Notices

13 Reasons Why Season 2

13 Reasons Why, Season 2 commenced last week. Season 1 of the show depicted a number of confronting topics related to adolescent mental health in the context of suicide. Netflix and Headspace have released a resource for parents to discuss the content of Season 2 with their teens. The resource can be found here:

https://13reasonswhy.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AUSTRALIA-PARENTS-13RY-Headspace.pdf

There is also a discussion resource for young people here:

https://13reasonswhy.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AUSTRALIA-YOUNG-PEOPLE-13RY-Headspace.pdf

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are concerned about someone you know, please arrange to see a School Counsellor by visiting the Student Support Suite, or call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Rebecca Anderson

School Counsellor - Registered Psychologist

Traffic Safety at KWS

I am writing to ask (plead really) for the cooperation of all drivers in making traffic safety in and around our school a personal priority.

On Thursday 24th May the afternoon traffic queue of cars with prep parents picking up children stretched (as always) back past the Stop sign towards Cox Ave. This is to be expected. As a teacher who was walking from the main bus bay area adjacent to the Gym down to Sally Kennett Oval behind the Gym walked past the first car he observed the driver chatting away on her phone. By the time he reached the end of the queue he had counted 14 out of the 19 cars in the queue where the driver was either talking on, texting or reading their phone whilst driving.

This behaviour is well-recognised as being a significant factor in increasing the risk of injury or death to pedestrians – particularly children. Aside from anything else, using a mobile telephone in anything other than hands-free mode while in control of a motor vehicle is unlawful. Just because you are inside the gates of the School does not alter this fact.

As a final comment, we highlighted the use of mobile phones as one of the safety rules on campus in the video prepared by our Prep School students in late 2017. I would ask all drivers to remind themselves of the rules by taking a few minutes to re-watch the video, which can be found here: https://vimeo.com/253348293

In the end, the safety of your own children is at risk. It requires a conscious effort from all drivers to prioritise pedestrian safety.

Thank you for your attention.

Greg Alderson

Business Manager

Language Exchanges:

Host Family Expressions of Interest

As the school builds upon its International Exchange Program to include a Language Exchange Program, we are seeking expressions of interest for volunteer host families to welcome some of our international visitors. Students participating in this program a likely to come from France, with a good level of English, but may also be from New Zealand or Scotland and, in the future, Wales, England, India or Japan. Students are 15-16 years old and would be in Year 10, attending KWS for between 4 and 6 weeks and participating in all aspects of school life as well as other cultural excursions. This is an excellent opportunity for students to get to know a culture other than their own, and would be particularly beneficial to students of French, though this is not a requirement. If you and your family would be interested in participating in the program, please forward expressions of interest to either Mrs. Catherine Litchfield (clitchfield@kws.nsw.edu.au) or Ms. Holly Young (hyoung@kws.nsw.edu.au). Any such expression would not commit you to the program and an information session and package will become available at a later date.

Holly Young

Swimming Pool Housekeeping

Just lately there have been an increase in unsupervised KWS children at the pool so I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the following:

If your child does not have lessons or squad training, waiting at the pool for collection is not an option.
If one child has lessons but their siblings do not, they cannot come to the pool to watch unless they have adult supervision with them.
If your child’s lesson is at 3.30pm or 3.45pm (squads) they can come straight to the pool from school, any lesson after that must involve them being brought over by after school care or a supervising adult, waiting at the pool unsupervised is not an option.
Junior squads finishes between 4.45pm and 5.00pm, leaving your children at the pool and not collecting them until 5.30pm is not acceptable.

The pool staff cannot be responsible for children who are not meant to be at the pool for a specific purpose, please remember that it is not an extension of the playground or after school care and should not be treated as though it is. These measures are designed to ensure the safety of all children who come to the pool. Many of you would be aware that the Orange Aquatic centre requires children under the age of 12 to be accompanied by an adult at all times, we believe we are very flexible in the arrangements that we have set up and would not like to go down the same road as the public pool.

Mrs Jo Keown

KWS Swimming Co-ordinator

Head Lice

Winter is almost here and while it may seem like head lice are hiding away from the cooler weather, there is (unfortunately) no off-season for head lice.

Please refer to the School Program link so that you are up to date with how to treat and deal with head lice whatever the season may be - https://www.moov.com.au/school-program/.

Mrs Ruth Edwards

Parent Teacher Interviews

A new way of booking for Parent Teacher Interviews will be introduced to the Prep School from Term 2. Parents with students in the secondary school will be familiar with the PTO (Parent Teacher Online) system which will be introduced into the Prep School.

Parent Teacher interviews will be on Tuesday 26 and Thursday 28 June and bookings can be made for 3:30 – 6:45pm on either of the days, but not both.

The PTO system will open for parents to make bookings from 12 June at 9am and will close off on Tuesday 26 June at 8am. Parents are not able to login outside of these dates and times.

Please ensure your EMAIL address is up to date in the KWS System. We have provided PTO the mother’s email address, unless there is no address and then the father’s will be used. This is the email address that will need to be entered by you to request the login details from the PTO website. Both parents’ email addresses will be provided in the case of parents living apart so separate logins can be requested.

NB – For class 6C parents only – Mrs Charlton will be away on Tuesday 26 June. Bookings with Mrs Charlton for Thursday 28 June can be made by logging in and booking on PTO. Mrs Charlton will do interviews on Wednesday 27 June in lieu of Tuesday but to book for this day, parents will need to email or ring the Prep Office and book with Mrs Edwards at prepoffice@kws.nsw.edu.au or ring 6392 0316. Bookings can only be made in the same date range as for PTO bookings and no bookings will be made prior to that time.

Mrs Ruth Edwards