Coronavirus COVID-19

As one would expect, Coronavirus is the hot topic on everyone’s tongues as the spread of the virus continues to have greater impact across the globe.  While there is much speculation about what may happen in Australia, particularly with day care centres, kindergardens, schools and universities, at this point there is no further information at hand.  What does remain consistent is the information we have been communicating to parents and the community throughout this emerging situation.  There are however, a couple of key items that require our ongoing focus.

1. Personal hygiene of all is the greatest way to impact the spreading of the virus.  At the College we have shifted the focus of our cleaners from cleanliness to hygiene.  This means that handles, latches and fixtures touched by hands are cleaned more frequently to reduce the spread of any illness. In addition, we encourage everyone to reinforce the following with the children and in the community:
1. Wash hands regularly with soap and water, or in the absence of soap and water, hand sanitiser.  This is especially important before and after eating, and after going to the toilet
2. Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or bent elbow
3. If you have any flu like symptoms, stay at home and avoid contact with others such as touching, kissing or hugging.
2. In regards to travel restrictions we continue to follow the advice of Queensland Health. This means that we will have people returning from overseas holidays at various stages, though we would expect this to lessen as time goes on.  Presently, isolation is only required if travelling from high risk countries, which includes, Iran, Korea, Italy and China.  People travelling from all other countries are checked as they enter the country and are asked to monitor their health and look out for symptoms. We understand that people may be concerned by students and families returning from overseas, though these are the current arrangements that are in place.

I am sure there will be plenty of future communication based on the rumblings of the last 2 days, and we will ensure you get the message very promptly.  Please remember that the SZApp and Facebook page are our most efficient modes of communication, so please keep an eye out.

New Hats

Our new College hats with the House colours on the underside are available for sale from the Uniform Shop and are priced at $16.70 which is a great price in comparison to the old hat which was $15.70 and did not include the fantastic colours of red, blue, green and yellow.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal