Welcome back to returning students and a warm welcome to the new families, we look forward to a successful year.

First Aid

We are in the process of updating all student details. As such, we request that all Anaphylaxis, Allergy and Asthma plans are updated (if needed) including a recent photo of your child, or Medication Authority Forms (for any other medication held at the school) are completed for 2023, and forwarded to the office no later than the end of next week. This will ensure we have the most up-to-date information possible.

We also request all medications held for your child are in date.

School's Privacy Policy

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website https://macedonps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Collection_Statement-primary_school.pdf. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/Schools-Privacy-Policy-information-for-parents.aspx

Insurance

A reminder for parents/guardians and staff the Department of Education does not hold insurance for personal property brought to school and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.

Parents or guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs. Parents/guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers.

Camps, Sports, Excursion Fund (CSEF)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. School camps provide children with inspiring experiences in the great outdoors, excursions encourage a deeper understanding of how the world works and sports teach teamwork, discipline and leadership. All are part of a healthy curriculum. CSEF will be provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child. The annual CSEF amount per student is $125 for primary school students. Contact the school office to obtain a CSEF application form. If you received CSEF last year, please note that you must complete a new CSEF Form for 2023 and return to the office by the end of February.

Conveyance Allowance

Parents have primary responsibility for transporting their children to and from school. The Department of Education (DET) provides financial assistance in the form of a conveyance allowance to help families in rural and regional Victoria with the cost of transporting their children to their closest appropriate school. The conveyance allowance is a contribution towards transport costs and is not intended to cover the full cost of transporting children to and from school. The allowance is an acknowledgement of the often limited government-provided transport infrastructure available outside metropolitan Melbourne. A conveyance allowance is provided to a student on the basis of individual eligibility.

To receive a conveyance allowance individual students must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Attend a school/campus located outside the Melbourne Urban Growth Boundary.

2. Attend the closest appropriate school/campus. For students attending government schools, this will be the closest school appropriate to the age and gender of the student (e.g. primary, secondary, single sex).

3. Reside 4.8km or more from the school (shortest practicable route calculated by school at time of application from the student’s home to the school attended).

4. Be of school age (between five and 18-years-old at the time of application), and a resident of Victoria.

5. Be enrolled and travelling to school three or more days per week.

Students’ circumstances can change during their school years (e.g. moving residence or changing schools). Change of circumstances affects eligibility and a new application must be submitted with each change of circumstance. If you are unsure if you are eligible for Conveyance Allowance please contact the office.

If you received Conveyance Allowance last year, please note that you must complete a new Conveyance Allowance Application Form for 2022 and return to the office ASAP.

Conveyance Allowance applications must be lodged in early March, therefore the Conveyance Allowance Application Forms must be received at the office no later than Friday 4th March 2023.

(No late applications can be accepted).

Contact with teachers

During class time (bell times listed below) teachers are busy teaching. If you need to make contact with a teacher by phone, please do so outside of class time. Alternatively, you can email them. Parents are reminded that staff are not required to reply outside of school hours or over the weekend. All staff emails are available on the school's website under 'staff'.

Bell Times

8:50 am Bell signals as a prompt for the commencement of the school day.

8:57 am Music commences as a prompt for students to assemble outside of their classrooms.

9:00 am Bell signals the start of the school day.

11:00 am Commencement of morning recess

11:27am Music commences as a prompt for students to assemble outside of their classrooms.

11:30 am Bell signals the end of morning recess

1:00 pm Bell signals lunch, students eat lunch inside

1:10 pm Bell signals students can go outside for lunch break

1:50 pm Bell signals 10 minutes until the end of lunch break

1:57 pm Music commences as a prompt for students to move to their classroom ready for the afternoon session.

2:00 pm Bell signals the commencement of the afternoon session.

3:30 pm Bell signals for dismissal for the end of the day.

The dismissal time for the last day of terms 1, 2 and 3 is 2:30 pm and 1:30 pm at the end of term 4.

School Crossing

I have received a message from our friendly crossing guards about some unsafe crossing use. Please make sure you are not parking over the crossing, or doing u-turns in front of the crossing. Our ultimate goal is to keep our most precious little people safe. Please do your bit by using the dedicated crossing and waiting for the guards to stop traffic and blow their whistle.

Staff Carpark

The car park bays on Smith Street are reserved for staff carparking. Can parents please refrain from parking in these carparks during school pick up and drop off.

New member of staff in the office

We would like to welcome Salina Chamerski to the office. Salina will be working Wednesdays - Fridays and Emma will be in Monday - Wednesday.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office on 54261518 or email macedon.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Julie, Emma & Salina

Macedon Primary School Newsletter

Respect, Responsibility, Creativity, Integrity, Teamwork

Issue 1 · 01 Feb 2023

In this issue