A very warm welcome back to the 2024 school year!

The start of the school year can seem very hectic, and sometimes a little overwhelming, particularly if this is your first year of primary education. We are here to help make your experience at Clyde Primary School a positive one.

In this newsletter I have outlined some of our school processes, this will be new information for our new families, and a refresher for our returning families. With this in mind, I would like to introduce our school's Leadership Team, who you will often see on the front gates before and after school.

Mrs Hayley Taylor

Leading Teacher - Wellbeing

Mrs Susan Lumley

Assistant Principal

Ms Michelle Mackenlay (Ms Mack)

Principal of Clyde Primary School

Mrs Kate Couacaud

Assistant Principal

Our admin team from left to right

Tessa Clark

Caren Bode

Sharon Diehl (Business Manager)

Sue Miles

On Monday 12th of February at 9:15am, we will be holding our first whole school assembly for the year. Assemblies are an opportunity for all students and community members to get together and celebrate student achievement and learn more about what is happening in our school. This first assembly, will also be heavily dedicated to the badge presentation of our Year 6 Student Leaders

Whole school assemblies take place inside the school gym and we invite all of our families to come along.

Each term, we also run year level assemblies. More information about these year level assemblies will be published on Compass.

School Gates and Supervision

Clyde Primary School’s grounds are supervised by school staff from 8.45am until 3.45pm. Students on the school grounds outside these times will not be supervised by school staff. The only current exception to this is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when students can attend Breakfast Club (further details about Breakfast Club are below).

We have 2 main gates which are both closed at 9:00am.

If you arrive late to school (after 9:00am) you must enter through the main gate in front of the office as you must sign your child in (because they are late to school) before they can be sent to class.

Next week, we will begin locking the gate near the Foundation building as we have done in previous years. This is to prevent unwanted visitors from entering the school, as this gate is not supervised at all times during the day. This also ensures that any permitted visitors sign in at the office. After 9:00am parents and students will only be able to use the main office gate from 9:00am for entering and exiting the school.

Families requiring care for their child outside of these hours are encouraged to contact Team Kids, our outside school hours care provider, on 1300 035 000 or by registering at teamkids.com.au All Team Kids bookings are eligible for the Child Care Subsidy, and students can attend from as early as 6:30am or as late as 6:30pm.

2024 Parent Helper Training

Are you interested in being a Parent Helper at our school? Parent Helpers are involved in many aspects of our school, including things like Breakfast Club, support for reading programs, camps, excursions, Mother's Day and Father's Day stalls etc.

If you are interested I invite you to attend an important information session where we will be outlining the expectations of helpers, ways to offer assistance and the Working With Children Check application process. You must attend this training to be eligible to be a helper. If you have attended a training session in previous years and have completed all of the requirements you do not have to attend the information session again.

Date: Thursday 7th March

Time : 9:00-9:45am

To register for this event please ring or email the school office on 5998 5293. Parent support is always greatly appreciated.

Medical Forms and Plans

Thank you to the parents who have already submitted medical plans to the school, this includes asthma or allergy plans. Please ensure you let the school and your classroom teacher know if there are any medical conditions we need to know about. No issue is too small – the more information we know, the better.

A healthy start to the school day

Our school Breakfast Club provides a warm and welcoming space for students when they arrive at school. Parent Helpers and staff help set up the Breakfast Club space and provide students with a variety of healthy, Victorian grown or manufactured breakfast foods. These may include oats, muesli, wholegrain Cheerios, milk, baked beans, canned fruit, fruit cups, fresh apples, toast with vegemite and honey. Spaghetti jaffles have been a recent hit with students!

With the help of our wonderful volunteers, our Breakfast Club runs every Tuesday and Friday morning from 8:15 am – 8:45 am. This program is available to all students in the school and doesn't cost anything. Students can just turn up on any Friday morning by entering the main doors into the Foundation building. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at Breakfast Club please let the office know.

NAPLAN and Intervention

Students in Year Three and Year Five are currently undertaking NAPLAN Practice tests online and on paper. The tests are to make students familiar with the online testing process and to ensure that everyone at school is technically ready to undertake the tests.

Some students in Year Three and Year Five have been selected to participate in intervention and extension groups in preparation for the actual tests in March. If your child has been selected, you will receive a letter through Compass.

The dates for NAPLAN this year are from Wednesday 13th March to Monday 25th March. Please read the NAPLAN Information for parents and carers brochure for further information.

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.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Baby News

We would like to congratulate Mrs Ash Robinson and her husband Lachie, who recently

announced they are pregnant and expecting identical twin boys in July!!

We also congratulate Mr Chris Legge and his partner Alisha who are also expecting their first child, a boy, in July.

Mrs Naomi Maia and family welcomed their latest addition Leni to their family on the 29th December. (see photo)

Instrumental Music Lessons

Excel music provides our school with weekly group and private instrumental music lessons at an affordable price and offers the convenience of having lessons held during the school day on the school premises.

With over 20 years of experience, they pride themselves on providing quality lessons in a safe, fun and supportive learning environment. Their established and proven curriculum allows students to learn at their own rate with emphasis on note-reading and progress.

Why should students learn music?

To enhance their education experience that will enrich their lives
To develop co-ordination through sight and touch
To improve concentration and listening skills
To stimulate creativity
To assist their studies as research has shown that students studying music may excel at maths and applied sciences
To build confidence and self-esteem through performance
To increase general knowledge and open the mind
To give a musical grounding in preparation for secondary schooling
To cultivate motivation as music enables children to reach ongoing benchmarks and goals
To offer the opportunity to receive musical scholarships for secondary schooling
To foster social interaction and team spirit through group learning and ensemble playing

Those students interested in this program should have brought home an enrolment form, alternatively if you are interested in your student participating in this program the front office has an enrolment form you can pick up.

PLT Spotlight

Year 5 and 6