Dear Parents, Families and Community members,

Welcome back to 2021!

We have had a fantastic start to the year and I've been so impressed with our students (both new and the 'more experienced') and how they have hit the ground running, getting straight back into their learning and demonstrating the ACS Values; Care, Collaboration and Commitment.

Our Newsletter is every second Friday, due to the short first week of school and the importance of getting information out to our families, it is coming out today and the next edition will be on Friday, February 12th.

This week on Friday, we will have our first whole school Assembly for the year. Unfortunately due to the public health advice to schools, we are unable to have parents, carers and community members attend onsite. We are looking at arrangements for 'streaming' the Assembly live and will communicate further about this later in the week.

Preps First Day

Few things make a Principal (and the entire staff for that matter!) smile more than seeing the cohort of Preps arrive on their first day of school and 2021 was no different.

After a couple of days of extensive assessment in Week 1, we welcomed our Preps officially to ACS on Monday. So many proud and happy faces walking through our gates for the first time, to be greeted by the AMAZING 2021 Prep Team, all eager to get to know these eager little learners and start them off on their schooling journey.

Whilst often an emotional and exciting time, particularly for 'first time Prep parents', we made sure they were also well supported by providing them with a 'Kit Kat' (time for a break) and a coffee voucher kindly donated by our good friends at Warralily Cockatoo.

And within minutes, 9.20 a.m. to be precise, the students had commenced their first Phonics lesson!

We are excited to see these students and their progress and development throughout the year and know they will achieve great success in 2021!

School Crossing Supervisors and Increased Traffic

As you will have noticed, our second school crossing is now installed and complete. Both crossings have School Crossing Supervisors allocated to them by the City of Greater Geelong. Many of you will know Wilf, who has been our School Crossing Supervisor for the past 3 years and we now also welcome Jim, who will supervise the new crossing. Please welcome them and say hello when you next safely use our school crossings.

With the increased traffic in the area now that Oberon High School has opened, we do encourage families to utilise the car parks of the Armstrong Creek Sporting Complex and the Armstrong East Community Club to safely park and walk the short commute to school, taking advantage of the extra crossing now available for families to safely cross the road.

If you are utilising the 'onsite parking at the front of the school, please take extra care for pedestrians and bike riders as you enter and exit. We will monitor this over the next few days and determine whether we can safely continue to allow parking in this area. Please also be reminded, this area is not a drive through drop off area. Parents and Carers are expected to utilise a park and use the pedestrian walkway to enter the school.

I am aware that for residents in the Warralily Central development, that crossing Batten Road has become increasingly challenging with the huge rise in traffic. Myself and the Oberon High School Principal (Time McMahon) have discussed this and with the support of both School Councils will follow this up with the City of Greater Geelong. These sorts of things don't tend to progress with any particular speed, however, please be assured this and traffic conditions in general are firmly on the 'radar'.

School Photos

Prep students, new students in Years 1-11 and new staff will have their photo taken on Friday 12 February 2021 by our school's photographers, MSP Photography. These photos will be used for ID purposes in our school systems only.

Official school photos (including home group photos) will be taken on Friday 23 April, 2021. Further information will be provided closer to the date with all the details and options for purchasing photo packs.

Attendance

Parents\Guardians are legally required to ensure their child attends school every day or to provide an explanation for their child's absence. They have an obligation to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of the absence using the school’s preferred method (Compass) or inform the school in advance of any upcoming absences.

We request that Parents\Guardians complete an absence via Compass where possible.

If you are unsure how to complete this, please find the guide on Compass by clicking on the Community Icon \ School Documentation \ Parent Information \ Compass \ Compass Guide for Parents and Families

A child missing one day a fortnight will miss four weeks in a year, and more than a year of school by year 10. It is important that children develop regular attendance habits at an early age.

Hats / Sunscreen / Water Bottles

A reminder that Term 1 is a mandatory hat term and whilst we encourage students to wear a broad brimmed school hat, any hat is better than no hat; ‘Yes Hat, Yes Play’.

We also encourage students to apply sunscreen before coming to school, and this can be topped up throughout the day with either the school supply or some brought from home.

Water bottles are encouraged for all students and staff and can be refilled at school during the day.

Please ensure ALL your child's items are clearly labelled with their name.

Lunch Orders

We are pleased to announce that lunch orders will be available 2 days per week in 2021!

Every Tuesday and Friday families will have the opportunity to place orders for students who will receive them at lunchtime.

Orders commence Tuesday 9 February, 2021.

Orders will continue to be placed online via QuickCliq and must be placed by 9am on the day prior to order day. The Menu and How to Order guides can be found on Compass by clicking on the Community Icon \ School Information \ Parent Information \ Canteen

Birthdays

Birthdays are a very special and exciting time and to celebrate with friends at school is even better! At ACS we want to make sure that students having birthdays are recognised and celebrated.

Please be aware that each Learning Community will make every effort to acknowledge and make students feel special on their birthday. We do; however, ask that families do not send food, balloons (etc.) into school.

There are many reasons for this including dietary and health related considerations. It is also very complex from a school management perspective to coordinate the large number of birthdays that a Learning Community would have with up to 75 possible birthdays!

We have though committed to holding a celebration once a term to recognise all the birthday's in the term. Typically this will be done at the end of term; however, each Learning Community will inform parents of the specific arrangements closer to the time.

BYOD

Armstrong Creek School have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) iPad Program for students in from Years 3 to 11. Students in Prep – Year 2 will continue to be provided access to school-owned devices as they have in previous years.

For participating families, a device that you already own can be used at Armstrong Creek School providing it meets the minimum specifications provided. If you do not currently have a device, we have selected JB Education as our preferred provider due to their service and pricing. Families are welcome to purchase iPads and accessories at any retailer they choose providing it meets the minimum requirements:

iPad 5th Generation (2017)
iPad Air 2 (2014)
or iPad Mini 4 (2015)
Updated to iOS 13
16GB Storage
Protective case

Families may choose to purchase an Apple iPad through their preferred retailer such as Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Myer, etc. It is also worth considering Apple’s Certified Refurbished iPads, which are sold at a lower price. These iPads are preowned devices that have undergone Apple’s refurbishment process, given a 12 months warranty and is available for purchase from Apple’s Refurbished Online Shop:https://www.apple.com/au/shop/refurbished

Families may also choose to purchase Online Through JB Education.

This portal has been created by the JB HiFi Education Team and enables families to purchase iPad devices, AppleCare+ and accessories. Purchases have the option of being picked up from a JB HiFi store or delivered to the school directly. Please note that the BYOD Portal is a credit card payment option only.

To access this portal, please follow the below link and enter the code BYOD2021

https://www.jbeducation.com.au/byod/

All students participating in the BYOD Program must have their parent\guardian complete the BYOD Acceptable Use Agreement prior to the student's device being connected to school systems. Please complete the BYOD Acceptable User Agreement (one per student) via the link below:

https://forms.gle/Y9vUhJMr7bVFzafV6

Take care and enjoy!

Evan Savage

Principal

Armstrong Creek School Newsletter

Care, Collaboration, Commitment

Issue 1 · 02 Feb 2021

In this issue