Welcome to the 2025 school year! This is my first ‘start of the year’ at Oakleigh Primary School and the year has started on a positive note. Our students have settled in well to their new classes and there is a great ‘learning hum’ around the school. It’s been wonderful connecting again with families while on yard duty.

The start of the school year brings lots of reminders and building routines for everyone.

Building a Partnership in Learning, Communication and Key Dates 2025

Our main source of communication is through COMPASS. Please make sure you have access to it, as it is the place to report absences, give permission and pay for excursions, to contact teachers and receive notifications about events and information.

During our first two curriculum days, staff worked on a two-page document outlining how we can build a partnership in learning between home and school. On the second page it outlines the ‘Communication between home and school for Parents’. This outlines who to contact if different issues arise and how we will communicate with you. A copy of the document was given at ‘Getting to Know You Interviews’ and is also here:

It will also be on the website and up around the school.

Teachers have a range of meetings, yard duty and other commitments as part of their work during the day, as well as their own family commitments after work. Please note that on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, teachers are required to attend a staff workshop and cannot meet with parents after school on this day.

Teachers will endeavour to reply to communications in their normal work hours 8.30- 4.30pm from Monday to Friday and it may take more than 24 hours to respond depending on their teaching hours. We thank you for your understanding.

During the year, families will have many opportunities to give feedback during the school review process and when reviewing policies such as homework and school uniform. We encourage all families to actively participate in this process.

Supervision Before and After School & playground protocols

Our supervision arrangements before and after school were sent via COMPASS and a summary is below:

Before school:

School grounds are supervised at 8.45-9.05am at the

Main front playground and Logie Street Entrance
Warrawee Oval rear entry gate (silver gate near gym)

At 8:50 am a bell will ring to signal that teachers are in classrooms, ready to supervise students entering classrooms, enabling students to get ready for the day with learning starting at 9.00am.

After school:

School grounds are supervised at 3.30-3.45pm at the

Main front playground and Logie Street Entrance
Warrawee Oval rear entry gate (silver gate near gym)

Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity). Parents/carers must ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity.

Out of Hours School Care

Families are encouraged to contact the OSHC coordinator James Marron via email at oshc@oakleighps.vic.edu.au or on 9568 2983 or 0412 168 560 or refer to www.oakleighps.vic.edu.au/out-of-school-hours-care for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community.

Scooters and Bikes

Students can ride scooters and bikes to school. They must walk their bike or scooter when in the school grounds. There is a rack near the basketball court to store bikes and scooters.

Ball Games on the Basketball Courts - before and after school

Students are not to play any ball sports on the basketball court before school including basketball, soccer or football as both school and kindergarten families are dropping off students during this time and the risk of hitting someone with a ball is high. Students can play on the oval before and after school if they are supervised by their parents. After 4.00pm students can play basketball on the courts if supervised by parents.

Dogs

We ask that families do not bring dogs onto the school grounds from 7.30am-6.00pm. We have students who are afraid of dogs and want the school grounds free of pet waste!

School Attendance

Attending school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education.

Last week I sent out a COMPASS announcement about attendance. You can find it attached here:

The announcement outlined the importance of school attendance and how to report absences to the school.

If your child is absent for any reason, we prefer all absences to be reported using COMPASS by no later than 9.00am.

After teachers have marked the roll, a notification will go out to parents if their child is absent.

School Uniform

The start of the year is the perfect time to assess your child’s school uniform needs.

Parents are asked to buy items with our Oakleigh logo including - yellow or navy-blue polo shirt, jumper, jacket, school bag, hat and school dress. These can be purchased from Spartan either online or in-store.

All students must wear an Oakleigh hat and will need this from the first day of Term 1.

Other navy blue uniform items are shorts, tracksuit pants, leggings, tights and skort can be purchased from Spartan or chain stores such as K-Mart and Target. Closed toe shoes must be worn to school.

Any accessories need to be in navy blue not black. Black is not our school uniform colour. Our school uniform colours are navy blue and yellow.

Reminder - Mobile Devices Policy

The school understands that a number of students own a mobile phone or a smart watch (with SIM capability). Our school follows the Department of Education Policy, where students are not allowed to access their mobile or their smart watch during school hours. All students must bring their mobile phone, tablet or smart watch to their classroom teacher to be stored away. Devices will be given out at the end of the day. This policy can be found on our school website.

Anaphylaxis and Allergies

We have a number of children in the school with anaphylaxis and allergies to a range of things. We ask all parents to avoid packing nuts or nut related products in their child’s lunch. This will assist us all in keeping our environment safe for all of our children.

Medical Plans and Update contact details

At school we often need to contact parents for a variety of reasons. Over the break many families’ telephone numbers, home address and email addresses have changed. If you do change telephone numbers, email, and/or home address or there is an update on personal/medical/family situation, it is most important that you contact the office to let us know so we can update the school records and COMPASS.

Helpful Resources from the Department of Education

There are a number of department services and resources that parents can access:

Transition tips

Back to school is an exciting time for students and families. It can be a big step – particularly for those starting prep or moving to secondary school.

For advice in multiple languages on how parents can help their child have a positive start to school, refer to Tips for starting school.

Help with school costs

Families are encouraged to contact the school if they 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, refer to Help with school costs and fees.

Health and wellbeing

For information and access to health and wellbeing programs at school for students and families, click health and wellbeing.

To support your child’s mental health and wellbeing at home and to access advice on working with your school and seeking help, read the mental and wellbeing health toolkit.

What to expect at school

A range of information for parents is available on the department’s website to help you explain school policies, requirements and expectations, as well as support services available. For a list of topics, refer to Attending school and Building a positive relationship with your child's school.

Healthy Lunchboxes

Some great tips and ideas to help with school lunches. Healthy lunchboxes | Healthy Eating Advisory Service

DE Privacy Policy

The Department of Education has asked that we remind parents about the Schools Privacy Policy. The policy can be found on the school website and https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx

Accident Insurance

At school minor accidents can happen. While this is unfortunate, we would like to remind parents that the Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents/carers of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs. Families can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers, and it is the responsibility of parents/carers to look into their preferred options in this regard.

Traffic Safety Around the School

With the start of the school year, it is a timely reminder for drivers to be mindful of following road rules to protect the safety of all our Oakleigh Primary School and Kindergarten community. I ask that all drivers:

Park in the marked parking bays, carefully watching the time limits. The City of Monash often patrols the area and will fine cars parking illegally.
Correctly use the drop of zones. Please have your child organised in the back seat with their bag, let them leave the car quickly (please don’t get out of the car yourself) and carefully move off to keep the traffic flowing.
Do not perform an illegal U-Turn on Logie Street. It is clearly marked the area with ‘No U-Turn Signs’. It is only an extra minute or so to perform a left turn on Warrigal Road and to go around the block!
Parking along Drummond Street for another option and walking to the school.
Follow the reduced speed of 40 around the school.
Safety around the school is everyone’s responsibility and I ask that we all do our part.

I understand that life is busy, and time can get away from us. Some other options of making the morning routine easier are:

Getting up early and walking to school instead of driving
Setting the alarm earlier allowing for more time in the morning routine for school drop offs
Preparing the night before to allow a smoother morning routine- lunches prepared, uniform out, no television in the morning as a distraction

Values

Last year we surveyed families about their ideas for school values linked to the Positive Education Framework PERMA. The results are attached here

Based on the community feedback our values are below. Staff have drafted a norm for each value which will be taught to students throughout the term.

Child Safe Standards

Oakleigh Primary School, as part of the State Education System has a commitment to the Child Safe Standards.

New standards came into effect in July 2022, which are detailed in Ministerial Order 1359 that provides the framework for child safety in schools. The standards are:

Child Safe Standard 1 – Establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.
Child Safe Standard 2 – Ensure that child safety and wellbeing are embedded in school leadership, governance and culture.
Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
Child Safe Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Child Safe Standard 5 – Equity is upheld, and diverse needs are respected in policy and practice.
Child Safe Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Child Safe Standard 7 – Ensure that processes for complaints and concerns are child focused.
Child Safe Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Child Safe Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Child Safe Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures that document how schools are safe for children, young people and students.

On the school website we have a dedicated page related to the Child Safe Standards. Here you will find our Child Safe Standards Policy and other policies related to the standards.

As part of the school’s commitment to Standard #3, with their classroom teachers F-2 students complete a ‘helping hand’ listing the people who can help them when they are in need. Students in Years 3-6 look at a support network of who can help them.

Student Achievements

A reminder that we ask that any parents who have a child who has achieved something special at any time to please take a photograph and write a short sentence or two about what the child did, when it happened and what it means to the child and send this through to the school account at oakleigh.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Achievements could be gaining a great mark in a music exam, winning a medal at a sport’s competition, gaining the Grey Wolf Award at Scouts or any other hobby your child pursues. We’re here to celebrate their personal best in whatever form that takes.

Have a great month!

Ruth Biddle

Principal

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