Dear Parents and Carers,

Semester Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

The Semester report cards were released via the ‘reports tab’ on your Compass Dashboard on Thursday afternoon. The reports provides a summary of the targeted teacher feedback for each unit or topic completed throughout the semester, this feedback has also been progressively reported throughout each term via the learning tasks tab in Compass.

Parent/Teacher interviews will be held on Tuesday 30th July in the afternoon and evening and on Wednesday 31st July in the afternoon.

Bookings can be made through Compass and will open soon. Please take the opportunity to meet with the teacher to discuss your child’s progress and how you can work in partnership with the teacher to support continued growth and improvement.

Foundation 2025 - Open Day & School Tours

We have had strong interest in our school for Foundation 2025. Many future families having already taken a tour of Belgrave South and submitted enrolments forms for next year. If you have a kinder aged child who will be starting at Belgrave South next year, please make sure that you collect an enrolment pack from the main office and return the form as soon as possible as the enrolments period will soon close.

Camp and Excursions and Parent Contributions

The current economic climate and the rising cost of living is creating challenging conditions for families and schools across the state. We are incredibly conscious of these challenges and are reviewing our arrangements for camps and excursions at each year level as we continue our planning to ensure that we balance amazing experiences for our students with the most affordable options available.

Our parent contributions are vital to us being able to provide the programs and resources that our students use every day, such as the digital device program. Following changes made by the Department of Education in late 2021 to amend its policy, we saw a shift from “Essential Item Contributions” to “Curriculum Contributions”, and the revised policy states “Schools provide students with free instruction to fulfil the standard Victorian curriculum and we want to assure you that all contributions are voluntary.”

This change in terminology has led some families to believe that their contributions are no longer necessary. However, without these contributions, we need to consider very carefully changes that may be required to the many programs and resources that we use that enhance our programs and make our school special. Your continued support allows us to offer many opportunities and programs beyond the standard Victorian curriculum.

I appreciate that some families cannot make these contributions due to financial hardship. There are many options available to us to be able to provide financial support to families to enable students to participate in all parts of our learning program. It is also important to know that the funds raised through many of our fundraising activities such as the Mother’s Day stall and weekly canteen, are directed towards the costs associated with student programs to support all students being able to participate.

Please consider making a contribution If you have not already and are in a financial position to do so to support the work that we do and the resources that we provide in educating your children.

Please make contact with myself, our Assistant Principal, Jackie Rawson, or our Business Manager, Robyn Garrett, if you need to confidentially discuss the supports available.

School Council Sub-Committees

Sub-Committees of School Council are designed to provide a range of expertise needed to inform and support School Council in their decision making. They are intended to engage with the broader school community by fostering collaborating and actively engaging with stakeholders. Sub-Committees pay a crucial role in ensuring that decisions made by School Council are well informed, transparent, and reflective of the diverse perspectives within the school environment. Furthermore, their contributions enhance the overall effectiveness and inclusivity of school governance processes.

We have recently reviewed our school council sub-committee structure and seek greater involvement of our broader parent community in this space. We have established two sub-committees, Community Connections and Policy and Planning, to support the work of school council

The purpose of the Community Connections Sub-Committee is to:

Coordinate and provide oversight of significant fundraising and community-related events within the school calendar.
Provide oversight of the utilisation of school facilities by the community, including assessing access requests, long-term hire agreements, and evaluating the appropriateness of their use.

The purpose of the Policy and Planning Sub-Committee is to:

Coordinate a cyclical process of policy review and oversight of preparation and implementation of new policies where required.
Provide oversight of events that impact upon the school calendar. These may include, but are not limited to, curriculum days, the timing of major fundraising events, school cleaning arrangements, building works, and the cyclical school review process.

The groups will meet at least once per term. If you are interested in joining one of these sub-committees, the terms of reference for each committee and nomination forms will be available from the main office from the beginning of Term 3.

Have a wonderful term break and we will see you all back at school for another incredible term of learning.

Take care and stay safe.

Stuart.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents.

Foundation

Lynn Bok & Mason Fitzgerald