Newsletter 5 - 26 March

Our wonderful campus P&C held their first family games afternoon. It was great to see parents and children having fun together!  

The P&C provided some information for parents about its role at the school.

Our year 6 students had a sausage sizzle to raise funds for graduation and everyone played with the "big games" on offer.  

Thank you to everyone involved.

South Ballajura Campus remains open with classes operating with face to face teaching for students. We thank all parents and staff for your understanding and efforts in calming the anxiety and keeping routines as normal as possible. We recognise that this is a very difficult and stressful period as we navigate uncertain and challenging times.

 As information re COVID-19 becomes available, we continue to put plans in place, leading to smoothly run schools.   We have made preliminary plans for students to receive ongoing learning opportunities if the Education Department changes our mode of operations, however, at this point in time we remain open.  Many parents have been requesting work to be sent home. The direction from the education department is:

 Teachers are not expected to provide work packages for students whose parents have chosen to keep them home without seeking medical advice, before the end of Term1.   The priority for staff is to maintain focus on classroom learning programs.

 Although, due to reduced attendance, some staff have been able to commence some forward planning for a possible “Distance Learning” scenario.

 If your child is sick and has to be at home, It would be good for your child to:

• Do some writing each day. This could be a short journal, a recount of an event which has taken place or writing the procedure for an activity they have undertaken (eg cooking from a recipe). 

• Practice some spelling words from their current list. In doing this they need to look at the word, cover it over, write their spelling and check the word.  They can also write sentences using the word and see if they can identify the word in a text eg a book. 

• Read to you or have you read to them and discuss the book.

If there is any maths work which is practical to undertake without a teacher, we may send it home.

 If our child is at home through your choice and is not unwell, the PRIMARY SCHOOL will be following the Department’s advice and not be sending work home. 

ESC TEACHERS are currently meeting with parents, mostly over the phone, to establish Semester one IEPs. As with the flexibility regarding homework, teachers are providing strategies and resources to suit each individual child. 

Below is an update on our status and plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic. With new information coming to hand daily, I will be applying this 10/100/1000 word approach when communicating with the school community weekly. 

Below you will find three different versions of our message. The first is a very brief, approximately 10-word summary. The second is a slightly more in-depth 100-word summary. The third is a verbose, detailed update that may be 1,000 words or more. We hope this approach will help you find the level of detail you require.

~10 Words

Our schools remain open but you are encouraged to keep your children at home if possible.

~100 Words

We continue to receive updates from Department of Education regularly. Based on the best information available to us, we are NOT closing schools at this time but we ARE encouraging student to remain at home if possible. Following Education Department instruction, where we are not providing work packages for those students staying at home, we will provide some advice as to what work you could complete at home if your child is absent for medical reasons.

~1,000+ Words

This information comes from Department of Education in conjunction with Department of Health. Each decision we make is based on analysis of information, in consultation with experts, and coordination with local and state agencies.

Attendance at school

On Sunday 15 March, the Prime Minister introduced measures placed on international arrivals into Australia. This means a mandatory 14 day self-isolation requirement will be placed on all international arrivals into Australia effective from 16 March, 2020. This also applies to all parents/carers, contractors, visitors and volunteers on school sites.

In addition all non-essential travel in and out of Western Australia was banned from 1.30pm on Tuesday, 24 March, 2020. Arrivals from interstate will be ordered to self-isolate for 14 days.

 Students or staff cannot attend school or work and need to self-isolate if they have been informed by public health authorities that they have been in close contact with a confirmed case and they must isolate themselves for 14 days after the date of last contact with the confirmed case. Students or staff who have tested for COVID-19 should follow the advice of the Department of Health and stay away from school whilst awaiting results.

Please contact the class teacher if you choose to keep your child at home.  The absences will be recorded as Reasonable Cause.

Our Hygiene Practices

Our hygiene practices in class have increased and include the measures below for staff and students:

• make sure the workplace is clean and hygienic, surfaces need to be wiped with disinfectant regularly;
• wash hands with soap and water, before and after eating;
• wash hands with soap and water after going to the toilet;
• cough and sneeze with a tissue or bent elbow, dispose of used tissues immediately, and use sanitiser or soap and water;
• Hand sanitiser available in all classrooms; and
• if students are unwell, parents will be called to collect their children.
• Encouraging students to fill their water bottles at drinking fountain, not drinking directly from it

Our Social Distancing Practices

• Oval playground is now out of bounds
• Soccer games are to be strictly non-contact to continue
• Canteen will closed after this Friday

Closing Schools

Schools can only be closed on the advice and order of the Chief Medical Officer.  At this time, we are acting on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and NOT closing our schools.

 Our schools may be closed in the future, in the meantime, families should begin preparing for what they will do if schools are closed for an extended period.

 If this is the case, we will move to a “distance education” model, and teachers have developed work packages consisting of both hard copies and online learning for student to complete at home.  Further information about this will be sent home in the event of our schools not having students attending.

 This could be considerably challenging for many families, so it is imperative that you plan for what you will do in such a situation. Now is the time to ensure you have your plans in place so you are not caught off guard if we need to close schools. If there comes a time when we have a case of COVID-19 within our campus population, the Chief Medical Officer of WA will close our campus temporarily while assessment and tracing of exposure is conducted. A thorough school clean will then be carried out to make the school safe for the return of students and staff.

This is a very difficult time for everyone and we would like to assure you that the staff at South Ballajura are working hard to ensure the best possible opportunities for your children.  We are sure you will join with me in thanking them for their ongoing hard work and dedication.  We wish you all the best for you and your family at this challenging time.

In the event of a school closure teacher’s main form of communication will be through Class Dojo.  If you haven’t already joined your child’s Class Dojo we recommend that you do this as soon as possible. Please contact your child’s class teacher if you need assistance with this.

However, arrangements are in place to supervise children who need to attend school on the last four days prior to Easter, where parents require it to maintain their employment, or due to a personal situation.  Please contact the school to discuss your situation.

Kaboom Percussion Incursion

On Monday 16^th March, our school was entertained by the very impressive Kaboom Percussion duo Josh and Cat.

They Wowed us with their expertise on a variety of home-made and improvised instruments, and showed us that as long as we can bang, shake or scrape an object it can become a percussion instrument of our own.

There were lots of giggles and roars of laughter, brilliant body percussion and rhythmic clapping and excited shrieks of recognition in the movie music item.

We look forward to continuing our Kaboom Percussion experience in music classes, where we are learning to play a variety of household items.

For more information about Kaboom Percussion, visit their website

or join their 300 000 followers and check them out on Youtube.

Creating opportunity Add a visual Model Pause for prompt

South Ballajura CAMPers are an integrated group of students, some practised hands from  2019 and some 2020 new learners. This amazingly talented group of children are learning the art of effective communication with non-verbal students, using Key Word Sign, PODD books and natural gestures.

This incredibly dedicated group of mainstream and ESC students volunteer their recess to this learning, and then take the skills they have learnt into the playground, creating conversations with non-verbal partners.

Communication is supported theough United Nations as a Bill of Rights and our campus is well on the way to proving this to be true! They practised their skills at a Silent Morning Tea last Wednesday. Several invited staff attended and discovered how awesome these students really are with their exceptional communication skills!

The Grip Student Leadership Conference

The GRIP Student Leadership Conference 2020 was a successful excursion for our year 6 Leaders. This Conference provided great ideas, equipped and inspired student leaders to stand up and Lead the way in their school

Community Access Herdsman Lake

The South Ballajura Education Support Centre’s inaugural visit to the WA Gould League Wildlife Centre at Herdsman Lake was simply fantastic.  Bird spotting, using hand nets to scoop the lake, feeding aquatic and reptile wildlife, making indigenous artwork and having a chat session with Thomas the Turtle made for a very new and exciting excursion.  In the words of two of the students, “It was a great day out” and “I loved it. I really loved the turtle.”

A New Way of Learning

"Distance Learning" is phasing in for students, staff and parents. Thanks to Rebecca from 
Therapy Focus for delivering a "PEBBLES" training and Q&A session for SBESC parents. Parents
can now follow-up for therapy support at home.

Do You Need Help with NDIS

As you will be aware, therapy sessions at school have ceased from this week and many therapists 
are not conducting face to face sessions. Glyn Davies, Community Engagement Facilitator, at Mission Australia,  has  been  working  closely  with  SBESC  parents.  Although he cannot offer face to face meetings at school. Glyn welcomes all your enquiries and can assist with contacting service providers and connecting you with LACs to assist your child to access funding anddelivery of services. Please phone 0491 147 712.

Annual General Meeting

We were fortunate to be able to meet before 'Social Distancing' requirements became more stringent.We welcomed a new teacher representative, Ms Sam Tsakalos (TA5), a new community member and a new parent representative. Look out for their Board profiles in future newsletters.  Many thanks to members who have finished their term for their valuable contributions. 

The Board elected our new Chairperson. Congratulations to Community  member, Mrs Debbie Schotte, who recently completed Board training. 

A huge thank you goes to our dedicated and longserving retiring Board Chair, Mrs Sue McDonald.She has a real heart for our SBESC community and did an amazing job in transitioning us from a Council to a Board, as well being a champion of our Staff Board Award and spokesperson during our IPS Review process. We wish her all the best.   

Meet the Board

Hello my name is Debbie I have been a SBESC Board member for 2 years and am looking forward to working in my new position as Board Chair.  I have worked in Banking and Finance for 25 years.

Since returning to work after having my children I have worked in administration and event rolls as well as Federal elections.

I am mum to 5 boys aged 10 years to 18 years and I am actively involved in their schools, scout group, sporting clubs and also the Kingfisher Family Centre in various roles including Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. I am a volunteer with Scouts WA as : Group Leader, Ballajura Scout Group, Branch Leader Social Media and Major Event Director.

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, my hobbies include camping, reading, craft going and to the movies.