Assistant Principal's Report

Sunsmart

To all of our families just a reminder that students are required to wear a Syndal South hat at school during recess and lunchtimes as well as during  PE, sport and outdoor learning activities.

It has been noted that quite a few students have been borrowing hats from the office now that the weather has become warm and sunny because they do not have a hat or forget to bring their hat to school.

I would encourage students who do not own a school hat to purchase a hat from the school office for $10.00.  I would also encourage parents to remind their child to check that their hat is in their school bag before coming to school each morning.  Your support with this would be greatly appreciated.

Mobile Phone Policy

The Victorian Government takes the safe and responsible use of digital technologies, student safety and well-being, and the development of social skills and positive behaviour, very seriously. On this basis, the Hon. James Merlino MP, Minister for Education, announced that a new mobile phone policy would take effect from Term 1 2020.  Syndal South has developed a new mobile phone policy which also takes into account the use of smart watches as well to align with the new DET guidelines.

Whilst the Victorian Government acknowledges that we live in a technology-rich world where mobile phones are an important communication tool, research has found that mobile phones can be disruptive in classrooms and open to misuse at school. The unregulated presence of mobile phones in classrooms can undermine students’ capacity to think, learn, remember, pay attention and regulate emotion.

At recess and lunchtime, opportunities for students to communicate with each other face-to-face or be involved in physical activity are also valued, rather than students being focused on a mobile phone, particularly when they are using it to engage with social media.

This new policy acknowledges that technology is increasingly affecting how students learn and communicate. Therefore, when a student has been given explicit permission to access and use such devices to enhance learning by the classroom teacher, mobile phones will be permitted for that specific purpose. For a small number of students with particular learning or health and well-being needs, an exception to the policy may also be granted.

This policy will remove a major distraction from our classrooms, so that teachers can teach, and students can learn in a more focused, positive and supported environment.

At Syndal South Primary School students in Foundation to Year 4 who bring a mobile phone to school are expected to hand their phone into the office at the beginning of the day , where it will be placed in a locked cupboard. Students in years 5 and 6 will be expected to hand their phone into the class teacher who will then place the phone in a securely locked cupboard.

If you would like to read the new Mobile Phone - Student Use Policy, it will be uploaded onto the Syndal South school website in the very near future.

G.A.T.E.WAYS

Congratulations to our year 3 and 4 students who represented Syndal South at the G.A.T.E.WAYS District challenge yesterday.  Syndal South sent 4 teams from this age group to the competitions. The following students were amazing and worked very hard  from the beginning of Term 3 to prepare for the event. The students representing Syndal South included: Nicole, Jeremy, Jamie, Isha, Kartik, Declan, Anish, Sithmi, Ziyad, Vidya, Joe S, Quin, Marcus, Sophie, Lydia and Damian.  A huge congratulations to Marcus T, Sophie, Lydia and Damian as their team placed third in the first stage of the District Challenge competition yesterday at Mountain Gate Primary School. We will find out in a few weeks as to whether or not this team has enough points to advance to the next stage of the competition.

We also look forward to learning about our year 5 and 6 students experience,  who are also competing in the G.A.T.E.WAYS challenge today.