WELCOME TO THE 2020 SCHOOL YEAR

A very warm welcome to the Ormiston State School community for 2020.

For those new to our community, as new families or as first time school parents, we welcome you to our safe, supportive and nurturing school community and we look forward to getting to know you.  For those returning, welcome back.  

As always the school year starts with a rush and there are already a range of programs about to commence to provide ongoing opportunities for students to engage in outside of the classrooms.  In coming days and weeks information regarding our Mandarin Chinese program, STEM Club, Sports Aerobics, Athletics Training, Senior and Junior Choir, just to name a few, will be made available with invitations for eligible students to join the program.

Our goal is to engage every child through a diverse range of programs in The Arts, Sport, Culturally and Academically that provide a strong sense of belonging, ongoing success through improvement and a desire to contribute to the best of their ability.

We look forward to working with every family to achieve this to the best of our ability, for every student. 

We ask for parental assistance in reinforcing the before school routines.  Students should not be at school prior to 8:15am as there is no supervision and minimal teacher presence to ensure adequate safety for students. 

Students arriving before 8:30am should go to the tuck shop covered area and wait for the supervised before school activities to commence.  This includes students sitting with their parents or carers.  Parents should not wait outside classrooms with their children.  If a meeting is needed and the teacher is not in the room an appointment can be made through the office or via email to the teacher directly.

At 8:30am a recorded message announces the need for students to go to either Readers, Walkers or Sitters Clubs. These are supervised events designed to provide a range of student needs.  Students, and parents are welcome to choose an activity each day to participate in until the 8:50am school bell rings signalling all students to go to class. Students arriving after 8:30am should go straight to the activity of choice once they have delivered their bag the the classroom.

Novel Coronavirus – 2019-nCov

As you are aware, health authorities across the nation are continuing to respond to the emergence of the Coronavirus that has emanated from China.

Health authorities have late yesterday updated advice regarding the novel Coronavirus.

The following advice is now in place:
•anyone who has been in contact with any confirmed novel Coronavirus cases must self-isolate (self-isolation means staying at home and not accepting visitors) for 14 days following exposure;
•travellers who have visited Hubei Province of China need to self-isolate for 14 days after leaving Hubei Province;
•returned travellers who have visited China cannot attend school, childcare or TAFE for 14 days after leaving China including Hong Kong.

Our school always follows the advice of public health authorities in these circumstances and I thank you in advance for your cooperation and support as we navigate this situation.  Please do not hesitate to contact the school should you have any concerns or are uncertain whether this advice affects you.

School Review

2020 is the final year of our current 2017 to 2020 strategic plan.  Throughout 2020 we as a school will be reviewing our programs and practices to inform our 2021 to 2024 Strategic Improvement Plan.  As an ongoing part of this process we as a school will be seeking your thoughts and ideas on how we are progressing and how we can improve.  This will also include a departmental school review team visiting the school in Semester 2.  We welcome these processes in our ongoing endeavours to provide the best education possible for every student, every day.

Once again, welcome back to the 2020 school year.  Please do not hesitate to contact us with your thoughts, ideas or needs.

Yours in Education

Neil Randall

Principal