Parent Information

STUDENTS SENSITIVE TO SUNSCREEN

We have been informed by classroom teachers that students are sensitive to certain brands of sunscreen.

Can you please inform the General Office if your child is sensitive and can you please provide their own personal sunscreen to be used everyday at school.

Parent Visitors 

All parents or carers who visit our school during school hours, other than for the purposes of school pick ups and drop offs, are required to sign in as a visitor at the school office.

If you wish to see your child's teacher, we ask that you do not just turn up to the classroom before or after school. Please contact the office to arrange an appointment. 

It is just a reminder that teachers prepare for day before school and often have meetings after school.

We understand that there may occasionally be a reason why a parent or carer may want to speak to or see their child at school, during school hours. 

If there is a particular pressing or unavoidable issue that cannot wait until the end of the school day, we ask that parents or carers call the school office to make the request to speak to or see their child during school hours.

We also ask that parents avoid arranging to visit their children at school wherever possible, as this can cause inappropriate disruptions to the school day. 

A copy of the visitors policy is available on the school website.

End of Day Student Messages

If you have a message or if your child/ren are not on the school bus at the end of the day could you please phone the general office before 2.30pm. 

 We do however understand that on some occasions this is not possible. We would greatly appreciate your assistance with this process.

Medicines / Sick Bay

Mortlake College has a high number of staff qualified in HLTAID0011 Provide first aid & HLTAID009 Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation who are able to provide basic first aid for your child when required. 

When parents cannot be contacted during a serious emergency, the school takes the appropriate emergency action, this may involve an ambulance to the casualty section of the hospital. Parents are strongly advised to ensure that they have valid ambulance coverage.

Students who are unwell should not attend school. 

If a student becomes unwell during the school day they will be placed in the First Aid Room and monitored by first aid staff. Depending on the nature of their symptoms, staff may contact parents/carers or an emergency contact person to ask them to collect the student.  

Students presenting with gastro symptoms (or have vomited) are to be isolated and parents called to collect immediately. 

If parents are unable to come straight to the school, we ask that you organise someone to collect your child. We thank you for your co operation with this matter.

Emergency Contact Information

If your child is ill or injured at school we place them in the first aid room and monitor your child. 

Parents will be phoned if your child requires further medical attention. It is vitally important that the details on our data base are kept up to date at all times so that we can get in touch with you if the need arises. Please advise us of any changes to your residential/postal address, telephone numbers or your workplace details as soon as they occur.  We also ask that details of local emergency contact persons, other than parents such as grandparents/neighbours/friends, are made available to the school in case we cannot reach you in an emergency, where possible this should be someone who lives nearby. 

Medications

Sometimes it is necessary for medication to be administered at school. All medications must be brought to school in their original packaging showing the child's name with the doctor’s instructions. Dosages must be in writing or on the package. 

A ‘Medication Authority Form’ is to be completed with specific instructions to allow the first aid staff to administer any medicine. 

All medications are stored in the locked first aid cupboard.

Epipen and Asthma medications — Ventolin/Asmol and Epipens are the only exception to this as children are encouraged to carry this type of medication with them throughout the day. 

Roles and responsibilities of parents/guardians

• Notify school of their child's allergies and provide appropriate medical information.
• Ensure that the school is notified of changes to the child's medical condition or emergency contact details.
• Provide an ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis completed by the child's doctor or nurse practitioner.
• Provide an adrenaline autoinjector clearly labelled with child's name to the school. Some upper primary and high school students choose to carry their adrenaline autoinjector on their person, and this is documented in their Individual Anaphylaxis Management Plan.
• Provide any other medication indicated on the child's ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis and ensure that it is in date.
• Promptly replace the child's adrenaline autoinjector if it is used or out-of-date.
• Provide an updated ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis after a change in the health condition of the child, through annual (or as required) reviews by a medical practitioner or after an allergic reaction.
• Assist school staff in planning and preparation for the student prior to school camps, field trips, excursions or special events (e.g. class parties, cultural days, fetes or sport days). Supply alternative food options for the student when needed (If applicable).
• Educate the child about their allergies and how to minimise the risk of exposure (such as not sharing food if allergic to food, or taking precautions when outdoors if allergic to insects).

Bus Travel:

All bus travellers are reminded of their responsibilities whilst using the school bus service.  This includes remaining seated and behaving appropriately at all times.  Students must also wear seat belts where fitted.  Of course, the utmost care must always be taken when students get on or off the buses and it is important that parents constantly reinforce these safety measures to their children.  It is also important that parents inform the office staff as early as possible about any changes in bus travel as accurate records are essential in the case of an emergency.  

Sign In/Sign Out Students 

We ask that if you wish for your child to leave early  or are going to arrive late to school, that you notify the school.  

There are a couple of ways to do this, preferably through the Compass or by phone call.

Please allow enough time to have your child at the General Office for collection.

Collecting students during the school day with no notice can be very difficult as children don't always hear the announcements during recess and lunch times when they are outside and the office staff will may need to go classroom to classroom during the day.

STUDENT INSURANCE

Student accident insurance, ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to school

Families are reminded that the Department of Education does not provide personal accident or ambulance cover for students. Parents and guardians of students who do not have private health insurance or ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for their injured child.

Private property brought to the college by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department or the College is not responsible for any loss or damage. This can include mobile phones, calculators, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises.   It is recommended that families consider insurance policies that can be purchased from commercial insurers.

Parents should be aware that an ambulance trip from the school to the Mortlake Terang Community Health Service is very costly if you are not an Ambulance subscriber.

CAR PARKING & SAFETY

Please read the following safety information. At Mortlake College we stive to keep all students and parents safe within our school environment.

This applies to all families at the school - please pass on to extended family members who may collect your children.

Parents are reminded that the staff car parks at the eastern end of the school & eastern side of the Activity Centre are not to be used for parents to drop off or pick up children. There are serious safety concerns with cars reversing out of parks in that area.

The grassed area on the west side of the Activity Centre is also not a car park area for families to use for school pick ups because our PE classes use the rear doors of the gym to access the oval and athletics area (long/triple jump pits) and therefore it is a safety issue.

For traffic management and safety we ask you to not park in these areas and we thank you for your co-operation.

We have a number of car parks available for parents in front of the school and in front of the Activity Centre.  There is also a large grassed area down at Tea Tree Lake that parents are able to use. (Please see the map below)

Drop Off & Pick Up Zone

This is for all families to either drop children off or pick up children from school but in order to maintain traffic flow we do ask that families to not park and exit the vehicle.

If you wish to exit the vehicle for any reason, please use the car parking areas stated above.

If you are in the Drop Off Zone, your child must only enter or exit the car when you are in front of the Activity Centre from the passenger side doors.

For everybody's safety students are to follow the pedestrian crossings at all times.

We encourage you to talk to your children regarding using the safety crossings and waiting in front of the Activity Centre for you to enter the drop off zone.