Mr Irwin's Message

Mr. Irwin's Message

Hi everyone and welcome back to Term 2!

I hope you had an enjoyable Easter Break. Over the holidays I sent all families an email regarding  School Council’s decision to change our OSHC service from school council run to engaging with a service provider.  School Council accepted the proposal of Community OSHC to take over the provision of the school's Before and After School Care program. This change will take place commencing on May 24th.

Before and After School Care have traditionally been run and managed by School Council at Teesdale. However, as regulatory demands increase in the Early Childhood sector, the cost and logistics of a school running it's own service become more difficult. Before and After School Care is a vital service in a school, but not to the detriment of Teaching and Learning. The opportunity to have expert support from Community OSHC is an excellent result for our school.

I have attached a welcome message from Bella Cooke, Director of Operations at Community OSHC who will have direct involvement in the program. Over the first few weeks of Term 2 Bella will provide further advice regarding what the program will look like including bookings and enrolment. I have also attached a Key Information Sheet for interested families too.

Whilst the move to a service provider does involve a fee increase Council expect this to be outweighed by the benefit of extended hours, the provision of care on curriculum days, the future possibility of a holiday program and the impressive and engaging program Community OSHC provide before and after school. Fees currently charged by our current OSHC program are not sustainable into the future regardless of whether the school continued to run the program or engaged an external service provider.

Farewell Wattsy!

To finish off this week's newsletter a special shout out to Mrs Watts. After 28 years of Education Support work at Teesdale Primary, Mrs Watts is taking leave and then has elected to retire. Over those 28 years Mrs Watts has supported hundreds of families and students and behalf of everyone over those many years of excellent service Mrs Watts; enjoy your retirement, we’ll miss you dearly and look forward to celebrating your last few weeks at Teesdale Primary with you.

Bye for now!

School Photo Day

Annual school photos including sibling photos will be taken at Teesdale Primary School by Arthur Reed Photos on Thursday May 4th, 2021.

There is no need to return any forms or money to school.

Unique image codes will be issued to all students on/after photo day so families can register online to view images when they become available in the webshop. 

Registration is simple, just follow the 3 simple steps on your child’s personalised flyer once you receive it and remember to add the codes for all your children attending this school.

Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you register again this year using your child’s 2021 image code to link their images for the current year with your contact details.

When images are ready to view and in the webshop, all parents who have registered will be notified by SMS and email.

Once registered, please wait for notification that 2021 images are online to view before making your purchase. 

Healthy Lunch Box Choices

For more information go to: https://heas.health.vic.gov.au/schools/healthy-lunchboxes