From the Executive Principal

Reminders from the Executive Principal

It disappoints me when you only hear me reinforcing rules but at the start of term new families need to know and some continuing families need reminding.

Picking up Students during the day

 I wanted to follow up on my previous reminder, sent home as an email, regarding the collection of students during the school day. As mentioned, we are not equipped to locate students if parents arrive to collect them between breaks.

Today, we experienced a situation that highlights the importance of this policy. A student forgot to meet their parent at the appointed time, resulting in our receptionist leaving their station to search for the student. Unfortunately, the class had moved rooms and was not found. This led to the Secondary Principal, Executive Principal, and Year 9 Coordinator all pausing their work to assist in the search. We probably used about 40 mins of time between us.

Imagine this scenario multiplied by 20 parents in a day wanting to collect their children during lesson time. I am sure you can understand the significant disruption this causes. Therefore, we kindly request that you arrange to collect your child at the beginning of a break. While this may mean picking them up at 10:30 AM for a 12:00 PM appointment, it is a common practice in medium to large schools.

Please make sure your child knows you will be collecting them early and ask them to meet you at the appropriate office.
Students can only be collected during recess and lunchtime breaks.
Please ensure you send an email to the class teacher and include the office office@pvcc.vic.edu.au. For Secondary students, this means the teacher they have during P2 (before recess) and P5 before lunch.
Please check your child's timetable for days they have sports, they may be off campus.
We cannot guarantee that a student will hear an announcement over the PA system at lunch or recess (announcements are not permitted during class time)

Please be aware that secondary teachers teach over 100 students each day and so you cannot rely on them to remind your child. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

Car Park Protocol

You don’t need to be parked before the bell rings. We simply don’t have enough parking spaces for all parents at the same time.

In my early years at PVCC, I was amazed by the number of parents who would leave home early just to park and wait for their child for a long time. While on crossing duty, I noticed a mum who had arranged to meet her children—one from middle school and one from junior school—at 3:35 PM in the car park. The students took their time, spending about 15 minutes getting organized and chatting with friends as they made their way to the car park. When mum arrived, there were plenty of spaces available. The kids hopped in the car, and they were on their way.

Parents at PVCC are lovely and generally let people merge at intersections. On the main road please continue to do this. When attempting to leave Carparks 3 and 4 (the one that goes around in a horseshoe) don’t be too nice. If you let every car who wants to leave go in front of you the poor car at the end of the line doesn’t move. Please just stop for one or two cars leaving their parking spot especially if you have been waiting a while.

Ensuring Student Safety: Drop-Off and Pick-Up Guidelines

Walking students in or waiting for them:

To ensure the safety of our students, we must implement certain measures. Adults are no longer allowed to enter play areas without signing in or being directly supervised.

Primary Parents: Please do not walk your children beyond the edge of the car park.
Early Years Parents: You may walk your children to the Early Years gates.

We regret this measure as much as you do but this is the world we live in at the moment. From Monday 10 February, we will be asking parents to abide by this requirement.

Dropping off or collecting with cars:

Students should only be dropped off or collected from the front carparks unless they have a medical condition.

Do not use the roundabout near the Administration Office to drop off or collect students. There are unsupervised students in those areas and unexpected cars using that area create a risk for them.
Do not use the carpark behind the Multipurpose Hall to drop off or collect students. We don’t want unsupervised students in that area.
Do not park cars on the gravel road to the EY Carpark, that the second buses use.
Do remind your child to use the designated crossings.

Even if you are running late, students can walk from the designated carparks. I have observed that parents who are running late have a tendency to drive over 20kph and take more risks. Let’s not endanger other students to save a few minutes.

John Metcalfe

Executive Principal