Principal's Update

Staffing News

The school has received approval to start the merit selection process to fill the Assistant Principal position vacated by Mrs Zalaf. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Mrs Zalaf has been successful in being appointed as the new Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction role at Dundas Public School. I thank Mrs Percincula for representing the DPS staff and Mr Evans for representing the parents and citizens of Dundas PS. We hope to have the position filled by the end of this year.

Unfortunately, Ms Burns is unable to continue teaching 4/5G on Wednesdays as she has been successful in gaining a position at a private school. To ensure there is some consistency for our students, Mrs Luu will be teaching 4/5G on Thursdays for the remainder of the year.  Mrs Luu knows the students in 4/5G exceptionally well having taught and supported them in previous years. A detailed handover for Mrs Luu will occur as soon as possible. Mr Yee will continue to teach the class on the other days of the week. 

Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful Policies 

The Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful (IER) Schools package was announced in February this year by NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning, Hon Sarah Mitchell.

It centres on three new policies and procedures and a framework that together set the guidelines for how we ensure all children and young people can learn through public education in a safe and engaging way. The IER Schools package includes the:

• Inclusive Education Policy for students with disability
• Student Behaviour Policy and Procedures
• Restrictive Practices Framework and Restrictive Practices Reduction and Elimination Policy and Procedures.

With these new policies, we want all students to:

• be included in all aspects of school life and supported to learn to their fullest capability 
• be supported in engaging, respectful, and effective classrooms with positive and inclusive practices  
• feel welcomed, valued and safe in our schools and classroom 

Two of the policies are new: the Inclusive Education Policy; and the Restrictive Practices Framework and policy. Both clarify existing legal obligations, effective, appropriate and prohibited practices, and the rights of students, parents and carers.

The Student Behaviour Policy replaces the Student Discipline in Government Schools and Suspension and Expulsion Policy.  The key change is the approach all NSW public schools will take to address disruptive or inappropriate behaviour by a student. The duration of a suspension will be reduced along with the number of suspensions across a school year.  Every school will be able to draw on the support of a range of staff including behaviour specialists to effectively address issues resulting in these behaviours in order to prevent future escalations. We will continue to work closely with you and all our families.

It does not mean, however, that students who are violent or seriously disrupt the learning and wellbeing of others will be kept at school. Any student who puts the safety of other students, teachers and staff or visitors at risk of harm – will be suspended until it is safe for them to return.

The Inclusive Education Policy for students with disability and the Student Behaviour Policy become operational in Term 4, 2022 and the Restrictive Practices Policy becomes operational in Term 1, 2023.

The staff and I are reviewing our current approach to all of the areas covered by these policies. Our school already takes a strong, positive student-centred approach, but we want to work with you to ensure, together, every student has the right support at the right time to help them grow into confident, resilient adults.

For more information on these policies, please visit the NSW Department of Education website.

Application for Year 7 Selective High School Placement in 2024

Selective high schools cater for high potential and intellectually gifted students. Applications are currently open for entry to Year 7 in 2024 close on 16 November 2022. The Selective High School Placement Test will be held on 4 May 2023. The test will be paper-based. Apply online at: shsoc.education.nsw.gov.au

Additional School Development Day 2022

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

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

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 allow gift cards to be accepted if they are offered as a gift of gratitude.

World Teacher’s Day Australia

Australia celebrates World Teachers’ Day on 28th October 2022. Our teachers have shown great resilience during challenging times, all so they can give students the best future possible. It is an important day for our community to recognise the outstanding work our staff do in wearing many hats in supporting our students’ learning and wellbeing. Thank you to our P&C for providing lunch and afternoon for our incredible staff. 

Term 4 COVID operations

On 30 September, National Cabinet announced that from Friday 14 October 2022, people who test positive to COVID-19 do not need to isolate. In line with this announcement, the NSW Department of Education have worked with NSW Health to support all schools to adapt to this change while continuing to prioritise student and staff wellbeing by minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmissions.

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.

We are continuing our COVID-smart measures

Our school will continue to operate with our baseline COVID-smart measures in place throughout Term 4 to minimise transmission and keep our school open. This includes a combination of layered safety measures such as maintaining hygiene and cleaning practices, using rapid antigen testing (RAT) when experiencing symptoms, maximising natural ventilation, strongly encouraged vaccinations and strongly encouraging mask-wearing particularly when indoors and/or physical distancing is not possible.

In certain circumstances, NSW Health and the Department of Education may advise that additional COVID-smart measures be temporarily reintroduced at our school. We will provide further details of any changes to COVID-smart measures at our school, if/when required.

Reporting requirements from 14 October

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

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

Student absences from school

This term, Dundas Public school is using an SMS communication platform if a student is absent from school. A lot of schools have implemented the SMS system with much success and the feedback has been very positive. 

Some key features and benefits include:

✔ Messaging is a semi-automated daily text message, personalised for parents with children absent from school.

✔ Reduce parent ‘notice fatigue’ by targeting messages to relevant groups and individuals. DPS will send home fewer attendance letters during the term as most absences will be explained via the SMS service.

✔ Two-way text messaging allows parents to provide absence justification straight away

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

Communication platforms (reminder from previous newsletter)

Kind regards,

Lee Shipley

Principal