Principal's Report

Dear Parents, Families and Community members,

Harmony Day

On Friday the 19th of March, students will be asked to come dressed in their traditional cultural dress. Students who do not have cultural dress or want another option can wear something orange. A gold coin donation is not required for this.

Primary School Captains 2021

Student Leadership at Armstrong Creek School is something we place high importance on and each there are a number of 'formal' and 'informal' opportunities for students to demonstrate their leadership and support our school community to grow and improve.

With a couple of little speed bumps slowing us in our Student Leadership process this year, we are now finally able to announce our Primary School captains. We will also be finalising our Secondary School Captain and announcing our House Captains and SRC next week.

School Captains have been selected via a process that included students writing and presenting a speech to their peers, staff and our Principal Class Team. Ultimately the Principal Class Team and the 5/6 Staff have selected four students who we believe not only 'live and breathe' our School Values on a daily basis, but have demonstrated the capacity lead by example and support students across the school to do so too.

It is with great pleasure that I publicly announce (we did this at assembly last week but unfortunately no parents were able to be there) and congratulate our School Captains for 2021!

Congratulations on this great achievement and I look forward to seeing you lead our school throughout 2021.

Multiple Permissions

Please find below a link to give digital consent to the Multiple Permissions for your children for 2021. These permissions must be completed by all families attending Armstrong Creek School and are valid for the 2021 school year. (Please complete the link for each of your children who attend ACS).Please advise the office immediately should you wish to withdraw \ change your permissions.

These permissions are in relation to Photos, Headlice, Emails, ICT Acceptable Use, Watching PG Movies, Local Excursions and Online Services. 

https://forms.gle/MxEJp3naWZrXqwH28

If you are having trouble accessing Compass or need your password reset, please don't hesitate to contact the office.

Late Arrivals

Please note that learning commences at 8.55 a.m. This means that students are expected to have arrived prior to this time, taken their bag (etc.) to their Learning Community, headed back outside for a play or to meet a friend and are ready to return to their Learning Community when the music begins to play. 

Our gates will be locked at 8.55 a.m. each day to ensure that students are safe and supervised appropriately. This means that families arriving after this time, will be required to enter via the main administration building where students can be signed in by a parent or carer. It also means that parents are required to have left the school, unless otherwise arranged with School Leadership. 

It is imperative to the learning of every child, that late arrivals are the exception and not the rule. We do understand that on occasions arriving late is unavoidable and unintentional; however, we do need to ensure that students are arriving on time to maximise the learning of all children. 

The attached document highlights the significance that just a few minutes each day can have on a child’s learning. As a school and staff we committed to maximising every minute students are at school and learning and we need them to be here, on time to do that. 

Late arrivals also impact the daily operations of our school with staff having to either leave Learning Communities or other responsibilities to take students to class. This can also impact other students and their learning, as students arriving late need to be welcomed in and introduced to the learning at that time or that has been missed. 

I appreciate your support in ensuring students are arriving on time, each day and allowing learning to commence at 8.55 a.m. If for any reason you are having difficulty with this, please do contact us so we can discuss strategies and supports that might be available.

Policies

We will be sharing with you a few of the noteworthy school policies over the next few weeks. 

This week we will be looking at the STATEMENT OF VALUES AND SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY Policy:

Armstrong Creek School is committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students, staff and members of our community. Our school recognises the importance of the partnership between our school and parents and carers to support student learning, engagement and wellbeing. We share a commitment to, and a responsibility for, creating an inclusive and safe school environment for our students. We strive to provide specific programs and opportunities for learners with a range of educational needs within our purpose-built facilities.

This policy outlines our school’s vision, mission, objective, values and expectations of our school community. This policy is available on our school website, our staff Induction Drive (Google Drive) and enrolment/transition packs. 

To celebrate and embed our Statement of Values and Philosophy in our school community, we 

• display posters and banners that promote your values in our school
• celebrate our values in our school newsletter
• provide awards and recognition for students who actively demonstrate the values
• discuss our values with students in Learning Communities, meetings and assemblies.

As parents and carers, we will:

• model positive behaviour to our child
• communicate politely and respectfully with all members of the school community
• ensure our child attends school on time, every day the school is open for instruction
• take an interest in our child’s school and learning
• work with the school to achieve the best outcomes for our child
• communicate constructively with the school and use expected processes and protocols when raising concerns
• support school staff to maintain a safe learning environment for all students
• follow the school’s processes for communication with staff and making complaints
• treat all school leaders, staff, students, and other members of the school community with respect.

Schools are not public places, and the Principal has the right to permit or deny entry to school grounds (for more information, see our Visitors Policy).

Unreasonable behaviour that is demonstrated by school staff, parents, carers, students or members of our school community will not be tolerated at school, or during school activities. 

Unreasonable behaviour includes:

• speaking or behaving in a rude, manipulative, aggressive or threatening way, either in person, via electronic communication or social media, or over the telephone
• the use or threat of violence of any kind, including physically intimidating behaviour such as aggressive hand gestures or invading another person’s personal space
• sending demanding, rude, confronting or threatening letters, emails or text messages
• sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or derogatory comments
• the use of social media or public forums to make inappropriate or threatening remarks about the school, staff or students.

Harassment, bullying, violence, aggression, threatening behaviour and unlawful discrimination are unacceptable and will not be tolerated at our school.

Our Statement of Values and School Philosophy ensures that everyone in our school community will be treated with fairness and respect. In turn, we will strive to create a school that is inclusive and safe, where everyone is empowered to participate and learn. 

Please feel free to access this policy on our schools website as well Compass through the Community Icon - School Documentation - Parent Information and then Policies.

Breakfast Club

This week Breakfast Club has returned for all students at ACS!  We will be providing breakfast on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8.40am to 8.55am.  Students can make their way over to the Canteen for a quick take away breakfast.

This is a great opportunity for your child to practice their social skills by:

• Lining up calmly and waiting patiently to be served.
• Remembering to use their manners by saying ‘please’ and ‘thank  you’ when engaging with our volunteer staff.
• Taking care of our school and placing all of their rubbish in the bins provided.

We would like to thank Food Bank Victoria for supplying all of our food products free of charge for this valuable program.

2021 Curriculum Days

Please note that our Curriculum Days for 2021 are as follows: 

• Friday 11 June – Inclusive Education in Practice
• Friday 13 August – The Science of Reading
• Friday 17 December – 2022 Preparation/Staff Health, Wellbeing and Community

Students are not required at school on these days.

Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser

Our first fundraiser for the year has been organised by PACC and is a fantastic Routley's Bakery Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser!

Routley's Bakery has been making Pies & Cakes for over 60 years, so have perfected their recipes over a long time.

For every pack sold, Armstrong Creek School will keep approximately 30% of the selling price!

Orders will be delivered to the school on Wednesday 31/3/2021 to your eldest child to bring home.

We suggest selling to family members, colleagues in the workplace, friends or neighbours. We do not recommend involving children in selling, but if they are involved, they must do so under adult supervision, especially if selling door to door.

Fruit Hot Cross Buns - 6 Pack  @ $6.50 each

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns - 6 Pack @ $6.50 each

All orders to be submitted by Thursday 25th March, 2021 at 12:00pm via the link below: Please share the link with your family and friends

PLEASE NOTE: ORDERS CAN ONLY BE SUBMITTED VIA COMPASSTIX. CASH SALES ARE NOT ABLE TO BE ACCEPTED.

Fundraising activities such as this make a vital contribution towards improving resources for the benefit of all our children. In anticipation of a successful fundraising drive, we thank you for your support!

Parent \ Teacher Conferences

Parent \ Teacher Conferences will take place on Wednesday 17 March from 3.30pm - 7.30pm.  This is an opportunity for parents to meet together with their child’s home group teacher to discuss how their child has settled in this term and the learning that has taken place so far this year. 

Each conference will be for 10 minutes and bookings will open on Compass from Wednesday 3/3/2021.  

Please see the guide below for assistance on how to make your booking(s).  

This information can also be found on Compass by clicking on Community Icon \ School Documentation \ Parent Information \ Compass 

Take care and enjoy!

Evan Savage

Principal