STUDENT FREE DAYS

Next Thursday and Friday, 10th and 11th March, will be student free days. All staff will be participating in R.E. professional development.

SCHOOL HOURS

A reminder to all parents that the school staff are expected to be at work from 8.30am until 4.00pm. Please do not leave your child at school outside these hours as there may not be staff here to supervise them.

If you require before or after school care for your child, you are able to access the program run out of Rye Primary School. This program is run by TheirCare. They can be contacted by phone (03)8563 9422 or email info@theircare.com.au

Our school bus collects students who access this program in the mornings and drops them there in the afternoons.

INFORMATION FORMS

More personal details and permission forms were sent home with a few children last week, these included; incidental excursion permission, permission to publish and acceptable use of ICT equipment. Thank you to those parents who completed and returned these forms so promptly. If you haven't returned these forms please do so as soon as possible as there may be school activities that your child will miss out on unless we have these forms. If you did not receive these forms please let the office know and we will send new ones out to you.

ABSENTEE

If your child is going to be absent from or late for school, please contact the office prior to 9.30am. This contact can be made via Konnective, email or phone call. It is a government regulation that we take the roll and record all absentee children twice every day.

NAMING SCHOOL UNIFORM

A reminder to clearly name all items of your child's school uniform, sport uniform, bathers, goggles, etc. Lost items of clothing are brought to the office on a daily basis and many of them are un-named.

BOOK CLUB

Scholastic Book Club catalogues were distributed today. All orders must be in by Friday 18th March. Orders can be placed via the online Parent Loop or by completing the order form in the back of the catalogue and returning this to school with the correct money.

WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK

It is a government regulation that all adults wanting to work or volunteer with children MUST have a Working With Children Check. If you are wanting to help at the school in any capacity; canteen, swimming lessons, excursions, classroom help, sporting activities, special days, etc we require a copy of your current Working With Children Certificate. These can be applied for online and are free to all people volunteering. We have noticed that many WWCC expired over the last two years, please check you expiry date, renew it if you need to and bring your new card into the office so that we can take note of your new details.

CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund)

Below is the criteria used to determine a student’s eligibility for the CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund). To be eligible for the fund, a parent or legal guardian of a student must:

· Be a holder of a Veteran’s Affairs gold card or be an eligible Centrelink Health Care Card holder (HCC) or Pension Card (PCC) holder, or

· Be a temporary foster parent.

If you think you are eligible, you must collect an application form from the school office and return it to school be no later than Friday 18th March. We also need to photocopy your benefit card. Families who claimed this last year and who are still eligible do not need to complete another form.

Parents who only receive a Carers Allowance on behalf of a child, or any other benefit or allowance not

income tested by Centrelink, are not eligible for the CSEF. For more information visit www.education.vic.gov.au/csef

SCHOOL BUS

The School bus is not a free service. In order to be eligible for a government conveyance subsidy you must live more than 4.8km from the school and be within our catchment area. You must also complete a conveyance form and lodge it at the school office before your child uses the bus. If your child caught the bus in previous years you only need to resubmit an application if; you have changed address or a younger sibling needs to be added. Conveyance forms are available from the school office.

If you are not eligible (ie. You live closer to the school than 4.8km), there is a charge of $1 per trip, per child (tickets can be purchased at the school office). This charge applies if your child catches the bus on a regular basis or only occasionally. If your child is a regular bus user there are several payment options available. Please ask at the school office.

Parents and Friends