Welcome to Maffra Secondary College
FACE COVERINGS TO BE WORN FROM NEXT MONDAY 3rd August
Dear Families,
As you are aware things are changing rapidly in Victoria in relation to COVID-19. We are fortunate living in the Wellington Shire with no active cases currently however, it seems like it is no longer a case of ‘if but when’ we will get a confirmed case in our area.
Many regional and rural communities across Victoria are now experiencing confirmed cases and as a result of this, an announcement was made yesterday mandating that all Victorians are now required to wear a face covering from 11:59pm Sunday 2nd August when they leave home.
This means students will need to wear their face mask/covering as they travel to and from school (unless they are travelling in a vehicle with family members or on their own) and at school for the entire day including recess and lunchtime.
We appreciate that this is a new experience for many students and staff to wear a face mask/covering. Our teachers will help support students as we implement this new government directive.
All students wearing masks should wear a single-use surgical mask or a named, reusable fabric mask.
We encourage all families to buy or make reusable, rather than disposable masks. We will continue to place a range of resources on our website and Facebook page to support families making a face mask, including an information sheet and instructional video from the DHHS webpage.
All face coverings should meet the following criteria:
– Double or triple layer
– Tightly fitted with ear loops or ties at the back of the head
– Nose, mouth and chin fully covered.
Please ensure the mask design and materials are inoffensive and consistent with our School values. They do not need to be in our school colours.
We recommend for students to bring a spare face mask to school stored in a sealed snap lock bag. To further support this and help students, we will be running a session on Monday at lunchtime in the library for students to make additional face masks using a sock. If you have any odd socks around the house, please get your child to bring them along if you would like them to make some more.
On Monday every student onsite will be expected to have a face mask/covering when they arrive at school. If they do not have a mask or your child refuses to wear the face mask/covering, you will be contacted and asked to collect your child and they will only be able to return once a mask/face covering has been organised for them and they are prepared to wear them.
Any students with a medical or psychological reason seeking exemption from wearing a mask should provide a letter from their GP to the school office. It is essential that any student seeking an exemption provides this letter to the school office prior to returning to school. These students will be provided with a card to keep on them and show a staff member if they are asked why they do not have a face covering on.
This is an ever developing situation, so I will continue to keep you updated as things develop. Thanks for your co-operation and support in this matter.
Ms Jennifer Roep
Principal
Further information on face coverings in schools https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/Pages/face-coverings-schools.aspx
How to make your own sock mask. https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2020/sock-face-mask.html
If you would like more information please contact the College on 51471790
Dates for our extensive transition program will be sent to Primary Schools at the beginning of term three.
CORONAVIRUS ADVICE FOR PARENTS, FAMILIES AND SCHOOL COMMUNITIES
Department of Education update information on Coronavirus Click here
Dear parents and carers,
Thank you for all your support during these past few weeks of remote and flexible learning.
Following advice from the Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government has advised that schools can begin a phased return to on-site schooling.
In the first stage, students in Year 11 and 12 VCAL and VCE students will return to school from Tuesday 26 May.
Year 10 students undertaking VCE studies, including VCE VET studies, should also attend school for those classes where practicable. If this is not possible for your child/children, our teachers will make sure the work provided to students attending at school is also provided to your child/children.
To support all school staff to prepare for this transition, Monday 25 May will be a pupil-free day. As a result of this state-wide pupil free day, we will no longer be having our planned pupil-free day on Friday 29th May. This will be rescheduled to a later date and I will inform the community once this date is decided and finalised.
In the second stage of our return to on-site schooling, all other year levels will return to school from Tuesday 9 June.
For those students who cannot be supervised at home and vulnerable children, the existing model of on-site schooling will remain in place during the two-week period from Tuesday 26 May to Tuesday 9 June. The current process that we are using to enable parents and carers to indicate the days or part-days for which on-site schooling is required will continue for this two-week period.
All other students in these grades and year levels will continue learning from home until Tuesday 9 June.
Once a year level has returned, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home.
This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan.
This same approach is being taken by all government schools in Victoria.
To support the health and wellbeing of all our students and staff, our school will continue an enhanced cleaning routine and will encourage frequent hand washing.
If you child is ill or is feeling unwell, they must not attend school. They must remain home and seek medical advice.
While the Chief Health Officer has advised that students will not be required to maintain physical distancing at school, there will be a number of important changes to our school operations, consistent with health advice. This will apply until further notice. I will provide more detail about our local school context as soon as possible, but it is important to note that changes will include:
- restrictions on access to the school site for anyone other than immediate school staff and students;
- the way we conduct parent-teacher meetings and interviews
We understand that some families may feel anxious about this move back to classroom teaching and learning. I can assure you that this decision has been taken on the basis of the best health advice available to our state.
More information about the return to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) can be found on the Department’s website, which will continue to be updated:
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx
Thank you for your continued support and patience during this time. We look forward to welcoming our students back to the classroom.
Yours sincerely,
Ms Jennifer Roep
PRINCIPAL
Yr 7-10 students – Remote Flexible Learning
VCE students – Remote Flexible Learning
VCAL students – Remote Flexible Learning
DUX 2019 Maffra Secondary College
Maffra Secondary College is proud to announce our 2019 Dux – Mathew Angliss, who has graduated from the VCE with an ATAR of 96.10
Mathew is extremely happy with this result and he is looking forward to studying Secondary Education at university next year, with the goal of teaching in the future.
“I always had great teachers at Maffra, so I guess I want to be like them,” said Mathew. “The thing about VCE is, I reckon you get out what you put in. I have never felt limited at school, in any way. You don’t need to go to a private school to get a great education.”
Mathew worked consistently this year and the College is delighted that his great attitude to study has paid off. He has been an excellent role model for other students. We wish him all the best with his future endeavours.
“We are exceptionally happy with our students’ results and wish them all well,” said Jennifer Roep, Maffra SC Principal. “Collectively, we have seen our results improve significantly in many areas this year and we will continue to build on this. We could not be happier for Mathew, who has actively demonstrated our school values of Respect, Community, Environment and Learning. The teaching profession will be very fortunate to have Mathew share his passion for Maths and Science with future generations.”
Our 40 VCE students worked diligently throughout the year and this was reflected in our three students who achieved ATARs above 90 and four students who achieved ATARs in the 80s, along with many other success stories. We also had 10 study scores of 40 or above and an increase in the number of Year 12 subjects achieving above the State average.
We are full of pride for the successful VCAL program that has been developed at Maffra SC and this year we are delighted that 14 students undertaking the VCAL certificate have secured apprenticeships.
The Maffra SC community is very proud of our entire Year 12 cohort, who have worked hard in 2019 and will go on to access a broad range of pathways, both vocational and academic. The College excels in producing young people who are well-rounded, resilient, community-minded and passionate about their futures.