Boneo Buzz: 15th July

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3. It has been lovely to have the children return to school with excitement and enthusiasm. Lots of families have been away and it has been wonderful hearing the many stories of trips to Queensland, the snow and for the first time in a long time overseas! Staff are looking forward to a productive term with a strong wellbeing and academic focus. Staff have planned lots of events including intensive swimming, excursions to Monash Motor Sports, Moonlit Sanctuary, Cranbourne Gardens, Buller Snow Sports, Year 6 Production, Year 4 Camp just to name a few.

Managing Covid and Influenza

A heart felt thank you to all of our parents who continue to be vigilant and support our school by keeping students home if they are ill. Our teachers will ensure learning is uploaded to Compass each week to assist you.

I would also like to inform you about the impact of influenza (flu) among our school community and measures we can all take to reduce the spread of flu as we enter into the colder months. We are taking this very seriously and continue to follow the expert advice of the Department of Education and Training and Department of Health, to help ensure that our school continues to run effectively.

To help reduce the spread of flu, colds and COVID-19, students are being encouraged to;

• wash and sanitise their hands regularly
• avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• cover their nose and mouth when they cough or sneeze
• get tested for COVID-19 if they feel unwell and follow the current Department of Health isolation requirements if a positive result is shown
• if unwell, stay at home until their symptoms pass.

Face masks are available in all schools and can be worn by any staff or students who wish to do so, including those who are medically at risk.

Vaccination remains the best protection against both COVID-19 and flu, and we encourage you to get your child vaccinated. Flu vaccinations can be booked through GPs and pharmacies, many of which can also provide COVID-19 vaccinations. If your child does become sick while at school, please also ensure that we have correct emergency contact details for yourself. This is so we can get hold of you as quickly as possible.

Facility Upgrades

Over the holidays we continued to upgrade our facilities. Via a successful grant application, new guttering was installed and a tank installed to the main building to alleviate the flooding of the basketball courts. The basketball courts were cleaned and new seating is being installed. A new shade sail has been erected beside Year 3. Over the coming weeks we are planning to organise another working bee to revitalise areas of the garden.

Student Led Conferences

Please make sure you have read your child’s Semester 1 report prior to attending the student Led Conferences scheduled for the 26th and 27th July. These are open for bookings today.

Notices and Compass Events

Please assist us by meeting deadlines and completing documentation when required. It is becoming increasingly challenging for our staff to manage late payments and permission requests on the day of events. To ensure staff and students are not put at risk we will be adhering to deadlines and students will be unable to attend if parent permission has not been granted prior to the day of the event. This was highlighted today when Year 5 and 6 were attending interschool sport.

Out of School Hours Care (OSCH)

Thank you for completing the survey this week. It is clear that our community would appreciate affordable before school care, a holiday program and potentially care on curriculum days. On Tuesday, School Council will review our current contract and look to expand our offering with a view to decreasing costs for families.

From the Art Room

Year 6 students have been looking at the Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton. The students created surreal landscape images, which included features similar to those used by Barton; dream-like imagery, Australian animals, and objects that don’t always look like they should belong.