of this or something similar happening again.
We have also been given permission to have an additional School Development Day which I am proposing to have as an addition at the beginning of Term 3, but I will send out details of this once it has been approved by the Department.
If there are any problems, please do not hesitate in contacting me or your child’s teacher. Again thank you for working with us during this time and for your support.
Keep well and safe
Debi