This year, Park Ridge Primary School will continue to focus on student learning, building student connections and Numeracy as a priority goal as directed by the Department of Education. The staff continue to work collaboratively in teams to ensure students are engaged in their learning and are participating in rich numeracy tasks. As parents, you play a significant role in your child’s learning by setting expectations, nurturing curiosity, and encouraging a love of learning.

You can help build your child’s Numeracy through doing the following:

be positive about their numeracy experiences and praise effort and perseverance
let your child know that everyone can be successful
seize everyday opportunities to capitalise on numeracy development
involve your child in numeracy-related activities
describe what you are doing in situations that involve numeracy
explain why you make certain numeracy choices
explore numeracy with your child
learn alongside your child and encourage a sharing of numeracy ideas and thoughts.

Helping children to become numerate does not need a high level of mathematics.

It means:

encouraging children to try, then keep trying
encouraging children to think (reason)
supporting children while they do homework (which means encouraging them and taking an interest, but not doing the thinking for them)
numeracy with children (including interpreting data, charts and diagrams)
talking aloud when solving problems (every day or mathematical)
getting children to check their answers (Does this answer make sense?)
encouraging children to help with cooking (especially measuring out ingredients)
paying bills
scheduling events in the day
reading maps and giving directions
shopping
measuring

You can find many great resources on a range of Department of Education websites. If you’d like more information or ideas for talking about maths at home, take a look at the below links:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/Pages/maths-and-numeracy-at-home.aspx#link95

http://numeracyguidedet.global2.vic.edu.au/numeracy-at-home/

https://theconversation.com/eleven-games-and-activities-for-parents-to-encourage-maths-in-early-learning-76522

https://www.vic.gov.au/how-build-your-childs-numeracy-skills-birth-year-2

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/MTT_Engaging_Families_in_Mathematics_Education.pdf

Benefits of Attendance

There are many significant benefits to attendance for our students. These include stronger academic achievement, more solid social connections and better habits for future education.

A more specific reason currently at Park Ridge Primary School is that all teachers are currently engaging in focusing on the connection at the very start of the day. That means that all students will be involved in an element of connection or engagement from 8:45am everyday, even if your child has a Specialist lesson for the first lesson of the day.

School Council

As you will have seen on Compass, School Council nominations are here again. I encourage you to nominate yourself or another community member if you are interested in representing the school families and assist in the constant improvement of our school. Council meetings are held eight times a year on Thursday afternoon/evenings. Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. One of the great things about our school is our strong parent input and involvement. Our School Council is one forums in which parents and staff work together for the benefit of all our students. At the beginning of each school year we have a number of vacancies for School Council. There are 4 x Parent member positions to fill this year.

If you are interested in nominating, please collect a form from the school office. These must be lodged at the office by 9:00am Monday 26 February.

Helping Out Around the School

We encourage all families to become involved in their child’s schooling and are always in need of adults to assist in classrooms and on excursions, in the library or with fundraising activities throughout the year. Our families are also able to contribute to our working bees or join our school council or contribute through one of its many sub-committees.

If you are interested in being involved in some or all the many opportunities to contribute to the Park Ridge community, please see you child’s teacher or keep an eye out for information that will be publicised in our School Newsletters, your child’s Year Level Compass Posts or our Compass newsfeed.

Please note that we do require that if you are volunteering within the school that you have a current Working With Children check and that you provide a copy of this to the school office. Information about and applications for Working With Children checks are available online at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

Information about our school’s Visitor and Volunteer policies is available on our school website in the School Policies section.

Accident Insurance and Personal items brought to school

The Department of Education (DE) does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents and carers are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs.

The Department of Education states that reasonable low-cost accident insurance policies are available from the commercial insurance sector. For those parents and carers who seek personal cover, details of an insurer who offers low-cost individual accident insurance is EBM Insurance Brokers and their website is www.studentcover.com.au

Similarly, DE (which includes the school) does not offer replacement of personal items which are brought to school and are lost, broken, or stolen. Sentimental or expensive belongings and toys, including sports equipment and electronic devices, are normally best left at home.

Communication

There are many forms of communication used between school and home to ensure that parents are kept informed about what is happening both in the classroom and at a whole school level. Our main form of communication is through the Compass platform. Messages and reminders will be sent out via Compass. Teachers will also use Compass as a primary way to communicate to parents and carers. Please contact the office if you require further information about Compass. Our school newsletter will be sent out weekly via Compass as well.

Starting School Resources for Families

As we have settled back into the 2024 school year, we would like to share the following information about department services and resources with our families.

Transition tips

Back to school is an exciting time for students and families. It can be a big step – particularly for those starting foundation or moving to secondary school. For advice in multiple languages on how parents and carers can help their child have a positive start to school, refer to Tips for starting school.

Help with school costs

Please contact Chris Conway, Business Manager, if you are having difficulty with school costs. Programs like Affordable School Uniforms and the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund can help with the cost of school uniforms and other essential school items as well as school activities for eligible students. For more information, please see Help with school costs and fees.

Health and wellbeing

The department’s mental and wellbeing health toolkit, offers guidance to help you support your child’s mental health and wellbeing at home, and advice on working with your school and seeking help if you have concerns.

What to expect at school

A range of information for parents and carers is available on the department’s website that explains school policies, requirements, and expectations, as well as available support services. For more information, please see Attending school and Building a positive relationship with your child's school.

Students’ Mobile Phones and Wearable Digital Devices

The Department of Education has a clear policy on student use of mobile phones and digital devices during school hours. 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 collects them after school by 3:30pm.

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.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan, or I, should you wish to discuss anything.

Our doors are always open!

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman

Important Dates