Dear parents and carers,
As you are aware, our community is continuing to experience flooding in our local area. At Sherwood State School, much of our land, including our FONA and pool, remain under floodwaters. We believe no buildings have had flood waters enter them.
I hope that everyone remains safe and acknowledges this is a difficult time for many of us. Families are encouraged to tune-in to local media, monitor weather conditions, heed the warnings and follow instructions from emergency services.
Especially now, remember, “If it’s flooded, forget it”.
Even though the effects of this weather event have begun to ease, the impact on our school means that we are still unable to reopen tomorrow, Wednesday 2 March.
While we are devastated to be unable to reopen our school, we also understand that many of you may have had varying damage to your properties and some families have had to relocate. With all things considered, the wellbeing of our families is in our thoughts and remains our priority at this point. If parents have power, they can access a range of online learning tools and resources from the learning@home website for children in the interim.
We are also working with our P & C and OSHC staff to provide some access to our school hall. This would allow families to come and recharge items if they have lost power, or simply to come and let kids do some craft. As we have not been given the all clear to open the school to anyone for safety reasons, this option is still in the planning stages. We will get this information to you via social media as soon as the details are locked in.
If you have any concerns or require additional support, please contact me on my email (ahawk19@eq.edu.au).
Please be aware that absences due to emergencies and natural disasters will not be recorded on a student’s report card. Please regularly check the school closures website https://closures.qld.edu.au. This site will be updated on a daily basis.
We will continue to provide information to families, via newsflash on via our official Facebook page, as it becomes available. There are also many excellent resources on the Queensland Government Get Ready Queensland website that serve as a checklist for our homes, travel arrangements and our personal safety.
Thank you for your ongoing support and please stay safe. Please reach out via our Facebook page (Alyce, our Communications Officer set this up a couple of hours ago) if you could use some community support. This may speed up the support others can provide.
Please stay off of our roads when and where you can. As soon as it is appropriate, we will message about a potential working-bee to clean and prepare the school for reopening. THANK YOU to the many families who have been reaching out to offer this type of support already. Your kindness is appreciated!
Warm regards,
Amanda Hawkswell
Principal