A message from Tami -Jo

We have had another very full and exciting term. The students have just finished their Celebrations of Learning and have been very proud of their efforts. The weather has started to change this week and the whole school community has been happy to be out and about in the sun. 

La Mana Night

On the 30th of August, Morwenna, our Community Hub leader hosted the Le Mana Celebration and had a great turn out.  They started with food and played the couch game (a game played during Le Mana) so that everyone could get to know each other’s names.

Students were then given the opportunity to share their experiences with the Le Mana program and how it felt to participate. All of them did a great job with sharing and all were very positive too.

Traffic Working Party

Malinda Vaughan has been chairing a working party of community members who have been working with the Wyndham Council to see what changes can be made to ensure that our children are safer and that the traffic flows better during drop off and pick up time. Their proposal has been approved and the work will likely occur over the holidays. Keep your eye out for a Compass Post at the beginning of term to find out about these changes. Congratulations to this group of dedicated volunteers for the time and effort they have given to support the community.  

Inner Doors/ Lost Property

Just a reminder that lost property is to be accessed and checked before or after school. The administration staff will not let parents through our inner doors during school hours as it is a duty of care issue. We need to be vigilant about our processes to try and ensure continuity and safety for our children. Whilst some of the processes in place seem inconvenient; they are there for the safety of your children. 

First Aid/ Admin Staff

Just a reminder:

Our students go to first aid for assistance when they are feeling unwell or have hurt themselves. Our first aid officers are just that- first aid officers and not trained physicians. They manage small injuries. We emphasise the need for parents to take their children to the doctor’s surgery if they are at all concerned as our staff are not making a diagnosis just looking after them in your absence. Where needed, ambulances will be called. 

Our administration staff are an important part of our school community. They are essential to keeping the cogs moving here at school. I understand that sometimes messages get miscommunicated or that people can be having a bad day, but I ask that you remain polite when dealing with our administration staff. They do try and treat all as they would want their own treated but the number of messages, belongings drop off, early finishers and late starters on top of their workload can mean that some things take longer than expected. Please be kind and understand everyone here at DCC wants to help you. Our staff deserve to be treated politely and fairly as everyone does in their workplace. 

School Council Discussions

• 2024 and beyond

There have been a number of enquiries around the future of the school. DCC will only be a P-9 school. There are no plans for it to be a P-12 school. These decisions are made by the Department of Education, not the staff or school community. 

Our school is growing rapidly. We have some new buildings arriving later this year to be installed for 2024. There are 5 new specialist buildings which will be placed near the multi-courts and nature play areas. Marrum will have 18 new classrooms in 3 storey buildings.

As our school continues to grow, logistics change. Parents request a variety of events or activities as everyone is invested in different areas of their child’s education such as concerts, get to know you interviews, tutoring clubs and competitions to name a few. What could be managed or done when the school was comprised of 250 students is often far more difficult with 1500 students.  The size of the school can make a difference, the facilities available and also staffing can have an impact. Any work orattendance outside of school hours is now required to be paid or teachers to be given time off. This also impacts what extras the school can provide. In this climate of staff shortages, we are working very hard to keep our classes as consistent as possible and keep staff well. We have many young and less experienced staff and as such, our focus is on our current programs and ensuring that they have the support they need. I want to emphasise that less experienced does not mean less enthusiastic. We have such wonderful staff here at DCC. 

When we have confirmed and consistent staff, we will look at expanding our programs to include events like concerts and exhibitions.

• Parent Fees

We had rigorous discussion around the parent fees. We chose to keep our fees the same, even though prices for the services and products have risen. We recognise that preparing students for school can be expensive and want to relieve as much as pressure as we can. The School Council recognised that is difficult to run our programs without the financial support of all our families to ensure that we can cover the costs of our programs and that the children have the equipment they need to participate fully. We urge parents to plan for these costs so we can keep engaging programs for our students. Please speak to us to if you would like to arrange payment plans or need some help organising your child’s device for the BYOD program for Years 3-9 in 2024. 

• Other

Council discussed the Curriculum Days for 2024 and the Traffic Working Party’s proposals to the Wyndham Council. OSHC shared their new fee structure and the packages that they are offering families. We amended the Mobile Phone Policy to ensure that students are aware that they cannot have their devices with them and that using them to collect video or audio material from or about others at school is strictly prohibited. Our mobile phone policy encompasses all such devices including smartwatches etc. We also decided to send out a survey to the parents about the options we have for Year 9 camp so we can hear more about what our families would like. 

Celebrations of Learning 

Our classroom and specialist Celebrations of Learning have been very successful. Thank you for the lovely feedback around teachers and the work students have completed. The children really do love having you in to visit and to share their learning journey with you. As always, if you would like to discuss your child’s progress with the teacher, please make a time that is convenient for both of you. If you have any other concerns, please contact the Leadership team and we will work with you to solve any issues you may have.

Staff/ Student Games

The staff and students have battled it out in some basketball and soccer games this week. The competition is fierce but friendly. Many of our students are very talented athletes as are some of our staff. Enthusiasm is just as important and we have seen that from all that participated as well as from those on the sidelines. 

ICASWe have had a number of parents ask whether we will hold the ICAS assessments here. Some use this assessment to support their applications to private schools and applying for scholarships. I am including the link to the website so those interested can go there and read about them. There is a cost and there is also information about testing centres where you can enrol if you would like to proceed. It is not an assessment we use. 

https://www.icasassessments.com/

Toilets

Next term, we are trialling having the toilets cleaned after the lunch break in the morning as an extra clean. This means they will be cleaned twice/day and comes at an extra cost to the school however we are committed to ensuring that the toilets are clean and stocked with the appropriate supplies. 

R U OK? DAY

Thursday 14th of September was R U OK? Day. The students wore yellow, donated a gold coin to charity but most importantly focused on the purpose of the day by engaging in educational activities around mental health and looking after each other as part of the community. It was lovely to walk through the school and hear the students checking in on us and each other. It is a practice we need to continue throughout the year. 

Principals’ Day

Earlier this term, the school celebrated Principals Day. It was wondrful to receive handwritten notes from the students. We felt very special. 

We return to school on Monday October 2nd. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday. I hope that you get to spend some quality time with your loved ones and get to do a few things that fill your bucket. Fingers crossed that the sun keeps shining!