Principal News

Dear Members of the St Raphael's school community,

Welcome back to the 2022 school year. 

Whilst the start of the school year has begun with some uncertainty, we want to extend a big thanks to all parents for your support of the rollout of the RATs and the safe return of the children to school. We have faced some frustration with an initial limited supply and delivery of RAT tests from the authorities, but we hope this will be rectified in the coming weeks.

It is wonderful to see the children back on-site at school, and we will continue to enforce strict protocols and procedures to keep the children and staff safe. These measures include maintaining hygiene practices, installing and operating multiple air purifiers throughout the school, and mask-wearing for children in Year 3 - 6 whilst indoors.

A reminder that if your child tests positive, you should notify the authorities (as detailed in the communication sent out last week) and email your child's teacher directly to inform the school. We have internal protocols and procedures in place to meet regulatory compliance.

Parent Email Protocols

As a new year begins, it is a timely reminder to detail the school's parent email communication guidelines. These guidelines were developed last year by the parent volunteers on the School Advisory Board following feedback from the staff and school leadership team. 

We appreciate that during these uncertain times, parents need to communicate with the school; however, we urge all parents to understand and respect the extraordinary demands on the school and teachers at this busy time of year. 

The purpose of the guidelines is to:

• articulate the school's commitment to the positive use of email for communication,
• acknowledge the benefits of staff and parents communicating via email, and
• establish clear expectations for both staff and parents in using email as a communication tool. 

The school considers email a vital communications tool and recognises the importance of appropriate email content and timely replies. Nevertheless, the high volume of email traffic and the resulting impact on staff workload necessitates some guidelines for all users.

There are some instances where email may not be the most appropriate method of communication. Outlined below are the school's email protocols and a simple guide to good practice email use.

Standard email protocols

• Email is not always the best form of communication. As teachers are generally not online during school hours due to their teaching and meeting responsibilities, emails are not suggested when an urgent or same-day response is required. In these instances, parents should phone the school office.  
• Always be respectful and constructive. It is always worth reminding ourselves about the importance of being respectful and constructive. Nothing should be said in an email that you would not say in person.
• Ensure the title is relevant. A relevant title to the email increases the chance that staff will understand the nature and urgency of your email rather than leaving it for later. 
• Keep it short. To facilitate a timely response, try to limit emails to less than 150 words. Clearly and concisely outline your question or enquiry to help with a timely response.
• Include your email signature. Please include your full name at the end of your email, so it is clear who wrote the email and who should be responded to.
• Is the information available elsewhere? Before emailing your child's teacher, consider whether the information you are seeking is already available elsewhere, such as in the school newsletter.   
• Use your personal email address that is registered with the school. For privacy reasons, parents must use their personal email address that is registered with the school. Staff will only respond to email addresses that are previously registered. Similarly, staff must use a school-provided email account to communicate with parents.
• Be careful cc'ing others and forwarding emails. Only send an email to those to whom the message is relevant. Do not forward email correspondence between yourself and the school to others without permission for privacy reasons.

Staff will respond to emails on weekdays between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm, excluding public holidays and term breaks.

Please respect that all school staff have the right to disconnect during school holidays and after school hours.

Good practice: When to use email

The use of email is a convenient and efficient way to contact your child's teacher, and the following guidelines have been developed to assist parents.

Email is appropriate for:

• Student absence. To notify of an absence or upcoming appointment for a child/children. Please note absences can also be notified by the 'Absence form' on the Skoolbag app.
• Brief enquiries. Enquiries about general school matters that can be addressed by teachers quickly.
• Agreed parent/teacher follow up. When agreed between the teacher and the parent following a previous meeting, email may be used as a form of regular communication to provide updates.
• To set up a meeting. To set up a face-to-face or phone / online meeting for a more detailed discussion about your child or to discuss an issue.   

Email is not appropriate for:

• Discussing your child's academic progress. This is best addressed through a meeting (face-to-face or via a phone/video conference meeting) with your child's teacher.
• In-depth discussions about your child. However, email can be used to raise a topic to be discussed at a meeting and to set up a meeting time.
• Where a same-day response is required. Please phone the office for any same-day or urgent messages to ensure your message is received and understood. For example, please do not email the teacher about any changes to student pick up requirements for that day, which the teacher may not see until the following day.
• Lost property. We encourage and promote responsibility among all students to look after their school belongings. Teachers will not search for individual items. Should your child misplace something, teachers will encourage them to check the lost property tub opposite the school office, acknowledging that things may take a couple of days to reach the tub. When access restrictions to the school are lifted, parents are also welcome to come and check the lost property tub as required. When practical, office staff will place the lost property tub outside the reception front doors on Cooper Street before pick up time.

St Raphael's Primary School values the use of email as a vital communications tool and in strengthening positive partnerships between the school and our families.

We hope that these email guidelines help to clarify appropriate email communication between our school and families. 

School Uniform

As the new school year commences, we remind all parents/ carers that the children must now be wearing the correct school uniform. Children may only wear their sports uniform on their allocated day for Physical Education specialist lessons, sports events or as directed by your child's teacher. 

Children must wear the correct full formal school uniform on all other days of the week, including black leather school shoes. No runners or a blend of sport and formal uniform is allowed on any of these days.

Children must wear their formal Summer uniform in Term1 and 4 and Winter uniform in Term 2 & 3. The school supports parents exercising their discretion in the first few weeks of Term 2 and Term 4 depending on the weather forecast.

For the children's safety, we remind parents that no jewellery other than sleeper earrings may be worn.  Sleeper earrings should be close enough to the ear lobe to prevent anything from getting caught between the ear and the earring which may cause significant damage or harm to your child or other children. 

Year 6 children must wear their formal school jumper on days when they are not wearing their sports uniform. Year 6 sports polo T-Shits and hoodies may only be worn on sports/ PE days or as directed by their teacher.

We appreciate that the lockdown restrictions have made it incredibly difficult to access the school's Uniform Shop over the last few years.

Our wonderful parent volunteers in the school's Uniform Shop will be open on the following days:

Thursday 10th Feb 8.45 - 9.15

Thursday 24th Feb 8.45 - 9.15

Thursday 10th March 8.45 - 9.15

If you cannot access the Uniform Shop, order forms can be sent home and submitted via your child's homeroom tub. The uniforms will be sent home with our children.

We are proud of our school uniform, and we want to instil this in the children to be proud of their school by wearing the correct school uniform.

We appreciate that there are times when the uniform is in the wash, needs repair, or a child has outgrown a garment. We ask that parents send a note (or short email) to their child's teacher and inform them you will address this in the coming days.

We will be issuing incorrect uniform notices to children in the coming weeks and ask for your support.

Please beware that a condition of your child's ongoing enrolment is that parents agree to support the school's Uniform Policy.

Policies

At the beginning of every school year, the school would like to make all parents/ carers aware of the following policies:

• St Raphael's Parent Protocols Policy 

• Managing Challenging and Aggressive Behaviours Policy  

• Sunsmart Policy

These policies are for the protection of all members of our community, especially our staff, and we ask that you take the time to read and understand these policies.

As for all workplaces, under the directives of Worksafe Victoria, the school must provide a safe workplace for all staff, and a failure to adhere to these policies by any member of our school community will result in appropriate action being taken.

Last year the Victorian Government introduced the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021, delivering on a key recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce.  

The Bill empowers authorised persons, such as school principals, to issue School Community Safety Orders to parents, carers and other people who engage in harmful, threatening or abusive behaviour.

The new laws allow schools to ban parents that engage in threatening or abusive communication through social media and other channels.

Schools will be able to impose requirements on the way parents, carers or other adult members of the school community interact with the school or school community – including stopping them from entering school grounds or other locations where school events are occurring, if reasonably necessary.

If a person fails to comply with a School Community Safety Order, an application can be made to the Magistrates' Court for an order requiring compliance, a civil penalty of up to 60 penalty units, or any other order that the Court considers appropriate.

The Bill is part of a broader strategy targeting the small minority of parents, carers and other members of school communities who engage in such inappropriate behaviour. It will also include an ongoing school-based communications campaign to address parent and carer aggression.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino

“No one should be threatened or intimidated at work or at school – that’s why we’re introducing these new laws to protect staff, students and their families.”   

“These vital new measures will empower our senior school leaders to take necessary actions when inappropriate behaviour is being levelled towards people in the school community”. 

Lunch and Recess times

As a SunSmart school, several years ago the school made the decision to make the hour lunch break earlier in the day. One reason this was decided was because students weren't outside for too long at the hottest part of the day. Lunch time is between 11:10am - 12:00pm and recess is between 2:05pm to 2:30pm. All staff have been notified to give each homeroom adequate eating time so students do not go out to play hungry.  Students are encouraged to wash their hands before they eat and before they return to class after each break. Students must wear their hats at all times while outside, all year round. 

Nut-Awareness school

This school acknowledges that due to food processing practices, it is impractical to eliminate nuts or nut products entirely from an environment where there is food. Many food packaging labels include the phrase ‘may contain traces of nuts’. Foods with packaging labels that contain the phrase ‘may contain traces of nuts’ are acceptable. 

Management of students with nut allergies. 

Students who have been identified by a doctor as having anaphylaxis as a result of a nut allergy will be required to submit to the school a Health Care Plan.

The 'Nut Awareness' is managed by:  

- Students being encouraged NOT to share food.

- Students being encouraged to wash hands after eating. 

- Staff supervising eating at lunchtime. When teachers notice nut products being brought into the classroom, the identified child will be separated to reduce their chance of contact - Staff being made aware of students and staff who have anaphylactic responses, including nut allergies. 

- Staff participating in first aid training in understanding and dealing with Anaphylaxis (severe allergic reactions) as the need arises.