Executive Director’s Update to Principals #24 - 29 April 2022
Updated School Operations Guide – Term 2, 2022
As communicated on 24 April 2022, an updated School Operations Guide is available on CEVN. The updated Guide contains new advice on face masks, screening requirements, household contacts, and vaccination requirements for visitors to schools.
The CECV Operations Guide is aligned to the updated Victorian Government pandemic orders:
- Pandemic Workplace Order 2022 (No. 8)
- Quarantine Isolation and Testing Order (No. 8)
- Public Safety order 2022
Face Masks.
From 11:59 pm Friday 22 April, face masks, while recommended, are not required in any school setting. This means students in grades 3 to 6, staff and visitors in primary schools are no longer required to wear face masks. Any student or staff member who wishes to wear a mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.
Screening Requirements.
Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously eight weeks.
Household Contacts.
Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are no longer required to quarantine. They can return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times within their 7-day period and wear face masks indoors if they are aged eight and above unless they have a valid exemption.
If any household contact returns a positive RAT result during this period, they must isolate for seven days and not attend school.
Vaccination Requirements for visitors to schools.
Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination requirements for education workers (including volunteers) remain unchanged.
Vaccination Requirements for education workers – Updated Policy.
The DOBCEL Vaccination Policy has been updated to reflect the updated pandemic orders regarding vaccination requirements for education workers. Supporting the policy are the DOBCEL Vaccination Requirements and FAQ.
Community use of school facilities.
Schools will no longer need to request evidence of vaccination of staff or workers from external community groups who use premises outside the school’s normal operating hours.
RAT Screening Program extension reminder.
The supply of RATs will continue for the first four weeks of this term. The screening recommendations remain the same:
- mainstream schools – recommended testing at home twice a week.
- specialist schools – recommended testing five days a week on each school day due to the higher risk of severe illness for medically vulnerable children.
For questions regarding the delivery or supply of RATs for your school, please contact schools.procurement@education.vic.gov.au.
To meet the Department of Health reporting requirements, each school in the Diocese of Ballarat should send a list of confirmed cases (students and/or staff) each Friday (for that week) by midday covid@dobcel.catholic.edu.au. This will continue until at least week four of Term 2.
Infection Control Webinars for the Education Sector
Through the Department of Health’s Infection Prevention Control, Advice and Response (IPCAR) team, the Victorian Government continues to be committed to providing infection prevention and control (IPC) education to the Education sector. IPCAR have commenced weekly webinars from Week 2 of Term 2 for schools and early learning centres. Dates and times are as follows:
- Primary & Secondary – Every Thursday in May – 3.45 – 4.45 pm
- Early Learning - Every Thursday in May – 5.30 – 6.30 pm
The IPCAR webinars will allow teachers/educators and school/centre staff to upskill and review their infection prevention knowledge and discuss how to apply these within the education setting. Topics will include hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, ventilation, and looks at COVID-19 and beyond. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and to share scenarios.
These webinars have been developed especially for early learning centres and primary & secondary schools. The webinars are in-line with the current Department of Health and Department of Education guidelines.
To learn more about these webinars, find the webinar join-link and download a poster to promote it within your school or centre, please visit VICNISS - Department of Health IPC education.
VCEMEA Negotiations
VCEMEA negotiations continue with the DOBCEL, CES Limited, MACS and RI/MPJP enterprise bargaining team meeting weekly with the IEU, following a short break over the school holidays. Thank you for the feedback provided at the Leadership Gathering in Horsham and via the survey link in the following days. This will be shared to inform continuing conversations.
On behalf of the employer groups party to the Agreement, MACS will continue to engage with the PAVCSS and PAVCPS on key matters, including scheduled class time, time-in-lieu provisions, and consultative committees. We encourage you to share your feedback with your local PAVCSS/PAVCPS representative should you wish to do so.