Executive Director’s Update to Principals #30 - 20 June 2022
COVID-19 Update
Over the weekend, the state government made several changes to the COVIDSafe settings in Victoria.
DOBCEL’s approach has been, and will continue to be, in accordance with the relevant health advice. The health advice underpinning the mandate was that staff needed to be vaccinated to work in schools.
The new health advice is that vaccination is no longer a requirement to work in schools.
This update includes information about:
- Vaccination Requirements
- Transport of children to school by positive cases
- Special provision for senior secondary classroom learning and school-based assessment
- Optional Zoom meeting Wednesday 22 June
- Further updates
Vaccination Requirements.
From 11.59 pm on Friday 24 June (in effect the start of Term 3), staff in Victorian mainstream schools will no longer need to meet vaccination requirements to attend work.
For queries regarding staff who don’t meet the vaccination requirements, please contact your Education Consultant in the first instance who will liaise with others in CEB as required.
DOBCEL principals are not able to determine their own requirements for staff vaccination such as a local policy.
Schools must continue to have strong mitigation measures in place, including enhanced ventilation such as air purifiers, ongoing use of rapid antigen testing and ensuring those who are unwell stay home. This will continue to help keep our schools as safe as possible.
Transport of children to school by positive cases.
A further change to the pandemic orders is that from 11.59 pm on Friday 24 June, parents/carers who are COVID-19 positive can leave self-isolation to transport children to or from school via private vehicle.
The parent/carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times.
Over the coming days, templated correspondence will be made available for schools to support your communications with your school communities about these changes.
Special provision for senior secondary classroom learning and school-based assessment.
A number of schools have indicated concern regarding how absences due to COVID-19 and influenza have impacted on the learning at senior secondary level. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) is not intending at this stage to reinstate Consideration of Disadvantage (CED) as it did during 2020−21. However, the VCAA has indicated that schools may approve special provisions and arrangements for both classroom learning and school-based assessments to enable students with a disability, impairment or illness to demonstrate what they know, and to participate in classroom learning. In some cases, alternative assessment strategies may be needed.
Strategies that may be of particular interest and appropriate where students have been impacted by periods of illness, either their own or their teachers, include:
- rescheduling classroom activities or assessment tasks
- allowing the student extra time to complete work or an assessment task
- deriving satisfactory completion of outcomes from assessments or work completed by the student
- deriving scores (for outcomes) from other assessments or work completed by the student.
The last strategy above is most similar to what teachers were asked to do for CED.
However, in these circumstances, any adjustment will not be subjected to further VCAA scrutiny. Any adjustment made is entirely a school decision and should be determined using evidence of performance in assessments previously completed when the student was not adversely affected by illness or a personal circumstance.
Please contact the VCAA for any questions.
Optional Zoom meeting Wednesday 22 June.
We will host an optional Zoom meeting on these changes on Wednesday 22 June at 4.00 pm. Invitation with details to follow. There will be many questions, if you would like to send them in advance you can direct your question to covid@dobcel.catholic.edu.au ahead of this time or raise in the session. Mindful however there will be information pending to resolve more fully.
Further updates.
There will be further updates before the end of the week with template correspondence about the change to the pandemic orders, the draft 2023 DOBCEL calendar and correspondence to support communication with staff and the school community regarding the proposed mid-term 3 circuit breaker long weekend.
Thank you for all your hard work throughout a difficult Term 2. You have done a wonderful job overcoming the operational challenges that all schools have faced from the high number of COVID-19 and flu cases.
New Child Safe Standards
As schools continue to work actively and deliberately through the Child Safe Standards Action List, we are well positioned to welcome the New Child Safe Standards on 1 July 2022. We continue to recognise the competing nature of the work that school staff are challenged with daily and understand that the introduction of the Child Safe reform places demands on school communities which are exacerbated by limitations on time. What is important is that your school community is aware that Ministerial Order 1359 becomes effective 1 July 2022.
Steps Schools can take now.
- Advertise to your school community via your website and newsletters that the Ministerial Order 1359 will be effective upon students return to school Term 3. See here for sample web/newsletter content
- Access Focus Workshop Recordings (below) for staff to familiarise themselves with the new Standards (1-11)
New Policy Release.
We expect to have the next six ratified policies ready to release this week. Given this week is the final week of term the timing is not ideal. As such we understand that schools will not have had sufficient time to fully contextualise their local policies before the 1 July 2022 . However, as some schools will have support staff continuing to work over the school holiday period we will continue to release these policies via eSORT this week.
- DOBCEL Student Empowerment and Participation Policy
- [insert school] Bullying Prevention (including Cyberbullying) Policy
- [insert school] Diversity and Equity Policy
- [insert school] Engaging Families and Caregivers in Child Safety Policy
- [insert school] Complaints Handling Policy and Procedures
- [insert school] Recruitment Policy
Further Term 3 Policy & Procedure Release.
- DOBCEL Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct
- [insert school] Risk Assessment & Register
- DOBCEL Child Safe Risk Management Guidelines
- [insert school] Complaints Handling Procedures
- [insert school] Student Empowerment and Participation Procedures
- [insert school] Recruitment Procedures
- [insert school] Bullying Prevention (including Cyberbullying) Procedure
Our smaller schools can ask Simon O’Brien for assistance to do this if necessary.
The series of PROTECT policies will also be released in Term Three. As previously stated, these policies do not change in their directives. Further policies which require minimal change, such as adding MO 1359, will filter through throughout Term Three.
Focus Workshops Recordings- New Child Safe Standards- Term 2.
Thursday 19 May 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 1 - Culturally Safe Environments & Standard 5 - Diversity & Equity Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards Standards 1 & 5 - YouTube |
Wednesday 25 May 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 2 - Child Safety and Wellbeing is Embedded in Leadership, Governance & Culture Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 2 Workshop - YouTube |
Tuesday 31 May 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 3 – Child & Student Empowerment & Standard 4 - Family Engagement Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 3 & 4 Workshop - YouTube |
Thursday 2 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 6 - Suitable Staff & Volunteers & Standard 7 - Complaints process Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 6 & 7 Workshop - YouTube |
Wednesday 8 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 8 - Child Safety Knowledge, Skills and Awareness Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 8 Workshop - YouTube |
Tuesday 14 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 9 - Child Safety in Physical & Online Environments Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 9 Workshop - YouTube |
Thursday 16 June 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 10 - Review of Child Safety Practices & Standard 11 - Implementation of Child Safe Practices Watch the recording here: New Child Safe Standards 10 & 11 Workshop - YouTube |
Child Safe Standards Activity Term 3.
- School Child Safety Teams continue to work through the Child Safe Standards Action List
- Schools contextualise updated policies
- DOBCEL Continued policy & procedure release
- DOBCEL Professional Learning focussed on policies to practice
- DOBCEL Risk management and MO 1359
- DOBCEL Training package development for volunteers
- Other as suggested by schools