Ms Karen McArdle

Welcome to the 2018 School Year!

This is going to be a great year! The staff have been working hard in preparation for this year and much planning has gone into ensuring this will be a year of much learning aimed at children’s instructional level, many challenges to excite the learner, and personal growth and development for students.

The Cumberland years are noted for encouraging and developing increased independence, a ‘Can Do’ attitude, development in social and teamwork skills, increased use of iPads to assist the learning and teaching processes, as well as greater emphasis on the application of learned and higher order thinking skills. We ask parents to work in partnership with staff and to support their children as they work to achieve these skills.

The Cumberland staff work as a team, dedicated to the education of children, and I am very proud to lead such a team.

Year 3H - Jane Heasly

Year 3A - Bianca Duell / Isabel Monroy

Year 4C - Daniel Catoggio

Year 4P - Hannah Petterson

Year 5K - Nigel Keegan

Year 5M - Samantha McAdam

Year 6A - Emma Dowling / Ron Rees

Year 6K - Maria Koullas

New Year Resolutions for School

We all make goals at the beginning of a new year but, sadly, many of these are not achieved. To assist parents and students to become better organised from the start of the year and continuing through the year, I recommend the following:

Make copies of your child’s timetable - one for you and one for them.
Develop a routine

Children arrive home
Get out of uniform – uniforms to go to laundry
Have afternoon tea
Complete homework
Pack bag for next day and put in car or near front door
Get uniform out and ready for next day
Play
Next morning, pack morning tea and lunch in bag before leaving.
To assist with the packing of bags, students will be bringing home a ‘Bag Packing’ proforma to be completed. This needs to be displayed on a wall so children can have easy access. In the beginning, it may be on the fridge, but as they develop the skills, it can move to their bedrooms.

In the columns, get students to write all of the things they need to pack for that day. Note library days, sports days, music lesson days etc… Also add extra-curricular activities they might do either at school or after school that day. Train your child to pack bags and sports bags etc by supervising and even creating specific packing lists for particular activities e.g. swimming bag

Have a duplicate pencil case, ruler etc at home. This reduces losses etc and packing items.
Set up a corner where your child can do homework etc. In the earlier years of Cumberland, the kitchen table is okay, but as they progress through the years, they will need a space where they can leave work in progress.
Supply your child with blank To Do Lists and Stick Its – we all use them and training them early means they will be better organised early!

Developing organisational skills does not just happen – you need to invest time and effort into it. Just remember, your investment will pay off as they become better organised. Good Luck!!

Communication with School

Communication between home and school is very important. Your child’s teacher is the first port of call for classroom and learning related issues. If an issue concerns the school or relates to issues across year levels or the safety of a child, then communication should be made with the Head of Cumberland, Karen McArdle. The best way to communicate with teachers is via email and with the school via email or phone.

Teachers spend 80% of their time in the classroom teaching and the remainder in planning meetings, professional development and directed duties. Please keep this in mind when sending emails. Your emails are important to us, but teaching a class will take priority over responding to emails. Teachers will respond as soon as they can or when they have the information you request; they will endeavour to respond within 48 hours. Remember, teachers have 30 students and can have numerous emails to respond to, so try to keep emails to important issues only.

Distribution of Class Lists and the Privacy Act

It has come to my attention that, at the end of last year, some students took photographs of the class lists which were displayed for them to see which class they were going to on Step Up day. These students did not have permission to do so and certainly should not have emailed them home. These were school documents and should not have been photographed or sent home.

It was very disappointing to learn that some parents, upon receiving the document from their children, then distributed them to other parents. The school works hard to protect the privacy of its students and families, and this has undermined much of our work. I advise parents to look at the Privacy Laws regarding the distribution of information. On behalf of the College, I apologise to families for this disclosure of information about their child/ren. I ask parents to assist the school in keeping our children and their information safe and to not distribute information in future.

The Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) regulates how personal information is handled. The Privacy Act defines personal information as:

…information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

Common examples are an individual’s name, signature, address, telephone number, date of birth, medical records, bank account details and commentary or opinion about a person…………………

https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/privacy-act/

First Day

Excitement was in the air as students caught up with their friends, met new classmates and their teachers, moved to their classrooms and unpacked their books. For the Year 6 students, it was all about the iPad and how quickly they could get them formatted and connected with the school so they could start using them! There were smiles everywhere!!!!!

Many parents had smiles too as they caught up with friends and went for coffee or lunch – childless or at least with fewer!

I encourage everyone to keep the positive and happy vibe going throughout the year!

Parent Helpers Information Session

The College is offering Fairview and Cumberland School parents the opportunity to partake in the parent helpers’ information session. It will outline the program requirements and how parents can actively be involved in College life. Parents who do not attend the session cannot assist in the classroom. The session is scheduled for Tuesday 6 March 2018, from 6.00pm to 7.00pm. Interested participants can email

admin@aitkencollege.edu.au by Friday 2 March.

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