HRCS Happenings

Term 1, Week 7 17March 2020 17 Melaleuca Drive Metford NSW, 2323 Phone: (02) 4933 5844 Fax: (02) 4933 5557

Principal: Tracey Rapson Assistant Principals: Amanda Worton - John Winters - Natasha Brown/Carly Parish (Rel)

We are Safe - We Learn - We Care

Dates For Diaries Principal’s Message

2020

Friday 20 March

Harmony Day—Wear Orange

Thursday 9 April

Last Day for Term 1

Thursday 9 April

Easter Hat Parade

In class groups, no visitors

Friday 10 April

Good Friday

Monday 27 April

Staff ONLY returns

Tuesday 28 April

Students Return

Tuesday 12 May

School Photos

Thursday 29 November

Halloween Disco

Friday 27 November

Year 12 Formal

Jodi

Carly

Dear Families and Friends

It is great to be back! Thank you to John and the school staff for all of their

hard work during the past 3 weeks.

Moving forward during COVID-19: As you are aware the World Health

Organisation has declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Due to the complexity of need, vulnerability and level of risk faced by students

in Special Schools, the possible impact on student health and wellbeing is

extremely high.

I want to reassure our school community that we are following stringent

hygiene practices and infection control to prevent transmission of infectious

diseases.

As you may have read, The Department of Education is introducing “Social

Distancing” to help in the control of this virus and we will do everything we can

to encourage and support this, however the nature of our school context meant

that a large percentage of our students require explicit monitoring with eating

and personal care. Our staff are being extremely vigilant in all hygiene

procedures across the school.

The situation in regard to COVID-19 continues to rapidly evolve. It is my

intention to deliver regular updates to community members as they become

available.

Efforts are now focused on considered actions to slow the spread of COVID-19

in the community and protect those who are likely to experience more severe

disease such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Below are the new guidelines for Hunter River Community School.

School assemblies and substantial gatherings to be cancelled, along with

all excursions, including sport

All major Arts, Sports and Initiative activities and events will temporarily

be ceased until further notice. This includes whole school sporting events

and inter-school events involving three or more schools.

Any student who is displaying signs of being unwell MUST STAY AT HOME. This includes

symptoms of colds/flu including runny noses, sniffles, temperatures and coughs.

If any student arrives at school, or develops cold, flu symptoms at school, families will be

contacted and students will be sent home.

Each morning Assisted Travel Staff and families will be asked about any flu/cold symptoms that

may have arisen overnight or on the trip into school. If a student has been identified as having

any cold/flu indicators, they will immediately be seen by Amanda Straker (First aid Officer). A

temperature reading will be taken and families and/or carers will be contacted.

I will be contacting families of students with chronic medical conditions or immunosuppression this week. These students are at an increased risk and families should contact the school to discuss attendance and moving forward.

Wellbeing Quote: “No matter what kind of challenges or difficulties or painful situations you go

through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find the inner

strength to get through them”. Alana Stewart

In response to these guidelines, the following events have been suspended or modified:

All external sporting activities will be suspended. This will include Ten Pin Bowling and RDA that

was proposed to commence in Term 2 (all monies paid for Ten Pin Bowling will be credited to

your account or please contact the office if you require a refund)

All school excursions have been suspended. This will include the Return and Earn Program and

weekly shopping

Food Technology school lunch program (canteen) will be suspended from Thursday (canteen will

operate as normal tomorrow)

Events such as Harmony Day and Easter Celebrations will be modified to reflect Social

Distancing guidelines. This means that students will still engage in Easter Hat parades etc.,

however they will be in class groups with no family visitors on site

Proposed movie nights will be postponed until further notice

I wish to stress the importance of remaining calm and considerate during this time. The measures

implemented are precautionary and intended to maintain our highest level of vigilance. I would like

to enforce that at this time, school lessons will operate as normal and as always, learning and

wellbeing is our focus.

In relation to the above information, if parents/carers are aware of affected HRCS community

members please alert our school by phone ASAP.

The DET is reminding school communities of the following three simple actions. We are constantly

reinforcing this message with our visitors, staff and students where possible:

Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly.

Sneeze into your elbow or a tissue, disposing of the tissue straight away and then washing your

hands.

Stay home if you are unwell and in schools, send home staff or students who show signs of

being unwell through the day.

Visual social stories have been created and distributed to all classes today. A copy is attached

for your information.

Rest assured that I will update all community members when decisions are made and actions are to

be implemented.

Your calm and measured responses to this situation are appreciated.

If you have any queries, or just want to discuss this fluid situation, please do not hesitate to contact

the school.

Have a wonderful week. Kind Regards - Tracey

Our Easter Raffle prizes have started

to be collated. Thank you to

Cassandra Bright for her organisation.

We are still accepting donations.

Holly

Bella

Henry

Mason

Connor

Tama

March

Birthdays

Zachary

2 Mach

Charlotte

7 March

Henry

11 March

Ethan

15 March

Justin A

16 March

Connor

23 March

Browny’s Blog

School Leadership Awards

Our Captain’s Award for Week 7 was selected by

Mitchell O and was awarded to Holly for

great chicken farming.

Our House Captain Award for Week 7 was

selected by Brennan and was awarded to

Jack B for improvement in playground self

-regulation.

Lilly selected our Prefect Award and

awarded it to Billy for great leader-

ship in his ‘Peer Support’ role, always

helping students & staff.

Peer Support Award for Week 7 was

Isaac for being a good friend.

Easter Donations: It is that time of year where our wonderful P&C are asking for

donations for the annul Easter Raffle. If you are able to make a small

donation, that would be very much appreciated. Donations are being

received at our office.

Easter Raffle: Easter Raffle tickets have been forwarded home

last week to families. If you need more tickets, please don’t hesitate to

contact our office. Tickets are $1 each. Great prizes available.

Easter Guessing Competition: Thank you to Cassandra Bright for

her organisation of our fantastic guessing competition. The winning

guess takes all! Attached with today’s newsletter is a guessing

competition slip. Each guess is .50c and payment can be made per cash,

cheque or on our Parents Online Payment which is located on our

webpage. Good Luck!

Last Wednesday the Mandrill class went on a bus ride to

Newcastle. I worked with Charlotte using the PODD

Communication Book. What a great trip! Charlotte was

very engaged with the book and we chatted all the way!

Billy has started back at Tilly’s this term! He is really

enjoying make new connections with the children. We also

enjoy a mindfulness session every second week!

Name Natasha Hirschausen

Born Sydney

Places Lived Central Coast & Adelaide

Favourite Food Pizza

Favourite Colour Blue

Favourite Sport Vollyball

Schools Worked At Worked as a PE Teacher at Yass High School and Blackwood

High School in Adelaide

Brief Description of your role for 2020

and what you like about it

Working as an SLSO in Room 3—Meerkat’s. I love getting to

know all the children, they are amazing!

Interesting Facts During my long break from teaching (15 years), I trained as

a photographer and continue to create fine art images.

Staff Profile

Michael

Justin H

Jesse

Seth

‘Principal

Leuca Awards’

PBL Awards

Term 1

Week 7

Teachers

of the Week

Viv

Gazelle

Non-Teacher

of the Week

Shelly

Top Playground

of the Week

Warthog Room

Bottom Playground

of the Week

Gazelle Room

100% Attendance

2/3/20 –6/3/20

Justin A

Jack B

Michael

Charlotte

Mattie

Christopher

Jack D

Mason

Mitchell F

Charleigh

Sakura

Justin H

Billy

Alivia

Lochlin

Lewis

Joshua

Bailey

Seth

Hayley

Holly

Lillian

Darcy

Zachary

Blake

Koby

Toucan Room In Term 1, the students explored the text, The Echidna and the Shade Tree.

They have examined words from the text, practised letter formation and

created art works to reflect the story. Collectively, the artworks produced a

colourful booklet for the students to view and read.