Whole School News

Lunch Orders - Change to ordering App

Welcome to the 2024 school year!  

We hope that everyone had a restful break.

We are your school lunch providers, KingWill Catering.  Lunch orders are recommencing from Monday 5th February.  

For those of you new to the school KingWill is the business of two local school mums, Jo Williams and Nicole Kingston, who both have a passion for healthy and homemade food options for school children.  KingWill has been in business since 2017, and is a winner of the Hobson's Bay Food safety Awards.  

We offer a large range of food options, mostly all homemade onsite, including hot food such as fried rice, pasta, hot subs along with freshly made sandwiches, salads, snacks, fruit, veggie sticks and fruit ice creams.  

Ordering is simple and is via the MSC (My School Connect) app and with credit card payment.  Please see attached information on how to use MSC to order lunches.  We are a council registered, and nut free kitchen.  

If your child has any specific dietary requirements, please feel free to contact us to discuss suitable menu options for them.   We are also happy to walk you through any problems or questions you may have about the MSC ordering system, please contact us on the below numbers, we are available weekdays except Tuesdays, from 8.30-3pm. 

For our returning customers we are wanting to inform you that this year we have changed our ordering platform, from QKR! to My School Connect.  Our primary reason for doing this is that a number of our Android customers have been having issues/unable to order on QKR for the past year.  Unfortunately QKR! haven't been able to rectify this as yet, so we looked for another solution.  The new app also has enhanced allergy notifications, ability to place orders for more than 2 weeks in advance, and for us to reschedule orders in the system if someone is off sick.

My School Connect is also an app/online ordering platform, it's easy to use, great customer support team and works for both smartphones and Android.  Please see attached information on how to download the app, how to get started/register your child/children and place orders before your school's first day of lunches.

As we are all very aware these days, nearly all businesses pass onto their customers, credit card fees.  In the interests of transparency, up until this year, we have always absorbed these costs, but unfortunately we are no longer able to do this.  You will see the charge of 33c/child in My School Connect when you place an order.  At the start of each year, our suppliers review and adjust their prices, and so we need to adjust ours too.  However at this this stage of the year, we are not going to do this, to reflect the change in credit card processing fee for our customers.  

We always strive to deliver healthy, value for money home made fresh food options to your children, and we continue to do that.

We look forward to feeding your children yummy school lunches this year!

Thanks in advance,

Jo Williams 0402781496

Nicole Kingston 0409115944

Assemblies - Term 1 2024

This term we will be trialling a new rotating roster for our whole school assemblies. 

Assemblies will now be held on a Friday at 2:30pm over a 3 week roster alternating between face-to-face, virtual and no assembly (excluding end of term/year). Virtual assembly links will be sent out via Compass. 

 Please Note - Assembly format subject to change at any time 

• Friday 2nd February - NO ASSEMBLY
• Friday 9th February - Face to Face
• Friday 16th February - Virtual
• Friday 23rd February - NO ASSEMBLY
• Friday 1st March - Face-to-Face
• Friday 8th March - Virtual
• Friday 15th March - NO ASSMEBLY
• Friday 22nd March - Face-to-Face
• Thursday 28th March (End of Term) - Face to Face 1:30pm TBC

School Photo Day - Wednesday 28th February - ORDERS NOW OPEN

School photo day is onWednesday 28th February.  Orders are now open to order online. 

It is important that the ordering instructions below are followed, and all students are photographed regardless of purchase. the different types of packs available are attached below.

IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE – ONLINE ORDERING FOR SIBLING PHOTOS WILL CUT OFF ON 27th FEBRUARY. 

ONLINE ORDERING: 4 EASY STEPS TO ONLINE SCHOOL PHOTO ORDERING

Your child’s school photos are now available for secure online purchase only.

• Step 1: Click Here. - Click on this link if you are using a supported device - OR - Go to www.advancedlife.com.au before photo day and enter your school code           [CT6 TAG XVM]
• Step 2: Enter your student’s details
• Step 3: Choose the package that best suits your needs (all orders will be delivered to the school for collection)
• Step 4: Pay for the photos via the shopping cart (upper right corner of the page)

Online Orders have a 1.5% merchant fee applied when using Visa, Mastercard or PayPal.

Please note: If you miss photo day, portrait and group packages can still be ordered online for 7 days afterwards with no late fees. After that time, late orders will require separate processing and handling and therefore will incur a $15.00 late fee per package.

FAMILY / SIBLING PHOTOS: EASY ONLINE FAMILY / SIBLING PHOTO ORDERING

• Go to www.advancedlife.com.au before photo day and enter your school code [CT6 TAG XVM]
• Family/Sibling photo orders online close on 27-02-2024

Please Note: A portrait and a class group photograph will be taken of every student at the school, regardless of purchase. 

Photographs of your children taken as part of a class group are only permitted to be distributed within their own class. Your child’s name will appear on the class group photo. 

If you DO NOT wish your child to be photographed, please contact your school office with your instructions prior to Photo Day.

Please feel free to contact us via email or phone should you have any queries regarding your child’s school photo order. info@advancedlifevic.com.au or 03 9852 1133 Advancedlife Team

Student Charges and Contributions for 2024 are on Compass and need your action 

Thank you to the many families who have already paid their 2024 contributions. 

A reminder to families who have not yet done so that you are still able to action this via your Compass portal. 

All contributions go specifically towards items and activities that help improve your child’s educational experience. There is an array of payment methods. Please take note payments can be made via Compass or by other means as arranged with the school.  

A reminder for families who opted to pay contributions via the payment plan, your second instalment is scheduled to automatically be deducted from your nominated card on 18th March 2024. 

Please refer to the Parent Payment Policy available on our website for a full breakdown of all costs, they are clearly outlined under the 2024 Contribution Schedule.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school office should you have any questions or need assistance with payments.

Financial Assistance for Families (CSEF)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

Criteria 1 – Eligibility

To be eligible* for the fund, a mature minor of sixteen years of age or over, a parent or legal guardian of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school must:

• on the first day of Term one, or;

• on the first day of Term two.

a) Be an eligible beneficiary within the meaning of the State Concessions Act 2004, that is, be a holder of Veterans Affairs Gold Card or be an eligible Centrelink Health Care Card (HCC) or Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) holder, OR

b) Be a temporary foster parent, and

c) Submit an application to the school by the due date.* 

A special consideration eligibility category also exists. 

Criteria 2 - Be of school age and attend school in Victoria

School is compulsory for all Victorian children aged between six and seventeen years of age inclusive. 

For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a Victorian registered primary or secondary school. Typically, these students are aged between five and eighteen years inclusive.

CSEF is not payable to students attending pre-school, kindergarten, home schooling, or TAFE.

Eligibility Date - For concession card holders, CSEF eligibility will be subject to the parent/legal guardian’s concession card being successfully validated with Centrelink on 29 January 2024 and/or 15 April 2024.

How to apply

If you would like to apply for the first time, please complete the attached application for or collect one from the front office and return to the office by 23rd February 2024.

If you received CSEF through our school last year - you do not need to complete another application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

You only need to complete an application form if any of the following changes have occurred:

• new student enrolments; your child has started or changed schools this year.
• changed family circumstances; such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number or new siblings commencing this year.

You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page. 

Please don't hesitate to contact the office if you have any questions.

2024 Permissions & Agreements - Compass

Each year the school must obtain certain permissions from parents (and/or students) regarding particular areas of school life. 

These include;

•  local excursion permission (e.g. walks to the local park)
•  movie watching
• headlice checks
• ICT Code of Conduct and Student phone use
• Photography, filming & recoding of students. (previously called media permission)

Previously these would have been completed by parents upon enrolment, however they must been obtained annually. 

Parents and carers can now complete these permissions and agreements electronically via the Course Confirmation & Payments section on your Compass portal. 

Please complete these before the commencement of the 2024 school year. 

For copies of our school policies, please visit our school website.