Woodend Primary School Newsletter

From the  Principal 

Diana Ellis

Father’s Day

Last week we celebrated the special role of people that are father figures in the lives of our students. It was delightful to see so many people attend our Fathers’ Day breakfast. 

A huge thankyou to our Parents and Friends Team for providing another wonderful event that brought so many people together to celebrate their role.

Rotunda

When I first arrived at Woodend Primary School in 2016, we had a lovely rotunda at the front of the school near our entrance gates. This rotunda was a legacy of one of our earlier principals Ruth Reid-Hobbs. When we had our capital works occur in 2018 the rotunda had to be taken down. Over the last few years, we have gone to lengths to get the rotunda reinstated but due to the deterioration of the rotunda and issues with the required documents and approvals we decided to go ahead and get a new one and we will place a plaque on it recognising Ruth. Our students have already enjoyed sitting in our new rotunda.

Policies

Recently we have been updating many of our school policies. All of our policies use guidance from the DET Policy and Advisory Library to ensure that we are up to date with any policy changes. We have been updating our Yard and Supervision Policy. Below is an outline of when supervision is provided at W.P.S.

 

Before and After School Supervision

Student safety at Woodend Primary School is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school. 

 

Before school: School grounds are supervised from 8.50 a.m. until bell time at 9.00. Supervision will occur in the areas immediately closest to classrooms, including the asphalt and courtyard areas but not the oval.

 

After school: School grounds are supervised until 3.45 in the areas closest to the classrooms, including the asphalt and courtyard areas but not the oval.

 

Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity). 

Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity or they have adult supervision in the form of parents/guardians.

 

Families are encouraged to contact the Principal on 54272455 for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community or if you would like any further information about our student supervision arrangements.

 

Our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy can be accessed via our website or a hard copy obtained at the school office. This policy includes Woodend Primary School’s student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.

 

Emergency Management Plan

We want to let you know about our school’s Emergency Management Plan. Our school plans for a range of hazards such as bushfire, severe weather, medical emergencies, building fires, intruders, etc. We develop specific response procedures to address these risks. 

 

We also conduct drills regularly, ensuring that our core procedures of on-site and off-site evacuation, sheltering-in-place and lockdown/lockouts are well-rehearsed and understood by staff and students. 

 

Our school is considered at risk of bushfire or grassfire. We are Category 3 on the Bushfire At-Risk Register/Category 4 List. Our school will close on days of Catastrophic fire danger in the Central weather district. On days identified as High or Extreme fire danger students who attend classes at our Carlsruhe campus will remain onsite at the main campus.

 

The Country Fire Authority also has more information for schools at risk of fire: https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/schools.

 

If we enact our emergency management plan, we will notify you by Compass notification with updates on our actions. Please do not come to the school unless directed to do so, as you may put yourself and others in danger. If there is anything we need you to do, we will let you know. 

 

In the event of an emergency that impacts telecommunications, we will endeavour to update you by email or Compass.

 

During an emergency, the school will work closely with emergency services to get specific advice to keep our community safe. Additionally, the Department of Education has dedicated emergency management staff to help monitor the situation and provide additional support to schools during emergencies.

 

If you have any questions about our school’s emergency management plan, please contact us at (03) 5427 2455. Please be assured our top priority is the safety of our students and school community.

 

Mathslympics – Exemplary student behaviour and sportsmanship.

Immediately after the Mathslympics, I spoke at length about the success of our Mathlympics Day and Family Maths Night. One of the things that I neglected to mention was the exemplary sportsmanship of our students. On the day we observed so many examples of students supporting and congratulating one another. Most worthy of mention was the outstanding behaviour of our Year 5/6 students and the mentoring and supporting role they demonstrated on the day. I was particularly proud of the way they patiently supported our junior unit students as they demonstrated tasks and supported them to achieve success. Our school values certainly were lived on the day. 

 

Around the classes

During my visits to classes in the Year 5/6 area, I have enjoyed observing students involved in Maths Measurement activities, including students leading the warmup activities for Maths and students delivering comprehensive presentations about Mental Health. I have particularly enjoyed engaging in conversation with students about the strategies they are using to solve Maths problems, the way they support and mentor one another, and their maturity in dealing with topics such as Mental Health. 

I also enjoyed listening to the limericks and diamante poems that students in the year 5/6 unit had written.

 

In Year 3, our students have been writing Science Reports. They have been researching influential people in the world and writing a report about their chosen person. 

Below is a selection of books that the students have used to support their learning.

Website

As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, our new website has gone live and we encourage you to look at it and provide feedback. In saying this, we are still updating information and adding to our list of revised and endorsed policies. 

 

Policies

The policies below have been updated and endorsed. We are currently in the process of putting all of them on our website.

Whilst we go through a process of consultation with Parents and Friends and School Council, we also welcome your feedback about any of the policies:

  • Statement of Values and School Philosophy
  • Child Safe Code of Conduct 
  • Visitors
  • Volunteers
  • Inclusion and Diversity
  • Student Engagement and Wellbeing
  • Sun Protection Policy

Previously the Sun Protection Policy recommended SPF 30 now the recommendation is SPF 50 +

 

We engaged in lengthy discussions/consultation about our Homework and Student Dress Code policies, and we will continue to consult with parents and students so our polices reflect the views of our school community.

 

The overwhelming consensus at School Council was that parents support a Homework Policy to support students to practise and consolidate skills, to engage in conversation with their families about the tasks and to develop good study habits.

 

Privacy Statement

Each year we are directed/mandated by DET to communicate the Privacy Policy to Parents.

 

As we are over mid-way through the year, we thought it would be a timely reminder to communicate the policy statement again.

 

Below is the communication from DET about the information we collect and how it is used.  If you would like to access more information, please use the link provided. 

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx.

 

Privacy Collection Notice

Information for students, parents and carers.

 

The Department of Education (the department) values your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal and health information that schools collect.

 

All school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law and the Schools’ Privacy Policy. This notice explains how the department, including Victorian government schools (schools), handles personal and health information. On occasion, specific consent will be sought for the collection and use of information, for example, for a student to receive a health service. Our schools are also required by legislation, such as the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, to collect some of this information.

 

Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, student support service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners, and all other employees, contractors, volunteers and service providers of the school and the department.

 

On enrolment, and during the ordinary course of a student’s attendance at a school, schools will collect information about students and their families for the following purposes:

  • educating students
  • supporting students’ social and emotional wellbeing, and health 
  • fulfilling legal obligations, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law 
  • communicating and engaging with parents
  • student administration
  • school management
  • supporting policy in relation to student education and wellbeing.

If this information is not collected, schools may be unable to provide optimal education or support to students or fulfil legal obligations.

 

For example, our schools rely on parents to provide health information about any medical condition or disability that their child has, medication their child may take while at school, any known allergies and contact details of their child’s doctor. If parents do not provide all relevant health information, this may put their child’s health at risk. 

 

Our schools also require current, relevant information about all parents and carers so that schools can take account of safety concerns that affect their children. Parents should provide schools with copies of all current parenting plans and court orders about, or that affect their children and provide updated copies when they change. 

 

When parents enrol their child in primary school, they will be asked to provide personal and health information in several ways, including via the Enrolment Form, the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and in some cases, the Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS).

 

The Enrolment Form is used to collect information that is essential for the purposes listed above, and requests information such as:

  • Emergency contacts – Individuals that parents nominate for a school to contact during an emergency. Parents should ensure their nominated emergency contact agrees to their contact details being provided to the school and that they understand their details may be disclosed by the department if lawful, e.g. in the case of emergency communications relating to bush fires or floods. 
  • Student background information – Information about country of birth, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, language spoken at home and parent occupation. This information enables the department to allocate appropriate resources to schools. The department also uses this information to plan for future educational needs in Victoria and shares some information with the Commonwealth government to monitor, plan and allocate resources. 
  • Immunisation status – This assists schools to manage health risks and legal obligations. The department may also provide this information to the Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to assess immunisation rates in Victoria, but not in a way which identifies students.
  • Visa status – This is required to process a student’s enrolment.

All schools may use departmental systems and online tools such as apps and other software to effectively collect and manage information about students and families for the purposes listed above. 

 

When schools use these online tools, they take steps to ensure that student information is secure. If parents or carers have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact the school.

 

School staff will only share student and family information with other school staff who need to know, to enable them to educate or support the student as described above. Information will only be shared outside the school (and outside the department) as required or authorised by law, including where sharing is required to meet duty of care, anti-discrimination, occupational health and safety, and child wellbeing and safety obligations. The information collected will not be disclosed beyond the school and department without parent consent unless such disclosure is lawful.

 

When a student transfers to another school (including Catholic, independent and interstate), personal and/or health information about that student may be transferred to the next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of the student and assists the next school to provide the best possible education and support to the student. For further detail about how and what level of information is provided to the next school, refer to the: Enrolment: Student transfers between schools

Schools only provide school reports and ordinary school communications to students, parents, carers or others who have a legal right to that information. Requests for access to other student information or by others must be made by lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

 

To update student or family information, parents should contact their school.

For more information about how schools and the department collect and manage personal and health information, or how to access personal and health information held by a school about you or your child, refer to the: Schools’ Privacy Policy

 

Child Safe Policies 

At Woodend Primary School we continue to implement a range of strategies to keep our students safe, including induction of staff, volunteers and visitors. We all have a responsibility to protect children and make reports about any disclosures that students make. 

On our website we have included Child Safe documents/policies including:

  • The Child Safe Code of Conduct
  • The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policies
  • The Aboriginal Learning Plan
  • Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures

Principal

Diana Ellis