Food sharing and student birthdays

At Deer Park West Primary School, we acknowledge and celebrate individual students’ birthdays in many ways appropriate to their year level. This may include the class singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and the student wearing a special item e.g. badge indicating it is their birthday.

At our school, the safety and health of our students is of the utmost importance and therefore food treats as gifts are strongly discouraged. It is exceedingly difficult to verify the ingredients in every food product that is brought to school. Furthermore, we have students with a wide range of moderate and severe allergies to various nuts, milk products, wheat, soy and fruits.

Therefore, we request the following:

If food items are being shared, they must be individually pre-packaged e.g. Freddo frogs
Consider other options such as non-food items such as a pencil or sticker

Please note the following:

No food items that contain nuts
No lolly bags
No cakes or food items that need to be cut up or distributed
No home prepared foods

If families wish to bring above items, these will be distributed at the end of the day for students to take home.

Please find attached our student birthday's policy.

Volunteers @ DPW

The induction program covers information around the Victorian Child Safe Standards, Occupational Health & Safety and a familiarization tour of the school.

The Victorian Department of Education states:

Volunteers should be inducted, trained and supervised according to the school’s procedures for staff or volunteer induction and management. This includes being familiar with school level procedures for identifying and reporting suspected child abuse.

Should you wish to volunteer at DPW (attend excursions/incursion, assist in the library, attend onsite activities etc.):

Contact the school office to add your details to the volunteer expression of interest form. The induction must be completed each year.
Supply the school office with your Working with Children (WWCC) Clearance (we will take a photocopy for our records)
Complete a volunteer induction session facilitated by the school (offered at the beginning of each term and if there are sufficient numbers, to offer an additional session during the term)

If you have any further questions, please contact the school office.

Students and Social Media

This a reminder for all, that parents play a key role in guiding their children around the use of technology, especially when determining when they should be using social media accounts.

Social media sites/apps usually have a minimum age requirement for those who use their site/app. Most specify that users must be at least 13 years old. Parents may be unaware of this requirement.

The minimum age stipulations are based on the requirements of the US Congress as set out in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The act specifies that website operators must gain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting any personal information from a child younger than 13 years old (O'Keeffe et al., 2011). Many social networking sites avoid this requirement by setting a minimum age of use at 13 years old but there is no responsibility on website operators to verify the age of users.

We are aware that quite a number of our students have active social media accounts. I recommend having a talk with your child about this topic. They might be aware of the minimum age requirement, or choose to ignore it and sign up anyway.

While most people who use social media do so to connect with friends and family, and use it in a responsible manner, there are those who abuse this.

At times, people might be drawn into saying hurtful or negative things about others which can make a small problem into a bigger one. This is especially possible for those who are young and may not have the maturity to understand the consequences or effect this can have on others. Younger people may not be prepared or know how to manage a negative experience on social media.

At times, the negativity or hurtful comments can be posted more often and with more people joining in with posting these things. This is where it can become Cyberbullying. In Victoria, cyberbullying can become a criminal offence with the police being involved.

To have a clear understanding of your child’s use of technology, it is a good idea to supervise your child’s online activity. Be clear on things like when and where online devices can be used and when they need to be switched off.

If you would like further information about online safety and/or the use of social media for young people, please have a look at the following sites:

Youth Law Australia

https://yla.org.au/vic/topics/internet-phones-and-technology/cyber-bullying/

eSafety Commissioner Australia

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/online-safety-basics

Tissues

It would be appreciated if each child could bring a box of tissues for their classroom each term. We thank you for your kind donation.

School hats

Reminder that as of Friday the 1st of September 2024 until Friday the 31st of April 2025, students must wear a school hat while outdoors during recess, lunch and PE sessions. Students who do not have a hat, will need to sit in the No Hat NO Play shady area. School hats are available from Academy Uniforms. Please ensure your child's name is clearly written on their.

Students must wear a school broadbrimmed or legionnaires hat.

Plain navy blue broadbrimmed or legionnaire hats are also allowed.

No other caps, visors, hats will be allowed.

Arriving to school on time

There are many benefits for your child if they are consistently arriving at school on time. Not only do they develop strong habits but they are likely to succeed in their learning too. It is very important to instil this habit from a very young age, at the start of each term and over the school year.

Your child is arriving at school on time when they arrive between 8.45am and 8.50am.

What are the benefits?

They are informed of important information – a typical school day starts with announcements and introductions to new lessons, so students who show up late may miss out on important details and be unprepared for class events or key learning ideas
They often miss out on key learning opportunities like Reading and Numeracy, or they may miss out on a lesson with their specialist teacher
Develop long-term positive habits. They develop the habit of being punctual with important commitments
Self-esteem - arriving on time every day makes children feel good about themselves
Disrupting the other children can cause embarrassment and can make a child feel uncomfortable
Gives your child an opportunity to greet their friends before the lessons start

What can you do?

Regular routines are important, and with the right strategies in place a child can succeed in getting to school on time, every day.

Let them help in getting their clothing, lunchbox or bag ready the night before
Ensure all their homework tasks are up to date and they are able to hand it in on time
Make sure they are getting enough sleep so they are able to get up in the morning on time
Have a set wake up time
Set a time for when breakfast should start and end, and keep to it
Limit screen time, TV time or games time
Be firm, let your child know the school expectations and values
Give positive encouragement when they are following the plan and getting ready to be at school on time
Encourage them to catch up with friends before school so they can walk into the class together
Once they have settled at school, leave quickly

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Arriving on time

Being on time to school means that children can be part of the morning routine. This includes teacher and peer welcomes and greetings. Morning greetings help students feel connected to the school and add a sense of belonging. It ensures that your child doesn't miss out on the important learning activities that happen early in the day when they are most alert. Being late often means missing out on important information about the day and opportunities to learn.

Leaving early

Where possible if parents and guardians could you please book appointments for 3:00 pm onwards. Otherwise, please ensure that children return to school once the appointment is finished. Please remember that on Friday afternoons we have our whole school assembly, so if you need to collect your child/ren early please do so before 2:45pm as it is hard to collect student during assembly.

Attendance

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility. Monitoring any absences is the responsibility of both parents/carers and schools. Please remember to log your child’s absence using Compass or by calling the school on 9363 3519, selecting option 1 and leaving your child's full name, grade and reason for absence. Save this number!

For a guide on entering a Compass absence, follow the link below: https://www.compass.education/guide#section-attendance

You will receive a text message at 9:30am if your child is not at school and you haven’t notified the school as to why. If you are notified by the school that your child is away without a reason, please contact us as soon as possible via Compass or by calling the number above. If we cannot reach you because we don’t have your correct contact details (disconnected number or incorrect email address), then we will contact any emergency contact/s nominated on your child’s file held by the school on the same day of the unexplained absence.

Please ensure we have current up to date contact details to assist us in calling you for absences, emergencies, or any notifications necessary. You can request a change of detail form from our office at any time.

Please remember it is your responsibility to contact us to provide an explanation for your child's absence from school, and where possible, please inform us in advance of upcoming absences

Cutlery

If you child/rens lunch requires cutlery (a fork or spoon), please ensure you provide them with one from home. The school does not have any available for students.

Single-use plastics ban

From Wednesday 1 February 2023, Victorian businesses and organization's (including schools) will not be able to sell, supply or provide a number of single-use plastic items.

Items that will be banned from 1 February 2023

The ban applies to the following single-use plastic items made from conventional, degradable or compostable plastics:

drinking straws
cutlery including knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks, sporks, splades and food picks
plates
drink stirrers and sticks
cotton bud sticks.

The ban also applies to:

food service items and drink containers made from expanded polystyrene.

For more information on items that will be banned, refer to this fact sheet.

Exceptions to the ban

People who need single-use plastic drinking straws due to disability or for a medical need will still be able to purchase and use these items.

Schools can continue to purchase single-use plastic straws from their suppliers so that these are available when needed.

There is no requirement for individuals to provide verification of disability or medical need when requesting straws.

For more information on single-use plastic straws and other exceptions to the ban, refer to our new Single-Use Plastics Ban policy.

Implementing the ban

Schools can continue to use up existing stock before the ban starts on 1 February 2023. Banned items cannot be provided after this date, even if they were purchased before the ban.

From 1 February 2023, all businesses and organisations' (including schools) will need to comply with the regulations and ensure they do not purchase, supply or provide any banned single-use plastics.

Schools with canteens and out of school hours care programs operated by third parties should ensure their operators are aware of the ban.

Schools should make plans to replace single-use items with reusables. Where it is not possible to use reusable items, schools can choose single-use items made from alternative materials – such as uncoated paper, wood or bamboo.

When procuring new supplies, note that:

single-use plastics have now been replaced with suitable alternatives wherever they exist in the COS catalogue
COS is working with its suppliers and the Victorian Government to identify and replace all remaining single-use plastic products in the catalogue.

If schools expect to have significant excess stock, for example, unopened boxes of banned items after 1 February 2023, please email: sup.policy@delwp.vic.gov.au

School community communications

Please note that the offences relating to the ban do not apply to private or domestic activities at home, for example, individual families’ decisions about lunch packaging brought to school. The intention of the ban is to remove the specified items from the supply chain before they reach the consumer.

Draft newsletter text is available in the resources section of our Single-Use Plastics Ban policy, for schools that would like to share information about the ban with their school communities. There are also posters that can be used around the school, such as in the canteen, if schools want to use them.

Policy, guidance and resources

Our Policy and Advisory Library includes all related policy information, guidance and resources under the relevant menu tabs:

Single-Use Plastics Ban.

Find out more

For more information, refer to:

For further enquiries, email our Environmental Sustainability team: sustainability@education.vic.gov.au

School Buildings

A reminder that the school buildings are off limits before and after school to students and their families, including students who attend before and after school care. If students need to return to their classroom or if you need to speak to a staff member, please go to the office first, walking around the outside of the school. Only staff should be in the school buildings during before and after school hours unless a meeting has been arranged. Please ensure you sign in at the office first. The school office closes at 4:30pm, so anything after that time will need to be dealt with the following school day. You can always call and leave a message or email the school . Students should not be entering a staff members office at anytime.

Student Safety Online

Many of our students are very active online. Some of this time is spent safely playing games and chatting to friends. However increasingly we have found that there have been some negative consequences of their interactions online and at times this carries over into the school environment. As soon as we are aware we talk to students and parents and work to resolving any issues. Last term, police from a special unit came to speak to our Year 5 and 6 students about online safety. They explained what kind of risks can be present online. Students were very surprised to hear about these risks and did not realise that your digital footprint is forever and that even when you delete something it can still be found.

As these incidents occur at home it is really the responsibility of the parents to monitor their children’s actions online and to guide them and keep them safe. To assist you, we have attached some of the information shared with students for you. As much as we can help deal with some of the incidents, often it is difficult for us to deal with things which have happened outside of school hours. It may be important for you to direct your concerns to the police.

DPW Communication & Learning Apps

Please click on the link below to access our Communication & Learning apps which are available for families to download and use. Staff at DPW will use these apps to communicate with our families.

The Principal, Assistant Principals and Administration staff use the Compass app as their way of communicating with families, sending out important information daily/weekly . Parents/Guardians can access their child/rens school reports on Compass.

If you are having any issues with your Compass app or log in details, please contact the school office on 9363 3519.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast club runs everyday except Wednesdays. Students need to wait at the front gate at 8:30am and a staff member will come and collect them. Reminder breakfast club is only for students who can not have breakfast at home and students must eat breakfast while attending. If you require supervision of your child/ren in the morning or after school, please contact Camp Australia.

Community Information

Brimbank Blue Light Disco

VU School Holiday Sport Program

RecWest School Holiday Program