Tips from the School Office
Upwey South Primary School
Compass - school portal
- We use Compass as our way to communicate with families and how we accept payments & parent permissions. The Administration team are happy to help you get started with the website and app if you need assistance.
Keeping Aware of Information Relating to School
As a school we work hard to keep our families informed of happenings across the school. We acknowledge that receiving information in a timely and consistent manner can help to alleviate the pressures which come from managing a busy family calendar.
The below are short administrative reminders for our school community.
- It is essential that you have an email address for each parent registered with the school. You will receive an email from Compass to notify you of all new updates. If you are not receiving emails, please check to make sure we have it correctly recorded.
Arriving Late and Student early Collection
- Students must be accounted for every school day. If your child is not present in class and we have no explanation, then we will automatically send allfamily members an SMS at 9.30am.
- If your child is going to be away, please notify the school by entering the absence on Compass. All upcoming absences can be made within Compass, whether they be for a day or multiple days. If your child is going to be late this can also be entered within the Compass app. We ask that you please use Compass instead of calling the school on the phone or emailing the school or teacher.
- Students arriving after 8.50am must come to the office for a late pass. Please do not send your child straight to the classroom.
- Please be reminded that if you need to collect your child/ren early, please contact the office when you are five to ten minutes away so we can have them at the office for collection. Please note that it is preferred to collect students before or after a recess break as they may not hear announcements during recess times.
Absences
All absences should be recorded via the Compass portal. Instructions below:
Absences can be recorded in advance or on the day.
- Under the students profile
- Add attendance note
Excursions, In School Activities & Camps
You will receive notifications of upcoming events through Compass – payment and permissions should be done electronically through Compass.
Parent consent in Compass is mandatory or your child cannot attend.
All supporting documents (e.g: packing lists, schedules) are available through Compass.
School Tours
Tour Date and time: varying days throuhgout Term One and Term Two, commencing at 9:05am. Please call the office to confirm dates available.
Please feel free to write down any questions you may have, and bring these along with you.
In particular, we encourage you to commit the time to read the School Information Booklet attached below. To assist you in making an informed decision.
Lunch Orders
Lunch orders will not be available to order on the last day of each term. Please see dates below on which orders are not available:
- Thursday 2nd April 2026
- Friday 26th June 2026
- Friday 18th September 2026
- Friday 18th December 2026
Lunch orders & Sushi orders are available on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday only and must be ordered via QKR by midnight (12am) the night before delivery. Orders made the morning of the delivery cannot be guaranteed to be delivered.
School Lunch Orders – FAQ
Payment of school lunch orders will all appear as “The Blacksmith Belgrave” on your Bank Statement Please be aware our school lunch orders are run by one business - The Blacksmith Belgrave. The business operates two shopfronts - The Blacksmith Cafe and Mama Yama Sushi Express. Any Sushi ordered will show as The Blacksmith Belgrave on your statement.
Allergies – cannot guarantee 100% “free from”
There have been food health safety changes to the way allergens are managed and communicated. Due to the very small risk of cross contamination the governing bodies have decided to change their approach to mitigating risk. This means restaurants are no longer able to communicate that any of their products are gluten free or other allergen free unless they run a completely separate kitchen/prep area. Please be aware that the lunch order food preparation processes have not changed. However customers need to be made aware that there is always a small risk similar to the way many products sold in supermarkets always state "MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF XXX"
Mistakes – sometimes happen - please report via the school ASAP
As I'm sure all families can appreciate there may be times when mistakes happen. The best thing to do if your child thinks a mistake has occurred is to let someone in the office know straight away. This way we can try to fix the problem as soon as possible. The team in the office are then able to contact The Blacksmith and Sushi Express directly. In most cases the missing item will be brought to the school on the same day. If your child does not let staff know it can be more difficult to manage however we can still process a refund or deliver the following week once the problem has been identified.
Illness / Need to cancel orders
Wherever possible it would be appreciated if The Blacksmith can be given the opportunity to postpone an order to an alternative day. The QKR app is really useful however there are fees applied to all orders and all refunds which is why it is always preferred to reschedule an order where practical.
Please call The Blacksmith on 9754 1174 for any changes to orders and let our team know your childs' name, class and school. Please bear in mind the team deliver to up to six (6) schools on any one day so it is really important that late rescheduled orders are kept to a minimum if at all possible.
Klad (Essemode) - School Uniform Shop
Klad (Essemode) is located at Unit 4 - 409 Princes Highway, Noble Park.
Business Hours
Monday - Thursday: 8.30am - 5.00pm
Friday: - closed
Saturday: 10.00am - 2.00pm
Sunday: - closed
You can also purchase online with free shipping.
Uniform & Lost Property
- We ask that all items that are brought to school are named correctly and clearly for easy identification. (Uniform, Lunch boxes, Drink bottles, School bags, personal clothing etc).
- If you purchase from the Second Hand Uniform shop please rename all items purchased.
- Only bottle green is an accepted colour for shorts, pants and skirts.
- School Hats must been worn from September to May and are available for purchase at Klad (Essemode) or the school office.
- All named lost property will be returned to classroom teachers.
- All unnamed items are kept for the term and then cleared at the end of each term.
Staff Carpark
Please DO NOT use the staff carpark as a walking thoroughfare and/or public parking space. Those permitted to use the carpark include staff, Department of Education staff and contractors and families completing a quick drop off or pick up for OSHC.
There have been many near misses and we encourage you to minimise this risk by utilising parking on Morris Rd and Griffiths Rd.
We understand that parking is limited around the school boundary of Upwey South Primary School. Car parking is a Shire of Yarra Ranges concern and does not involve school staff being able to make decisions on the parking around the school.
If you have any feedback about the amount of parking around the school or behaviour of other parents, please direct it to the Shire of Yarra Ranges Council.
Please be advised that we have members of our school community that require the use of the disabled parking spaces that are available. We ask the Upwey South community to please be considerate in your use of parking and do not use these disabled parking spaces unless you have the correct parking pass.
Reports
- Reports are available at the end of Term Two and Term Four through Compass. They can be downloaded as PDFs for printing and sharing.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
- Parent-Teacher Conferences occur twice a year. You can book sessions with all of your children’s teachers through Compass.
Scholastic Book Club
All scholastic Book Club orders are to be completed online via the Loop system. Instructions are always in the catalogue. Book Club is posted on Compass.
Do not send cash to school.
The order will be delivered to school. There is also a ‘gift’ option — items will be set aside for collection by parents from the office.
Communicating with the School Administration Team
Please use the school email address (upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au) for all your administration queries. This will ensure prompt action from our admin team. Personal email addresses can only be checked by that person.
We look forward to partnering with you in 2026, and welcome your input:
Janet Young (Business Manager) Janette Clarke (Office Manager)
Meagan Tustin (Education Support)