School preparedness and pre-emptive actions for the bushfire season

Fire danger ratings indicate how dangerous a fire would be if one started in those conditions and provide clear direction on the safest options for preserving life. They can be a trigger for action in community and for school and household level fire plans.

Schools and children’s services listed on the Department of Education and Training’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR) and those at some lower risk of bushfire or grassfire on the Category 4 list will be closed when a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast in their Bureau of Meteorology district.

Schools and early childhood services listed on the Department of Education and Training’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR) and those at lower risk of bushfire or grassfire on the Category 4 list take pre-emptive actions on elevated fire danger days to minimise the risk of being caught in a fire in these conditions. The category of risk (per the BARR or Category 4 list) determines the actions that the school or early childhood service will need to take on days of elevated fire danger.

Our school has been identified as being one of these schools at high bushfire or grassfire risk, and is a BARR school.

Our school will enact its pre-emptive action plan for remote learning on a day forecasted as Extreme fire danger rating in our local government area (LGA), Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Our school will close on a day forecasted as Catastrophic fire danger rating in Central fire district.

The department will advise our school of the potential for a Catastrophic fire danger rating as information becomes available, however the pre-emptive closure will be confirmed by 1pm the day prior to Catastrophic fire danger day. 

Fire danger ratings are forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology up to four days in advance. Should a Catastrophic day be forecast, we will notify you of the potential closure by an email Compass Post or hard copy letter. Closure of the school due to a forecast Catastrophic day will be confirmed on the day prior and we will provide you with advice before the end of the school day.

Once confirmed, the decision to close will not change, regardless of improvements in the weather forecast.  This is to avoid confusion and help your family plan alternative care arrangements for your child.  It is also important to note that:

• No staff will be on site on days where the school is closed due to a forecast Catastrophic day.
• Out-of-school-hours care will also be cancelled on these days.
• School camps will be cancelled if a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast for the Bureau of Meteorology district in which the camp is located, or if the travel involves passing through areas that have Catastrophic fire danger.
• All bus routes that travel through the Catastrophic area will be cancelled.
• Depending on which fire weather district is impacted, bus route cancellations may affect our school.

Families are encouraged to enact their Bushfire Survival Plan on Catastrophic fire danger rating days.  On such days, children should never be left at home alone or in the care of older children.

For those of us living in a bushfire prone area, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) advises that when Catastrophic days are forecast, the safest option is to leave the night before or early on the morning of the Catastrophic day.

As part of preparing our school for potential hazards such as fire, we have updated and completed our Emergency Management Plan and reprioritised any maintenance works that may assist in preparing for the threat of fire and cleared our facility’s grounds and gutters.

What can parents do?

• Make sure your family’s bushfire survival plan is up-to-date and includes alternative care arrangements in the event that our school is undertaking remote and flexible learning due to elevated fire danger or a Catastrophic fire forecast. Further information can be found on the CFA’s website.
• Ensure we have your current contact details, including your mobile phone numbers.  Keep in touch with us by reading our newsletters, checking our website, by talking to our Admin staff about our emergency management plan.
• Most importantly at this time of year, if you’re planning a holiday or short stay in the bush or in a coastal area, you should check warnings in advance of travel and remain vigilant during your stay.
• If your child is old enough, talk to them about bushfires and your family’s Bushfire Survival Plan.
• You can access current information about school and early childhood services closures, including those due to elevated fire danger, on the Department of Education and Training’s website – see http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/pages/closures.aspx

Multiple sources that offer information on emergencies are listed below:

• VicEmergency app – that can be downloaded on your android and iOS mobile devices
• VicEmergency Hotline (1800 226 226)
• Website https://emergency.vic.gov.au

• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vicemergency)
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/vicemergency)
• ABC local radio, Sky News and other emergency broadcasters

IMPORTANT SCHOOL DATES

Important school dates to remember:

12-14/12 – 5/6 Camp

14/12 – Gr 6 Big Day Out

15/12 – School swimming carnival

16/12 – Christmas themed bake sale

16/12 – Grade 6 leavers assembly 2.30-3.30pm

20/12 – Last day of Term 4 – 1.30pm finish

The PFA would like to say a BIG thank you to:

                                                   Mark Overend

                                                    Kylie Crawley

                                                    Sheryl Wright

                                                    Nicole Anne

                                                    Kerryn Cosson

for all your help at the School Concert sausage sizzle.

                      Your help is much appreciated.

                                                            PFA

It’s hard to believe that we have just come to the end of week 10…of TERM 4!

This week looked a little different than usual as we got to spend some time up in the 1/2 space. We got to meet our grade 1 friends who will be part of the 1/2 cohort with us next year, as well as some of our wonderful teachers.

In Maths, we continued exploring time, through both digital and analogue clocks. We looked at events throughout the day and discussed if they occur in the am, pm or both. We looked for the clues in the pictures to help guide our discussions.

In Writing, we have been practising writing narratives. To help us with the planning process, we used a story mountain to map out our story with a start, middle and ending. It seemed fitting to have a Christmas theme when writing our narratives. Poor Santa experienced a few problems along his way. He got stuck in chimneys, he delivered the wrong presents, he burnt his bottom in fireplaces and he had dogs barking at him…all sorts of trouble!

‘Tape is good when you make cards’ was our SMART Spelling sentence this week with ‘tape’ as our focus word…our first split digraph!

Have a wonderful weekend 😊

Love Mrs C and Miss H

News from the preps:

My favourite part of the week was seeing my teachers (we didn’t even tell them to say that!)

I have liked writing my narrative. Using the story mountain helps us with writing our stories. I wrote about Santa’s ropes attached to his reindeers and sleigh and started snapping and the slay fell to the floor.

We love opening the books from under the Christmas tree. I love that they are different books every day.

We were telling time in Maths. Digital clocks are easy to tell the time, but analogue clocks are a little tricky because you have to look at the hands.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We are starting to feel well and truly in the Christmas spirit here in Grade 1/2 as we head into the last part of the term. How could we not be, after the wonderful school Christmas concert! Congratulations to all our students on a brilliant, festive evening.

Our students had a great time during their Tech Hour last week, which they earned for their hard work and effort during the term. They enjoyed some social tech time with their friends, and some hot chips as a bit of a treat. Tech and chippies? Doesn’t get better than that!

In Maths this week we’ve been focusing on geometry, with students learning to transform shapes by sliding, flipping and rotating. We’ve also been learning to identify key dates on a calendar, including the dates of the different seasons.

In Writing, we’re getting ahead of the curve with a bit of NAPLAN prep! It’s important that our students are really familiar with NAPLAN-style questions so that they don’t come as any kind of surprise or cause any stress when it comes to them sitting the test in Grades 3 and 5. This week, students have been practising writing narratives in response to a prompt/stimulus. It’s always amazing to see the different ideas that come from the same prompt!

We have reflected on our personal reading goals in Reading this week, thinking about the ways we have worked on our reading goals and how they have helped us to become better readers. We’ve also been working on reading comprehension, with students reading an assortment of different fiction and non-fiction texts and discussing their key details and language features.

In Inquiry, we’ve been learning about small animals – where they live and the features that help them to survive. Ask your child to tell you their favourite small animal fact!

Don’t forget – Friday 16^th December is Christmas Fun Day! Come dress in your Christmas best!

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Grade 1/2 Team

We have had an incredibly full week of so many activities! It’s been an amazing week celebrating our peers graduating as well as many celebrations and rehearsing for the amazing Christmas Pagent yesterday!

It has of course not been devoid of learning though! We have been showing our comprehension skills by completing Reading responses on a Bingo Style board and in Writing we are publishing a selected piece hopefully for your viewing!

In Numeracy we have been learning new games and playing some old games including Operations TIC TAC TOE and Salute.

Parents can help the teachers in the week leading up to the end of school by continuing to support your tired humans! We know you are all tired and we believe you can be kind, caring and thoughtful humans still!

Our 3 / 4 students have decided to create a knitting group with money raised going to charity.

The knitting creations will be available on Friday 16th December after school.

Another incredible week in Grade 5/6. We seem to be gearing up, not down!

We’ve been so busy finalising our projects for our Science Fair, and it’s been amazing seeing the discoveries and hearing the discussions around learning. From plant growth to ink from flowers to carnivorous plants, we’ve learnt about adaptations and survival of living things.

We’ve also been learning how to create and read timetables to help us in our transition to high school, and for our upcoming camp. We need to make sure that we know where we’re going and when, how long it will take, and how to organise our schedule to make sure we get there on time.

Grade 5s have been stepping up into their leadership roles for 2023, having interviews with Ms Preece and Ms Van de Ven. They had a great day with the Grade 4s establishing the attitudes and expectations for next year, making friendships and working together collaboratively.

We also had a wonderful graduation for our Grade 6s on Wednesday evening. It was a fun and celebratory evening, which really showcased the achievements and successes of our wonderful graduating Class of 2022. Thank you to all the parents and families who have been such a special part of our school over the years, and to the students themselves. We’ve loved getting to know you and watching you grow. The way you’ve challenged yourselves and been open to new experiences is so courageous. Congratulations and best wishes!