LPS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Term 4

Wow! Term 4 already! I can’t believe how quickly the year has gone. Here we are only 9 weeks from Christmas and there’s still so much to happen before we break up at the end of term. We are in the midst of finalising our staffing for 2019 and we hope to have this completed soon.

PFA Walkathon – Pop and Rockathon

The PFA “Pop and Rockathon” is all ready to go. We continue to encourage children to collect sponsors to make this another really successful event.

 

The final day for the return of forms is Friday of this week if you want to be in the running for the final assembly raffle draw on Monday. The Walkathon is this Wednesday so I hope everyone has their ‘Pop or Rock” costume ready!

Parent Opinion Survey

Recently, 270 families were sent a link to an online Parent Opinion Survey. Despite promoting the Survey, which comes directly from the Department of Education and Training, we had only 20 families who took the time to respond to the survey. This is about 7% of the families who were sent a survey and only about 3% of the total school population.

 

The annual parent opinion survey is a valuable tool for us to continue to improve our school and to respond positively to the needs of our community. Unfortunately, the data we have received this year will be of limited value due to the incredibly low return rate. I hope that we can get a much better return rate next year when the survey is conducted again.

 

If you have any feedback for us, particularly if it is related to the reason you chose not to complete the survey, eg. too many surveys, couldn't log on.

OSHC Parent and Student Survey

Soon, there will be another opportunity to provide your feedback and I hope a number of families respond. We have an increasing number of complaints and concerns regarding the OSHC program particularly in the way Camp Australia are managing the program.

 

School Council has established an OSCH Committee to look into this and to ensure we have the best OSHC program possible. An online survey will be sent to all parents. The survey asks a number of questions from the parents perspective but also a small number of questions for students who attend the program.

 

It would be great if parents could help children with this part of the survey. More details of the survey will be available soon.

Classes for 2017

Already there have been parents making enquiries as to which teachers will be in what grades or roles next year so that they can make requests for particular teachers.

 

Please know that it is my firm policy NOT to take requests for particular teachers. Certainly, there are a very small number of children who may have particular social or academic needs and these will be considered when deciding grade placements. These requests should be submitted to me in writing when we are allocating children to grades.

 

Please also note that we do not have confirmed grade allocations for teachers until at least early-December so don’t start asking teachers which grade they’ll have next year. They probably won’t know and are not allowed to tell you anyway! Factors such as the employment of new teachers, mean that there may even be uncertainties about grade allocations during the Christmas holidays.

 

The placement of children in grades is a complex task, taking into account the academic and social characteristics of each child, friendship groups, composite grade arrangements and special circumstances. A change of grade after they have been allocated is normally difficult and rarely accommodated. Please understand that allocations are arranged with the best interests of each child in mind. This may or may not coincide with your personal preferences as a parent.

Birthday Food in Classrooms

I had a question from a parent recently about the practice of parents bringing food like lolly bags or cakes on their child’s birthday for their classmates to share. It’s a difficult one because, on the one hand, the children love it! On the other hand, we know we have the risk of food allergies.

 

We certainly don’t want to discourage the practice but we do ask parents to be aware that there are a number of children with food allergies or intolerances, and some who have cultural and/or religious dietary requirements. We generally allow class teachers to manage the food distribution as they have knowledge of their children and any potential risks involved. In order to help the teachers, we ask parents to firstly, not use any nuts or nut products and secondly, where possible, to provide a list of ingredients for the teacher.

Walker Learning Study Tour

Today, we hosted our first Walker Learning Study tour with a team of about 12 teachers from other schools observing our classrooms and teachers in order to implement Walker Learning in their own classrooms. We are very proud to be recognised in this way as an outstanding Walker Learning school and we look forward to hosting many more study tours in the future.

Enrolments and Transition

Prep transition begins in earnest this week with the first of our “school experience afternoons” happening tomorrow. Many of our Preps for 2019 will attend on Friday afternoon as part of their overall induction. Enrolments are strong for 2019 with about 900 students expected. The estimated grade numbers are shown below.

World Outdoor Learning Day

Next week, we will be celebrating World Outdoor Learning Day with a large range of engaging activities in our beautiful grounds and in the local community. The outdoors form such an important part of our school curriculum and are such a critical part of a child’s development. Outdoor Learning Day should be fantastic fun!

REMINDER: Black Only Footwear at school

Since 2017, the Student Dress Code now covers footwear which has previously not been covered well in the policy. The change was prompted by a rise in the amount of inappropriate footwear being worn by children and some teasing that had been happening, especially in senior grades, regarding issues like cost and brand names. The new policy was strongly supported by the PFA and the School Council and we brought in the new regulations in term 1 this year to allow parents some transition time. Essentially, we insist on black only footwear. The new wording in the policy is shown here:

 

3.13   Footwear:

  • Safe, comfortable footwear must be worn at all times.
  • All footwear must be black with no visible logos, colours or decoration.
  • Footwear may be school shoes or sports shoes as long as they are black.
  • Footwear must completely enclose the foot, must fit firmly and comfortably and must be appropriate for a range of school activities.
  • Footwear must be in good and serviceable condition.
  • Children may wear sports shoes that are not black, only whilst they are participating in school sports activities.
  • Open-toed footwear is not acceptable under playground conditions. Thongs, surf thongs and/or open-toed sandals may only be worn whilst in attendance at swimming programs.

 

Greg Lacey

Principal