Volunteers

Volunteer Visitor Instructions

Dear Parents and family members,

Thank you for taking the time to volunteer at Kalinda Primary School. We value your time and assistance in whatever capacity you can assist the school. Helpers across our school get to taste the cooking in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen and get dirty in the garden, planting, weeding, and relocating caterpillars. You might see some parents volunteering their skills to coach or referee the Interschool teams. 

Some family members have other strengths in the Arts and Crafts and take great pride in helping glue, sewing, and even just thread needles for Mrs. Shaw in the art room. Our Classroom Liaison Officers ensure classroom teachers have all their reading groups covered by an adult. Who wouldn’t love to be read to? We are extremely lucky to have a wonderful Parents and Friends group who run things such as Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day stalls, Welcome BBQ, Discos for the students, Easter Raffle, and even the Hot Cross Bun Drive. Any spare pair of hands is always welcome to assist our fabulous group. During a production year, the opportunities to help are endless. Many hands ensure the student’s experiences are memorable.

To be a part of our wonderful helping team, please be aware of the following things.

Department of Education rules and regulations may change at any time, and as a Government Primary School, we need to comply with these.  To assist us with our compliance, school helpers need to:

1. Sign in with Passtab at the front office. This is to ensure we know who is onsite in the event of an evacuation, or even contract tracing. It will ask you for your Working with Children Check (must be current) or exception eg VIT. 
2. Working with Children Checks are available online: https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1.  We will take a copy of your card the first time you sign in every year, or when a new one is due.
3. Child Safety Code of Conduct Policy is updated in line with Department of Education requirements. It covers staff and students and must be signed by every visitor on the school grounds. This needs to be signed once a year. There are copies available at the office.
4. Sign out on Passtab when you leave.

If you are going to help in the canteen, the Health Department now states that an individual needs to have – a ‘food handlers certificate. The link to apply is here The link to apply is here https://dofoodsafely.health.vic.gov.au/index.php/en/

If you are coming to help with a team of people, or for a large event, it is a good idea to come to the office a little earlier, as this process can take a little bit of time, and the office can be busy. All volunteering parents, students and staff represent our school and our school values of Kindness, Resilience, and Respect.

Thank you for your time and effort in volunteering for our school.

Kalinda Primary School