Principal's Report
Back into the groove
It has been pleasing to walk around the school just after the 9am bell and see our students engaged in their morning literacy block. Our core literacy block runs each morning between 9-11am (unless the students are at specialist classes).All our junior classes are engaged in UFLI lessons where they receive direct and explicit instruction on their phonics development. All our senior classes have now introduced Spelling Mastery. Spelling Mastery enhances students' knowledge of phonemics and morphology.
All our specialist programs are underway, Year 1 swimming is on this week, Food Science for Year 6 started last week and our Play Leaders have completed their training this week and will be out in the yard running games and activities for the younger students from next week.
Drop Off & Pick Up Zone
On Wednesday night we had a near miss in the pick up zone, thankfully both the staff member and the student were not injured, but they were deeply shocked. I ask for everyone’s patience whether dropping, picking up or waiting. Exiting 670 students all at the same time as well as two other schools on the same road means it's going to be busy. I will be reviewing the drop off / pick up procedures with School Council this coming week and will update the community in due course.
Meet & greets
If you have not already had a time to catch up with your child’s teacher, I strongly encourage you to make a time as soon as possible. We have two more afternoons next week – Tuesday and Wednesday straight after school. Please go to Sentral to make a booking.
Attendance
At Langwarrin Primary School learning starts at 9 am. Everyday COUNTS.
The Department of Education is currently looking very closely at each student’s attendance. All Principals receive a report every 2 weeks about students who are having too much time off school. I must be able to explain to the Department why this is so. What this means for you (parents and carers) is you MUST give a reason for your child’s absence. If they are sick, keep them home but please let us know via SENTRAL.
Remember, the attendance patterns children show in the early years of schooling indicate the students most likely to show poor attendance at secondary school. These patterns stay with us throughout life too, so it is best to develop good attendance early in your child’s schooling.
Missing 15 days per year, each year equates to an entire year off school by the time a child has finished their schooling.
Checking your emails and responding to QKR notifications
Michelle in the office works tirelessly to ensure that notifications about upcoming events, excursions and incursions are communicated to you in a timely fashion. She also asks class teachers to remind you via their weekly email and there are reminders on the school Facebook page. There are strict timelines and cut offs before events where paperwork needs to be submitted. This is to ensure that all permissions, bus seat allocations, staffing ratio numbers, medications and costings are accurately prepared and recorded.
It is for this reason that NO LATE PAYMENTS & PERMISSIONS for events, excursions and incursions can be accepted.
From time to time I get parents/carers who have missed the cut off come and ask for a ‘just this once exception’ and it is certainly not pleasant for myself or any of the leadership team to refuse a child to attend, but allowing late attendees causes extra work specifically on the office staff, leads to inaccurate lists and the chance of errors of missed medications and staffing ratio inaccuracy. To help yourself, please action any emails and QKR notifications as soon as possible after receiving them. If you are experiencing difficulty with payments, contact the office well ahead of the cut off time. And always check your 3 dots in the corner of the QKR app for your receipts if you are unsure if you have paid.
Have a great fortnight,
Mrs Pepper
Acting Principal