Regent College. Our community enjoying good health! No images? Click here March 14 2020 Dear Regent Families, Firstly, I’d like to say that despite the intensity of recent events with the coronavirus, we are still focussing wholly on the wellbeing and education of your children. We are certainly grateful that we have finished the building project and have settled into the new buildings at this point. Be assured that we are alert to the events as they unfold and current recommendations by the WA Departments of Health and Education. We have a governing body (Regent College Board) and are supported by the Association of Independent Schools of WA (AISWA). Across education sectors, we are aiming to have a coordinated approach. It is important that as a school community we apply a common sense, factual and practical approach to COVID-19 as much as possible. We are planning for possible partial or complete school closures this year as part of the wider Public Health initiative of “social distancing”. This will affect students across all sectors and obviously has wide implications for parents and workplaces. We are currently exploring options to allow for home-based learning during this period of closure. Please note that OSHC (Outside School Hours Care) will also be closed during these times, for the same underlying reason. All families (Kindergarten to Year 6) should ensure that they have classroom access to Seesaw - the likely starting point for a home-based learning program. All families should ensure that they are registered for Seesaw this week. On Friday (13th) the College resent home hard copies of login information for select families. We are actively working on our COVID-19 pandemic response plan. We have developed an isolation area in the college with processes in place if a student, staff member or visitor has symptoms or is suspected to have COVID-19. We are mindful of students in our College who are more vulnerable because of underlying medical conditions. We encourage parents to ensure Asthma action plans are up to date and all medications are in supply. COLLEGE ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS For the moment, Assemblies will continue as scheduled however we ask that only parents (or direct family members) of the presenting year group attend. For example, this coming week, only parents of Year 3 (this week on Tuesday) should attend. The upcoming Easter Service (Year 1-6) service will be held; however, this will involve students and staff only. We regret this necessary inconvenience. Currently the Inter-house Swimming Carnival this Wednesday for Years 4-6 is planned to be held. Parents can attend this event due to the expected size, and its outdoor nature. It is understandable if parents choose not to attend this event. The Fathering Project event is still under consideration and will be confirmed by this Wednesday. Future events will be assessed on a case by case basis, but it is likely that many events may need to be cancelled as per requirements set by the Australian Government. RESOURCES We are anticipating a need for a temporary hold on lending of books from the library and classroom home readers. This is not yet in effect. From this week we will reduce and minimise the use of shared materials used in classrooms. We will not be using the laptops (the shared keyboards are too problematic to clean) however the iPads can be cleaned before/after each use. Restrictions will be in place for use of shared manipulative objects such as playdoh. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE The precautions regarding attendance at school are ongoing. Effective immediately, we request you do not visit our school or allow your children to attend if the following scenarios apply to you:
You must self quarantine for 14 days after the date of leaving the high risk area. The Australian Government also considers the following countries as being at moderate risk: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Due to the rising cases of COVID-19 in individuals who had travelled from other countries, we strongly recommend that students do not attend school for two weeks following any International travel. The College will aim to provide learning resources for students isolating at home from 23rd March. The Australian Government recommended a reconsideration of any non-essential International travel on Friday 13 March. An excellent resource is the Smartraveller website https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/. Students or staff who have been tested for COVID-19 should follow the advice of the Department of Health and stay away from school whilst awaiting results. The above also applies to all parents/carers, contractors, visitors and volunteers on school sites. LOW THRESHOLD TO ILLNESS We would ask that families maintain a low threshold to signs of illness and not send children to school if any signs of sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea or even fatigue are observed. These could be signs of an infectious illness. HYGIENE We ask you be vigilant around the recommended hygiene measures of regular handwashing with soap and water and teach your children about the importance of this. Our classrooms and ablution blocks are well equipped with cleaning supplies and we have stepped up the schools regular cleaning regime. Our duty of care to our students and staff prompts us to be on high alert for any members of our school community displaying symptoms. We will hold a low threshold for illness and act immediately by asking anyone attending school to absent themselves if they display symptoms of unwellness. BACKUP PLAN At this time we could recommend that you start formulating a back up plan for care of your children during likely school closures this year. We thank you for your cooperation. If you require further information please contact our administration. For your information, the Coronavirus Health Information Line is 1800 020 080. Yours faithfully Derek Nicholls College Principal
REGENT COLLEGE |