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Pendle Hill High School

Pendle Hill High School

Responsibilities, Respect, Resilience and Learning

Telephone02 9631 9651

Emailpendlehill-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Principals Message - Update 22nd May 2020

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE – RETURN TO SCHOOL UPDATE - 21 MAY 2020

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students.

As you would be aware, the Department of Education has announced that all students are to return to school as of Monday 25 May 2020.

I have attached for your information from the NSW Department of Education A Guide to NSW School Students Returning to Face-to-Face Learning. (Click here) This guide sets out for parents the Department’s guidelines and expectations about students returning to school. I have also attached for your information some Welcome Back to School Reminders. (Click Here)

Our school must now operate within these guidelines.

While we understand that this may be a stressful time for some students and their families, we also believe that the best place for students to be is back at school, being taught by their own teachers. As you know, we already have students in Years 11 and 12 able to attend school 5 days a week, with students in Years 7 to 10 attending school for 1 day each week.

ATTENDANCE

·         All students should be at school unless they are unwell or have a medical certificate confirming that they have an ongoing medical condition.

·         Students who are absent from school for more than 3 days without a medical certificate will be recorded as being an unauthorised absence from school.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

·         Students will now be following their normal lesson timetables in their normal classrooms. Classwork will include both theory and practical work and normal assessment activities will occur.

·         Online Learning From Home packages will no longer be uploaded to Google Classroom at the start of each week.

·         Students with a medical certificate to stay at home will be supported, but these arrangements will not duplicate the daily work being done in classrooms by students attending school. You will need to contact us to discuss these arrangements.

    

SCHOOL BUSES

·         School buses will operate as normal. The buses cover routes 2570, 2623 and 2506.

·         If your child catches the 711 bus, please be aware that passenger limit restrictions apply as this is a public bus service, not a school bus service. You will need to make alternative transport arrangements until the 12 passenger limit on public buses is lifted. Our experience this week is that this bus is not stopping to pick up students as the bus is already full.    

STUDENT AND STAFF SAFETY

·         Students and teachers who are sick MUST stay at home

·         Staff have a hygiene pack including hand sanitiser, disinfectant, antibacterial wipes and paper towel for use in classrooms and staffrooms

·         Students and teachers are encouraged to wash their hands frequently and to sanitise their hands at the start of each lesson

·         While school students are exempt from social distancing requirements, physical contact with others is to be avoided and will be actively discouraged

·         During lessons, doors and windows should remain open to improve ventilation

·         There is increased cleaning during the school day of high touch surfaces, including door handles, light switches, hard surfaces and handrails

·         Water bubblers are turned off and there is to be no sharing of food, drink, mobile phones or other equipment

·         Coughing, sneezing and hand sanitizing protocols are to be followed

·         Non essential visitors to our school are discouraged. As far as possible, only students and their teachers should be on school grounds

CANTEEN AND UNIFORM SHOP

·         Our Canteen will be open every day

·         Our Uniform Shop will be open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings only, between 8:30 and 9:30am

I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our teaching and non teaching staff in assisting our students through the challenges and complexities of the Learning From Home program. I believe that you, as parents, have also worked incredibly hard over many long weeks to ensure the success of our program.

It's now time to put that same level of energy and commitment into ensuring that returning to learning at school is an even more rewarding and satisfying experience for our students. We look forward to welcoming our students back!     

Kind Regards,

 

Judy Sims

Principal