Hello Families,

Can you believe we're almost halfway through the term? Time certainly flies when we're having fun! We're so proud of how well all our students have settled into their routines, especially our new Prep students who are now attending 4 full days each week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday)

Student Support Group (SSG) Meetings - A New Approach

This year, we're making some adjustments to our SSG meetings to further develop our partnerships with families. Your child's teacher should have contacted you to schedule an appointment for next week for the afternoons or during their planning day. During this meeting, they'll discuss your child's successes and any challenges they might be facing. Together, we'll develop a collaborative and individual plan to ensure your child reaches their full potential. Teachers will offer various timeslots and days to accommodate your schedules, and we encourage you to attend these meetings on-site whenever possible.

Parking Reminders

We understand that parking around the school can be challenging during drop-off and pick-up times. To alleviate some of the stress, we encourage you to utilise services like the school bus or the parent loop, if available. Please remember that the gates are not always open for parent pick-up and drop-off. If the gates are closed, please do a loop of the Coburns Rd slip lane and return to the gate 1. The local council regularly patrol the area and issue fines for double parking. Unfortunately, the school is unable to have these fines cancelled. When you are directed into gate 1 please follow the directions of our staff in Hi Vis Vests and turn off your engine before you get out of your car. This is a safety issue. When the whistle goes, staff will support your child into the school or to your car.

First Aid and CPR

This week our Teachers, Allied Health, Student Engagement team and Admin team all completed the Emergency First Aid and CPR training. These staff are now fully trained to support students and each other in an emergency. Bunji even joined us to learn how to support people who have been injured or become seriously unwell.

Bunji is back

We’ve been trying to figure out who is happier- the kids to see Bunji or Bunji to see the kids! He is so happy to be back and has really enjoyed exploring new classrooms and learning about the new groups. Even though he loves his job – he still gets a fright if people run up towards him with their hands out. Please talk to the adult with him and wait for him to approach you, he may not and that is ok. He does take time to get used to new people. Any questions, don’t hesitate to talk with me, Monika, Patsy or Rohan

CSEF

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities.

The applicant must be one of the following on the first day of Term 1 (28 January 2025) or Term 2 (22 April 2025):

a parent or carer who is the beneficiary of a financially means-tested card – please refer to the list of eligible cards below
a student over 16 years who is considered a mature minor and holds a valid concession card (such as a Youth Allowance Health Care Card or Disability Support Pension Card). For guidance on assessing whether a student is a mature minor, refer to the department’s policy on Mature Minors and Decision Making
a parent or carer whose child is 16 or over and the beneficiary of a financially means tested card but are not considered a mature minor.

Applications must be submitted to the school by 4 July 2025.

Where the parent or carer is seeking eligibility based on an eligible financially means-tested card, eligibility will be determined when the relevant concession card successfully validates with Centrelink on either the first day of Term 1 or Term 2.

For students over 16 years of age and where the eligible card is in the name of the student, the fund is only granted to that student, not their siblings.

Where a school or family is unsure if the concession card is eligible, they are encouraged to submit the application into the CSEF system for validation.

The full list of eligible concession and health care cards is available on the Services Australia website.

For Veterans' Affairs, gold cards are the only means tested cards for this type. This card must be sighted, and a photocopy taken by the school to confirm the expiry date and eligibility.

Cards that are not financially tested are not accepted.

For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a registered Victorian school.

CSEF is not payable to a student’s attending pre-school, kindergarten, TAFE or who are home schooled.

A special consideration category exists for asylum seeker families and families on temporary protection or Safe Haven visas who are not permanent residents and do not have access to Centrelink or have a Health Care Card. Permanent residents or applicants with a Health Care Card are not eligible for special consideration.

Applicants’ VISA Grant notice details showing applicants’ current residential status are required to apply for special consideration

Applicants who have a Health Care Card issued by Centrelink should apply as a general application and not under special consideration

For students in temporary out-of-home care arrangements, including statutory kinship care or foster care, a letter of support from the institution facilitating the arrangement (for example Mackillop Family Services) or the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) is required as evidence and must be no more than 12 months old. Copies of court orders are permitted to support special consideration applications.

Permanent care arrangements such as permanent visas and foster care do not meet the criteria for special consideration.

Only one application for each student can be submitted per year. Parents/carers are to decide which parent/carer should apply. If the parents/carers are unable to decide which of them is to utilise the CSEF, then the first eligible application entered and approved on the system will receive the payment.

We will have the application forms available on a Compass post, on the schools Facebook page and in hard copy at the school office. For any questions, please contact the admin team.

School Policies

School policies are updated, reviewed and viewed by the school council or in line DET processes regularly.

This year we have Updated, reviewed and approved the following policies:

Aboriginal Learning Wellbeing Safety Action Plan

Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy

Child Safe code of conduct

Child Safety Responding and reporting obligations Policy

We have also updated our Complaints Policy, Anaphylaxis Policy & Yard Duty and Supervision policy

If you would like to view any of these policies, please pop in and see our admin team who will be able to assist you.

Melton Specialist School

Be Responsible Be Safe Be Respectful

Edition 2 · 04 Mar 2025

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