Principal's Desk

Busy, Busy, Busy

Term 4 is now in full swing. Over the past week we have seen numerous sporting events, excursions, camps and even a Referendum BBQ. 

Our new 'Foundies' for next year have been taking part in our famous Future Stars program, as well as some fun and engaging storytime sessions being run in the library. The school is a buzz (and it helps having nice weather for the second half of this week too!)

Hats

Don’t forget we are back to wearing hats this term – please send these in with your students to ensure they can play outside and be SunSmart.

As part of our Sun Smart policy, all students without a hat will be required to spend recess and lunch outside the library.

Before and After School Student Supervision

All schools have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of their students. At no time can children be left unattended in the playground without adult supervision. School playgrounds are supervised by staff from 8.30am each morning and until 3.30pm in the afternoon. Prior to 8:30am and after 3:30pm, supervision is not available and we ask that children are not left in the playground unattended at any time. 

Over the past few weeks we have observed some students arriving at school very early without supervision. We ask that for the safety of your child, this does not occur.

Parking - it's at a premium

Every school I have worked at never seems to have enough parking available for the parent community, and Park Ridge Primary School is no different. With this said, I do ask drivers to make the most of the space we have available, especially along Wentworth Avenue. We need to ensure there is minimal space between the car in front of you, so we can have as many families park as possible. Further to this, we need to be mindful of our local households and keep driveways clear.

World Mental Health Day

A couple of weeks ago, on Tuesday 10 October, it was World Mental Health Day. Like I talked about last week with regards to World Teachers' Day, we shouldn't need a day to look after our our physical and mental health, it should form part of our daily habit. The purpose of World Mental Health Day was a day for 'reconnecting' a key focus was for all individuals around the world to reconnect with others around them. The theme was 'Making Mental Health and Wellbeing a Global Priority for all' - and this is definitely one thing we highly value at Park Ridge Primary School. 

Looking after wellbeing and mental health is now more important than ever.  At Park Ridge Primary School, we will continue to prioritise the personal wellbeing and mental health of all of our students - if we do everything in our power to support students in this space, it will naturally lead to greater engagement with school and improved learning outcomes.

Lastly, thank you to those families who took the time and sent through placement requests for 2024. These requests are now closed and we will not be accepting any late requests. As mentioned in the past two newsletters, forming 500+ students into 20+ classes is a huge task and late changes have a significant domino effect. More information will be shared with families in the newsletter once we begin working with students and their friendship lists for 2024.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan or I, should you wish to discuss anything. 

Our doors are always open! 

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman