Office hours: Monday to Friday 8am – 4pm

Telephone: 9561 5811

Email: wheelers.hill.sc@education.vic.gov.au

Dear Parents and Carers

In Term 4 2024, families with a child enrolled in a government school from Prep to Year 12 in 2025 will receive the one-off $400 School Saving Bonus.

The $400 School Saving Bonus provides families with support for education-related costs, such as school activities and/or school uniforms and textbooks.

The School Saving Bonus is not available for full-fee international students, home schooled students, TAFE students and students attending kindergarten in 2025.

Actions for parents and carers

Before 18 October 2024, the Department of Education is asking parents and carers to:

Complete enrolment: If your child, or children are changing government school for Term 1 2025 or starting Prep or Year 7 in 2025. For more information, read about Enrolling in School.
Check your contact information: Ensure your email address and phone number is up to date with us. You can check this information by contacting us directly.

We need to ensure your contact information is up to date as the Department of Education will email you twice:

in October, to verify your email address
in November, with your $400 School Saving Bonus

Please check your junk mail regularly to make sure you do not miss an important email.

To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, download the School Saving Bonus Information sheet for government school parents and carers or visit vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus

School Student Broadband Initiative: information for parents and carers

The School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) offers eligible students free internet at home until 31 December 2025.

Led by the National Broadband Network (NBN), the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) is a Federal Government initiative offering free home internet to 30,000 eligible households with school-aged students.

The initiative seeks to boost educational opportunities and narrow the digital divide.

About the initiative

The SSBI enables eligible households access to free internet on the NBN network until 31 December 2025, starting from the time the service is activated with the internet provider. Other household members can use the internet service provided by the initiative.

Households have until 31 December 2024 to apply. Please see the application process below.

After the free period, households cannot be placed on a paid service without consent. The government is currently exploring options for what happens to services beyond 2025.

Eligibility

To be eligible for SSBI, families must:

have a child living at home who is enrolled in an Australian school (up to year 12 including Prep)
not have an active NBN network internet service at home (excludes mobile internet services)
live in a premises that can access the NBN network via a standard connection (NBN will confirm this)
not have had an active NBN connection during the previous 14 days.

How to get started

To be assessed, contact NBN National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 or visit anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet to request a call back.

Please note:

NBN will check your nominated home address for an active NBN connection.
You do not need to provide financial information.
Translation and interpretation services are available.

Some families might also be contacted via their school, with information about how to apply.

Information about Internet Providers

Once you have confirmed that you are eligible for free home internet, you can choose your preferred internet provider from a list of participating internet providers in your area. Each internet provider will have their own connection process, which may involve the provision of personal information by the primary carer or parent.

If you move house between now and 31 December 2025, you can continue to access the service in your new home (subject to the eligibility criteria).

You must contact your internet provider if you are planning to move house.
The internet provider will support you to move the service to your new property.

More information

For more information about eligibility, contact the NBN National Referral Centre or call 1800 954 610.

2024 School Council Approved Contributions

2024 School Council Approved Contributions are available to pay via the Payments Centre on Compass. You can choose to pay Contributions in full or via a payment plan. There are several options available. If you opt for a payment plan after an instalment date, Compass will deduct the payment from your credit card on the following day for past instalment dates with remaining payments in line with the advertised dates. Alternatively, 2024 Contributions and Electives are open for payment via the Payments Centre for the full school year so you do have the option of making part payments at any time during the year when it is convenient to you.

If you have any queries regarding School Council Approved Contributions for 2024, please contact the General Office on 9561 5811 or via email at wheelers.hill.sc@education.vic.gov.au

Payment Process and Closing Dates for Excursions and Activities via Compass, including payment via CSEF and credit balances

Camps, excursions and other school-based activities that have a financial charge associated with them fall under the Extra-Curricular Items and Activities category of contributions and are offered to students on a ‘user pays’ basis. They are offered in addition to the standard curriculum.

Cut-off dates for payment and consent on Compass are set by the school to assist us in meeting our financial and duty of care requirements for each event. In support of meeting these obligations, we are not able to extend due dates for events or take late payments.

Staff send a notification to families when the event is published and reminders prior to the event closing date. Students are also reminded by their classroom teachers about events and when payment and consent must be received. If payment or consent is not received by the due date, your child will not be able to attend the activity and will be supervised by teachers at school. We really want all students to participate where possible and we appreciate you working with us to ensure they can take part.

Compass now has the functionality to 'Pay with CSEF or credit balance' for events. You can select this option and if you have insufficient funds on your family account to cover the cost of that event we will allocate the amount that is available and then update the event to show the amount that is still required to be paid. Payment of the balance will need to be completed before the event cut-off date for your child to be eligible to attend. If you select 'Pay with CSEF or credit balance' for an event on Compass, please check the event again before the closing date to make sure that any outstanding balance is paid.

Please ensure that if payment is made via the office with CSEF, credit allocation, credit card or cash, that you log on to Compass prior to the closing date to provide Consent for your child to attend the event.

A big thank you to the Wheelers Hill SC families who have donated so generously to our Library and Building Funds. So far we have upgraded the sound system in the theatre, installed new security gates in the library and we are in the process of upgrading the student toilets. We would be unable to continue to enhance our facilities without your generous donations.

If you made your contribution through Compass you can generate your Tax Deductible Receipt as follows:

If you are having issues accessing Compass, please contact the school office for assistance.

The School Office Team

Campion have introduced vouchers that can be purchased throughout the year then redeemed online or in-store for all your booklist items. Please see details on the flyer.

WHSC Newsletter

Respect | Excellence | Creativity

Issue 12 · 12 Sep 2024

In this issue