WELCOME BACK

Welcome to what we all hope will be a more settled and consistent school year.

Collectively, our hopes and wishes that we would return to a somewhat normal commencement to the 2022 school year has actually eventuated, despite the fact we have some who are isolating at home.

Our new students and staff have settled in really quickly and there’s already an excited buzz around the school with classrooms looking and sounding as they usually do; happy and productive.

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 details shared understanding of the expected values and behaviours to be displayed within the classroom learning community.

Parents will be able to view these agreements at the parent information sessions which will be held on WebEx. Teachers will post webex links and further details soon.

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS (WebEx)

This year, teachers will run an information session (on Webex) for parents to learn more about the activities specific to the year level. Parents will be able to ‘meet the teacher’ (online) and put a face to the name. Sessions will run for around 45 minutes.

Tuesday February 15

Year 2 – 6:00pm

Year 4 – 6:45pm

Year Prep and Year 6- 7:30pm

Thursday February 17

Year 5 – 6:00pm

Year 3- 6:45pm

Year 1 – 7:30pm

We look forward to another year of working together to ensure our school provides the best opportunities possible for our students.

STAFF

This year we welcome the following new staff members.

Miss Brianna Newbond (1N)

Mr Joe Calderone (6C)

Miss Julia Kantor (6K)

Miss Shelly Nugent (Performing Arts)

Mrs Heidi Clark (Teacher Assistant)

Ms Penny Hayes (SAKG Kitchen Specialist)

We also welcome back:

Mrs Jess Maya (1P)

Mrs Stephanie Protektor (1P)

Mrs Gabbi Menche (2M)

Mrs Melanie Short (2M)

Miss Tracey Nelson (PE)

Mrs Dominique Monotti (PE)

Welcome to all!

THE SCHOOL’S PRIVACY POLICY

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website (https://murrumbeenaps.vic.edu.au/about-us/#reports)

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

This information is also available in nine community languages (please ask):

* Amharic * Arabic * Dari * Gujarati * Mandarin * Somali * Sudanese * Turkish * Urdu * Vietnamese.

SCHOOL PICNIC- save the date: Thursday 24 Feb

The annual school picnic will be held on the oval on Thursday 24 February (5:30 – 7:30pm).

Families bring along picnic rugs or chairs and a picnic dinner for the family.

The picnic is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends and expand your friendship group as you mingle with other members of the school community.

Let’s hope we are blessed with the wonderful weather we enjoyed last year.

A CALENDAR FOR YOUR FRIDGE

Our school uses newsletters and Compass to communicate the activities that are happening across the school. These are posted on the Compass calendar.

However, this year we thought we’d provide a paper copy of the term calendar for your fridge, so parents can see the whole term at a glance. It will only contain activities relevant for the whole school.

When it comes to specific year level activities (excursions and incursions), the teachers will provide you with more information through the normal compass newsfeeds. If we obtain positive feedback about the fridge term calendar, we’ll send one for the beginning of each term.

SCHOOL FUNDRAISING CARNIVAL

Our School carnival will NOT be held in March.

Our School Council Fundraising Committee was working toward our school carnival being held in March, however due to the continued lockdowns of last year and continued uncertainty around the pandemic, it made sense to move the carnival to later this year.

The School Council Social and Fundraising committee will meet again in February and confirm the new date.

PERMISSION FORMS TO BE COMPLETED ON COMPASS

Every year, we inform parents and seek permission around a range of school related activities. This year, we are posting the permission forms on Compass.

Parents will notice the format on Compass is different to how you provide permission for excursions, so it may take a little time to get used to the different format.

Please review your child’s compass page to provide permission for year level specific activities including:

Local excursions
ICT Acceptable Use Agreements
Recording/Publishing consent

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

The SRC members of previous years have identified areas around the school they would like to see improve, and they have taken action to make change.

Their success has now raised the profile of the SRC, so this year we had numerous students wanting to become an SRC Rep for their class.

This year we noticed that some students have been elected by their peers in consecutive years, which means other students potentially miss out on the opportunity. We will be seeking student input about how we can implement a system which provides opportunity for many students. Watch this space as we share their recommendations.

CSEF

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 $125 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.

STAFF FIRST AID AND CPR TRAINING

Our staff meetings this week have been dedicated to staff undertaking their annual CPR and first aid training.

Every year, staff are trained in how to administer CPR and respond to anaphylaxis and asthma incidences should they arise. We also ensure that there is one staff member per year level who is up to date with first aid.

VACCINATION

It’s been really fantastic to see such excitement around the return to school and we want to keep it that way.

A crucial part of that is getting as many students vaccinated as possible.

Alongside ventilation and other vital COVIDSafe steps, such as regular rapid antigen testing, supporting as many students as possible to be vaccinated will help make our school as safe as possible.

It’s interesting to note that as of 3 February, 46.7% of 5 to 11 year olds have been vaccinated and almost 97% of 12 to 18 year olds have had their first dose. Victorians have made a great start on vaccinating our young ones.

Vaccinations don’t prevent people from getting the virus, but they do minimise the severity of the symptoms.

A pdf document from DET will be sent through Compass to provide parents with more information regarding vaccinations for children.

Chellee Plumb

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