Principal's Update
At Dundas Public School we do our best always
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome Mrs Impala
We would like to introduce Mrs Impala to our school. Mrs Impala is working in the school office 4 days a week from Monday to Thursday and will be supporting students, staff and parents in her role as School Administration Officer. Mrs Impala is in the photo below with Mrs Haddock and Mrs Piccolo.
Book Week Character Parade
It was wonderful to see so many of our children, teachers and family members celebrate Book Week at our character parade yesterday. Thank you to all who dressed up as a favourite character and attended our parade and picnic. Thank you to Mrs Zalaf and Mrs Bohan for organising the event and to the band and choir for performing. Below are some photos from the day.
English Curriculum Parent Workshop
Thank you to those of you who were able to join our English Curriculum Parent Workshop yesterday. The event was very well attended with a packed library. Feedback from the workshop, has been overwhelmingly positive with 100% of parents saying that the session was helpful in supporting their understanding of the new English syllabus and that they felt more confident in supporting their child at home. Below are two responses from the feedback.
I really enjoyed the session today, learning about what students are learning at school and how to support them at home. Thank you!
Thank you! I’d love more of this.
I thank Mrs Taylor and Mrs Zalaf for organising and delivering the information to help our families support their children with reading at home.
Father’s Day
Thank you in advance to our wonderful P&C and parent volunteers for organising the Father’s Day Stall taking place on Monday 28th August. If students would like to purchase a gift for their father, uncle or grandfather, students will need to bring along money on Monday. Gifts will be on sale for $1 - $5.
I know the P&C are still hoping for more volunteers to help out on Monday. If you are able to volunteer some time, please contact the P&C at pandc.dundas@gmail.com
Staff absences
Unfortunately, we have had a lot of staff unwell recently. We always try to replace staff as soon as we are informed that someone is unwell. We are continuing to find it difficult to find casual staff as the staff shortage is still very much alive and well! On occasion, we have been able to book a casual and then the casual becomes unwell and cancels the morning they are needed.
We thank the community for their continued understanding on this matter.
School Bytes school permissions
We have been experiencing a number of extremely late permissions on School Bytes for school events such as the recent author visit. Receiving permissions and payments on the day of the event is a problem as we are required to give final numbers and payment to the relevant organisations before the event.
We always endeavour to give our families plenty of time before scheduled events to ensure that we have final numbers the day before the incursion or activity.
We will no longer be accepting permission or payment within 24 hours of the scheduled event.
Kindergarten enrolment for 2024 (reminder from previous newsletter)
Dundas Public School is now taking online enrolments for Kindergarten 2024.
Go to our school website and select the enrolment tab at the top of the page. A link to the page is below.
https://dundas-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html
The flyer below contains information regarding our Kindergarten Expo and Orientation sessions. Feel free to share this with friends/neighbours who may have a child starting Kindergarten.
Applications for Extended Leave -Travel during a school term (reminder from previous newsletter)
Families are encouraged to travel during school holidays. If travel during school term is necessary, discuss this with the school. Family holidays and travel taken during the school term are not considered leave unless it is for specified special circumstances, such as an important life event (wedding or bereavement).
Policy states ‘14.6. Where a principal considers that the travel is appropriate during school term, the principal should issue the parent with an Application for Extended Leave – Travel for completion and inform the parent that if the Application is accepted, the absences will be recorded as “L” – Leave.’
Applications for Extended Leave that do not include justifiable reasons, will not be approved for leave and a certificate of extended leave will not be issued. Following policy, these absences will be recorded as ‘explained but unjustified’.
Below is a link to the Application for Extended Leave form.
If the travel period exceeds 50 school days, students may be eligible to enrol in distance education.
Kind regards,
Lee Shipley
Principal