Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you for your ongoing support as we work together to respond to the evolving COVID-19 situation. Information on this first two pages details events and processes this week, subsequent pages for the next 4 weeks.

Back to School – 7 Feb to 4 March

As announced by the Premier on Sunday 30 January 2022, the Queensland Government has released the COVID-safe Back to School Plan.

From Monday 7 February, key features of the Plan include:

• the suspension of school camps, excursions, assemblies, and large gatherings
• limiting visitors on site, with exceptions for parents and carers of students experiencing vulnerability, students attending Prep or Year 1 (please see pages 2 and 3)
• special drop off and pick up zones (please see pages 9 and 10)
• masks supplied and strongly encouraged (not mandated) for students in Years 3 to 6
• priority access to RATs for students and staff at Queensland Health testing clinics
• a range of ventilation measures inside buildings

 You can access the Back to School plan here, and further information and FAQs on the Department of Education COVID-19 website.

Unwell children

Essential to the success of these measures is that if your child is unwell or displaying any COVID-19 symptoms, they must not attend school. I cannot emphasise this message strongly enough – it is critical to keeping our school community safe. Your child, if they have COVID-19 symptoms, can visit your local Queensland health testing clinic and will be given priority access to a free RAT.

Excursions and Assemblies

We will not be holding any excursion or assemblies between now until March 4. We will run a ‘virtual’ assembly each week and upload this to our website and Facebook page.

Next Steps

Currently we are receiving parent questions about some topics, from parents who are worried – and understandably so. If you have concerns or questions please do the following:

1. Read the Plan - You can access the Back to School Plan here, and further information and FAQs on the Department of Education COVID-19 website. Please be aware that there is a lot of misinformation out there - use our updates as a point of truth.
2. I encourage you to stay informed of the latest developments relating to COVID-19 by regularly visiting the Queensland Government website.
3. Email us at admin@calliopess.eq.edu.au if you cannot find the advice you need.

Thank you for your understanding as we continue to work together during this difficult and unprecedented time.

Yours sincerely

Acting Principal

Coralie Ditchmen