From the Admin team

Welcome back to 2023, and if you are new to Thornbury Primary, welcome. We hope you have all settled in for a great year. Below are a few items and reminders to note.

Office Hours

Office hours at Thornbury PS are 8:30 am until 4:00pm. The gates are locked at 9:15am and we lock the front door at 9:30 am, so it's best for students to arrive before then.

If your child does arrive late, they will need to be signed in on the Compass Kiosk (located on the front office counter). If they need to be escorted to class, a staff member can do this. For the benefit of staff who don’t know all families, we ask that parents not wander through the school during school hours without signing in and wearing a visitor pass.

If you are late picking your child/ren up, they may wait at the office up until 3:45pm. We are unable to supervise them after this time. We recommend that you register with the out of school care program, TeamKids, so that in an emergency, they can be properly cared for.

TeamKids Contact: Tyne Email - ThornburyPS@teamkids.com.au

Picking students up during the school day

To limit the interruptions to class time, if you need to pick your child/ren up during the day, could you please send a note to your child’s teacher to let them know, and to advise what time you will be here. This way, they can be at the office waiting for you with their belongings. Recess and lunch times are problematic for pickups once the students are outside playing. If you can try to pick them up during their eating time (15 minutes before going outside), it will be much easier and save a lot of time trying to find them. Please remember to sign them out on the Compass Kiosk before leaving.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like school camps or trips, swimming and school-organised sports programs, outdoor education programs, excursions and incursions. For new students to the school whose carers hold a valid concession card, please return your CSEF application forms to the office.

Family Payments

Thank you to all of those families who have settled their extra-curricular payments so far. 2023 family payments are now on Compass. Payments can be made by credit or debit card, BPay or cash. Payment can be made in full or in instalments, please contact the office if you would like to set up a payment plan. Please ensure that you are paying 2023 fees as the 2022 payments are still open just while we finalise those.

There are quite a number of families who have credits on their accounts. These are mostly from past cancelled camps, swimming, excursions etc. We will be sending statements home in the next few weeks, please check for any credits (they will show as negative amounts). We would encourage you to use these up against any charges for 2023 so we can finalise them. You can use these via Compass when providing consent and payment for a camp or excursion, by selecting “use CSEF/Credit” option, or by contacting the office.

Compass

Thornbury Primary School uses the Compass platform for almost all of our communications. Compass has many advantages, not least of which is saving paper. Parents and carers can provide consent and payment for camps, excursions and incursions; pay family payments; and keep up to date with what is going on in the school. We are beginning to introduce other forms to Compass and you may have already seen or accessed ICT agreements for parents and students; Walking Excursions and Media consent. Copies of the forms and the policies which are in line with these, are stored in “Community > School Documentation”.

Medication

If your child/ren require medication either regularly (eg Ventolin), or other (eg. antibiotics or panadol), you will need to complete a Medication Authorisation Form to allow school staff to administer this on your behalf. Schools are not permitted to administer prescribed or over-the-counter medications without this in place.

Medications are securely stored in the first aid room with a record kept for dosages given. Please supply your child’s medication in a plastic air-tight container, clearly labelled with child’s name, and include any equipment needed to provide the dosage eg. spacer for ventolin, measuring spoon/cup.

Volunteer Parents/Carers

We have many wonderful volunteer parents and carers who carry out a range of activities in the school. If you are wishing to, or have been asked to, volunteer in any capacity whether in the classroom or elsewhere, you will need a current Working with Children check. Please see the link below for how to apply. Volunteer WWC’s are free.

Home | Working with Children

Dogs at school

While most of us love dogs, they can cause anxiety for some people, especially children, and so we request that you please do not bring your dog/s into the school yard at any time.

Kind regards,

Kristie, Jasmine and Shirley

Foundation Steiner–Celebrating Learning