May 20th

We are looking forward to welcoming students back to normal attendance hours next week. This term has certainly been very different and somewhat challenging for all of us. We have, however, had lots of new learning - some of which we hope to incorporate into our new normal and educational delivery.

It is important that we all understand that it may take some children time to settle back into the normality of classroom routines and structures, and in particular some new structures that are guidelines from Public Health. These are important and put in place to keep our community safe and healthy.  

Public Health guidleines are that schools put organisational structures in place to restrict the amount of adults on school sites.  

We want to make school as safe as possible for everyone. Feel free to ask questions if you require any further information. These things won’t be forever, but we all have a shared responsibility to act in a way that supports everyone being safe.

Physical Distancing in Schools during COVID-19

Public Health advice is clear – it is safe for schools to be open. This is because we have a low rate of Coronavirus (COVID-19) community spread in Tasmania and there has been increased and expanded testing. To reduce the risk even further, schools have hygiene and physical distancing measures in place.

While it is safe to send your child/ren to school, we still need adults to maintain a distance from other adults, whilst on site.

To help us with adult physical distancing, we are asking all parents/carers to:

Arriving at School:

• Grade 2 & above are to be dropped at a school entrance and make their way to their classroom.

• Kinder-Grade 1 are to be dropped at the door of the classroom…..their class teachers or teacher assistants will be there to settle them. 

If your child has special circumstances that require you to come to the classroom, please talk with your child’s teacher or one of our leadership team.

End of School Day:

• P-6 students with siblings in kinder will be dismissed at 2:45pm on kinder days & move to the bottom oval to meet with Parents/Carers to allow them to leave the school grounds quickly.  Those students old enough to meet parents at a nominated area (e.g. near an entry point) please organise with your child/ren.

• For all other parents collecting students please arrive at school as close to 3:00pm as possible, apply PHYSICAL DISTANCING whilst waiting, and exit school grounds quickly.

If you need to talk to your child’s teacher, please call the school office on (03) 6344 2533 or email the class teacher.

• When communicating with the school office, please consider whether this needs to be in person or can be done via phone or email. If you need to come in then please ensure that you attend to physical distancing requirements.

More information is available on the Department of Education website: www.education.tas.gov.au

 Practically this means that at school:

• Staff numbers are limited in the staff room
• The library space is a second staff room
• Excursions, assemblies and line-ups are not occurring until further notice
• Un-necessary, (non-essential) conversations between staff and parents should happen via email, phone or note
• Drop off and pick up processes should be followed, while practicing physical distancing
• Hand sanitiser is available in all rooms
• Hygienic practices are followed, including at PE, music etc
• Even slightly unwell children should not attend school – this is important for all, especially staff
• Do NOT bring personal items into the school grounds eg soft toys, books, swap cards…

The government is watching and reviewing the community behaviours as schools become open to all for learning. While schools are safe places, particularly for children, there are ‘new’ rules to help us ALL to remain safe. For restrictions to continue to be lifted we need to comply, as we have been, to reduce the spread of COVID 19.

Gary Jones

Whilst we know that many children will be really excited to see their friends, get out of their houses and come back to school, we also know that for some children the thought of returning may be causing some anxiety.  We also understand that our children who have been attending school due to their parents’ work commitments will experience a significant change as the numbers swell in their rooms, they return to their original classroom and routines etc. Change is challenging for many of us at the best of times and these haven’t been the best of times! We must remember that this is not like going back to school after the relaxing, happy summer holidays.

Children may be concerned about:

Physical distancing – how do I do it if my friend wants to give me a hug?  How will we all fit in our classroom?

Social issues – how will I fit back in with my group?  What if they have made new friends?

Some children won’t be able to express their worries about coming back to school or the changes to the routines etc for those at school using their words.  They might ask questions like ‘what if I go to school and I get sick?’ They might show their worries through having trouble sleeping, getting upset or angry over things that wouldn’t really bother them usually or saying that they have headaches or tummy aches.

How do we help?

1. Encourage your children to express how they feel about going back to school.
2. Validate their concerns “it is a big thing going back to school and it’s ok you feel a bit worried about it.”
3. Let them know that even though it is hard that you know that they will get through it.
4. DON’T say that there is nothing to worry about it.
5. When they say they don’t want to go to school, please support them to come as putting off coming often makes the anxiety worse.

Please remember that if our children can see their adults calm, see that their adult believes in them that they will ultimately respond to this.  Our children are capable and resilient and with support both from home and school, they will settle back in to school and adapt to the new routines.

Lynn Wyllie-Watson

1. NPS staff appreciate the support that they have received from parents during these unusual times. Change is challenging and in the main, children have engaged with the new learning style, parents have been available to both staff and students, communication has been 2-way, varied and regular.
2. To Norwood Primary staff for their steep learning curve in relation to on-line learning – using the CANVAS platform. An increased level of collaboration and team teaching has been required to enable our COVID 19 response to be effective
3. To ALL for helping to keep our school community safe.

Our main school entrance is a very busy place, especially at the end of the school day.  It is vital for the safety of everyone, particularly our students that everyone follows road safety rules and expectations to the highest standard.  

The pickup area can become very congested so please consider whether you can park in another area and either walk to meet your child/ren or, if they are older students, can they meet you in an area either down or up the street a bit to limit the amount of traffic directly outside of the school.  

Road safety is the responsibility of all drivers ... we can never take back an accident once it has happened, but we can apply the highest standard of safety to guard against it happening in the first place.  

NPS  Leadership Team.

While we recognise that a lot of students have not dressed for school across the term because they have been working from home, there have been many students who have maintained the routine of putting on the school uniform, grabbing their lunch and heading out the door. Now it’s our turn!

On Friday, dress down, no uniforms allowed, please dress comfortably and attend to your learning. This is a FREE event, not a fundraiser. 

The 2020 version of the programme will commence for grade 6 children on Thursday May 28^th, week 5. We have been fortunate enough to be able to change the dates, and manage to fit in the 8 weeks. It will continue into the beginning of third term.

Little Bird Inc facilitators Kylea and Michelle share adolescent tips and traps and discuss respect and emotional control with our upper primary students. Wonderful messages presented in smaller, conversational groups and we thank the School Association for their financial support of this ongoing programme.

Gary Jones

Last week our 5/6 students sent letters to Regis Retirement Village residents. 

"Good Morning, I received a wonderful surprise this morning when arriving at work, 19 beautiful cards from some of your wonderful grade 5 & 6 students for Retirement Village residents.  I have attached a photo of one of our lovely residents, Ronda who was very grateful to receive a card and the card brought an instant smile to her face.

I feel extremely lucky to be handing these cards out today to residents. Please pass on my appreciation to your students for their thoughtful words and their wonderful artwork.  Each card will brighten a resident’s day."

Thank you SO MUCH to the anonymous member of the school community who provided a delicious catered morning tea for the Norwood Primary staff on Monday. Kindness and food – always a winner!  Greatly appreciated and rest assured staff have been working hard during unusual times, so this was a nice surprise.

Transition to High School

QHS have provided a flyer for ALL current grade six students at Norwood Primary School. On an annual basis at least half of our students progress on to Queechy. The transition times in the flyer are now redundant, due to the pandemic, and the QHS staff are currently working on a CANVAS page for on-line access. More details soon.

The flyer, which includes the high school's contact details, has been handed to your child directly, or is awaiting their return.

By the end of the month parents of grade six students will be requested to nominate the high school setting for their child for 2021. We understand that this decision may not be finalised but we do need 90% accuracy in relation to this big move as we consider the transition requirements of schools and individuals.

I am the coordinator of the transition programme and your contact person.

Gary Jones: Assistant Principal

There will NOT be a report provided to parents for the progress of their child(ren) during this term. Just as NAPLAN has been cancelled the usual major mid-year report, including A-E assessments has been cancelled by the Department of Education. This does recognise the complexity and current workload of teachers in this world of the COVID 19 pandemic.

There are Federal conversations currently being held discussing the reporting structures for this year and whether there will be two A-E assessments for students as per previous years or whether there will just be the one major report and assessment. When we are informed both the teachers and the community will be updated.