Phone 6766 2016 or 6766 3288 Email tamworth-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Web tamworth-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 2 Week 1 Weekly Newsletter of Tamworth Public School 30 April 2020

Calendar As you would be aware students who are working from home are to return on their

delegated day from Term 2 Week 3.

Students are returning on these days in their sports house groups

MAY

Monday 11 Peel House Students

Tuesday 12 Cockburn House Students

Wednes 13 Moonbi House Students

Thursday 14 Oxley House Students

Clothing Pool - will not be manned however if urgent may be accessed during

school hours

Student Banking as temporarily ceased.

WELCOME BACK

STUDENT LEARNING

Many of you will be starting the term learning from home and some of you may be at school. But I know you will all be engaged in quality learning. For those students who are learning from home the learning packs for the first week have been uploaded to either Class Dojo or Google Classroom depending on your grade for you to download. I also know parents have collected paper copies of the week’s work from the tubs outside the Torrens building.

Completed paper units will be returned by parents each Monday/Tuesday and new work may be collected at the same time.

Those students who are learning from home will receive regular updates from their class teacher and will have the opportunity to upload their completed work to their individual portfolios.

COMMUNICATION

The school will be posting regularly on School Story in Class Dojo and also on Facebook. Work packs will also be stored on the school’s webpage for you to access if required. I would encourage parents not be driven into making hasty decisions about their child’s education by media reports. As we know these can be confusing and misleading.

Your child’s school should be your official source of information and guidance.

I would like to welcome back all our students to Term 2. I am sure those at home practicing social distancing have taken the opportunity to work in the garden, become Lego masters or have learnt to ride their bike. I think we have all discovered the benefits of exercise and social connections because of our isolation during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Our decisions are based on advice from NSW Health and the Department of Education and managed with reference to our unique local context. If you need to contact the school please do so at the moment via telephone or email. Like most businesses we also need to practice social distancing in our public spaces like the school office.

THE NEXT STEP

Parents would have been advised that from the 11 May 2020 that they will need to send their child/children to school for one day a week. This will be the commencement of the recovery stage which presently is planned as a slow and gradual increase in school attendance days. The school has been preparing for this eventuality by rostering teachers and support staff to handle the 25% of students who will need to be accommodated in classes of around 10 students. Our plan is based on School Houses. We will be endeavouring to have students taught by their teacher or a teacher from their Stage. Your child/children will attend the following days each week as part of the governments Phase 1 response irrespective of their grade.

This will be the day your child/children will attend school, the remaining days of the week they will continue their learning from home. We have not been advised when Phase 2 will commence.

CARECOURTESY

CONSIDERATION

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Opportunity Class Placement 2021

The placement process for opportunity class entry in 2021, including the Opportunity Class Placement Test, will be delayed until later in the year. This involves students in Year 4 who wish to apply for a place in the Opportunity Class for Year 5. As a result, applications will not open on 28 April 2020 as previously advised.This delay is in response to the social distancing measures that are currently in place to help slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community.

The opportunity class placement will still go ahead in 2020 however, the process for that, including the timeline, will look a little different this year. The Department of Education intends to ensure Year 5 students are placed in opportunity classes in 2021 with minimal disruption to schools and families.The department will continue to work closely with NSW Health to ensure people have access to the latest advice on how to keep staff, students and the community safe.

Revised dates for applications, tests and process changes (including any changes to school assessment scores) will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. Web pages will be updated shortly to reflect this message.Parents and carers can continue to monitor the department’s website via https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5 to remain up to date with information relating to opportunity classes.

If you have any questions please contact Mr Squires.

COVID-19 NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK (NBN) EDUCATIONAL RELIEF PACKAGE

As part of the NBN COVID-19 Education Relief Package, approximately $50 million will be directed from NBN to help retailer providers support low-income households with school-aged children who do not currently have an active NBN™ connection at home.

WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO NOW?

1) We ask that families check the following page on the NBN website and stay up to date with the official list of retailers they can engage with expected to be announced from 28 April. Please share this link with your community.

2)Families may already have some questions and this fact sheet may bring further clarity.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The NSW Department of Education has a vast amount of advice and resources for parents as well as detailed explanations about the decision we have to follow. I would encourage parents to view this site and to read the information supplied. I think you will find it very informative and will address any concerns and fears parents may have bout the return of students to the school setting.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

We are looking forward as you are to the return to normal operations but we must be cautious and follow the advice of our health professionals.

DAY HOUSE COLOUR

MONDAYS PEEL RED

TUESDAYS COCKBURN BLUE

WEDNESDAYS MOONBI YELLOW

THURSDAYS OXLEY GREEN

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE FROM WEEK 3 - one day per week

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3/6S - Mrs Sissons

Mrs Sissons adapting and doing individual assessments in 3/6S.

BUILDING UPDATEIt is very exciting seeing the new buildings coming ahead. The space is starting to take shape and it is great to see just how it is starting to look. We are looking forward to the hall being completed at the end of the year.

NEWS FROM K/6W

Alex has been working so hard on his school work.

Mrs Watts is very proud of her students and their parents for adjusting to working from home.

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