It is a delight to have students back on campus. We hope we won’t have a similar disruption in the future. However, it is evident when watching the news that we should remain prepared for a further outbreak in the Illawarra and even a possible case at TIGS which could result in a temporary closure of the School. Our process should this occur is well developed and in brief, is as follows:

• School receives advice of a positive COVID19 case
• Parents advised by email and SMS to collect all students
• Students dismissed using a specific plan and locations
• The campus is closed to students and staff
• Learning shifts to online while contact tracing and deep cleaning occurs
• On the advice of NSW Health our campus reopens

Our hope is that we would not need to implement this plan however students, parents, and staff can be confident that we are prepared and ready should the need arise. I thank our community for your support in keeping students at home if there are any signs of illness including the normally benign winter sniffles or scratchy throat. Furthermore, I ask students and staff to remain at home if anyone in your family or close contacts is undergoing tests for COVID-19. In this case, students and staff should only return to School when those tests have been returned negative. 

I also want to share my increasing focus and commitment to ensuring that our young people are well prepared for relaxed social distancing rules that are approaching. I am conscious that our students have been living in the bubble of home and now the slightly larger bubble of school and I am observing amongst many students a lack of preparedness to mix safely with increasing numbers of unknown people. This is an issue particularly for our Senior School students as they are more likely to be out and about than our younger students. 

We are addressing this as schools do, by teaching, practising, reminding and rewarding safe choices that can be learnt and habitualised at school and then used outside of school. It is smart to learn these in a safe place like school, where transmission risks are low. Our message is that students need to look at the space they are in and make choices that leave space between themselves and others wherever possible; we are also encouraging choices that mean minimal touching of items that have been touched by others as well as good hygiene routines. This sounds very basic (and it is), however, these safety habits, like the ones we teach to safely cross the road, need to be deeply embedded and routine. I encourage families to continue to discuss, emphasise and practice this at home in preparation for more freedom of movement and interaction with others.

TIGS Alumni Showcase | Margaux Walker – Class of 2015

In our next Alumni Showcase, we have had the great pleasure of interviewing TIGS Alumnae, Margaux Walker (Class of 2015). Read all about her journey since graduating from The Illawarra Grammar School and her advice for any current TIGS student. Click below for the full interview.

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