Principal's Update

Dear parents/carers,

Dinosaur Museum

A huge congratulations to Year 1 students and teachers for the wonderful showcase of learning that took place on Wednesday in the form of the Dinosaur Museum. A lot of work goes into putting an event like this one so I would like to thank Mrs Taylor, Ms Saviour, Mrs Green and Mrs Campbell for their organisation and support. 

Participating in an event like this gives students such a wonderful opportunity to show their deep understanding of the learned content as well as the products they have created that demonstrate their knowledge.  It is also a learning experience that improves a student’s confidence as they share all of the things they have learnt with others. 

Thank you to the parents and carers who attended the Dinosaur Museum. For those who were unable to attend, below are a few photos of the Dinosaur Museum. More photos from the event are on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DundasPS

Unwell students and staff

Already this term, we have had many students present to the school office feeling unwell. As the weather is starting to cool and we are moving towards cold and flu season, it is very important that we minimise the spread of illness over the coming months. Please keep your children home from school if they are feeling unwell. 

It is very clear that COVID is alive and well in our school community. We have ensured classrooms have antibacterial wipes to clean learning surfaces as well as electronic devices. 

Attendance matters 

We are experiencing high numbers of students arriving late to school. We request that children arrive by 8:50am so that they can be ready to head to class and commence learning when the morning bell rings at 9:00am. Morning sessions are usually literacy sessions where teachers are explicitly teaching sounds, fluency, comprehension, spelling and writing skills. 

If your child misses 5 minutes of learning a day, they will miss 3 full days in a year.

If your child regularly misses 30 minutes per day, they will miss a total of 18 days over a year. 

If your child regularly misses 1 day a fortnight, they miss 4 weeks in a school year and over 1 whole year of learning over their time at school. 

If your child regularly misses 1 day every week, they will miss 8 weeks over a year and 2.5 years of education over their schooling life. 

We require students to attend school every day, apart from when they are unwell.

Scooters and bikes

A reminder that children are not permitted to ride bikes and scooters on school grounds. Children are expected to walk their scooter or bike through the school to keep everyone safe.

Cyber Safety (from previous newsletter)

It has come to my attention that after school, some of our older students may be inappropriately using an app called Discord. Discord is an app where students can chat to their friends privately as well as in a large group. The age requirement to use Discord is 13 years, however the app does not require verification of your age when registering with the app. 

At this time, Discord doesn’t offer parental controls, so there’s no way for parents and carers to restrict content or password-protect the privacy settings within the app. 

It has been reported that some of our students are part of a large chat group where some inappropriate language and content may have been shared.

I am asking all DPS parents of Stage 3 students to please have a discussion with their children about what apps they use with their friends, whether they use the Discord app, and if so, to monitor what is being shared. 

I have included links below that parents and carers can use to gain more information about helping their children to be safe online. I have also included links to information about the Discord app. 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/staying-safe-online

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles/parents-ultimate-guide-to-discord

Stationery Donation Drive (from previous newsletter)

During Term 2, Dundas Public School is excited to be organising a stationery donation drive to support the charity, ‘Stationery Angels’. ‘Stationary Angels’ is a non-for-profit organisation who collect brand new stationery supplies for students in need across Sydney.

There are so many students in schools across Sydney who are doing it tough. Having their own stationery supplies has an important impact on the student’s sense of belonging and self-worth. We also know that having their own supplies improves their independence during learning.

So we are hoping our wonderful school community can get behind this initiative and support this amazing charity doing such humble work for students.

Stationery Angels needs our help in collecting NEW stationery. Can you help?

Items being collected include the following:

· Pens

· Textas

· Rulers

· Rubbers

· Glue sticks

· Student scissors

· Sharpeners

· Pencil cases

· Highlighters

· Stapler

· Lead pencils

· Coloured pencils

· Geometry sets

· Felt tip pens

· Wind-up crayons

Donations can be placed in a collection tub located in the school office.

School Uniform  (from previous newsletter)

It can be tempting with the cooler weather, for students to wear any clothing to school. The school works closely with the DPS P&C to ensure that there is a selection of clothing items available for students to wear in warmer and cooler months of the school year. Students must be wearing a hat to play in unshaded play spaces. 

On non-sport days, it is expected that students wear their full school summer or winter uniform to school.

On sport days, students can wear DPS sports polo shirts, DPS sports shorts or skorts, and plain black track pants (for cooler weather). Students who have earned Met West sports hoodies can wear these hoodies on sports days as they are not part of DPS school uniform.

Kind regards,

Lee Shipley

Principal