Office News
Student drop off/pickup
The school gates open at 8.30am. Children should not be arriving alone or left unsupervised before the gates are opened. Staff are on duty from 8.45am at the main gates and playground to supervise students.
All students should have arrived by the time of the first bell at 9.00am so they are ready to move into learning time and to receive important instructions for the day.
Gates are closed soon after 9.00am. If the gates are closed, parents and children are to come in via the front office. Parents are to sign the late student in via the Compass Portal which will update the absence status on the roll. DO NOT JUST SEND CHILDREN IN.
After 9:00am, parents are not to walk their child to their classroom or through the school grounds. If your child needs assistance to class, someone in the office will walk them through.
If needing to pick your child up for an appointment during the day, please either email or call the front office in the morning so we can have your child ready when you arrive. Please do not Dojo your child’s teacher, the office will set a reminder. Students will need to be signed out when being collected, this includes picking your child up for an illness or injury.
School crossing
It has been brought to our attention that a number of parents are parking across the school crossing during drop off and pickup. This includes stopping within the marked lines to let your child jump out of the car. Please DO NOT park or stop within these lines and respect the road rules and parking signs. It is important that parents park legally to provide a safer environment for children. Double parking restricts the view of drivers, forces children onto the road and obstructs the flow of traffic. Parking within 20 metres before a designated school crossing or 10 metres after is illegal.
When the flags are displayed at a children's crossing, you must stop for pedestrians who are waiting to cross or who have started crossing. You must remain stopped until the crossing is clear. These rules apply even if there is no crossing supervisor.
Spare clothes
Just a reminder if you could please pack spare clothing in your child’s bag for any toileting accidents. We have limited supply in the sickbay.
Compass events
Please make sure your are checking Compass regaularly for upcoming events for your child. Life can get pretty busy and sometimes we forget things, but unfortunetly your child will either sit out or remain at school if payment/consent has not been updated.
Compass will send out multiple reminders to those who have not actioned leading up to an event. We can no longer place follow up phone calls or DoJo messages.
School Saving Bonus
The Victorian Government delivered the School Saving Bonus (SSB) – a one-off support of $400 for eligible government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.
Please note, that the SSB can only be used for uniforms until Monday 30th June 2025. As a reminder, after 30 June 2025 parents/carers will no longer have access to their online SSB system, and will not be able to purchase uniforms through the portal.
If you wish to purchase uniform items after June 30, you will need to do so via the DCS uniform website www.dcsuniforms.com.au
Any funds remaining after 30 June 2025, including online voucher amounts that have not been redeemed, will become a credit to use on school activities. However, the credit will not be available on your family account at our school until late July/August. To use any remaining SSB funds to cover the cost of school activities, please refer to the SSB online system and allocate the funds to school activities before 30 June 2025.
To learn more about the SSB online system, please see the attached step-by-step System guide for parents and carers or watch this School Saving Bonus video https://vimeo.com/1032194830. System guide translations are also available in 14 languages.
There are quite a few families who have not logged in and accessed their $400 via the portal, and we do encourage you to log in ASAP to allocate your total across under ‘School activities’ . Please note that we can not hold off payment for an upcoming event for your child if you choose to wait for the funds to move across in July/August, all events must be paid by the due date.
The Department of Education’s SSB contact centre will remain available until 30 June 2025. The contact centre can be reached by:
- completing the School Saving Bonus enquiry form https://www.schoolsavingbonus.vic.gov.au/s/enquiry-form
- calling 1800 338 663, between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm on weekdays.
Curriculum contributions for 2025
If you choose to nominate the SSB across under 'donation' to the school. This will be put towards you Curriculum Contributions for 2025.
Your Curriculum contributions are available to pay in Compass and will come under the below steps -
- Organisation tab
- Student management
- Course Confirmation and payments
Please make sure when using Compass on your device that you go to the 'more' button and then select 'open in browser'. This will give you full access to Compass.
To view full details, please log into your Compass for the break down of contributions.
CSEF
CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of excursions, camps and sporting activities. If you hold a concession card/Health Care card, you may be eligible for CSEF.
Please refer to the Compass post for more information and an application form. Please return to the office ASAP.
For families who currently receive CSEF and have a Prep student in 2025, we will automatically add your child to your application, so no need to fill in another form.
Lost Property
This is a friendly reminder to please make sure ALL of your children’s uniforms and other items are clearly labelled with their names.
All uniforms that remain in lost property at the end of the term will be added to the school uniform sale, and any item that is not clearly named eg. water bottles, lunchboxs etc will be thrown in the bin.
We understand that replacing lost items can be expensive and frustrating. Naming items makes them easy for us to return.
Children with Asthma
If your child has Asthma, seasonal or on-going, they must have an up-to-date Asthma plan signed by a doctor and have an in date Ventolin. No student is to have their Ventolin on them or in their bag. It must be stored up in the office for safety reasons and so we can monitor the intake and inform parents if a medical emergency arises.
Thank you to those who have already provided the office with their childs medication.
If we do not have the above for your child, they will not be able to attend upcoming excursions.
Home reading ideas for parents
Scholastic
State School Relief
State Schools' Relief (SSR) is an autonomous, charitable organisation that assists Victorian government school students who are experiencing financial disadvantage because of short-term crisis or long-term chronic need.
SSR is supported by the department to provide assistance with uniforms and other essential items for students who need assistance to continue their education.
Short-term crisis and long-term chronic need are the primary qualifying criteria for support from SSR, including refugee status, homelessness, family violence, house fire, natural disaster, financial hardship, illness and emergency.
SSR assistance will be provided by either direct supply of uniform items or uniform vouchers for redemption from school uniform suppliers.
Please contact the school office if you would like to apply for any school uniform.
Toys at school
We are noticing a lot of children bringing toys from home to school to play with at recess and lunch. Can we please remind you all that we cannot take responsibility for items that have been brought from home like plush toys, balls and other objects. Children are coming up to the office asking for their lost items and becoming upset. Please be aware of what your child is bringing to school and if they choose to bring something from home, it must be clearly labelled and the responsibility falls onto your child.
Illness and exclusion days
We are noticing a lot of students coming to school who are unwell or who are still showing syptoms from an illness. We understand that it is very hard to keep children home when parents need to work or who have no other arrangments to look after their children, but in order to keep other students and the Rollins community safe and healthy, we ask families to follow the department guidelines on the exclusion from school timeframe as per below -
| Conditions | Exclusion of cases |
| Chickenpox | Exclude until all blisters have dried. This is usually at least 5 days after the rash appears in unimmunised children, but may be less in previously immunised children |
| Conjunctivitis | Exclude until discharge from eyes has ceased |
| Covid | Excluded for 5 days |
| Diarrhoeal illness | Exclude until there has not been vomiting or a loose bowel motion for 48 hours, and for all other diarrhoeal illnesses exclude until there has not been vomiting or a lose bowel motion for 24 hours |
| Hand, Foot and Mouth disease | Exclude until all blisters have dried |
| Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) | Exclude until 48 hours after initiation of effective therapy |
| Herpes (cold sores) | Young children unable to comply with good hygiene practices should be excluded while the lesion is weeping. Lesions to be covered by dressing, where possible |
| Influenza and influenza like illnesses | Exclude until well, this includes running nose and cough. |
| Meningitis (bacterial other than meningococcal meningitis) | Exclude until well |
| Meningococcal infection | Exclude until adequate carrier eradication therapy has been completed |
| Molluscum contagiosum | Exclusion is not necessary |
| Pertussis (Whooping cough) | Exclude the child for 21 days after the onset of cough or until they have completed 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment |
| Ringworm, scabies, pediculosis (head lice) | Exclude until the day after appropriate treatment has commenced |
| Rubella (German measles) | Exclude until fully recovered or for at least four days after the onset of rash |
| Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) | Exclude until medical certificate of recovery is produced |
| Streptococcal infection(including scarlet fever) | Exclude until the child has received antibiotic treatment for at least 24 hours and the child feels well |
CentrePay
Those who receive payments from Centrelink can choose to set up CentrePay to arange regular fortnightly payments towards the school, which can go towards your vountary Curriculum Contributions/excursions. Families can nominate to have Centrepay paid fortnightly and the amount will be at the discreation of each family. You can collect a form from the office.
Thank you to those families who have payed for their annual Curriculum Contributions. These are still available to pay either via Compass, EFTPOS through the office or you can set up CentrePay. Other contributions for non-curriculum items for our school grounds maintenance and student welfare are also available and are warmly welcomed.
If you are using the Compass app and are having trouble accessing the required forms and information, please select "more" at the bottom of your screen and then "open in browser". You will then have full access and will be easier to navigate.
Conveyance Allowance
Eligible students living in the school zone and residing more than 4.8km from your closest school may be eligible for conveyance allowance.
Forms are available at the office for families to apply.
Attendance
If your child is going to be away sick, has an appointment or family holiday. Please make sure you add an attendance note via Compass. Otherwise you will receive a text message saying that your child has not arrived at school. You will also receive a call questioning why your child has an unexplained attendance.
Please try and enter attendance note prior to 9:00am.
Rollins Primary School recognises that being at school on time and attending every day contributes towards a student's learning and that maximising school attendance enhances academic outcomes.
We take attendance very seriously at Rollins PS and have a goal to have as close to 100% of student attendance as possible.
For more information regarding attendance please follow the link to the Education Department's Attendance Policy
Rollins House colours
Smoking
Unfortunately, we have noticed quite a few parents/carers who are smoking within school grounds and at the exit gates. Smoking in these places is a fineable offence.
A person must not smoke cigarettes including e-cigarettes (regardless of whether they contain nicotine) within school premises and within 4 metres of any pedestrian access to school premises.
Dogs on site
Please note that we DO NOT allow dogs within our school grounds. This includes at morning school drop off and in the afternoon.
Court orders
Please inform and provide the office of any current or updated Court orders that may be in place. It is important that we have current, in date orders updated in our system.
Privacy notice
Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.
Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy [insert link to your school policy], describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.
We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:
- Amharic
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Dari
- Gujarati
- Mandarin
- Somali
- Sudanese
- Turkish
- Urdu
- Vietnamese
Rollins Uniform Supplier -
DCS Uniforms
Orders are ONLINE ONLY and will be delivered to the school free of charge every Thursday. To order please visit www.dcsuniforms.com.au .