Leadership Report

Dear Saltwater Community, Welcome to week 10.

In the upcoming weeks, the school remains bustling as it aims to wrap up 2023 on a positive note while also working on finalising arrangements for 2024. A reminder to our families to promote good sleeping habits, in addition to promoting patience and kindness, as this time of year can present challenges for some students. 

2024 Years 1-6 Transition Step Up

As we prepare for next year, we have organised a Step-Up Transition Day for students going into Year one through to Year 6. These sessions allow students to transition from one year level to the next year level, with a focus on the changes to expect, extracurricular opportunities, and meeting the teacher and class peers. The Year 1 to Year 6 transition day will be held on Monday 18 December. We hope all our children are able to participate in this exciting opportunity to meet with their prospective teacher in their new class.

Prep Transition

As we reflect on the conclusion of our Prep 2024 Transition Program, we wanted to take a moment to thank our school community for fostering a tranquil and organised school environment on our Prep Transition mornings, and for warmly embracing our new Prep families. Our wonderful future families and students demonstrated high engagement and enthusiasm whilst participating in our Prep 2024 Transition program. Our Prep teaching team created a smooth and enriching experience for all the children involved. Witnessing the enthusiasm and seamless transition of the students throughout the program has been truly heart-warming.

We look forward to continuing this journey together and seeing our newest members of Saltwater again in 2024. 

The following Prep dates may be of interest to our 2024 Prep families: 

• The first day of school for Prep students will be Thursday 1 Feb 2024 at 8.20am.
• During the month of February, Prep students attend school four days of the week – they do not attend school on Wednesdays.

ICAS

ICAS is an academic competition that challenges students and recognises their achievements in core subjects such as English, Maths and Science. The competition started over 40 years ago and has since become an internationally recognised annual event completed across 41 countries.

Last term over 120 of our students participated in these tests, through parental choice. All students are to be commended on their efforts. In particular, we would like to celebrate the outstanding achievements of Ricky Pan, Melody Sun, Hugo Megyeri, Shrihan Shah, Jayne Kiran and Lucas Jiang. These students received special awards for their high rankings on an international scale.

2024 Curriculum Days Approved by School Council. 

Please note our 2024 Curriculum days, which are student free days. 

Curriculum days are days set aside by our school for teachers and staff to engage in various activities related to curriculum planning, development, and improvement. These days are designated as non-instructional days for students, meaning that students do not attend school on these days. In 2024, our school has five allocated curriculum days which have been approved by our School Council:

1.Monday 29 January

2.Tuesday 30 January

3.Friday 23 February

4.Monday 4 November

5.Friday 20 December

Please mark these days in your 2024 diary as students do not attend school on these days.

Dismissal and After-school Supervision Matters

We would like to bring to your attention some after school matters for your prompt follow up. Your careful consideration of the following matters will ensure that our staff and maintenance team will be able to continue their work in a safe and orderly manner within their working day. 

Dismissal After School

Our end of school day dismissal is 2.40pm for primary students and 3.15pm for secondary students. 

We would like to remind you of prompt pick up and exiting of our school by students and parents by 3.30pm. This will enable us to protect the work of our maintenance team so that they are able attend to grounds maintenance such as yard cleaning, vacuuming and other duties that can only be undertaken when there are no visitors on site.

After-school Supervision

After-school supervision refers to the supervision provided to our students after their regular school hours by our staff in our library area. Due to our primary and secondary timetable dismissal being at separate times, we only offer supervision to primary students who finish at 2.40 and need to wait until 3.15 for a sibling at our secondary school. This assists families, ensuring a safe environment for the children until they are picked up by an older sibling.

We need to remind you that all children are to be picked up and exit our school by 3.30pm. We often find children still at school in excess of 3.30pm, which means our supervision staff are impacted when they have after school commitments such as team meetings to attend.

If families require care beyond 3.30pm, they must seek the services of Big Childcare who provide Out of School Hours Care. They can be contacted via 0143258139 or saltwater@bigchildcare.com

We thank you in advance for your cooperation with our school dismissal times.

Safety around our school 

Thank you to all our families who demonstrate caution at drop off and pick up times around our school. The safety of all is our main concern, and during times of congestion, we ask that you are cautious and aware of road rules and boundaries when parking. 

We have received reports from families of incidents where our student safety (before and after school), has been compromised due to unlawful behaviour such as speeding beyond the school zone limits, double parking and parking in non-parking bays. Please allow ample time for arrival and pick up and walk to school if possible as this will assist with alleviating congestion. 

Please remember to:

• Ensure that you are calm and comfortable and not in a rush, give yourself plenty of time to drop off and pick up your child. 
• Educate your kids about the dangers of parked cars, which include reversing vehicles. 
• Obey the posted speed limits when children are walking to school and around the school. 
• Always obey parking signs; never double park close to school as this only adds to the congestion and endangers everyone. 
• Keep an eye out for other children and be mindful that they can suddenly run or ride across the road in front of you. 
• Never obstruct the children's crossing near the school; doing so makes it more difficult for other children to view the road and safely cross. 
• Inform your child that they should use the school crossings to cross the road. 
  
  Our collective efforts are pivotal in safeguarding our students.

Christmas Carols at Saltwater College

We are excited to inform you that we will be holding an after school Christmas Carols Concert at Saltwater College. The Carols Concert is a special musical event, leading up to the end of year holiday season. It helps to spread goodwill, kindness and generosity, by bringing our community together and fostering a sense of togetherness and joy. 

Christmas Carols are scheduled for Wednesday 13 December and Thursday 14 December 2023. Our classes have been rehearsing their chosen class song and have been practising the choreography of their dance. 

Carols Concert- INCLEMENT WEATHER CONTINGENCY PLAN:

If the weather is unsuitable for an outdoor concert (extreme heat, rain, thunderstorms or muddy oval), we will need to host the carols concert in the school gym. Due to limited space, parents will be unable to attend. Instead, we will set up a live stream on YouTube and share the link on the day. We will communicate with you on the day, should this be the case.

We are so excited for our end of year Christmas Carol celebration and we look forward to seeing you at this important community event. Please be sure to preview the information sent via XUNO regarding the exact details of the Carols event.

Last Day of School

A reminder that the last day of school is on Tuesday 19 December, with dismissal at 2.40pm for all students from P-8.