Dear parents/caregiver,
The start of the 2022 school year has been adjusted to help minimise the peak of COVID-19 cases in South Australia.
There will be a staged return to school and preschool over the first two weeks of term that balances every child’s learning entitlement with safety and risk management concerns.
Face-to-face learning has been prioritised for our youngest learners and for specific year levels that are transitioning. Remote learning will be provided for all other year levels.
The dates for the start of Term 1 are:
Monday 31 January – preparation day
Tuesday 1 February – preparation day
Wednesday 2 February – school is back
Face to face learning for: preschool, reception, year 1, year 7, year 8 and year 12 students
Remote learning for: years 2 to 6 students and years 9 to 11 students.
Monday 14 February – planned return of face-to-face learning for all year levels.
Face-to-face learning:
Will be provided for preschool, reception, year 1, year 7, year 8 and year 12 students, starting Wednesday 2 January.
If you choose to keep your child at home, or if they are required to isolate, a school based remote learning program will not be offered.
The Department for Education is developing online learning for reception to year 10 students that your child can access online. More detail will be provided before the school term commences.
Remote learning provided for:
Years 2 to 6 students and years 9 to 11 students, starting on Wednesday 2 February.
If you are required to attend your workplace and do not have any other appropriate supervision for your children, they can come to school. We will supervise them as they complete their remote learning program.
Preparation days (31 January and 1 February)
These days will be used by our staff to prepare for remote learning and the change to the start of term 1.
If you are required to work and who do not have appropriate supervision for your child, you can choose to send them to school to be supervised on these days. No formal learning programs will be provided.
Minimising the spread of COVID-19
To ensure that our children and staff are as safe as possible at HCSPS, we will be implementing the following measures as advised by the Department for Education and SA Health:
- Please keep your child home if they are unwell, even mildly
- Masks are required for:
- All adults when indoors (except if it’s impeding our staff’s ability to communicate while teaching)
- students in years 7 to 12 when indoors
- Masks are strongly recommended for children in years 3 to 6 when indoors
- Natural ventilation will be maximised by leaving doors/windows open, continued use of air conditioning (set to fresh air intake where available) and fans where possible
- Outdoor learning where appropriate
- Physical distancing where possible
- Minimise student intermingling indoors, for example across class groups
- Limit non-essential visitors on site. We will work with parents of students who are starting preschool or school to make sure you are able to come on site to be part of your child’s transition (in a COVID safe way).
- An extra daily site clean (funded by the department)
- Temporary postponement of the following activities (until week 4 of term):
- camps, excursions and incursions
- interschool sport trials and competitions
- large gatherings such as assemblies, events and concerts.
Out of school hours care will continue as normal.
We appreciate you might have some questions about these changes. We’ll do our best to start planning a smooth start to the 2022 school and preschool year. More details will be provided as we get closer to the start of term.
We look forward to seeing your child face-to-face or online to start the school year.
Kind regards
Donna O’Leary
Principal
