What an incredibly wet couple of weeks we have had, while it is always wonderful for our environment to have some rain, the last few weeks have definitely posed a few challenges and some disappointment in particular for our sporting enthusiasts. I hope you have all enjoyed probably some quieter weekends with less sport and some time to slow down a little.

Road Safety

With the wet weather we have had some issues raised with road safety and I ask for your help in keeping our kids safe by:

Making sure you are following the parking rules around the school and only parking in designated parking areas in particular close to the lights where our students cross.
Speak with your children about not using their mobile phones while crossing the road allowing them to concentrate on the road. We also ask that you remind them to walk straight across the road and not diagonally coming out of the crossing zone.
Driving slowly when driving though our carpark before 8.30am and after 3.15pm in the afternoons.
Dropping your children at the pedestrian gate closest to the driveway and lights as we will be keeping the middle gate closed until 8.45am in the morning. As many of you would know, the steps and garden bed at the bottom of that walkway prevents cars from seeing pedestrians until they are on the road. The nature of children sometimes results in them running straight across the crossing unaware of oncoming cars making it quite unsafe. Our staff carpark is open until 8.30am at which point we close the carpark gates ensuring cars are not moving through the carpark as the bulk of our students are making their way into the school grounds. As students are often coming in just before the gates are closed and at times earlier for training and rehearsals, we will keep the centre gate closed until the driveway gate is closed.

I thank you for your understanding and support in ensuring everyone’s safety.

Permission to Publish and Social Media

In our recent Class Parent meeting the topic of the sharing of photos of events with parents was discussed. As a school community we will be looking to share more posts through our social media channels, sharing events, good news stories and the learning happening across the school. Under privacy laws, only students with permission to publish will have photos shared in the newsletter, social media and on Seesaw and in Google Classroom. If you have previously ticked the box ‘no permission to publish’ and would like to see photographs of your child participating in school activities and events please email the office and request that you now give permission.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind parents and the community that we have a large number of students who do not have permission to publish and that parents/carers/family members are not allowed to take photos of other students and share them on social media, in WhatsApp groups, via message etc without their parents’ consent. I ask that you only take photos of your children and when videoing if you capture other students, that you do not publish these on any social media platform or share them in group chats.

P&C - Colour Fun Run

Last week our enthusiastic P&C launched the colour fun run at our 3-6 Assembly and visited all the K-2 classrooms. There are a number of competitions running to assist in raising funds including ice block and pizza parties, prize draws and the opportunity to slime staff, myself included for every $10,000 milestone. The colour run will be a fun day, please look out for the pamphlet on how to sign up and then get creative on how you can get your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to donate.

60th Anniversary Polo

To celebrate our 60 Year Anniversary, we will be designing a commemorative polo shirt that students and staff can purchase and wear on sports days. We will be running a competition for students to design the shirt similar to the competition we ran for naming the Nature Nook. Each student will have the opportunity to design a shirt with the class selecting their favourite. The executive will select their top 3 favourite class designs and then students will have the opportunity to vote on their favourite. Once the design is finalised we will begin taking orders.

Attendance

Education for your child is important and regular attendance at school is essential for your child to achieve their educational best and increase their career and life options. NSW public schools work in partnership with parents to encourage and support the regular attendance of children and young people. When your child attends school every day, learning becomes easier and your child will build and maintain friendships with other children.

Last week any student whose attendance is less than 85% will have received a letter via email informing parents and carers of our concerns for their child's attendance. It highlighted the number of days your child has been absent and encouraged you to speak with us about any ongoing concerns and issues preventing your child from attending school. We encourage you to work with your child’s class teacher and develop a plan to support your child’s attendance at school.

The importance of arriving on time:

Ensures that students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day
Helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routine
Give students time to greet their friends before class
Reduces classroom disruption
Lateness is recorded as a partial absence and must be explained by parents.

What if my child has to be away from school?

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

being sick, or having an infectious disease
having an unavoidable medical appointment
being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g. attending a funeral)

Principal Awards

Principal Bronze Awards

Community News