The Kingswood Newsletter

Assistant School Principal

Aaron Cox 

Assistant School Principal

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome back to another great year here at Kingswood.

The staff pride themselves on laying the foundations of success and providing an inordinate number of opportunities to students to broaden their academic and social horizons. This results in the school continually communicating with you on a regular basis via Compass. To eradicate lost paper notices of the past we have become a one stop shop for all school based communication. Everything is on Compass. This system was introduced late in 2015.

 

The benefits of this system are that anything related to your child appears in your specific Compass portal. To date, the system has not had one recorded instance of a parent missing a notification, excluding new parents joining the school after the release of an event or course confirmation. This system provides parents and the school with peace of mind that communication lines are working.

 

Having said that, there are some very basic steps parents can take to ensure nothing is missed:

  1. Ensure your primary parent email address is up to date.
  2. Read carefully.
  3. We implore you not to assume when reading, avoid at all cost scan reading as this inevitably leads to disappointment and/or frustration
  4. Check into your Compass portal regularly. We recommend 2-3 times per week.
  5. Read carefully.
  6. Where possible log in using a computer. Like every app on a handheld device, they are limited in scope. The smaller the screen the greater the chance of error.
  7. Contact the event organiser via Compass if you need any clarification.
  8. Read carefully
  9. Turn on your notifications for Compass (Apple and Android)
  10. And in case you have been scan reading, please read carefully

 

Without doubt we all want the same thing for your children. We want your child to broaden their experiences and participate in as many things as possible and to give them the best education possible. 

 

Kingswood staff make the commitment that you will be notified of every event that involves your child. We will endeavour to make further contact with you as closing dates approach. In the event you do not take the action prescribed in the school communication it is important that families understand the school will respect your decision not to participate. 

 

Let's ensure together we build positive relationships between school and home so that we model outstanding behaviours that will benefit our students/children in the future. Together we lay the foundations for success. 

 

If you feel as though you need or would like some 1:1 coaching with Compass, please make an appointment with me through the school office. I am more than happy to work with you so that you can have the best Compass experience. We all learn at different paces and Kingswood is here to support you on your Compass learning journey.

SCHOOL PARKING –DROP OFF AND PICK UP

I wish to bring to your attention the need to observe the parking signs situated outside the school. Parking authorities frequently visit the area looking for offenders. The 2-minute Parking Zone at the front of the school is a drop-off and pick up area ONLY. The sign means you have a maximum of 2 minutes to drop off or collect your children. Staff car park is for authorised vehicles only and it should not be used by pedestrians.  Please enter the school grounds via the pedestrian gates. 

 

When using a drop-off and pick-up area you:

  • must use the area like a quick moving taxi rank
  • need to move forward in the queue of vehicles to the signed area
  • can get out of your vehicle to quickly help your children get in and out safely (once in the signed area) — however you must not walk away from your vehicle
  • are only allowed 2 minutes in the signed area (if you take any longer you can be fined) — if your children are not ready to get straight into your vehicle at pick-up time, you will need to drive round to enter the area again
  • should only let your children out once you have pulled into the signed area (it is dangerous to let them out while waiting in a queue)
  • should teach your children to look out for your vehicle and to get in quickly when you pull up from the kerbside. Not the street side
  • must enter front in (never reverse)

Thank you to all the parents who are using the 2 minute drop off zone appropriately at the beginning and end of the day. You are modelling best practice for our students and other parents. This behaviour significantly increases the likelihood of other parents following the rules mentioned above so that the entire school community benefits.

 

Inspectors have already been around this year and issued fines. We will continue to educate our parents but we hold no sway over fines received.

 

Once again thank you to our parents for using the kiss and go area before and after school as intended.

 

Until next time

Aaron Cox

Assistant Principal