Principal's Update

Welcome back to 2023. It has been such a joy to welcome all of our students and families back to what I am confident will be another wonderful year at Dundas Public School. Welcome to all of our new students and families. It is great to have you joining our wonderful school community.

Our Kindergarten students have had a very successful start – congratulations and thank you to parents for the wonderful way you have partnered with us and supported your children to start their educational journey with independence and confidence. We are also proud of our Year 1 to Year 6 students who are settling into their 2023 classes, getting to know their teachers and their peers. 

Below is an overview of class organisation.

Communication protocols and staffing

A reminder to our parents and carers that the class teacher is the first point of contact if you have a concern you would like to discuss. On occasion, matters may need to include the Assistant Principal that is supervising that specific stage. Below is an overview of 2023 Assistant Principal structure.

Kindergarten, Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) – Mrs Taylor

Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) – Ms Edwards (relieving)

Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) –Mr Yee

Mrs Luu – Wellbeing Assistant Principal

Mrs Zalaf – Assistant Principal (Curriculum & Instruction) – Mrs Zalaf’s role is an off class position where she will work closely with teachers to improve their understanding of new curriculum, and support .

During the school holidays Ms Saviour was successful in gaining a permanent teaching position at our school. Ms Saviour will be teaching 1 Wirriga. We warmly welcome Ms Saviour to our wonderful school.

Mr Curmi is continuing his leave this year. We welcome back Mrs Singh who will be teaching 3 Wilbung on Mondays and Tuesdays in his absence. We also welcome Mrs Fakhoury to our school who will be teaching 3 Wilbung on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

We are very excited to share that Mrs Green, Mrs Campbell and Mr McSeveny have also returned to Dundas. Mrs Green and Mrs Campbell will be teaching 1 Bunduluk; Mrs Green on Mondays to Wednesdays and Mrs Campbell on Thursdays and Fridays. Mr McSeveny will be teaching 5/6 Walumil.

This year, Ms Govers has moved to an RFF role where she will be teaching Creative Arts (visual arts, music and drama) to each class each week. Creative Arts lessons will be taught in the MultiLit room for 2023.

Mrs Dinsdale will be working part-time this year as she moves towards a well-earned retirement in 2024. Mrs Dinsdale will work Monday – Wednesday for Terms 1 and 2, and Monday – Tuesday for Terms 3 and 4. To help manage the office during the transition, we have employed Mrs Piccolo who will work in the office from Tuesday to Friday.

We have an additional staff member who will be assisting in the office. Mrs Masi will be helping with some of the administration load working 4 days a week on Tuesday – Friday.

The Stage 2 Assistant Principal position has been advertised and closed this week. I thank Ms Kral and Mr Yee for their assistance on the merit selection panel for this position.

Attendance – Daily SMS Messages

Each morning before lunch, parents/caregivers will receive an SMS if their child is absent from school. When you receive an SMS, could you please take a few minutes to reply, providing the reason for your child’s absence. You do not need to ring the school office or send an email to notify us of your child’s absence.

The SMS system has proven to be a successful way in ensuring we comply with NSW Department of Education attendance procedures. Please remember that it is a legal requirement to provide an explanation for your child’s absence within 7 days.

The SMS notifications system does not support the attachment of medical certificates or COVID test results. These documents can be shared via the SkoolBag app, sent to school as a hard copy (given to your child’s teacher) or emailed to the school’s email address.

COVID-19 Requirements

In line with the health advice and community settings, the department will continue implementing baseline COVID-smart measures in schools throughout Term 1. These include:

• reminding students, staff and families to stay home if unwell and test for COVID-19 if showing any symptoms
• boosted day cleaning of high touch areas in our schools
• strongly encouraging masks to be worn by all students, staff and visitors, particularly when indoors or outdoors when physical distancing is difficult to maintain
• requiring masks for staff and volunteers who interact with students at greater risk of serious illness if they were to contract COVID-19 – including in SSPs, support units and some mainstream settings
• strongly encouraging up-to-date vaccinations for our staff and students, including COVID-19 booster shots for anyone eligible
• maintaining natural ventilation with windows and doors open whenever possible, including when cooling/heating systems are in use
• continuing to provide RATs and other hygiene products to schools 

Meet the Teacher Afternoons

This week on SkoolBag, we shared with the community that we are holding the ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoons next week. We are very pleased to be able to hold this event in classrooms. A reminder that the purpose of this time is for the teacher/s to share information to our families that parents/carers need to know this year. If you wish to speak to the teacher about your child, please make a time to meet with them at an alternative time. 

Tuesday, 21st February 2023 

Kindergarten     3:30 – 4:00pm

Stage 2                 4:15 – 4:45pm

Wednesday, 22nd February 2023

Stage 1                  3:30 – 4:00pm (except for 2M)

Stage 3                 4:15 – 4:45pm

** Please note that 2M Meet the Teacher will be rescheduled.  

Term newsletters and Grade Areas of Focus document

School newsletters will now be shared with our community on Fridays (even weeks). 

The Term 1 Areas of Focus documents for each grade will be shared with parents and carers at ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoons. These comprehensive documents outline in detail what students in each grade will be learning during Term 1. They will also include information such as homework expectations, scripture, library and other helpful organisational information.

New Areas of Focus documents will be sent home at the beginning of each term for each grade. 

Swimming carnival

The swimming carnival took place this week at Epping Aquatic centre. It was a fabulous day expertly organised and run by Ms Edwards and Mr Yee. A big thank you to all staff for ensuring our students had a fun day supporting each other at the pool. 

This year we offered novelty events for students to participate in. It was a great day and the competing students were encouraged by the crowd and made great efforts to swim their best and earn points for their houses. Good luck to the students who will be progressing to the Zone competition.

Congratulations to all the students for being excellent participants and spectators. A special thanks to the staff and parent helpers for their assistance in making this a successful and enjoyable event.

Children supervision (reminder from earlier post)

At the beginning of each school year, I find it necessary to remind our families about the times school staff are able to safely supervise children before school. Students are able to be supervised by school staff each morning from 8:30am. 

Unfortunately, we continue to have children dropped off at school from 8am when there is no-one on playground duty. Any child that is found on school grounds between 8am and 8:30am will be taken to the office. Children at school before 8:30am should be being cared for by Camp Australia. 

We are also having children not being picked up of an afternoon or being cared for by the Calder Rd crossing supervisor. Children that have not been picked up of an afternoon will be taken to the office and parents called. 

Again, we strongly recommend families registering with Camp Australia in case this supervision is needed. Below is a link to register with Camp Australia. 

https://pp.campaustralia.com.au/account/register-contacts/

Voluntary contributions

A note outlining the 2023 voluntary school contribution and learning resources payment is being sent home to families next week. We are encouraging parents where possible to use the Parent Online Payment System. I appreciate your support and generosity in contributing to the provision of excellent educational opportunities and the delivery of high-quality teaching and learning programs at Dundas PS.

2023 Voluntary School Contribution $30.00 – This financial contribution assists the school purchase and maintain specialist equipment and resources across all key learning areas.

2023 Learning resources $100.00 – This parent contribution provides assistance with specific classroom items such as student workbooks, home readers, subscriptions to online learning platforms (such as Mathletics), various other media and learning activity materials.

There will be information on the note on how families can redeem the Premier’s Back to School NSW Vouchers for this purpose.

P&C Corner

School Fete - Volunteers Needed 

The school Fete will be held on Saturday 25 March 2023, and we are looking for VOLUNTEERS to assist on the day. Whether it's mums, dads, carers, grandparents, or anyone with spare time. The Fete will run from 9am till 4pm, and setting up and packing away will be from 7am to 5pm. Whether you can volunteer for 1 hour or longer, any help is appreciated. 

The main stalls that we need assistance with will be the bbq, raffle, cake stall, craft stall, and selling tickets to the rides.  

To volunteer, please email pandc.dundas@gmail.com 

Thanks

P&C Fete Committee 

Communication platforms

Seesaw/Dojo (Third party agreements)

Seesaw and Class Dojo are 2 third-party providers schools use to support learning and student behaviour. Due to recent examples of corporate data breaches, schools are required to get parent/carer consent before we use these platforms. We are currently putting together a consent form which will go out to our families soon. 

Please do not try to contact a teacher through Seesaw as we are not able to use these platforms until we receive consent. If you need to contact a member of staff, please email the school (dundas-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au) and we will forward it on to the appropriate staff member. 

Kind regards,

Lee Shipley

Principal