News from the Deputy Principal

Fire Drills and Emergency Evacuation Procedures

Each year our school is involved in Emergency Management drills which revise the procedures and protocols around how to move safely around the school in the event of an emergency.  In the coming weeks, our students and staff will be involved in emergency drills.  This involves the students lining up in fire drill order every recess and emergency drill practice.  Our staff follow strict procedures when dealing with emergencies and we practice both internal and external emergencies.  This week, due to the heat and predicted storms, we enacted our shelter in place during recess to stay out of the heat.

During an emergency drill, people on site will hear a series of short blasts from the PA, this alerts us to the emergency or drill.  Practising this allows students to know the procedures and to also not be worried about the event taking place.

In the event of bushfire, the following information has been published in the parent handbook and I draw your attention to this below.

In response to Black Saturday 2009 the way schools in Victoria respond to bushfires was revised. 

Fire danger ratings and warnings have been introduced in Victoria to provide clear direction on the safest options for preserving life.

Schools – and children’s services – identified, as being at high fire risk will be closed on days declared by fire authorities to be Catastrophic. 

Our school has been identified as a school at high fire risk.

Where possible, we will provide parents with up to three days notice of a planned closure.  We will contact you directly by letter and possibly, by SMS message with advice on planned closures and will confirm the decision to close by 12 noon the day before the planned closure. 

Once confirmed, the decision to close will not change, regardless of improvements in the weather forecast. This is to avoid confusion and help your family plan alternative care arrangements for your child.

No staff will remain on site when the school is closed by the threat of fire. 

We will also cancel any off-site activities and out-of-school care during the fire season if the activities are at risk. There may also be changes to school bus routes.

On high fire risk days families are encouraged to enact their Bushfire Survival Plan – on such days, children should never be left at home unattended or in the care of older children.

NAPLAN

Naplan will be held this year for Year 3 and Year 5 students the week of Monday 11th March 2024. The following assessments will be held on the following days:

Wednesday 13th March - Writing and Reading

Thursday 14th March - Conventions of Language

Friday 15th March - Numeracy

Please click on the links for more information for parents about NAPLAN and the Naplan Information Brochure for Parents below.

NCCD - Students with Disabilities

For schools in Australia, students with a disability are funded based on adjustments through the NCCD funding allocation.  The allocation of funding is funded under the NCCD (National Consistent Collection of Data) scheme for students with additional needs and disabilities. There are four categories for funding -   QDTP (Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice), Supplementary, Substantial and Extensive levels under the categories of Physical, Social-Emotional, Cognitive, and Sensory (sight and hearing). As a part of our data collection, we are required to have meetings with parents throughout the year to feedback on goals that have been set for our students and the adjustments to learning that are made on a daily basis so that all students can access the curriculum.  This is an important part of the process which includes Parent-Teacher interviews, catch-ups in the drop-off zone, after-school meetings, emails etc, and informs you of your son or daughter's challenges and successes. 

If at any time you are concerned about the progress of your child it is extremely important to communicate with your child’s teacher. The best way to ensure your concerns are heard is to make a meeting directly with your child’s classroom teacher either via email or to ring the school to make an appointment.  

All families whose children meet the funding criteria will receive a copy of the current Personalised Learning Plan (PLP) from your child's teacher in the coming weeks so that you can see the nominated goals for the term.  It is important that you read through the goals and information in the plan. Please contact me or your child's teacher if you have any questions related to the information in the plan. Once again we will sign off on PLPs with a PSG meeting at the end of the term.  These are proposed to take place on Wednesday 20th March/Thursday 21st March / Friday 22nd March.  An email will be distributed in the coming weeks alerting families to booking times.

A link to the NCCD Portal and further information about the NCCD process and collection of information can be found by clicking the button below.

If you have any questions relating to the information above, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Kind Regards,

Katie Vranken

kvranken@sjyarrajunction.catholic.edu.au