Lockdown Information

​​​​​Communication that is emailed from the College or posted on the Facbook page regarding lockdown information will also be placed on this page for reference.

Good afternoon parents and carers,

From 4.00pm today the local government area of the Gold Coast (along with other South East QLD LGAs) will go into a 3 day lock down. On Monday and Tuesday the College will only be open to children of Essential Workers. If you are an Essential Worker and your child is unable to remain at home we ask that they report to the following locations at 8.40am on Monday:

PRIMARY STUDENTS (Prep – Year 6)
Entrance to the school will only be available via Brygon Creek road drop off area or via Reserve Rd entrance.

- Prep and Year 1 students are to report to the Primary Canteen.
- Years 2 - 6 are to report to the Echidna area.

Staff will be available to assist students, we ask that parents do not come onsite. Special circumstances will be considered at the gate.

SECONDARY STUDENTS (Years 7-12)
Please report to the Sports Centre.

From Monday until further notice, all Secondary students attending the College are required to wear masks at school. Based on current information available this includes whilst inside classrooms and in the playground. The only exception to mask wearing is when students are eating or drinking. Students are to provide their own masks to wear at school.

There will be no new online or paper-based learning provided on Monday. This will be the same for children of Essential Workers attending the College on Monday, staff will provide supervision only. For learning at home on Monday, students can continue with any existing homework and assignments already set by teachers, or for Secondary students any class work already available in their Class OneNotes for each timetabled subject they have on Monday. If classes have exams or in-class assessment schedule for Monday or Tuesday, this assessment will be re-scheduled. Teachers will advise students of new dates in this instance.

The Broadwater Athletics Carnival scheduled for Monday and Tuesday has been cancelled. Any other school activities or excursions scheduled during the lock down are also cancelled.

Class teachers will advise parents (and Secondary students) via email on Tuesday morning about learning at home expectations for students moving forward.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the College.​

Sunday 1 August 2021 (Years 3 - 6 email)

Good morning parents and carers,

Please see swimming information below for Years 3 - 6.

Swimming/Water Safety Program for Years 3-6 will NOT occur Monday and Tuesday. We will communicate further details on Monday once we have spoken to Gullivers and received further directives from Queensland Health and the Department of Education.

Thank you for your support.

Sunday 1 August 2021 (Prep - Year 6 email)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Drop off/Pick up Arrangements and Mask wearing for P-6 students during lockdown 

Only students of essential workers or vulnerable children can attend school. To support the medical advice from the State Government and to ensure the optimum health for our whole school community, we are discouraging parents and carers from unnecessarily entering the school grounds. We are therefore asking the following: 

DROF OFF (morning) 

• Where possible please drop your child at the Brygon Creek Road entrance of the Junior school, students will proceed into the school and go to their designated wait area; P-1 Canteen area, Year 2 – 6 Echidna area. 

• Students are actively supervised from 8am.

 • Students should be at school not later than 8.40am to support organisational purposes. 

• If your child requires extra guidance to enter the school, we shall discuss this with families upon drop off on a case by case basis. 

• Students may enter via the Reserve Road entrance. 

PICK UP (afternoon) 

• Prep and Year 1 students will be brought to the area outside the P-6 office just inside the main gate by 2.40pm and collection will be from this point with supervision from staff.

• At 2.40pm Year 2 – 6 students will be released from their supervised area as normal and will make their way to the front gate.

• Students collected by an older sibling will continue present arrangements.

• Exit via the Reserve Road school gate is as normal. 

OTHER ENTRY 

• If you need to go to the P-6 office or uniform shop, please go directly to these areas and then exit the school grounds once you have completed your tasks. A mask MUST be worn. 

MASK WEARING 

• ALL staff and visiting adults must wear a mask whilst onsite, except when eating and drinking. 

• Primary students are not required to wear a mask. 

• High school students must wear a mask onsite except when eating and drinking. Students are required to provide their own mask. 

Thank you for your support as we work to ensure the ongoing safety of our whole school community. We will have a range of staff to support students as they arrive and depart school.

Dear P-6 Parents and Carers,

Today teaching staff have been preparing remote learning for students for the remainder of the school week. You will receive email communication from your child’s classroom teacher by 8.30am tomorrow. Staff are presently working to even start sending this out this afternoon. The email will include all the relevant information you require in order to support your child’s learning whilst at home. This week the work from teachers will consolidate and reinforce previous learning particularly in the subject areas of English and Mathematics. If you have any queries please communicate directly with your child’s classroom teacher.

The Water Safety/Swimming program set down this week for Years 3 - 6 has been postponed. Once we have information with regards to confirmed future dates we will communicate this to all families.

The P-6 Disco set for Thursday 5 August has also been postponed till a later date.

I wish to take this opportunity to reinforce the very strong messaging which came today from the Queensland Government and Queensland Health that, during this time schools are closed to all students except children of essential workers or vulnerable students. We are asking for all families to ensure that they do not send their children to school unless they absolutely have to attend an external workplace as an essential worker.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Monday 2 August (Year 7 - 12 Email)

Good morning Parents/Carers,

We hope you are all managing the lock down situation OK within your families. Please be aware the Department of Education still requires schools to maintain normal attendance processes during the lock down period. Secondary Parents whose children are not at school today have received an SMS message to respond to so that we can meet the Department’s attendance recording expectations.

Please respond to the SMS message by replying with the letter that corresponds to the current situation for your child.

• A = Student is Learning at Home
• B = Student is ill and unable to participate in learning activities at home.
• C = Parent is an Essential Worker and the student has been sent to school. This category exists so we are able to catch any students that parents thought had come to school but have not actually arrived on campus. Parents will receive follow-up communication from the school if this is the case.

Thank you all for your support of the College at this time.

Kylie Gurney
Secondary Principal

Monday 2 August (Year 7 - 12 Email)

Dear Secondary School Parents and Carers,

Thank you for your patience during this lock down period. As you would be aware the current lock down has already been extended today by the State Government and Chief Health Officer to 4:00 pm on Sunday 8 August. A reminder that the College is closed to all students except for children of Essential Workers. Secondary students of Essential Workers attending the College must wear a mask at all times whilst on campus, except for when eating and drinking.

Today teachers are busy preparing online learning lessons for students to access via their Class OneNote. Class Teachers will email students, via their school email account, as well as parents, information about class work for tomorrow. Further emails will be sent by Class Teachers with additional class work as they prepare lessons for the remainder of the week. Class Teachers will deliver one lesson per week online via Microsoft Teams. This app gives teachers the ability to interact with students online via video and chat functions. Class teachers will advise the lesson time that this will occur, participating in the Microsoft Teams lesson is compulsory for all students. Class teachers will email students instructions on how to access Microsoft Teams.

Secondary students of Essential Workers attending the College are being supervised only to access the same online learning materials as students learning from home. Supervising staff are not necessarily class teachers of attending students and will be unable to provide support for students having difficulty with their learning. All students are to access support from their Class Teacher in this area. All students are encouraged to email their Class Teacher for assistance with their online learning.

Where possible for learning at home students should follow their normal school timetable. Students can access their timetables via OneSchool using their school network access username and password ( https://oslp.eq.edu.au/ ). Lesson times are as follows:

• Lesson 1: 8:50 – 10:00 am
• Lesson 2: 10:00 – 11:10 am
• First break: 11:10 – 11:50 am
• Lesson 3: 11:50 am – 1:00 pm
• Second break: 1:00 – 1:30 pm
• Lesson 4: 1:30 – 2:40 pm

The Year Level Wellbeing & Engagement Heads of Department will make contact with parents of their year level to confirm where the College might need to offer support to students having difficulty accessing online learning materials due to technology issues such as lack of internet connection or device access. Please respond to this email when you receive it if support is required.

To meet student attendance recording requirements set by the Department of Education, all students will receive a daily email from their Lesson 1 teacher that day titled ‘Attendance’. Students learning at home are required to reply to this email by 9:30 am every day during the lock down period. From this reply the Lesson 1 teacher will then record their attendance in our attendance tracking software DayMap. Same day SMS absence notification to parents and carers will still occur where students do not respond to the daily attendance email. If your student is sick, parents and carers are still required to communicate this with the College so teachers are aware of their inability to participate in learning at home on this day.

To support student and family wellbeing during this difficult time our Secondary Guidance Officer, Helen Morris, will be sending students and parents information to refer to about maintaining good health and wellbeing during the lock down period. We understand that for some students and families this can be a very stressful time. Students and parents are welcome to reach out for support from the Guidance Officer. The best way to make contact is via email at hmorr82@eq.edu.au.

If you or your child has any issues or concerns, the Class Teacher of the subject they are having the concern with is still their first option for accessing help. If you are unsure who to contact for assistance please contact your student’s Year Level Wellbeing & Engagement Head of Department. Contact details for the Year Level Heads of Department are:

• Year 7 – Rohan Dean rdean6@eq.edu.au
• Year 8 – Tanya O’More tlomo0@eq.edu.au
• Year 9 – Koda Whitney kwhit445@eq.edu.au
• Year 10 – Jay Collins jcoll547@eq.edu.au
• Years 11 and 12 – Jacqui Lewis jlewi38@eq.edu.au

The College will continue to provide updates to parents and students as needed across the lockdown period. Thank you for your understanding and support of the College at this time.

Tuesday 3 August (Whole College Email)

Good afternoon parents and carers,

The College is presently following the very strong message from Qld Health, the Chief Medical Health Officer and Queensland Govt to have skeleton staff on-site and that during this time schools are closed to all students except children of essential workers or vulnerable students.

We are asking for all families to ensure that they do not send their children to school unless they absolutely have to attend an external workplace as an essential worker. If a family member is available at home, even if they are working from home, it is expected students remain at home and engage with online learning provided by their class teachers.

It is the responsibility of us all to work together to keep our community safe.

We thank you for working with us to do the right thing.

Friday 6 August (Year 7 - 12 Email)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Due to the uncertain nature surrounding restrictions which may still be in place next week if the current lock down is lifted, the decision has been made to cancel next week's scheduled Education and Career Planning (ECP) Interviews. As these interviews serve to allow for both the discussion of student academic progress for the year to date, as well as the checking and entering of subject selections for 2022, a modified plan has been developed for each year level that still enables similar discussions to occur.

Year 7 students:

• As no 2022 subject selections are required from students, parents and carers are encouraged to contact their student's class teachers via email to seek feedback on their academic progress.
  
  

Year 8 and Year 9 students:

• Students and parents/carers will be emailed the 2022 subject selection form for their year level next week. 
• The relevant Subject Selection Handbook and instructions for students to enter selected into their Oneschool account will also be included in the email.
• Questions regarding the nature of the subjects on offer can be emailed to the relevant Head of Department listed in the subject selection handbook.
• Students must enter their desired subject selections as well as additional subject selection preferences into OneSchool by Monday 16^th August
• Students will need to email their completed subject selection form (with parent/carer signature) to subjectselection@uppercoomerasc.eq.edu.au by Monday 16^th August
• Parents and Carers are also encouraged to contact their student's class teachers to seek feedback on their current academic progress.
  

Year 10 students:

• Face-to-face ECP interviews are postponed to the week of 23 August – 27 August (week 7).
• These interviews will either be conducted via phone or face to face depending on COVID-19 restrictions in place at that time.
• Students and their parent/carers will have the opportunity to discuss the best pathway for their student through Years 11 and 12.
• Students and parents/carers will be emailed the 2022 Year 11-12 subject selection form next week.
• The Year 11 and 12 Subject Selection Handbook and instructions for students to enter selected into their Oneschool account will also be included in the email.
• Parents and Carers are also encouraged to contact their student's class teachers to seek feedback on their academic progress.
  

Year 11 and 12 students:

• As no 2022 subject selections are required from students, parents and carers are encouraged to contact their student's class teachers via email to seek feedback on their academic progress.
  

Dear parents and carers,

Thank you all for your patience during the lock down period, we have greatly appreciated your support facilitating learning at home for your children. I am so proud of our students for their ability to adjust so quickly to online learning. Congratulations to students for their efforts with online learning last week, teachers provided very positive feedback about how well students adapted to online learning, and how positive the live online classes conducted via Microsoft Teams were. Well done to you all. As you would be aware the current lock down ends at 4:00 pm today. The College is open as normal tomorrow to all students, although with some restrictions still in place.

Secondary students and all College staff must wear a mask (or clear face shield) at all times whilst on campus, except for when eating and drinking. Mask wearing is required both inside classrooms and outdoor in the playground as well. Students who travel on school buses are also required to wear their mask when traveling on school buses. This requirement is not new to our Secondary students as they have been required to wear masks in the community for the last 6 weeks. Secondary students are required to provide their own mask to wear at school. Secondary students who do not wear a mask to school will be immediately referred to the Uniform Correction Room where their Year Level Wellbeing & Engagement Head of Department will discuss this concern and assist to solve the issue.

If you or your child has any issues or concerns about re-engaging in learning at school, or about meeting the mask wearing at school requirements, please contact your child’s Year Level Wellbeing & Engagement Head of Department.

Contact details for the Year Level Heads of Department are:

• Year 7 – Rohan Dean rdean6@eq.edu.au
• Year 8 – Tanya O’More tlomo0@eq.edu.au
• Year 9 – Koda Whitney kwhit445@eq.edu.au
• Year 10 – Jay Collins jcoll547@eq.edu.au
• Years 11 and 12 – Jacqui Lewis jlewi38@eq.edu.au

At this time, the Department of Education has re-introduced restrictions we have experienced before whereby parents and carers access to the College is now also restricted. For Secondary parents and carers this means:

• To enter College grounds you must have a pre-arranged appointment with a member of staff. All meetings with parents/carers will occur in the Secondary Administration Building only.
• Drop off/collection of your child before/after school is to occur in the Gate 2 Reserve Road car park only, or via another pre-arranged meeting point with your child that is not on College grounds.
• If for an emergency reason you must collect your child from school early, please phone Secondary Administration to inform of the reason, and then phone Administration again when you have arrived in the Gate 2 Reserve Road car park and wait in your car. A staff member will observe while your child walks out to your car to meet you.
• Contact with teaching staff and Heads of Department via email is encouraged to maintain important connections between home and school. Email is the preferred form of contact because staff have timetabled classes and are only available by phone for limited periods throughout the day. Parents and carers will already have email address contact for teaching staff from online learning information sent last week. Head of Department emails can be found on the College website.
• Purchase of uniforms will be online via the Flexi Schools website. Students will be able to collect orders from Secondary Administration. https://user.flexischools.com.au/login?returnUrl=/home
• BPoint is the preferred online payment option. You will find information about how to pay College invoices via BPoint already listed on your invoice (check the bottome left corner of the page). BPoint accepts credit and debit card payments. For other payment options, including direct debit details, please contact the College Finance Office by phone.

As all excursions and activities scheduled at venues external to the College in the coming weeks will now have to be re-scheduled/cancelled, we will continue to notify parents and carers about College activities impacted by COVID-19 restrictions as we move forward.

We look forward to welcoming all students back to learning at the College and can’t wait to see them in their usual timetabled classes tomorrow.

Sunday 8 August (Prep - Year 6 Email)

Dear Parents and Carers 

Thank you for your support of your child and the College during last week’s lockdown and remote learning. Please see all relevant information post today’s lockdown release. A number of conditions are mandated for schools by the Department of Education. 

RE: Current restrictions directed by Department of Education and Queensland Health – Parents/Carers and visitors are not allowed on school sites 

For the 11 LGAs where lockdown finishes at 4pm on August 8 it has been instructed from QLD Health and the Dept of Ed that parents and carers and visitors are not allowed on school sites. These restrictions are in place to ensure all students can return to their classroom in the safest way possible. Please see below arrangements for Upper Coomera State College. 

MASK WEARING: 

Whilst at school all staff are required to wear a mask along with Year 7 – 12 students in the high school (Year 7 – 12). Primary students are NOT required to wear a mask. 

Morning Drop Off: