Staffing update

This winter, we have experienced a tremendous amount of sickness in the community resulting in staff being too sick to come to school. I wanted to thank our school community for being so understanding lately when your child’s class has been split due to the teacher being unwell.

At the moment, it is extremely challenging booking casual teachers at short notice with most available teachers already booked at other schools. Every day we do our best to organise teacher replacements but unfortunately, we are not always successful resulting in classes being split for the day.

DPS NAPLAN data

In the media lately, there has been a lot of information shared about the disappointing NAPLAN results across Australian schools. I thought I would take this opportunity to share with the community how pleased we are of the results achieved by Dundas PS students this year.

Year 3

Year 3 numeracy data stayed in line with 2023 results.
Year 3 reading data improved by 7% from 2023.
Year 3 writing data improved by a whopping 10% from 2023!! The graph below shows Yr 3 DPS writing results compared to SSSG (similar school groups) and state results. The top line represents the average score for DPS.

Year 3 Grammar & Punctuation data improved by a huge 11.5% from 2023!! The graph below shows Yr 3 DPS grammar and punctuation results compared to SSSG (similar school groups) and state results. The top line represents the average score for DPS.

Year 3 spelling data improved by a massive 12.5% from 2023!! AMAZING! The graph below shows Yr 3 DPS spelling results compared to SSSG (similar school groups) and state results. The top line represents the average score for DPS. Well above both other groups!

Year 5

Year 5 numeracy data improved by 3.4% from 2023.
Year 5 reading data improved by 2% from 2023.
Year 5 writing data improved by a 1.3% from 2023.
Year 5 Grammar & Punctuation data improved by a huge 14% from 2023!! The graph below shows Yr 5DPS grammar & punctuation results compared to SSSG (similar school groups) and state results. The top line represents the average score for DPS. Well above both other groups!

Year 5 spelling data improved by a massive 7.3% from 2023!! AMAZING! What is an amazing achievement is that both Year 3 and Year 5 cohorts were above the State average and SSSG average in ALL NAPLAN tests.

Why is my child’s NAPLAN report different to their school report?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.

As students’ progress through their school years, it is important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

The NAPLAN assessments are a ‘point in time’ capture of student progress across the 4 areas or domains of reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling and grammar & punctuation) and numeracy. Parents/carers can use NAPLAN reports, along with other school assessment reports, to discuss their child’s strengths and areas for improvement with their teacher. NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance.

A semester student report is a far more comprehensive look at how each child is progressing with their learning against ALL taught syllabus content over a 6-month period, incorporating achievement as well as effort. Each teacher will have the best insight into their students’ educational progress.

Major school fundraiser this term - Big Show Fun Run

Every 2 years, Dundas Public School has a major fundraiser to help the school purchase much needed technology for students to use in their learning. In 2022, we held a Splash and Dash Fun Run and raised over $26,000 which was an amazing success and loads of fun!

This year, we are excited to announce that we are holding another Fun Run but this time it is called the ‘Big Show Fun Run’. Our fundraising goal is to hopefully raise $30,000 this time so we can replace our old iPads as well as supplement class sets with new iPads.

This fundraising event will run similarly to the last event in 2022. We will be holding our assembly launch next Tuesday morning before our book character parade. It is an online fundraising program, where all students go home and create their own online profile. You get to pick your target prizes and work your way towards that goal. And here's the cool part – your profile comes with a unique cyber-safe link to share with your nearest and dearest, encouraging them to contribute towards reaching your target.

Students will be invited to create an online profile at funrun.com.au. The class with the most profiles by next Friday will all get an icy pole!

This is an inclusive fundraiser. One we would love you to be apart of! If you would like to come down and watch your kids run, we would love to see you there! We will be inviting parent helpers closer to the event.

It is important to remember that ALL students can participate in the Big Show Fun Run, whether they raise funds or not.

Please mark your calendars - we will be holding our Big Show Fun Run on Thursday, 26th September school on the field. Check out the video below of a school’s Big Show Fun Run event.

Link to Big Show video

P&C - What is it?

The DPS P&C runs the school canteen and the school uniform shop, as well as organizing fundraising events such as Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls, school discos etc.

The P&C meet throughout the year for an hour or so, to chat about our school. Lately, we have had some parents come to the school for the meeting while other parents choose to join the meeting online. This way all people can participate.

Usually the P&C president, executive and the school principal will give the parents at the meeting an update of what has been happening since the last meeting. The meetings are always very relaxed and respectful, and everyone feels very comfortable to discuss agenda items or any general business matters.

The DPS P&C alternate with the school in their major fundraising events. Last year the P&C organised a very successful fete and this year the school is organising a Big Show Fun Run.

The DPS P&C are interested in attracting more parents and carers to our P&C meetings and would like some feedback as to the most convenient time P&C meetings should be held. The DPS P&C are wanting to hear from you. It would be most appreciated if our parent community could complete the very short survey. The link is below. It will take you 30 seconds to complete.

https://forms.gle/hBaajcuNhe4gDpbQ6 

The P&C Survey 2024 only has 2 questions. We would love your input.

P&C Voting Day BBQ Fundraiser

With local council elections coming up, the P&C Committee invites you all to join us on Saturday 14 September 2024 for a voting day sausage sizzle. 

P&C are looking for volunteers to help out on the day from 8am until 2pm, or until sausages sell out!

If you cannot help out on the day, but would like to make a generous donation, we are gladly accepting napkins, paper towels, alfoil and alfoil trays, tomato and BBQ sauce, food handling gloves, and bottles of water.

All profits from our BBQ fundraiser will be put back into the school and will assist us in providing new technology and resources to the students at Dundas Public School.

If you can assist with volunteering or donations, please reach out to pandc.dundas@gmail.com

Camp Australia- First day free program

Camp Australia has announced they are offering our school community a ‘First Day Free’ for new families at their OOSH service. Please contact the Camp Australia service if you wish to take up this offer.

Enrol now for Kindergarten 2025

It is not too late to enrolment online for Kindergarten 2025. Your child can start Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year if they turn five on or before 31 July in that year. By law, all children must be enrolled in school by their sixth birthday.

How to Enrol

If you are an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and live within our designated intake area, you are eligible to complete the online enrolment application. You will then need to finalise the application at the school.

Click here to access School Finder and check that your address is in our catchment.

Parents will be asked to complete the 100-point residential address check to confirm they live within the school’s designated intake area.

Click here to read about the 100-point residential address check.

Click here to enrol online.

We look forward to meeting you and your child very soon!

Lost Property

We will be doing a lost property clean on over the next few weeks.

We encourage parents and carers to regularly check the lost property if items have been misplaced.

As we sort through lost property, there are a concerning number of items which are either not labelled with the child's name or the labelling has faded so much that it is impossible to read. Please take some time to check that all your child's belongings are labelled clearly to allow any lost items to easily be returned.

Audiri app (previous content)

We continue to be surprised when parents /carers tell us they did not know about the Audiri app and that they had missed important messages. Audiri is the main platform DPS uses to communicate messages quickly with our community.

Please download the free app to your smart phone if you haven’t done this already.

Below is a summary of the different platforms used by DPS and their intended purpose.

Dates to Remember

Term 3