Updated Monday 13th July

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

As you would be aware, the Victorian Government has recently made a series of significant announcements about the introduction of new measures across metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

These include announcements about a change to arrangements for schools and the start of Term 3.

The new arrangements for schools in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are expected to remain in place for the next 6 weeks and are as follows:

  1. Students in Year 11 and 12 – VCE, VCAL and VET will attend school beginning on Monday 13th July. Students in Year 10 enrolled in a VCE or VET study will also attend for these units.
  2. Year 10 students will begin remote learning from Monday 20th July until at least the Friday 19th August.
  3. Staff at Hallam Senior will begin teaching Year 11 and 12 from Monday 13/7/20. Year 10 class time will be used by teachers to prepare for a possible move to remote and flexible learning as of Monday 20 July. We will have further confirmation about this early next week.

These new arrangements are designed to give our health experts additional time to assess the situation in the general Melbourne and Mitchell Shire communities.

 

Arriving at School

All students arriving to begin classes (undertaking a VCE, VET or VCAL program) will be temperature checked. No student or staff member is to come to school if they have any symptoms of illness. If a student has a temperature of 37.5 or over, contact will be made with the family and the student will be sent home.

Visitors to the college are not encouraged. If a parent or visitor urgently needs to attend the school then they must undergo a temperature check on arrival and will be required to remain in the front office area.

 

Changes to Scheduled Activities

These changes to the beginning of Term 3 have also necessitated a number of activities to be cancelled or rescheduled. These are;

  1. Parent Teacher Interviews scheduled for week 3 have been cancelled. Further information about feedback on student progress will be provided in the forthcoming weeks.
  2. On Tuesday July 28th, staff will undertake a report writing day. No classes will be held at the college on this day.
  3. Reports for Semester 1 will be uploaded to Compass from Friday 31stJuly. No hard copies will be provided.
  4. All excursions planned for Weeks 1-6 of Term 3 have been cancelled
  5. All incursions planned for Weeks 1-6 of Term 3 have been cancelled
  6. Activities such as sports training have been deferred until further notice.
  7. The Deb Ball has been cancelled and the Year 12 Formal is being reviewed with the hope of rescheduling. ( if required)
  8. Information Nights about program choices for 2021 will move to on line: further information will be provided in the coming days.
  9. Student Counselling re subject choices for 2021 will move to on line: further information will be provided in the coming days.
  10. Semester 2 programs begin- VCAL – week 1, Year 10 Week 2, VCE Unit 2 – Week 3.

Once again this time is clearly going to be a challenging for all of us. It’s going to be critically important that all elements of the College community work together to ensure that we provide the very best possible support for the ongoing wellbeing and learning of our students.

Further information regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) and schools can be found on the Department’s website, which will continue to be updated as the situation evolves:
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Given the uncertainty of the situation, the College will endeavour to provide the best possible support for all students and their parents. If there are issues which need clarification or support from the college, please contact the school via the college email, through Compass or by phone.

Yours Sincerely
Greg McMahon
Executive Principal
Hallam Senior College