18 Mar 2020
Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, Rose Bay Secondary College wants to ensure all students, parents and guardians that we are being proactive in ensuring a safe learning environment but also preparing for any future developments that may occur, such as a school closure. We are adhering to all departmental advice as well as taking local measures to ensure that the College remains a productive place for all students.
We appreciate your support and understanding during this time and hope that this email will answer any questions you have about the College’s plans. The situation is rapidly evolving and we will endeavor to keep you up to date as things change. Please continue to check your emails from the College.
Rose Bay Secondary College and The NSW Department of Education are working proactively to ensure minimal disruption to your learning. The Schools Safety website now includes advice for parents and carers to help their child continue to learn if they are not able to attend school, learning from home resources for schools to help maintain teaching and learning in the event of a prolonged school closure or student absence, and health advice for our schools promoting healthy hygiene habits.
For advice on any issue relating to COVID-19 please contact your local health service or use the following websites to obtain up to date information:
https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus-update.aspx
https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus
The current advice from the Australian Government is:
All travellers to Australia will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
A ban on cruise liners from foreign ports arriving at Australian ports for 30 days.
Any confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return.
Close contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.
Students and staff who have returned to Australia and have shown no symptoms during the 14-day home-isolation period are able to return to school or work.
These measures apply to staff and students.
Preventative measures
It is important that students and their families take preventative measures to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on the school and wider community.
Ensuring that appropriate hygiene measures are followed at home. This includes:
Regularly and thoroughly washing your hands with soap
Coughing and sneezing into a tissue or elbow
Staying at home if you are unwell for any reason, including if you have an underlying health condition (please seek advice from your medical provider to help make this decision)
If someone else in your home is self-isolating then students must be separated by appropriate hygiene measures. (Please seek medical advice on how this can be best achieved)
Students following appropriate hygiene measures while at school
Regularly and thoroughly washing your hands with soap
Avoiding non-essential physical contact with fellow students
Being respectful and responsible to all students and staff
Student behaviour reflects the seriousness of the situation
Rumours and jokes about COVID-19 and the Coronavirus will not be tolerated.
Students are to report to a staff member any concerns regarding their own health or the health of a peer
Current changes to school arrangements
To minimise the impact of COVID-19 at school some school changes to normal school arrangements have already been made.
Cancellation of school assemblies -As of Monday March 16, all school assemblies and year meetings have been cancelled.
Communication will take place through roll call and Sentral
Cancellation of activities and events
All non-teaching essential activities have been suspended till further notice
School Buses- To minimise large gathering, students waiting for the school buses have been divided between the Gym and the Hall.
Playground access - To give students more space during break time, the Gym and Hall have been opened during Break 1 and 2 for access to students.
External providers- All external providers have been cancelled until further notice.
Music tuition is currently going ahead under very strict hygiene measures. This will be reviewed when further information is provided.
Contingency plan for school closure
Currently, there are no plans for Rose Bay Secondary College to close, however, we are preparing for any scenario so that disruption to teaching and learning is minimised. We respect the individual decisions of parents and carers if they choose to self-isolate, however the school will not be providing individual remote learning for students until advised to do so by the NSW Department of Education. We would appreciate your support and understanding that the College has been told to operate normal classes. Our teaching staff are focused on delivering quality teaching programs to our students on site whilst also preparing to go online for all classes. Unfortunately, it is not tenable or possible to also ask staff to create individual learning programs for multiple students.
Guidelines for students to support their learning from home
Our school currently uses Microsoft TEAMS, EDMODO and GOOGLE CLASSROOMS to post student work and updates as part of normal classroom practice. Please ask your child to log into their student portal to access these platforms. To assist with this, please look at the attached document or watch the following video.
We suggest students access their school timetable via their student or parent Sentral portals and structure their day around this schedule. If you do not have access to this portal you can register here and contact the school administration to receive your access key.
We also suggest students access their upcoming assessments via the school’s website assessment planners and work towards completing these from home.
If you require communication with your classroom teacher please email the school and in the subject line attention the email to your child’s teacher.
If a senior student misses an assessment task they will be required to complete an Illness/Misadventure form upon their return to school.
Rose Bay Secondary College will be prepared to teach and assess students remotely if directed by the NSW Department of Education. We are currently putting procedures in place to ensure that the College and the students are well prepared.
Teaching and learning
Students need to access the NSW Department of Education Student Portal to be able to access their school emails. (Information has been provided to students regarding how to access student emails)
Students will follow their normal school timetable to complete work and students will be provided with the same amount of work that would be set for a normal school day.
Students have access to online learning spaces. The platforms that will be used by Rose Bay Secondary College are Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and Edmodo.
Students will be provide with the following information for each lesson
Outline of lesson plan
Description of lesson activities
Instructions for submission of work
If students fail to complete work, the parents will be contacted.
If a staff member is ill, instructions will be sent to the relevant Head Teacher will ensure that the relevant lessons are passed on to students.
Assessment
Years 7-10
The College will provide alternative or modified assessment tasks that student will be able to access remotely.
Students are expected to take responsibility for making sure that they maintain contact with their teachers.
Years 11-12
The College will follow the advice of NESA regarding any changes in assessment for Year 11 and 12. This information will be communicated to students as it is received.
Students are expected to take responsibility for making sure that they maintain contact with their teachers.
I would like to thank the whole Rose Bay Secondary College for their continued support during this time. This is certainly a difficult time for everyone, however I am extremely confident that the College community will be able to work together and support each other as we always do. I believe that this strong College community foundation will stand us in good stead during this challenging time.