Dear Families,

I hope that all our families have been able to enjoy the last few weeks of warmer weather, especially during weekends. At school over the past few weeks, we have enacted our Hot Day Weather Timetable, this means once the temperature has reached 35 degrees all students remain inside supervised by our staff. It has been fantastic to note that many of our students have continued to come to school on the warmer days and we would like to reassure our families that students are made comfortable by remaining indoors when the temperatures reach 35 degrees or above.

Communication

Communication with our families is critical to ensuring we have a positive school culture and that our students are receiving the best possible care and education.

At Kismet Park our staff work hard to ensure communication with our parents/carers is timely and respectful. During Remote and Flexible Learning our communication with parents/carers increased significantly in terms of the after-hours communication. This was the case in most schools as we navigated online platforms and working from home.

It has now been some time that we have returned to onsite learning and educators now work within a new agreement – Victorian Government School Agreement (VGSA) which specifies the hours teachers/educators are officially onsite working and engaging with students and families. Principals are required to enact and support this legislation.

Our teachers’ official hours are 8:35am–3:35pm on Monday and Friday. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday our teachers’ hours are 8:35am–4:35pm. On the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:35pm-4:35pm our teachers are engaged in professional learning and staff meetings. For us to support our students and communicate in a manner that is reflective of the new agreement and respectful please take note of the following:

Our teachers will endeavour to get back to parent/carer emails, Seesaw posts or COMPASS posts within 24 hours wherever possible – 48 hours in times where it is not possible to get back in the 24 hours.
When our teachers are responding to parents/carers the goal is to communicate within the official working hours 8:35am–4:35pm.
Please note that in emergencies we will work to contact our families outside of the Monday–Friday 8:35am–4:35pm hours.

I wish to thank all our parents/carers in advance for your understanding and support with the above and reassure all our families that we remain committed to supporting our students to feel safe, secure and happy.

School Council 2024

I am pleased to announce the names of our 2024 School Councillors.In this instance we did not require a ballot as we closed with the required nominations.Thank you to our parents/carers who self-nominated and put themselves forward.

Parent Members are as follows:

Sean Bassett
Alexandra Louise Elliot
Melissa Johnson
Jessica Furness
Rebecca Borg
Damien Hodor
Michael Stone
Louise Cashen

DET School Employee Members are as follows:

Kathy Cvitkovic
Louisa Beckenham
Donna Matthews
Meagan O'Sullivan
Michele Tabone

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all our 2024 councillors. I look forward to working alongside all our 2024 School Council members.

Berry Street Education Model

On Tuesday 20th of February our staff engaged in our first training session around the Berry Street Education Model. During the Twilight session 3:30pm–6:00pm we explored Domain 1 on The Body and focussed on the use of brain breaks in classrooms and strategies for self-regulation.

Staff explored patterned and repetitive movements that can support student regulation. We further explored the stress response of flight, fight or freeze behaviours and ways we can teach students to understand the brain’s response to stress. Our next Twilight session will be held on our school site on Tuesday 19th of March.

Student Support Group Meetings

We have sent out communications regarding Student Support Group Meetings. (SSG’s) These SSG's have begun this week and times have been communicated through COMPASS for all our:

PSD students - students who are currently on the program for students with disabilities
Out of Home Care/Kinship care - students who are not living in their family home or children who are receiving care out of their family home by a relative (Kinship)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

If you have not received communications for an SSG appointment via COMPASS please contact our office on 9744-4566.

Lunchtime Clubs

This week we have begun to offer our students various Lunchtime Clubs. These clubs are designed for students who prefer structured activities at break times. We are committed to supporting our students to have a safe, engaging and fun time during outside play. All our teachers have printed off the timetable for our Lunchtime Clubs and have highlighted to our students the various clubs that we have on offer. Please chat to your children about our Lunchtime Clubs and remind your child/children that these are available at Lunchtimes.

Please see below our Lunchtime Clubs currently on offer:

Monday:

Minecraft Club – 1:45 – 2:15pm with Ms Hampton Smith in Building C14
Sports Club – 1:30 – 2:00pm with Mr. Corcoran in the Gym
Drop in Art Space – 1:30-2:15pm with Ms Nicky in Garden Space (Conservatory) Prep – Year 3

Tuesday:

5/6 Robotics Team – 1:30-2:00pm with Mrs TJ in Building C 16
Drop In Garden Space - 1:30-2:15pm with Ms Nicky in Garden Space (Conservatory) Prep – Yr 6
Performing Arts – 1:30-2:00pm with Mrs Bodily in the Performing Arts room

Wednesday:

Art Club – 1:30-2:00pm with Mrs Tabone in the Art Room
Performing Arts – 1:30 – 2:00pm with Mrs Bodily in the Performing Arts room
Chess Club – 1:30–2:15pm with Ms Nicky in the Garden Space (Conservatory) Yr 3-6

Thursday:

Sports Club – 1:30 – 2:00pm with Mr. Corcoran in the Gym
5/6 Robotics Team – 1:30-2:00pm with Mrs TJ in Building C 16

Every Day: Monday - Friday

Library Club – 1:30 – 2:15pm with Mrs Hooper in the Library Space (quiet reading, drawing, board games and Lego).

Every lunchtime at the front of our school and supported by our Education Support Staff students can join in the following:

Skipping
Snakes and ladders
Building Blocks
Cars
Bat and Ball games
Interactive Play

Parent Helper Induction Session

On Wednesday 28th of February we held our Parent Helper Induction session for our parent/carers. We had a fantastic turn out for this session – with 24 parents/carers in attendance. This is wonderful for our classrooms and students and for our community. The more parents/carers we can get into our school and supporting our teachers in classrooms the better the outcomes for our students.

We will offer a second evening session for parents to engage in Parent Helper Induction session on Tuesday 26th of March from 6:30pm – 7:30pm. This session will include an element of Occupational Health and Safety in relation to supporting students, this is the same as what we offered in our morning session last week. If you will be attending, please contact the office and leave your details so that we can plan for the evening adequately.

Child Safety Standards

At our school, we are committed to acting in the best interests of our students and keeping them safe from harm. The school regards its child protection responsibilities as being of the highest priority. This means that in practice we are focused on providing the necessary resources to ensure compliance with all relevant child protection legislation and regulations and to maintaining a child safe culture.

The following principles underpin our commitment to child safety at Kismet Park Primary School:

All students deserve, as a fundamental right, safety and protection from all forms of abuse and neglect.
Our school works in partnership with families and the community to ensure that they are engaged in decision-making processes, particularly those that have an impact on child safety and protection.
All students have the right to a thorough and systematic education in all aspects of personal safety, in partnership with their parents/guardians/caregivers.
All adults in our school, including teaching and non-teaching staff, volunteers and contractors as well as the broader school community have a responsibility to care for children and young people, to positively promote their wellbeing and to protect them from any kind of harm or abuse.
The policies, guidelines and codes of conduct for the care, wellbeing and protection of students are based on honest, respectful and trusting relationships between adults and children and young people.

School Policies

Our school website includes many relevant policies that are applicable to all students. parents/carers and visitors. Please click on this LINK to take you to our School Policies page on our school website. In these first few weeks please take some time to familiarise yourselves with our Child Safe Policy, SunSmart Policy, Mobile Phone Policy and Respect for School Staff Policy.

Division Swimming Championships

This morning Summer, Ella, Milla and Sophie competed in freestyle relay in the Division Swimming Championships at Broadmeadows Swim Centre and the team achieved second place. Well done to Summer, Ella, Milla and Sophie for their skill, dedication and effort!!

Thanking all in our community for your continued support.

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Cvitkovic

Principal

‘Building the foundations for success and happiness’.

Student Wellbeing/Inclusion