ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE UPCOMING BUSHFIRE SEASON

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE UPCOMING BUSHFIRE SEASON

Dear Parents,

I am writing to advise you of a change to our bushfire emergency arrangements for our school this bushfire season.

Given our school is temporarily situated at Murwillumbah South Infants School , our Bushfire Risk Rating Category will increase to Category 2 on the NSW Department of Education’s bushfire and grassfire risk register for the remainder of the bushfire danger period (until 31 March 2024).

To ensure the health, safety and welfare of students and staff, the department has determined that on days when NSW Rural Fire Service declares a Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating for the Far North Coast Fire Weather District, our school will temporarily cease operations for the following day.

In addition, our school may be made non-operational due to changing higher risk conditions on advice from emergency services and the State Emergency Operations Centre.

We recommend that you download the Parent App and select to monitor advice from our school which will push notifications to you advising that the school is non -operational. We also recommend that you stay up to date with bushfire and grassfire activity by using the Hazards Near Me app (set a watch zone for your school area), and by monitoring local media. 

You can also review fire activity and alert levels on the RFS website.

The Fire Danger Rating does not mean there will be a bushfire, but rather weather conditions that could pose a high risk for a bushfire event. The measure is proactive to ensure staff, students and the community remain safe.

To ensure that we continue to support student learning on these days, I have put the following arrangements in place:

Students from Kindergarten to Year 2 will be provided with a work booklet and students from Years 3 – 6 will be provided with work on the Google Classroom platform.

We will inform our school community as soon as possible (hopefully before the end of the school day) if there is a change to the operational status of the school for the following day.

To assist the school in contacting all families please ensure that you have provided us with up-to-date contact details. Hopefully we will not get to this point, these are just precautionary measures.

Further information on up-to-date communication of school operations, can also be found through:

• our school website or Facebook page

• NSW Department of Education’s School Safety website: education.nsw.gov.au/publicschools/school-safety

• NSW School Updates app: education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/nsw-schoolupdates-app, and

• social media.

We recommend that all of our families follow the advice of the NSW Rural Fire Service and ensure that your family knows what to do if there is a fire.

It can take as little as five minutes to make your plan. Discuss it with your family so you know what you will do in the event of a fire. www.myfireplan.com.au

Please contact the school on 02 66722390 if you would like any further information about this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Brendan Quinn

Principal