Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

As we come to the end of our final week of learning from home, I would again like to thank our parents for supporting our Fortians and the school throughout this unusual time and congratulate our students once again for showing resilience and continuing to strive to achieve their best under difficult circumstances. Thank you to all our wonderful staff for their hard work and their dedication to our students.

Next week on Monday 25 October all students from years 7-11 will return to school. The best learning environment for students is in the classroom and we are looking forward to welcoming back our staff and students to their classrooms. We know that while there will be excitement, there will also be some uncertainty about being back together at school.

We have been working on our COVID-safe plan to return to school and have put in place effective practices; vaccinations for staff on site, mask wearing, reduced mingling of staff and student groups, ventilation in classrooms and continued good hygiene and cleaning. We are confident that this, in combination with support from our school community, will minimise risk and help to keep students learning face-to-face next to their peers.

All students will receive an invitation to an online (virtual) year assembly this Friday where we will discuss the return to face-to-face learning plan including:

changes to the daily timetable and breaktimes to allow for staggered starts and finishes as well as separate break times for different stages.
Designated areas for different year groups during breaks
Access to the library and oval

Mask wearing
Changes to sport program (inter-school and off campus sporting activities have all been cancelled for this term)

An email will be sent home to all Parents this week with changes to bell times and further information regarding staggered start and finish times for the return to school.

For those families who have siblings across year groups I know it will be difficult to have different start and finish school times but it is important for the school to try to minimise the interaction between year groups arrival and departures and in particular large groups congregating at the train station.

What happens if there is a COVID-19 case at school?

We have COVID-safe plans in place and are taking precautions to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission on-site. This includes enhanced cleaning two times a day in line with the latest advice from NSW Health and SafeWork Australia.

Contact tracing

NSW Health will notify the school if there is a positive COVID-19 case who has been infectious while at school and the school will in turn notify parents and carers. Contact tracing will be undertaken as it is in all other venues. The action we take in relation to the operation of the school will depend on how many people the person has been in contact with. In some cases, this may mean that the school may need to be made temporarily non-operational. Some staff and students may be asked to self-isolate as a precaution while contact tracing is completed.

Self-isolation

NSW Health have made changes to self-isolation requirements for people who are identified as close contacts who are fully vaccinated.

Close contacts who are fully vaccinated must self-isolate for 7 days (and limit their movements for the next 7 days). Close contacts who are not vaccinated must isolate for 14 days.
Casual contacts need to get tested and self-isolate until they get a negative test result – even if they are vaccinated.

A reminder that anyone who has the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms must get tested immediately and self-isolate until they get a negative result – even if they‘re vaccinated.

Vaccination requirements for staff and students

From 18 October all staff onsite will to be fully vaccinated. You can have confidence that we are handling the evidence requirements with the department and anyone interacting directly with your students will be fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 vaccination is the best protection against severe illness and also reduces the risk of spreading COVID-19 to others. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 now will help to protect both you, your family and our school community.

NSW Health are urging all students 12 and over to get vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible before returning to school.

There is currently sufficient supply of the Moderna vaccine to community pharmacies and the Pfizer vaccine to General Practitioners. Bookings can be made via the Vaccine Clinic Finder. Depending on location, bookings are available within the next few days.

Mask requirements

To reflect the changes in community settings mask wearing requirements have been updated for schools.

Students and staff will be expected to wear masks in all indoor settings at all times.

Students will be required to provide their own masks each day and we would encourage them to use reusable masks rather than disposable masks. Reusable masks should be washed every day and disposable masks should be thrown away at the end of each day. The online uniform shop is now selling navy and maroon masks with the Fort Street logo for $8 each if you are interested in purchasing these via the school website.

Masks are mandatory on public transport. This applies to students aged 13 years and over, and to staff when travelling to and from school and during school excursions by public transport or by chartered or private transport services. 

Congratulations

The newly elected SRC held a virtual camp last week on Thursday and Friday at which the new SRC President and Vice President were elected. I would like to congratulate our new President of the 2021-2022 SRC – Alyssa Khaw and our new Vice President – Chantelle Hoang. I know that together they will lead the SRC to do fantastic work for the remainder of Term 4, 2021 and throughout 2022.

NAPLAN results

The school has received these packages and they will be distributed to students when they return to school next week.

HSC student advice

It has been lovely to see so many Year 12 students at school over the past 3 weeks. I know that there are questions around graduation and other celebrations. The advice is still that we cannot plan for any event that occurs before 3 December. When we have further advice, we will advise. In the meantime, we will be planning for Year 12 students at least to celebrate in some way at school on Friday 3 December

Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate Year 12 students on site for the last two weeks before the HSC exams commence (25 October – 9 November) as the traditional two breaks during the day have been extended to four breaks to reduce mingling between cohorts. It will be safest for Year 12 students to study from home during those two weeks and to continue to access their teachers online.

Every Year 12 student should have received an individual examination timetable for the HSC with rooming advice. Mr Morrison has also emailed all students and parents the COVID-safe exam plan including the contingency venue in case of a temporary site closure. If you have not yet received this email, please contact Mr Morrison.

Wellbeing resources for students and families

Please take some time to check out our wellbeing resources for students and families. You’ll find useful tools for mental health and wellbeing. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can do anything to help you and your children to prepare for the return to face-to-face learning or if you have any concerns about the return to school.

Thank you again for your continued support during what has already been a fast-moving school term.

Juliette McMurray