Principal
I warmly welcome our school community back to Term 4 and look forward to finishing off 2023 with optimism and an energy that is in line with the wonderful program to be delivered over the next 11 weeks. I hope that the holiday period provided our students with the opportunity to refresh and recharge for the term ahead.
Term 4 is full of change with VCAA Exams for all Year 12 students, Orientation Programs, End of Year programs, School Concert, 60th Anniversary Celebrations and final assessments. The school is busy planning the program for 2024 and all families will receive some information around the transition program later this term.
I look forward to seeing everyone over the term and to experiencing what our students can achieve.
Compass Pay
This afternoon all students at Lalor Secondary College will be bringing home an information flyer on the new service available to all families – Compass Pay. As of today, all future excursions and events will use Compass Pay as the process for providing permission and payment.
Parents will now receive a direct email notification when their child is added to an excursion such as Sport, informing them to log into Compass and provide payment and consent. It is therefore extremely important that parents provide up to date email addresses to the school so that the communication of these events can be received, and parents can provide permission for their child to attend events. CSEF can be accessed via a tick box via this service.
Hard copy permission slips can still be accessed via the general office for those not wishing to access this service.
The information brochure for this service is shown at the end of my article for more information. If anybody has any questions, please call the general office on 9463 7300.
60th Anniversary Celebrations Day
This Sunday the 15th of October is the schools 60th Anniversary Celebrations Day. The celebrations day / carnival being held at the school as part of the celebrations is a chance for the college to say thank you to our community for the support, we have received over the past 60 years. This event will have food trucks, entertainment and carnival rides and attractions. It will be huge, and tickets will be only $20 for kids and $10 for smaller children. The normal pricing for the tickets for the rides would be around $60, so start planning on how you can get to this event.
This event starts at 10am and finishes at 4pm.
I hope that all students can take the time to celebrate the 60th year of Lalor Secondary College during this event.
School Lunches from Home: With warmer weather months arriving we thought we’d suggest some reminders for parents about safe food handling practices for the school lunchbox:
- Put a frozen container, such as a frozen drink, in the lunchbox with food that is normally refrigerated, such as cured meats and yoghurt. Alternatively use an insulated lunchbox or cooler.
- Avoid including food in lunches that would normally be kept in the refrigerator, especially during the summer months.
- When preparing school lunches avoid perishable foods which have just been cooked or warmed, such a hamburgers or boiled eggs. Such foods should be cooled in the refrigerator before being used in lunches.
- Discard any leftovers and do not reuse.
Thunderstorm Asthma
With the change in weather over the spring period we are more likely to experience conditions that lead to Asthma in the young people attending our college. To assist with managing the likelihood of an asthma attack, I’ve included some information and questions to help assess whether this could be something affecting your family.
Could it be asthma?
Do you ever:
• Get short of breath when you are not exercising or at unexpected times?
Find that your shortness of breath is seasonal, or that during some months or times of year your breathing is worse?
• Have cough or coughing spells even when you do not have a cold?
• Notice times when there is wheezing or whistling in your chest?
• Feel tightness in your chest when you are short of breath?
• Wake up at night with shortness of breath or wheeze?
• Notice wheeze, cough, or chest tightness in certain environments, such as hot/cold air, dusty places, or in certain
homes?
• Wheeze when you exercise.?
If you experience any of the above, ask your pharmacist or doctor about a lung health check.
If you would like more information, please call The Asthma Foundation of Victoria on 1800 645 130 or visit.
Asthma: 10 things you may want to tell your doctor.
Symptoms
1. If you wake up coughing, wheezing or breathless.
2. If you struggle to keep up with normal activity
Triggers
3. Anything that seems to trigger/make your asthma worse
4. What you do about your triggers and whether this helps
Medication
5. How often you take your blue reliever puffer
6. How often you take your preventer medication
7. How you use your device
8. If you are using any other medications or complementary therapies
Asthma plan
9. I would like an asthma action plan.
10. I would like a regular asthma review
If there are any questions around the information above, please contact me via the details listed in this newsletter.
Best regards,
Corey Jewell
College Principal