A Lot Can Change in 12 Months!

We’ve reached an important milestone this week as 12 months ago we returned to all of our students learning on site after a period of ‘Learning From Home’. The need to adhere to the advice from Public Health has not changed since last year, if anything, it is even more important than it was previously. From the beginning of Term 3, all adults on school grounds must sign in using the Check in Tas app. There will be QR codes on external doors for all adults entering the building to access using a smartphone.  This is a necessary step to support contact tracing across all of our schools and government sites. We often talk about how our school is the ‘single biggest meeting place in Penguin each day’ therefore it is critical that we can contact all of the people that may be impacted if there are potential or confirmed cases of COVID in the future. We will be providing reminders about this new process across Term 3.

As a courtesy, we ask that families advise us if they are travelling outside of Tasmania during the school term. Again, this is a helpful step as we may be able to provide advice on the appropriate information regarding periods of isolation. Whilst our school attendance has quickly returned to ‘pre-COVD19’ levels, it is important that families monitor the health of their children and that they are staying at home if they are unwell, or exhibiting cold/flu-like symptoms. Our school staff are also expected to follow these same protocols.

Staffing Updates

The end of term often brings some staffing changes in schools, and this term is no different.

Mrs Sarah Carr will be heading back to England early Term 3. Miss Hayley Marshall will be joining Ms Jenny Slater in teaching the Year 1/2 class. Miss Marshall is well known to many of our primary classes as she has been working across our literacy groups and relief teaching across Terms 1 and 2. Mrs Carr has provided some terrific insights into our school approach to literacy from her experiences in England. We hope that she can equally take back to England some of her learning from her time at Penguin and apply that to her teaching back in London. Miss Sue Hughes will be teaching Art at the secondary campus for the beginning of Term 3. We appreciate Miss Hughes’ knowledge of our school and flexibility across teaching areas. Mrs Karina Van Essen will continue to teach Years 7 and 8 Maths from the beginning of Term 3. We have some other class changes with Mr Hughes teaching Year 9 Health and Mr Smart teaching Year 7 Health.

Maree Lowrie will be joining our team of teacher assistants at the primary campus, many of our students would be familiar with Maree from her time at after school and vacation care.

Congratulations

Stepping into further education always takes courage regardless of the age or stage of the learner. We are very proud of Corinna Caberica and Sally Smith who have been completing a Diploma in Education Support through the University of Tasmania this year, excelling in their study thus far. Further to this, Jessy Jordan and Karen Helm have been accepted this week into the course as part of a competitive statewide application process. This is a great example of being a lifelong learner!