Principal's Report

Unexplained Student Absence

A new DET policy requires all schools to contact parents on any day their child is absent without explanation. These changes have been implemented to  help ensure the safety of school-aged children during school hours and ensure that schools are fulfilling their duty of care obligations. If your child is away you are required to inform the school via a note in your child's communication diary prior to their absence, or by contacting the school by phone 9859 8762 or email belmore.sch@edumail.vic.gov.au on the morning of their absence.

Please understand that if your child is away without notice, you will be contacted on the day via phone by Anet or Kim.

Belmore School Council

Last Thursday the 2017 Belmore School Council met for the final time prior to the Annual General Meeting to be held in March.  Becoming a School Council member is an excellent way to become involved in our school and provides you with an opportunity to contribute to policy and program development. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our current School Council members who have been invaluable in supporting me throughout the year as School Principal.  Parent members:  Guy Fazzino (Vice President), Brenton Carey (Treasurer), Michelle Corby and Michael Duffy,  community member: Michael Havekotte (President) and DET Members:  Fiona Allen (Secretary), Rose Ngai and Julie Nicholson (Minute Secretary).

In particular, I would like to thank our President Michael Havekotte whose support for Belmore School and for me in my role as Principal has been immeasurable.  In the often demanding role of School Principal it is heartening to know that I have a mentor and confidante who holds the unique understanding of our school along with the skill and wisdom to provide a high quality level of support and guidance when required.

Documentation was sent home last Friday calling for nominations for the 2018 Belmore School Council.  After many years of membership on the School Council Michael , Guy  and Michelle are stepping down so we have three parent member positions vacant which must be filled.  I encourage all Belmore parents to seriously consider becoming a member of our School Council.   All nominations are required to be submitted to the office by 4.00pm on Friday 2nd March.

SSG Meetings

Information on the upcoming SSG meetings will be sent home early next week.  Once again bookings will be online for you to choose the most convenient time for your attendance.

Pupil Free Day - Monday 26th February 

Thank you to all parents for making alternate arrangements for the care of your child on Monday.  All staff will be attending a full day introductory PODD workshop. The Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) approach provides strategies to support the design, production and implementation of communication systems to enable genuine communication for a variety of functions in all daily environments.  We are very fortunate to have Hayley Parfett, a speech pathologist specialising in AAC, continuing this year to support us to achieve our strategic goal to build staff capacity to develop and implement individualised AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) systems for all students.

Take care...Karen