Welcome back everyone!

Our first day of school was buzzing with the excitement of students and parents catching up with friends and sharing news of the holidays and hopes for 2024. As I visited each of the classes, I was so impressed by the way in which students have settled so quickly back into the swing of school. Our new staff have been praising of the impeccable manners displayed by our wonderful kids (clearly a reflection of the terrific parenting and high expectations of our school community).

This week our new prep students are meeting with their teachers on an individual basis for the English and Mathematics online assessments and we look forward to welcoming them to school from Monday 5 February.

The focus for teachers during the first term is ensuring all children settle comfortably into their new classes, and feel happy and secure. As part of this process, all classes will develop an Essential Agreement which the class creates together to develop a shared understanding of the expected values and behaviours to be followed within the classroom learning community. Teachers will then share these with parents so that students can be supported as part of the home/school partnership.

OPEN AFTERNOON- Save The Date:

Friday 16 February (2:30 – 3:30pm)

Due to the successful ‘open afternoon’ held last year, parents will once again have the opportunity to come into the classrooms where students will show parents their new classroom, discuss the learning environment they are creating and introduce their teacher.

An information booklet (specific to each year level) will be sent home through Compass to provide parents with details regarding the curriculum and specialist areas, camps and excursions, homework and how communication between school and home will occur.

SAKG INDUCTION- for Year 3 parents and new year 4 parents to the school

One of the highlights of our school’s curriculum is the opportunity for Year 3 and 4 students to participate in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. The induction for parents will take place on the same day as the open afternoon (Friday 16 Feb) from 3:30 – 4:15pm. The induction includes:

Child safe expectations
The volunteering roster
What volunteers do before, during and after lessons.

Volunteers are essential to the success of this program and without volunteers, the program is not viable.

ANNUAL SCHOOL PICNIC – Save The Date: Thursday 22 February (5:30 – 7:30pm)

Our annual school picnic is a fabulous opportunity for families to catch up with old friends and expand friendship groups as you mingle with other members of the school community. The picnic is held on the oval (5:30 – 7:30pm) with families bringing along a picnic rug or chairs and a picnic dinner. There will also be ice-creams for sale.

Following the magnificent performance from the Year 6’s last year, we now have other enthusiastic performers jumping at the opportunity to work with Miss Nugent to provide some entertainment to kick off the evening.

2024 PREP PARENTS

We have a wonderful tradition where the Class Reps from the previous year host an adult only evening to welcome new prep parents into the school. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet each other casually.

STAFF

This year we are welcoming the following new staff members.

Miss Elisa Hendriks – Prep H

Mr Ali Demirtas – Prep D

Miss Shanlan Moore – 1M

Miss Maisie Barry – 3B

Miss Maddison Grandy – 4G

Mr Zach McMahon- 4M

Miss Annie Lui – 6L

Mr Oliver Johnson - STEM

(Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

Welcome to all!

UNIFORMS

There are a range of uniform options available for our school, all in the stunning maroon and gold colours. The official school uniform for excursions or formal school photos is the gold shirt and maroon shorts/ skorts, pants.

Hair – Long hair should be tied up. Not only does that keep hair out of the way when playing, but it also helps prevent the spread of head lice.

Additional ‘extras’ – such as hair ties, hats, jackets etc – please refrain from wearing colourful additions to the uniform and stay with the school colours.

HOLIDAY UPGRADES

Over the holidays the classrooms upstairs in the main building were all painted and new carpet installed. You may also have noticed the new turf installed at the front of the school and in the senior playground area. One of the first tasks of the Student Representative Council will be to share their ideas for how to turn this space into a creative and fun play area.

COVID PREVENTION

Unfortunately the dreaded COVID-19 is still around. Therefore, classes are still implementing the following hygiene practices:

Hand Washing and Sanitising- students wash or sanitise hands before entering the classroom and prior to eating.

Ventilation – windows are open and fans and air purifiers turned on.

Rapid Antigen Tests – when symptoms arise, please conduct a RAT and if it proves positive please remain home for 5 days or until symptoms subside. You can obtain a box of rapid antigen tests from the office.

ABSENCES

The school requires written communication following a child’s absence from school due to illness or any other reason. Parents are required to inform the school of a child’s absence, late arrival or early pick up by using the Compass app (or by telephoning or emailing the school). When signing in at the kiosk, a late pass will be printed for the child to hand to their teacher and the roll will be updated to reflect the late arrival/ early pickup.

The roll (including the compass kiosk) is a legal document and as such, children are not permitted to sign themselves in and must have a parent or guardian with them.

SCHOOL HOURS – 8:45 – 3:45pm

Yard supervision commences at 8:45am and therefore students should not be in the yard until that time. The school day ends at 3:30 and there is yard duty supervision until 3:45pm.

Should parents require supervision for their child/ children, please contact TheirCare (our Out of School Hours Service Provider) on 0437 719 731 (see flyer and further details in the Out Of School Hours Care - Theircare tab.

TISSUES

Parents are asked to provide a box of tissues for their child to use at school. One box from each child will ensure sufficient tissues are available in each class for the whole year. Thank you in anticipation.

ACCIDENTS, ILLNESSES OR INJURIES AT SCHOOL

At Murrumbeena Primary School, we have teachers trained in First Aid at every year level. If your child has minor injuries (cuts, grazes etc) or says they feel unwell, teachers will be providing the first level of support through minor first aid treatment (ice packs, rest etc) and monitoring. Our experience over the past three years shows that when students are told they can go to First Aid during recess or lunch, they suddenly feel better. Students will only be referred to the First Aid room if the child continues to feel unwell or the injury is a little more serious.

For serious injuries or sudden illnesses, parents will be telephoned, and if necessary an ambulance will be called. When a child attends the First Aid room for treatment (eg. asthma monitoring, larger wounds, students with doctor provided health care plans) parents are contacted by phone. Please phone or email the office if your contact details have changed (including emergency contacts).

ACCIDENT INSURANCE

Public schools do not have a whole of school policy to cover accident insurance. The Department of Education’s position on insurance for school injuries is set out below:

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.

Where there is no whole-of-school policy in place, it is the responsibility of parents/carers to look into their preferred options in this regard. The Department cannot provide advice to parents/carers on the purchase of individual student accident policy or ambulance cover.

PERSONAL GOODS BROUGHT TO SCHOOL

Personal property is often brought to school by students, staff and visitors. This can include mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. The Department of Education does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it will generally not pay for any loss or damage to such property. Parents are asked to discourage their children from bringing to school any unnecessary or particularly valuable items.

CAMPS, SPORTS AND EXCURSIONS FUND APPLICATIONS

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.

Payment amounts this year are $150 for eligible primary school students. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

If you would like to apply for the first time, please contact the school office on 9568 1300

and ask for an application form.

You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page.

Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.

MOBILE DEVICES POLICY REMINDER

Our school’s Personal Mobile Devices and the Mobile Phones policies reflects the Ministerial mobile phone policy and requires that mobile phones (or smart watches and other devices with messaging services) are NOT to be used during the school day.

students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours.
Smartwatches and iPads must have notifications switched off and are not be used for messaging during school hours.
If a parent or a student has important and urgent information to transmit it will be done through the office. (Again, please make sure the office has your current contact details).
The school will manage non-compliance in accordance with our existing ‘Student Wellbeing and Engagement’ and ‘Personal Mobile Devices’ policies and ICT agreements.

Policies and ICT agreements related to the use of Mobile phones, digital technologies and personal devices can all be found on the school website.

COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS

From time to time, parents and teachers need to communicate with each other and we do this by sending an email through Compass. If you are new to compass, please collect a mini user guide from the office.

Thank you everyone for making the start of the year such a positive one for our students and school community.

CLASS REPS

Class Parent Representatives play a role in supporting the school to maintain an inclusive and connected community where parents are reminded of and invited to participate in school and class events.

We are in the process of finalising class parent representatives for 2024.

Parents are asked to provide their consent (via Compass) to pass on contact details so our parent reps can get the WhatsApp chat groups up and running.

A meeting for Class reps will be held next Wednesday 7th Feb via WebEx to discuss the role for 2024 and share information.

Chellee Plumb

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