From the Office 

Upcoming Camp/Excursion Payments 

New Prep Enrolments for 2025

Please be advised that Foundation Enrolment for 2025 is now open!

This year our school is using an online system for new enrolments to Victorian government schools called Vic Students.  Vic Students is available for students who are enrolling in a Victorian Government School for the first time. This includes Foundation (Prep) enrolments for 2025.

Vic Students has been assessed by the Department of Education to a high degree of security in line with the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards and is compliant with ISO 27001, the leading international standard for information security.

To commence online enrolment: Visit https://students.educationapps.vic.gov.au/s/ to create an account and complete the online application form. Please ensure that all documents required are attached to the application.

A Quick Reference Guide to using the online system is attached below. However please contact Ringwood North Primary School on 9876 3411 or Ringwood.north.ps@education.vic.gov.au if you have any further questions. 

Absences

The Department of Education requires schools to record attendance/absences of all students, therefore it is vital that we are notified of your child's absence as soon as possible. Protecting the safety and well-being of children through the reporting and monitoring of absenteeism is the responsibility of both parents/carers and schools.  Please remember to update Compass as soon as you know your child will be away, and where possible, please inform us in advance of upcoming long term absences.

Please be advised that if you do not enter your child’s absents in compass, office staff will call you directly for a follow up explanation, as we need to have an explanation for all absences. If you are using the Compass app, you will need to select the "shortcuts tab"at the bottom of your screen and then select "add attendance notes".

If you require any assistance using Compass, please refer to the two attached step by step process on how to enter your child’s absents, or feel free to come and see us in the office - we will be happy to help you!

Late Arrivals

Please ensure that your child is signed in at the office if they arrive after 9am. Once they are signed in, we will give them an orange card that they will need to give to their teacher. This notifies the teacher that they have been signed in to the school and are now marked as present. If they do not come to the office, they will be marked as absent and will show up as an unexplained absence on your child's attendance record.

Early Arrivals

Please be aware that there is no yard supervision in the morning until 8:45am. If you choose to drop your child off before that time, please use our before and after school care service to ensure that your child is safe and well looked after. 

Late Pick-up

If a student is normally collected from school but is still at school beyond normal collection time, the office will make every effort to contact the parents and/or emergency contacts. If no contact can be made with carers, or if the student is still waiting at the office past 15:45, the student will be sent to our after school care provider where there will be a fee charged. If you know that you will be late picking up your child, please contact the office to notify us as soon as possible, so that we can reassure your child and come up with a plan. It is in the best interest of all students to be collected at the end of the day when the bell rings. 

Assembly Times

Assemblies are held every Friday afternoon from 2:50 in the Auditorium. Parents are most welcome to attend. We'd love to see you there! 

PS if you need to pick your child up early on a Friday afternoon, we would appreciate you trying to collect them prior to assembly for ease of collection.

Wet Weather Change of Clothes

With the wet weather we've been having, it would be a good idea to have a spare change of clothes in your child's bag in case they fall and get wet (or jump in puddles!!). While we do have a small supply of spare clothes, our tubs are emptying very quickly. If we have supplied your child with a spare change of clothes, can you please wash those items and bring them back to the office as soon as you can. We would gtreaty apporeciate it.

Head Lice

There have been a large number of incidents of head lice in the school. Please read the guidelines below provided to us by the Department of Education:

When a student is identified with live head lice they must not attend school until the day after treatment has commenced, as set out in the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019, school exclusion table – refer to the health.vic website: School exclusion table.

It is best practice for students to tie hair back if it is long.

Parents and carers have the primary responsibility for the detection and treatment of head lice. Responsibilities include:

• not sending their children to school with untreated head lice
• using safe treatment practices which do not place their child's health at risk
• regularly checking for lice or eggs in the hair of their child and other household members
• notifying the school if their child is affected and when treatment commenced.

More advice  can be found via the following link:

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/head-lice-nits

RNPS has joined the Victoria Container Deposit Scheme.

Victoria’s new Container Deposit Scheme is off to a strong start, with over 10 million containers recycled in the first week. From Wednesday 1 November 2023, Victorian businesses and consumers can claim a 10 cent refund on eligible drink containers. There are several ways to return your eligible containers, including reverse vending machines, depots, over-the-counter sites and pop-up refund points.

The scheme aims to create a cleaner stream of material for recycling and reduce the number of bottles, cans and containers ending up in landfill or on local streets. With over 3 billion drink containers used by Victorian’s every year, every container you return helps.

RNPS parents, extended family, friends ... basically anyone in the community  can download the CDS Vic East app from either the apple store or google store on the links below and help raise fiunds for our school!

Apple Store

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/cds-vic-east/id6457202493

Google Store

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.returnit.cdsviceast&hl=en_AU

Our member number is C2000007656

Once the App is downloaded, type in Ringwood North primary School/education. The app takes you into RNPS donation page and if you click on “SHOWZONE ID BARCODE", the bar code for RNPS comes up as the donation partner ID which you can scan. Alternatively, you can enter in the member number! 

It's that easy! So start collecting and support our amazing school!

2024 Parent Voluntary Financial Contributions

Please find attached the 2024 Parent Voluntary Financial Contribution letter to parents. The covering letter from School Council gives a summary of how the Parent Voluntary Financial Contribution gives our students the best support to enhance their education while at Ringwood North Primary School

Our Parent Voluntary Financial Contributions are sent out to all families of students annually at the end of Term 4. We would like to encourage all our families to consider contributing at the start of the year (Term 1). However, payment can be made at any time and any contributions made will be a huge benefit to our school.

Payment is made through the Compass Portal, or there is the option to pay at the office by cash, card or cheque if preferred. 

School activities, incursions, excursions, and sports that require permission and payment for students are communicated as events through the Compass Portal leading up to the date of the event. Parents will receive communications each time an event is posted.

The Camps Sports and Excursion fund is available to eligible parents to assist with payments of school activities. Please complete an application form and return it to the office with a copy of your Centrelink Card. If you are an existing family new students need to be added to your application. Further information has been included in the newsletter.

Families requiring assistance with payment of activities are encouraged to speak to Ricarda Lillis (Business Manager) as the school can offer families different support options, including with the purchase of uniforms.

CSEF (Camps, Sport & Excursions Fund)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like:

• school camps or trips
• swimming and school-organised sports programs
• outdoor education programs
• excursions and incursions.

Eligibility

On the first day of term one (30 January 2024 or the first day of term two 24 April 2024), a parent or legal guardian of a student must:

• be an eligible beneficiary of one of these cards:
• Veterans Affairs Gold Card
• Centrelink Health Care Card
• Pensioner Concession Card
• OR they must be a temporary foster parent
• OR the student is 16 years or older and holds a valid concession card (such as a Youth Allowance Health Care Card)
• AND the parent or legal guardian must submit an application by the due date.

Parents who receive a carer allowance on behalf of a child, or any other benefit or allowance not income tested by Centrelink, are not eligible for the CSEF unless they also comply with the above.

Eligibility will be determined when the parent’s concession card successfully validates with Centrelink on either the first day of term one or term two.

If the eligible card is in the name of the student, the fund is only granted to that student, not their siblings.

Primary school student rate: $150 per year 

Schools are able to accept and process applications up until the end of term two each year. CSEF payments are made to schools from March onwards each year. Application forms are attached.  Please complete and return this form to us along with a copy of your concession card.The CSEF program for 2024 closes on the 28th June 2024.

School Noticeboard:

Have a look at our Noticeboard (just outside our office doors) for upcoming events and important  information!

Achievements

We love celebrating your child's achievements as much as you do, so if your child has received any special awards or is competing in any special events throughout the year, let us know and we can add it to our newsletter. Our entire community can celebrate with you!

Feel free to send the details and photos to ringwood.north.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Medical Plans and Medication 

Up to date medical plans for your child must be prepared by your GP. The colour copy (with your child's photo attached) should be provided to the office, together with up to date student medication.

Lost Property 

Do any of these items belong to you?

They have been at the office for a few weeks now. If they are not collected by the end of this term, they will unfortunately be given a new home.

PLEASE encourage your children to come and check the Lost Property tubat the office (just past the glass double doors) for any missing items. Sometimes the items appear days later, so we ask that you advise your children to keep checking lost property and not to check "just once". Parents are also welcome to come and look through the tub. 

*Please note that any items of clothingthat have not been collected by the end of each term will either be donated to our second hand uniform shop or will be disposed of.  

School  Pick-Up Zone

Please be aware that the pick-up & drop-off zone at the front of the school is only to be used for quick dropping off & picking up of students. Vehicles must not be parked in this lane, as it stops the flow of cars. This means that parents/carers are not permitted to leave their vehicle. The local council has advised us that they have parking officers who regularly drive around the schools in our area to monitor this. Please be mindful of these rules, as we do not want any one in our community to be issued with any fines. 

Staff Car Park

Just a friendly reminder that for the safety of our students, the staff car park is only to be used by staff during the hours of 8:30am - 4pm, and for OSHC drop off & pick up before and after school. If you are using the car park for OSHC, please ensure that you are driving SLOWLY, so that everyone in the car park is safe. There have been a number of occassions where vehicles have been driving too fast through the car park to get to OSHC. Please consider everyone round you. We greatly appreciate your cooperation with this.

School Uniform

In accordance with the Department of Education and Training guidelines the School Council of Ringwood North Primary School introduced compulsory school uniform. All students of the school will wear the correct uniform at all times. Please view the attachment below for the school uniform guidelines (this can also be found under "Resources" in Compass).

And while we're on the topic of school uniforms, have a look at our warm winter uniform options. It's a little hard to get excited while it's currently so warm, but when the cold winter mornings hit, you'll be pleased that your child is all rugged up and toasty!!

If you are looking for second hand uniforms, we have a few items available at the school office. All items of clothing are $5 a piece.  Feel free to come in and peruse! 

Working With Children Check - Parent/Carer Volunteers

Parents, carers and grandparents volunteering their time to assist at school or with school activities such as excursions, sporting events or camps must have a Working With Children Check and be registered at the office. 

Financial Support for Families

Ringwood North Primary School understands that some families may experience financial difficulty and offers a range of support options, including the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) and alternative payment arrangements. If you have any queries or wish to discuss your circumstances and possible options, please contact the office to make an appointment with the Business Manager or the Principal.

Changing Schools?

If you are relocating to a different school, could you please notify the office as soon as possible so that we can update our records.

School Office Hours & Contact Details

Our school office operates between the hours of 8.30am to 4pm 

Ph 9876 3411

ringwood.north.ps@education.vic.gov.au