Open School OSHC Settings-Testing Isolating Quarantining.pdf (150.32 KB)
Open Preschool Early Childhood Settings-Testing Isolating Quarantining.pdf (145.99 KB)
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
We have some general information to help with the hybrid start to the school year. Thank you for taking the time to read this information and familiarising yourself with what you need to know for your family.
1. Online Learning - Years 2-6
Welcome to our first week of the Online Learning Platform. Whether you are working from home or bringing your children to school, we look forward to working with you. Throughout Online Learning your child will have access to various websites. In this email you will find the website link to use from Monday and you will also receive a personal email containing the usernames and passwords required for your child to complete their activities. Teachers have a copy of these details for students working at school and if you need these details, please contact them via the learning support button at the bottom of each page.
Please visit our website to access the Online Learning Platform, each day new content will be made available. The site link will go live on Monday as content still being prepared.
https://www.bethany.sa.edu.au/for-parents/online-learning
If you need support while using online learning, please use the support button on the Online Learning Platform.
2. Face-to-face Learning
Monday 7th February we will have all staff back on site. We have kept as many staff as practical to work from home to ensure that we are healthy and ready to start the school year with our students.
Year 1 students will be welcomed at the rear Byron Bay kiss and drop gate. For the orientation week (7-11th Feb), one parent/carer can enter with their child to settle them. You can drop your child at the gate or enter until 8:40am. A designated outdoor space will be available for these children to connect with their teachers and enjoy some outdoor activities until the bell rings at 8:40am. At this time children will head to their classrooms with their teachers, and parents will head off. You can collect your child from the same gate at 3:10pm. These students will wear their summer uniform (blue) unless you are waiting for an item that is on back order at the uniform shop. Please bring your named lunchbox with recess and lunch, a named Bethany hat, red folder and drink bottle that can be re-filled.
Essential workers – Years 2-6 can drop their children at the front turning circle from 8am. Students will enter through the gate to the right of the front office. These students will be met by staff who will direct them and support them as parents drop off only. Please wear your Bethany PE uniform and make sure you bring your named recess, lunch, and Bethany hat. The canteen is open for orders.
Reception students start Tuesday 8th February our begin their week of orientation entering through the front gate to the left of the office. An email has been sent directly to these parents with specific information to support their start to school.
3. COVID19 positive cases
For the wellbeing of all students and staff at the school, as soon as you have a result that your child has a positive COVID19 result, or your child is isolating due to a family member testing positive, please notify the school. This will help us determine who may be deemed a close contact on the school site. Once you make contact, our staff will support you and make the arrangements required to notify others if this is appropriate. Your support will be greatly appreciated.
4. Health reminders
If your child has any mild symptoms, please keep them home until they are well.
Masks are strongly recommended for students in Years 3 to 6.
- Hayfever or is on an asthma plan
If your child has been diagnosed with hayfever/asthma and presents at school with mild cold/flu-like symptoms, we will administer the provided medication if they have a care plan, but if they do not have a GP approved school medical plan, we will notify you by phone and ask you to collect your child. If you find that after administering the appropriate medication at home and the symptoms continue, you will need to have your child tested by a PCR test and wait until you have a negative result before your child returns to school. You are recommended to make a GP appointment to discuss why their prescribed medications are not controlling their symptoms.
- Vomiting and diarrhoea
We thoroughly recommend that you only bring your child to school if they are fully well. Students who present with vomiting or diarrhoea at school will be sent home as per our normal school procedure. Students who have vomited or experience diarrhoea must remain home until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea.
- Fever
Students who come to school with a fever of 37.5°C will be sent home and will be required to have had a PRC test to rule out COVID19. Students with COVID19 negative results can return to school 24 hours after their fever has passed, which means they have had no Panadol or ibuprofen which masks the fever. If you are in doubt, please call the school nurse (Priya Wilson on 8283 0000) so we can help you decide. Our highest priority is to have your child kept safe and well at school.
5. Photographs
Please remember that if you are taking photographs of your child, you will need to make sure that other children cannot be seen in the background due to privacy requirements. We recommend taking any family photos before heading to school. We also would like to remind you of the SAPOL advice to be cybersafe and consider where you are posting photographs when school logos can be viewed by strangers.
6. Thank you
There will be many new experiences and learning opportunities for your child in 2022 and we look forward to joining with you in this learning journey. If you are starting the term at home, we thank you for following the health advice and we look forward to welcoming you back on the 14th February. We are also looking forward to the way our youngest students will have most of the school to themselves as they begin their year with us. If you are required to work, we will support your children with their online work and ask that they wear PE uniform for the week. We want to encourage you with words from Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We pray for a restful and healthy weekend.
God Bless,
Bethany Leadership
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
We are excited to be welcoming your child to learning at Bethany Christian School in either face-to-face or online learning. Please find an explanation below of how we will start the year with clear descriptions of where to drop off/pick up your children for Week 1. We have also allowed for those younger children in Reception and Year 1 to be walked into the school on their first days to help with this important transition time.
Due to the current recommendations Reception Orientation has been cancelled for this Friday.
Staff have been working from home as much as is practical to reduce the risk of needing to isolate for the start of school. Our Reception and Year 1 teachers have been planning morning orientation activities to be held before school each morning to ensure that all children have a positive experience as they come to school. We are also aware that there are some families who are currently isolating and will return to school on different days over the first week and so these activities will be available all week. We really appreciate your help with this hybrid start and will work with you and your children as we adapt to the changing requirements.
On Monday 7th of February, school returns in a hybrid model. This means Year 1 students will return to face-to-face learning in their classrooms, but Year 2-6 students will commence online learning. Years 2-6 students will continue their online learning until Friday 11th of February.
Returning Year 1 students
Our Year 1 students will access the school site accompanied by one parent/carer via the back oval Kiss ‘n’ Drop car park. Activities have been set up for Year 1 students to meet under the gabled veranda of the school to allow for enough space for one parent/carer to accompany them. After a short play, students will be walked to their new classrooms by their class teacher to enjoy a day of learning.
For the remainder of the week, you can drop off your Year 1 students who will be met by teachers at the back oval Kiss ‘n’ Drop car park gate in the morning or one parent/carer can walk them to the gabled veranda to start the day. Year 1 students will be walked up to the same location to be collected from the gate after school unless you also have a Reception student to collect. If you have multiple children attending, we ask that you meet them at the gate designated for the youngest child in the family.
Reception students 2022
On Tuesday 8th of February, our brand-new Reception students officially begin school on site, with face-to-face learning in their classrooms. Reception students and their one parent/carer will use the left gate at the front of the school Turning Circle, which will take you directly to the Junior Primary Playground area. There, students will find some transition activities to join which will allow enough space for one parent/carer to support them. After a short play, parents will be able to leave and the Reception students will be walked into their classrooms for a day of learning. These morning activities will be available all week for Reception children and one parent/carer.
Students will be walked to the Turning Circle gate by their teachers to be collected from the gate after school.
Essential Worker’s Children (Years 2-6)
If your child cannot be cared for at home for online learning, as you are required to work or are an ‘Essential Worker’, Years 2-6 students are permitted on site from Monday 7th to Friday 11th of February. Your children can access the school site by using the Under Cover Area (UCA) gate of the Turning Circle (on the right-hand side of the Administration building). They will be assembled and walked to the same gate to be collected at the end of the school day unless you have a Reception or Year 1 student also. We ask that your family meet for collection at the gate of the youngest in the family. To help minimise any transmission of COVID19, we encourage your child to wear a mask which needs to be brought from home. We also ask that you follow the plan for dropping off your children at the designated gates. Masks will need to be worn by adults when walking your children to the gate or collecting them in the afternoon. If you have more than one school child to drop off, children can enter either gate as a family and head to the Reception classrooms, Year 1 Gabled Veranda or the Under Cover Area for Years 2-6.
Monday 7th
Tuesday 8th
Wednesday 9th - Friday 11th
We expect to return to face to face learning on Monday 14th of February. We will provide further information prior to the start of school for week 2.
We know that there are many questions that you will have, and we will continue to communicate with you to support you as we navigate a different school start. We do thank you for your patience and for your diligence in keeping our community healthy.
With kind regards,
Bethany School Leadership
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
Thank you for taking the time to read this information which will help us to start our year safely.
SA Health has provided guidance on how to manage cases of COVID-19 in schools and early education settings. There will be new contact tracing and close contact arrangements in education from 31 January 2022.
The new arrangements recognise the importance of providing quality education and care for our children and students while minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Schools and early learning settings will remain open if there is a case of COVID-19 under the new arrangements.
It is very important that you:
understand that it is strongly recommended that students in Years 3 to 6 also wear a face mask that parents choose from home to provide while indoors at school.
1. Classroom Contacts
If a student or teacher in your child’s class tests positive for COVID-19, your child will be deemed a classroom contact and the following will occur:
Any teacher who is in a classroom with a student or colleague who tests positive will undertake 7 days of rapid antigen testing (test to stay).
2. Additional Recommendations for Classroom Contacts
The Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) has recommended that classroom contacts should avoid the following between days 1 to 7 of exposure:
The CPHO advises classroom contacts should do the following to minimise risk to others, when outside of the school or preschool between days 1 to 14 of exposure:
3. Students who have Worked 1:1 with a COVID Positive Staff Member
Any student who has worked 1:1 with a COVID positive staff member (more than 15 minutes, indoors, in close proximity and where face masks are not able to be worn) will be asked to complete 7 days of rapid antigen testing (‘test to stay’). If your child has symptoms they are not to return to school but to stay home and get tested. If they have no symptoms, the RAT test can be taken each morning before attending school or ELC. We will provide you with the testing kits at no charge. Students who test positive must not attend school or ELC.
Alternatively, if you do not want your child to complete the 7-day testing protocol, they must quarantine for 7 days.
4. Surveillance Testing for Preschool and Childcare Staff
In our ELC, staff have been given the opportunity to undertake surveillance rapid antigen testing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and will attend the workplace if they receive a negative result.
These new arrangements will be in place until 25th February. However, with the rapidly changing nature of the pandemic, this may be reviewed or changed if and when necessary. As always, we will remain flexible and responsive.
I understand you may have questions about this information. I will continue to provide you with information as it becomes available.
Thank you for your understanding and support in implementing these temporary measures as we continue to adjust to this rapidly changing pandemic.
Yours sincerely,
Wendy Matear
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
The Premier, the Hon Steven Marshall and the Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, have announced a range of changes to the start of the 2022 school year to help minimise the peak of COVID-19 cases in South Australia and undue strain on the SA Health system. Consequently, there will be a staged return to Bethany Christian School which we anticipate may be extended if it is required. Face-to-face learning has been prioritised for our youngest learners.
The following arrangements will apply, these have not changed from our original start dates.
Dates for the start of Term 1:
Face-to-face learning will be provided for ELC, Reception and Year 1.If you choose to keep your child at home, or if they are required to isolate, an online learning program will not be offered for these year levels.
Online learning will be provided for Years 2 to 6 students starting on Monday 7th February.
However, 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 online learning program. Parents/caregivers who drop off and pick up students who are attending the site for online learning supervision, will be required to wear a mask and physically distance. More information will be sent home prior to the 7th February regarding where to drop off and pick up your children.
Minimising the spread of COVID-19
Based on SA Health advice, the following measures will be put in place to minimise the spread of COVID-19:
The uniform shop will continue to be open for the week beginning Monday 31st January.
To visit the shop, please enter via the front gate and wait in the Under Cover Area until School Locker staff invite you to enter the shop. You will need to maintain physical distancing and wear a mask. Online ordering is available. https://theschoollocker.com.au/schools/bethany-christian-school
The School Office will open on Wednesday 2nd – Friday 4th February 8:30am-3:00pm.
Out of school hours care will continue as normal.
We appreciate that you may have some questions about these changes. Further information will be provided closer to the start of term.
We look forward to seeing your child face-to-face or online to start the school year and we pray that you and your family are well and have been able to find some space and time to rest and relax over the festive season. We will continue to update you closer to the return of school to ensure that you are well informed and up to date.
Thank you for your support.
Kind regards,
Wendy Matear
