Principal's Desk

2024 Excursions, Incursions and Camps

Our teachers have been busy planning a range of exciting excursions and incursions for our students this year. Teachers have been mindful of cost when planning these activities, and throughout 2024 we will be tracking activities across the school with the aim of spreading out and minimising extra costs to families. Information about excursions and incursions will be provided to families ahead of time.

Our school camping program planning is also well under way, with bookings secured for all camping experiences in 2024. Our school camping program is an essential part of our extra-curricular program, and supports our students to develop their independence, and step out of their comfort zone and learn new skills. Camping activities are implemented at all year levels across the school and include:

• Foundation – Healthy day
• Year 1 – An extended day on-site
• Year 2 – Oasis Mount Evelyn Day Camp
• Year 3 – 2-day Ferngully Lodge, Healesville
• Year 4 - 3-day Mount Evelyn Discovery Camp
• Year 5 – 3-day Camp Campaspe Downs, Macedon Ranges
• Year 6 – 3-day Camp Rumbug Foster

Information will be sent to families about specific Year Level camps in advance, and a variety of payment options are available, including payment plans that are available to all families, and access to the Department of Education Camps, Sports, and Excursion Fund for eligible families.

Parking, Traffic Management & Active Travel

This is a very common and regular section of our newsletter.

Drop-off and Pick-up are the times when members of our community, particularly the children, are at most risk of accident. It is critical that all parents and drivers take all precautions and care to reduce the risks to children. Please be patient and be extra vigilant to ensure that our children are safe.

We will continue to write about this as the consequences of an accident could be devastating. Please consider using active travel such as parking away from our school (there is always parks available at the Soccer Field car park with just a short walk to the school grounds) and letting your children walk the last couple of blocks to school. Alternatively, arrive around 8:30am in the morning or after 3:20pm to avoid the rush times. Protecting our children must be everyone’s priority.

Students’ Mobile Phones and Wearable Digital Devices

A reminder that the Department of Education has in place a mobile phone ban that requires students who bring mobiles phones and digital devices to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours. 

The department is requiring all schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced from the start of the 2024 school year. The ban applies equally to all government schools right across the state. This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions. 

All Park Ridge, students who bring their mobile phone or digital device with them to school must sign in their device at the office upon arrival. All devices will be locked in a secure location during the day. Students then need to sign out and collect their device at the end of the day. If your child brings a digital device to school, please discuss this expectation with them and ensure your child signs in their mobile device/s at the office by 8:45am and collect them after school by 3:25pm.

In addition, any student who brings a wearable device to school, such as a smart watch, must have ‘school mode’ enabled to prevent them using the device to make calls and send messages during the school day. If ‘school mode’ is not enabled, the student will be required to sign in their device at the office and collect it after school, in line with the Department of Education policy.

By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause. We ask for the support of all our families, staff, and students in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school. 

For a small number of students with particular health needs, an exception to the policy may be granted. Please contact Carrie Chalmers, Brendan Garvey or myself if you would like to discuss this. 

In the event of an emergency or if you need to immediately contact your child, I ask that families contact the school office who will pass on a message as required.

A copy of our school’s local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available on our school website. The Mobile phones in schools webpage provides links to resources for families to help them balance their children’s time using mobile phones. If you have further questions, please contact the administration office.

Free Sanitary Products

The Victorian Government is committed to continuing to provide free pads and tampons in all government primary, secondary and specialist schools. Sanitary items are a necessity, not a luxury, and this initiative supports tens of thousands of girls and young women in schools across the state. Our dispenser is installed in the female bathroom in the Gym Toilets and is available for any student who may need to access sanitary products while at school. The aim of this initiative is to:

• Provide students with the confidence that there will always be sanitary items available at school.
• Relieve female students of the stigma, anxiety and discomfort that can be associated with menstruation and its management so they can focus on their studies.
• Ease the cost of living for families.

Hats and Sunscreen

In line with our SunSmart policy students are required to wear school hats during Terms 1 and 4. School hats provide protection from the harsh sun and are available through our uniform supplier, Spartan School Supplies.

Students without a hat will be required to play in the designated undercover area outside the library. It is also recommended that your child wears sunscreen to school and suggest that this is applied prior to the start of the school day. You are also encouraged to send sunscreen to school with your child to independently apply, prior to recess and lunch breaks when they will be given the opportunity to do so.

We hope you have a wonderful week everyone, feel free to pop in for a chat with either of us or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open!

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman