Residential Manager Report

As this year draws to a close I would like to thank all of our boarding families for the support that they have shown to all of us at the College; this year has been a particularly difficult one.  Please enjoy this festive break with your family and we look forward to welcoming our students back next year.  Happy Christmas and safe travels.

Orientation – 31st January, 2021

All new boarding and day students will be welcomed back to the College for their Orientation at 10.30am on Sunday the 31st January, 2021.  Students will be welcomed by our residential staff and our college councillors.  Please supply your own bedding, toiletries and a towel. Sports uniform will be required on Monday 1st February when we travel out to Walpole.  More information will be shared with incoming students and their parents.

REACH for New Parents

New parents should soon be receiving their username and password to log in to REACH. Keep an eye on your ‘junk’ or ‘others’ box as often it ends up in there.  We will provide support in Term 1 as you navigate your way around our leave system.

Appointments 

We understand that at times the College will be required to transport students for emergency appointments and/or the hospital during school hours due to injury or illness.  Please be aware that if students are presenting with cold and flu symptoms and/or have communicable illnesses parents are required to collect their child as soon as possible.  Of late students are making appointments during the school day, we ask that parents and students in the coming new year, organise appointments for after school and that prescriptions are written with an adequate number of repeats so students are not missing classes for this purpose.  If students are required to attend specialist’s appointments in Albany, it is the responsibility of the parents to transport their child to this appointment.

Vehicle Forms

Prior to any student vehicle/motor cycle being brought to the College please ensure all forms have been completed and are up-to-date and that any vehicle or motorbike that comes on to site has been approved.  Quad bikes will not be approved as part of our recreational motor cycle program.

Southwest Adventure Tour – Camp

Residential students and staff attended an adventure camp and enjoyed some of the outdoor/indoor activities on offer. Students enjoyed trampolines, high ropes, flying fox, archery, laser tag and just spending time with friends, making memories.

REACH - LEAVE – usernames and passwords

I am fully aware that Reach causes many of us pain in various levels of intensity. I am constantly re-setting usernames and passwords.  At a recent meeting of the other WACoA Colleges, I heard that others also experience the same issues.  A possible solution to this is to have the students create the leave request on their App or available desktop at the College.  The leave request will come through to the parent/guardian to approve either via their App, desk top or in email form.  The leave can then be approved at the bottom of the email. This may ease some of the angst around resetting usernames and passwords.

Please keep your username and password in your notes sections of your phones; quite often the reset can be completed by yourselves simply by reinstalling the app and logging in again. This is very important, you can reset your own password if you know where to find it.  I know that Reach can be troublesome but spending some time using the App might help with user issues.

Please make sure that all correct details are filled in when applying for Leave.  I have recently approved leave for students who submitted leave with incorrect details.  Sorting this out involved multiple phone calls.  In future I will decline leave if the information is incorrect. 

REACH APP Features

• Create leave events
• View and Manage Leave Events
• Sign in and out of school campus
• Manage Hosts
• Personal Leave Calendar

Tutoring and Homework Help

There is a Facebook group that you can join to access local tutor information.  Please contact the College if you would like more information regarding this.

Laundry

Our laundry staff have made a request that students take their clothing to the laundry in small lots every day rather than accumulating their washing.  This is now more important than ever for students to have their clothing laundered in the commercial machines.  Our domestic laundries have been temporarily closed.

Second hand clothing is available in the laundry.  Check with Carol and Mel our laundry ladies if you need to change sizes of clothing before buying anything new.  We welcome donations of the College uniform (in good condition) as students leave the College. 

Clothing without name tags will be displayed on the table for collection when the laundry is staffed, otherwise it will be packed away until the following shift.  A record of lost clothing is kept in the laundry.  If students have lost an item of clothing, please report it to the laundry staff.

College Uniforms

There are second hand uniforms available in the laundry and via our Facebook group WACoA Denmark – Buy and Sell – Second-hand uniforms. https://www.facebook.com/denmarkagcollege/

Travel Arrangements 

The College will organise travel arrangements (bus tickets) for the end of term. Please advise us or your child of their travel arrangements.  

Medication

Reminder for all parents and students -  we require students to hand in any medication that they have to residential staff; medication is recorded, stored and administered from the residential office.