Assistant Principal - Welfare & Wellbeing

Dear Families,

We are writing to all children’s families to emphasise the importance of being in school on time.

School starts at 8.45 am every day. Doors to the classes open at 8:35am, allowing children to enter the class and set themselves up for the day (this is optional for students). Children DO need to be in their class line by 8.45 am so that they can start their lessons promptly. 

Children who arrive late are greatly disadvantaged because they miss starting the day with their peers, our morning circles to make connections and the beginning of lessons. This means that they are often unsettled and confused about tasks. 

It is also very important that children establish good routines and habits in preparation for the rest of their lives. Punctuality is a life skill that they need to develop whilst they are young.

It is essential that you ensure that your child arrives at school on time to prevent disruption to your child’s own learning and that of others. 

We are required to monitor children’s punctuality and attendance. On-going lateness (after the class register has been taken) is classified as an unauthorised absence. We understand that there may be rare occasions when you are unavoidably late due to unforeseen circumstances. 

Children must be collected from school at 3.15 p.m. From 3:30pm the playgrounds are unsupervised, and therefore may not be safe for your child to be playing unsupervised.

High levels of unauthorised absences or poor punctuality are tracked by the Educational Department. 

If you are experiencing difficulties with punctuality and would like to talk to us about it, please make an appointment or call.

Yours sincerely,

Carrie Chalmers

Assistant Principal of Welfare 

Family Conversation Starters

It is important for everyone to practise healthy communication. Everyone in their family needs to feel valued and feel their needs and opinions matter.

Use these questions to start a dinner time conversation.

Some helpful tips:

• Wait until the person has finished speaking
• Listen carefully and ask follow up questions
• Let others ask you questions too
• Alternating the flow of conversations helps all family members feel like they are equal in the discussion

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