Principal's Update

Dear parents/carers

I hope that everyone had a restful break and have returned safely ready for another busy term. I am happy to report that Term 2 has had a very settled start. On the Term 2 Staff Development Day, staff worked closely together to embed Aboriginal perspectives across the key learning areas of the curriculum. Staff also completed the mandatory annual CPR and Anaphylaxis training. 

The Term 2 Areas of Focus documents should be shared this week. These documents give parents and carers a detailed overview of what is being taught this term as well as any additional pieces of information families need to stay informed. Students will be participating in weekly gymnastics lessons in the school hall.  From next week during PDH lessons, K-6 students will be taught Strong Minds lessons to help build resilience and enhance wellbeing. 

This term, staff will be completing professional learning on restorative practices. Over the next 2 weeks, staff will complete Twilight PL over 2 Wednesday afternoons from 3:15pm – 6:15pm which will mean they will not be required to attend school on the last staff development day at the end of the year. Other focus areas of staff development this term involve High Potential and Gifted Education and the explicit teaching of writing.

Extra-curricular groups start this term. These groups are available for students due to staff volunteering their time and expertise so on behalf of the community, I would like to thank them for their efforts. Below is a table that outlines each extra-curricular group being organised this year. If you have any questions regarding the extra-curricular groups, please refer them to the organising teachers.

Change in Friday bell times (Terms 2 and 3)

Due to the introduction of sport gala days and the inability to book buses for Friday mornings PSSA, we have changed the bell times on Fridays. 

11.00 - 11.20am - recess

1:10 - 1.20pm Eating Time

1.20 - 1.40pm Ist Half lunch

1.40 - 2.00pm 2nd half lunch

Staffing Update

On behalf of the school community, I would like to congratulate Mr & Mrs Foster on the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Arlo. Arlo Foster was born on Tuesday, 12th April weighing 3.84kg. Mrs Foster and Arlo are both doing well and are adjusting to newborn life. They are looking forward to visiting so that everyone can meet him. 

I would like to welcome Ms Coppini to Dundas Public School. Ms Coppini is teaching K Warin for the remainder of the year. Ms Coppini had a detailed handover with Mrs Foster before the end of the term, so the transition has been a smooth and very successful one. 

I would like to introduce Mr Upton to our school. As you are already aware, Mrs Fakhoury had to leave due to a change in her personal circumstances. Mr Upton will be teaching 3 Wilbung with Mrs Singh. Mrs Singh will be on 3 Wilbung on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Mr Upton will be teaching the class on Wednesday to Friday. Mr Upton is no relation to Mrs Upton who teachers 2 Buru.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Mr Brennen has replaced Mrs McCarthy on Wednesdays (3/4D) and Thursdays (4/5G).

I am confident everyone will make Mr Brennen, Ms Coppini and Mr Upton feel very welcome.

School Payments – School Bytes

Dundas Public school goes live from Tuesday 9th May with our New finance module. We are NOT able to accept POP payments anymore. 

The School Bytes portal provides flexibility for you to conveniently:

 • make school payments online (including paying for multiple siblings at once) 

• use a family credit (fees in advance) to pay for an activity or school contributions

 • download a receipt for payments made 

• view all historical payments in one place

 • complete and submit digital permission notes 

• view the status of all permission notes 

• request a refund if required 

This can be done where you want at any time: day or night.

Through the portal, you will easily be able to download a receipt once a payment has been made and have access to view all historical payments when needed.

Online payments are processed in real-time and can be viewed by school staff immediately.

More information will be shared with the school community early next week. 

You can register for the parent portal NOW via the QR code on the flyer below. Alternatively, you can visit https://portal.schoolbytes.education

Remember to ‘Create a new account’. 

Unwell students

Already this term, we have had many students present to the school office feeling unwell. As the weather is starting to cool and we are moving towards cold and flu season, it is very important that we minimise the spread of illness over the coming months. Please keep your children home from school if they are feeling unwell. 

Applications for Opportunity Class – Applications close 15 May 2023

A reminder that Opportunity Class applications close on 15 May 2023. Applications can only be submitted for students currently in Year 4. The steps to apply online are below.

1. Parents/carers must apply online between Thursday 30 March and Monday 15 May 2023 at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/oc. 
2. Go to https://education.nsw.gov.au/oc and complete the application in full and submit it. (The application will not go through unless you press ‘Submit’.) 
3. Check your email for the confirmation message that it has been submitted correctly. Your screen will also show a green ‘Submitted’ status. 
4. If required, upload any extra documents (for example, medical reports, etc) and press submit again.

School site improvements/issues

Over the coming weeks, there will be some works completed by the Department of Education to improve our school. 

1. Painting – The Kindergarten rooms have already been painted. This happened during the school holidays. The rooms in the Devlin building (Year 1 and 1/2G rooms) are to be painted from Monday 15th May. Classes will be move to the school library while the classrooms are being painted and I thank Mrs Bohan for being so flexible during this time.

2. Fencing – We are having the fences around the front and back carparks replaced with better quality fencing which will protect students and staff a lot better. This work will be happening over the coming weeks. 

3. K-2 Cubby house – Unfortunately, we have had to remove the K-2 cubby house from the school playground. The timber had started to weaken, and it was becoming unsafe. I would like to thank Mr and Mrs Newham for originally donating the cubby house to Dundas Public School and to Mr Walker and Mr Shipley for moving it to our location. 

4. We have added 2 all-weather ping-pong tables to the playground space. They are located near the school canteen. Students in 3-6 will have the opportunity to play on the tables during lunch times. Mr Dean has created a roster as well as behavioural expectations which are displayed on the canteen wall near the tables. 

5. School gates – Unfortunately we are experiencing issues with the automatic gate on St Andrews Place. We have requested it to be looked at by the company that installed it some years ago, however that may take some time. We alerted the school community last week on SkoolBag that the automatic gate function had stopped working and that the Kenworthy St automatic gate will be the access point during the school day. We will manually open the St Andrews gate every morning for student drop-off and afternoon for pick-ups. 

6. Student toilet upgrade – We are planning to give the inside of the student toilet blocks a makeover. 

The images below will be used in the entry and sink areas. The colours may differ from the examples. 

I have asked for the students to vote on the theme they would like to see in the cubicle section. The themes the children can choose from are: 

1. Superhero theme in both the boys and girls toilets 

OR 

2. Sports (boys) /Spring Flowers (girls) theme 

We are also planning to include positive affirmations on the toilet doors, so we are asking students to vote on the sayings that mean something to them. The sayings they can choose from include: 

• Do the right thing even when no one is looking 
• Be the reason why someone smiles 
• Throw kindness around like confetti 
• You don’t have to be perfect to be amazing 
• Kindness is our super power 
• We rise by lifting others 
• Every day is a chance to try harder 
• Be brave, be kind, be you 
• In a world where you can be anything, be kind 
• You are amazing just the way you are 
• The only way to have a friend is to be one 
• Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone! 

Stationery Donation Drive

During Term 2, Dundas Public School is excited to be organising a stationery donation drive to support the charity, ‘Stationery Angels’. ‘Stationary Angels’ is a non-for-profit organisation who collect brand new stationery supplies for students in need across Sydney.

There are so many students in schools across Sydney who are doing it tough. Having their own stationery supplies has an important impact on the student’s sense of belonging and self-worth. We also know that having their own supplies improves their independence during learning.

So we are hoping our wonderful school community can get behind this initiative and support this amazing charity doing such humble work for students.

Stationery Angels needs our help in collecting NEW stationery. Can you help?

Items being collected include the following:

· Pens

· Textas

· Rulers

· Rubbers

· Glue sticks

· Student scissors

· Sharpeners

· Pencil cases

· Highlighters

· Stapler

· Lead pencils

· Coloured pencils

· Geometry sets

· Felt tip pens

· Wind-up crayons

Donations can be placed in a collection tub located in the school office.

School Uniform

It can be tempting with the cooler weather, for students to wear any clothing to school. The school works closely with the DPS P&C to ensure that there is a selection of clothing items available for students to wear in warmer and cooler months of the school year. Students must be wearing a hat to play in unshaded play spaces. 

On non-sport days, it is expected that students wear their full school summer or winter uniform to school.

On sport days, students can wear DPS sports polo shirts, DPS sports shorts or skorts, and plain black track pants (for cooler weather). Students who have earned Met West sports hoodies can wear these hoodies on sports days as they are not part of DPS school uniform.

The NSW Department of Education supports the wearing of school uniform, which promotes a sense of belonging for students and creates a positive identity for the school community. School uniforms also contribute to the personal safety of students by allowing easier recognition of students inside the school and in the community. Other identified benefits of school uniforms are listed below:

1. CONFIDENCE - Uniforms give a sense of confidence to the students as it helps in having a higher opinion about themselves. Students can identify themselves as the students from a good school which boosts their confidence even when they are representing their respective schools in competitions outside.

2. IMPROVES CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS - When all the fashion accessories are taken away from the students and they wear the same school uniform, it completely removes the distraction from the students and they are able to concentrate more on studies.

3. SAVES TIME - When students wear uniforms, it helps them in saving a lot of time as they do not have to select different clothes to wear to school every day.

4. INCREASES DISCIPLINE - When no fashion accessories and fancy clothes are allowed in the school, students are less likely to break disciplinary rules.

5. SAME FOR EVERYONE - When there are uniforms for everyone, there is total fairness for both genders.

6. OUTSIDERS ARE EASILY IDENTIFIABLE - When all the students wear the same uniform, any student or person entering the school from outside is easily identified.

7. SENSE OF EQUALITY - When all the students wear the same clothes, they do not compare each other in terms of being rich or poor. They consider everybody the same as every other student in the school.

8. SAVES COST FOR PARENTS - School uniforms are a lot cheaper as compared to branded clothes which is the reason it saves a lot of money for the parents.

Below is a link to the Uniform Shop information page on the Dundas PS website. 

https://dundas-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/p-c/uniform-shop.html

Lost Property

The pieces of school clothing in the lost property bin are overflowing already. We will attempt to return all labelled uniform pieces to students this week. 

One of the most time-consuming tasks when returning lost property is finding where the piece of clothing is labelled. There are so many places where student names are written, some of them very small and difficult to locate or read. 

It would be very much appreciated if all parents and carers could please update school jackets, hats, lunchbox and drink bottle items with names that are clear to read and easy to find. 

P&C Corner

P&C are organising a Mother’s Day stall at school on Tuesday, 9th May. 

They are looking for volunteers who can generously donate their time and help out at the yearly Mother’s Day Stall!  

The Mother’s Day stall will be selling gifts for children to buy their mums, grandma's, carers, or anyone special in their lives. The date of the stall will be Tuesday 09 May, and we will need helpers anytime between 11am and 2.30pm. If you can assist for the whole time, or even just an hour, it would be appreciated, and the kids love seeing their parents at the school! 

If you can help or have any questions, please contact us at pandc.dundas@gmail.com 

Kind regards,

Lee Shipley

Principal