It is incredible to me to think that we are already at the end of week 6 of this very busy term. And this term does not look like it is going to slow down any time soon.

Kindergarten transition

This week, we held our 2nd Kindy orientation session and our first Kindergarten Expo event. It is vital that students attend the orientation sessions so they have opportunities to become familiar with the learning environments as well as start to learn names and faces of staff and students. Attending the orientation and expo sessions for parents and carers are equally important as these represent moments to form connections with other parents and staff as well as stay up to date with dates and timelines.

Parents and carers of our 2022 and 2023 Kindy students were invited to join us in the hall and have the opportunity to chat to staff and P&C representatives and ask the questions they wanted to ask specific to their children. A rep from Camp Australia (our new OOSH provider starting next year) was also in attendance.

Tables and exhibits were on display with lots of helpful information available to take home to help prepare our new students for big school. Each family received a school tote bag to put the collected hand outs and resources in. Exhibits included literacy, numeracy, student wellbeing, school communication, EAL/D, library, extra-curricular groups on offer, creative and practical arts, science and technology, general school info, specific Kindergarten packs, canteen, P&C and OOSH. I thank all the staff and P&C representatives who gave their time so generously this afternoon and to Mrs Taylor for organising such a wonderful event.

Stage 2 Kitchen Garden Project

This semester, we have been blessed to participate in the Kitchen Garden Program where Stage 2 students learn about how to grow food under the expert tutelage of Mrs Duncan, who is a Kitchen Garden Teacher from the Penrith Lakes Environmental Education Centre.

Through a successful grant application submitted by Mrs Benco, we were able to purchase a variety of vertical garden units and each Stage 2 class has been able to plant and grow a variety of different vegetables. Each vertical planter is labelled with the class name and the vegetables growing in the planter. The vegetables in our greenhouse are looking fabulous! Well done, Mrs Duncan and Stage 2 teachers and students.

School Counsellor Recognition Day

Last Thursday was School Counsellor and School Psychologist Recognition Day. We would like to recognise how Mrs Lomov connects with our students with empathy and compassion, fostering hope and helping them through their challenges. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated and caring School Counsellor in Mrs Lomov, who knows our school, staff and students so well and is a pivotal part of our Learning and Support Team.

Picking up children on time

This is a friendly reminder that students need to be picked up from school at 3pm dismissal. Students are NOT allowed to be left in the school unsupervised if parents or carers are running late. If students are found in the playground unattended after the school bell, staff have been instructed to bring them to the office where staff will attempt to contact the parents. If we are unable to contact the parents, staff will escort the students to OOSH where there will be a cost for child supervision.

The school office closes Monday to Friday at 3:15pm. It is not the responsibility of school staff to mind children who have not been picked up on time.

Additional School Development Day 2022 (reminder from previous newsletter)

Please be advised that the NSW Government has recently advised that students will now finish school on Friday 16th December 2022. This is due to an additional School Development Day being announced for staff across NSW public schools. School Development Days allow our staff to participate in professional Week 4, Term 4 learning that was put on hold due to COVID-19 staffing pressures and plan ahead for 2023 to ensure we meet the needs of our students. With this change, we ask that you arrange alternative care for your child on Monday 19th December.

2023 Classes and Planning (reminder from previous newsletter)

Planning for 2023 classes is underway and will continue throughout Term 4. The number of classes in our school is determined according to the Department of Education’s staffing formula, which is linked to the number of students enrolled.

If you have a child in Kindergarten to Year 5 who will not be returning to Dundas PS next year, or if you will be on holidays for the beginning of the 2023 school year, please let us know via email (dundas-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au), as this will greatly assist us with our planning both now and at the beginning of next year.

Teachers will be collaboratively providing information to support class placements, taking many factors into consideration such as academic ability, attitude and commitment towards learning, as well as emotional and social needs. Student friendship groups are one of many considerations, however, as you would be aware, class time is learning time and we encourage our students to take advantage of recess and lunchtime to socialise with their friends.

Speaking of friendships, each year we ask the children to nominate 5 peers on a ‘friendship list’. We enter this data into our class building software to ensure that each child is placed with at least one of their selected friends in all but a very few instances. Please speak to your child about their friendship choices, keeping in mind the above information about class time being learning time and that students can take advantage of recess and lunchtime to socialise with their friends.

Forming classes involves considerable time and care. It is not a process about one child; all of our approximately 340 children at Dundas PS are important. Every child is placed in reference to a bigger plan of how students, classes and teachers come together, all bound by the Department’s staffing allocation and the number of classes in our school. I know that many of you value the hard work and time that goes into this process.

Please be aware that requesting a particular teacher that you would like your child to have, or not have, will not be necessary. We are yet to finalise the classes/grades that teachers will be taking next year, and teachers will not necessarily be teaching the same grade/s as they are currently teaching. Our teachers work together, undertake extensive professional learning each year and collaborate with one another to develop engaging teaching and learning programs for our students. With that in mind, please let us know via the school email about any factors regarding your child’s class for 2023 that you would like us to be mindful of when forming classes.

Please be aware that we are unable to predict the arrival or number of new enrolments over coming months and may find ourselves in the position of needing to undertake a class restructure during 2023.

Please also note that our best laid plans may need to be amended, as numbers often change at the beginning of the year. Therefore, we will not be moving straight into classes on day one of 2023; we will need a number of days to process new enrolments and, if needed, modify our class structure and formation accordingly.

2022 Kindergarten returning to school next year

When Kindergarten students return to school in 2023 to start Year 1, they will be greeted by their 2022 classroom teacher who will spend some time that morning settling them back into school routines. They will remain with their 2022 class until the new 2023 classes are formed. These classes will be taught by support and specialist teachers or Year 6 teachers until new classes are formed while the Kindergarten teachers complete Best Start Assessments with our new 2023 Kindergarten students.

End of year gifts (reminder from previous newsletter)

We are quickly approaching the time of year when some of our community may be thinking of organising a gift for their child’s teacher or staff member. Every year there is confusion about what is acceptable in relation to gifts of gratitude for DoE employees, so I hope the following information is useful.

The NSW Department of Education has a policy regarding gifts, benefits and hospitality.

Generally, DoE employees are able to accept gifts of gratitude that have a value of $50 or less. Any gifts that have a value of more than $50 are required to be declared to the school principal.

Occasionally, the principal will receive a request for a class to collect money for a combined thank-you gift to the teacher at the end of the year. In many cases these gifts can be retained by the teacher, where the individual contributions were much less than $50 each.

The policy is very clear that NSW DoE employees cannot accept pre-paid EFTPOS cards as a thank-you gift as the Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality Procedures strictly prohibits the acceptance of money in the form of cash or negotiable instrument.

However, gift cards that must be used at specific retailers are considered non-cash vouchers as they cannot easily be converted to cash. The policy only allows gift cards to be accepted if they are offered as a gift of gratitude.

Term 4 COVID operations (reminder from previous newsletter)

Students and staff should continue to stay home when sick

We will continue to send home students or staff displaying symptoms.

Anyone who believes they have been exposed to COVID-19 is strongly recommended to monitor for symptoms and test if they have any concerns, as well as wear a mask. We will continue to support our families to use rapid antigen tests (RATs) if symptomatic or if you believe you have been exposed to COVID-19. RAT testing may help identify the infection early and is important if you are in contact with people at greater risk of serious illness if exposed to COVID-19.

Please continue to notify your school if your child tests positive to COVID-19 as we will continue to notify the school community of any known positive cases to prioritise student and staff safety and wellbeing.

Term 4 school events (reminder from previous newsletter)

To assist our families stay informed with Term 4 school events, we have updated the events page on our school website. More events will be added as they are organised.

When you visit the page, you will need to click on ‘More events’ to see all organised school events. A link to the events page is below.

https://dundas-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/events.html

2023 Kindergarten enrolments (reminder from previous newsletter)

We are currently accepting enrolments for 2023. Families need to complete an online enrolment form for DPS. General enrolment information can be found on the NSW Department of Education website.

Enrol in a NSW public primary school | Service NSW

Online Enrolment is a web-based system which will allow parents to submit an application to enrol a child in a local intake area in a NSW Government School. The online form can be accessed from the enrolment page on the school's website. 

Online Enrolment (nsw.gov.au)

The information once completed by the parent, will be submitted to the school through the Online Enrolment School Interface. Our School Administrative Support Staff are then able to review and edit the enrolment application submitted by the parent/carer and send to the Enrolment and Registration Number (ERN) system.

The NSW Education Department Enrolment Policy has been revised to support schools to manage all enrolment applications, encourage greater consistency in decision-making and make sure the enrolment choices are clear for parents.

The enrolment cap is the number of students that can be enrolled at a school based on the school’s permanent accommodation. The enrolment cap tells us whether the school will be able to accept non-local enrolments. Schools with a local intake area have a cap set by the department.

Within the enrolment cap, a number of enrolment places (the buffer) must be kept aside for the likely number of local students who will need to enrol during the year. For this reason, a school will not take non-local students once they reach their buffer, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

We invite families to visit the school website and select ‘Enrolment’ to start the Kindergarten enrolment process.

A link to the 2023 DPS Kindergarten Transition website is below. It contains lots of information that will be very useful to new DPS families.

2023 DPS Kindergarten Transition website

Kind regards,

Lee Shipley

Principal

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