Principal's Message
Wominjeka 2020!
Welcome to the 2020 school year!
Firstly, we would like to welcome a number of new families who have joined our school across all year levels. It has been wonderful to see the welcoming nature of our school community, who have made our new families feel very welcome in such a short space of time.
As a school we are extremely proud of the preparation our teaching and administration staff have placed into setting up our classrooms and learning programs for 2020. Over the first two weeks of the school year we have received many glowing comments from our families about the positive relationships which are being formed within our classrooms. If you have not had the chance to visit your child's classroom, we encourage you to take the time to pop in and view our focus upon continuous improvement.
Curriculum Days- 2020
Each Department of Education (DET) school is allocated four Curriculum Days per school year. On Tuesday 28th January, we held our first Curriculum Day for the year. This day was a combined session with staff from Selby PS, and Macclesfield PS. The focus of the day was for staff to undertake "Cultural Understanding and Safety Training" which revolves around the importance of meaningfully acknowledging Indigenous Culture within our school curriculum. As a school we work hard to provide our students with an appreciation of the role of Indigenous Culture across our society. At Monday's assembly, our School Captains will provide some more information to our families regarding learning from the session.
Details of our remaining three Curriculum Days are contained within the Calendar of Events.
School Council Elections
At USPS we recognize that a successful learning community is built upon strong partnerships between the school and families. There are many ways for families to become involved in the day-to-day learning within our school, from helping in the classroom, to joining the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), and of course nominating for School Council.
We encourage all of our parents to consider the benefits and meaningful contributions that you can achieve from nominating to join School Council.
If you are interested in nominating, please refer to the documentation attached below:
Student Council Nominations
For information on our upcoming Student Council Elections, please refer to the section of this newsletter titled "Student Voice".
Privacy Notice- 2020
The following information is an important extract from the Department of Education and Training (DET) which should be shared across all schools.
During the ordinary course of your child’s attendance at our school, school staff will collect your child’s personal and health information when necessary to educate your child, or to support your child’s social and emotional wellbeing or health in the school context. Such information will also be collected when required to fulfil a legal obligation, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law. If that information is not collected, the school may be unable to provide optimal education or support to your child, or fulfil those legal obligations.
For example, health information may be collected through the school nurse, primary welfare officer or wellbeing staff member. If your child is referred to a specific health service at school, such as a Student Support Services officer, the required consent will be obtained. Our school also collects information provided by parents and carers through the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and the Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) Transition Form.
Our school may use online tools, such as apps and other software, to effectively collect and manage information about your child for teaching and learning purposes, parent communication and engagement; student administration; and school management purposes. When our school uses these online tools, we take steps to ensure that your child’s information is secure. If you have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact us.
School staff will only share your child’s personal or health information with other staff who need to know to enable the school to educate or support your child, or fulfil a legal obligation.
When our students transfer to another Victorian government school, personal and health information about that student will be transferred to that next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of our students and assists that next school to provide optimal education and support to students.
In some limited circumstances, information may be disclosed outside of the school (and outside of the Department of Education and Training). The school will seek your consent for such disclosures unless the disclosure is allowed or mandated by law.
Our school values the privacy of every person. When collecting and managing personal and health information, all school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law. For more information about privacy including about how to access personal and health information held by the school about you or your child, see our school’s privacy policy: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx
Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, Student Support Service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners and all other staff at our school. This includes employees, agents and service providers (contractors) of the Department, whether paid or unpaid.
Keeping Aware of Information Relating to School
As a school we work hard to keep our families informed of happenings across the school. We acknowledge that receiving information in a timely and consistent manner can help to alleviate the pressures which come from managing a busy family calendar.
Communicating via Compass
All of our school notifications are sent via the Newsfeed within the Compass app. There is also a calendar of events within the app, which sends push notifications to users to remind them of school events.
In 2020, we are also utilising Compass for families to consent and pay in order for their children to take part in school events. The uptake and comments from families thus far is that it is so easy to do, and helpful to be able to consent at the push of a button.
In order to filter notifications which are received, you will notice that we send out notifications which are year level specific. This means that sometimes not all notifications are sent to all year levels.
Impetigo (School Sores)
As students return to school it is timely that we bring to your attention the importance of being aware of Impetigo (School Sores).
Impetigo is a contagious, superficial skin infection seen mainly in children, but it may occur at any age. The infection may present with mildly irritating blisters that become pustular and erode rapidly, leaving a honey-coloured crust. It often appears around the nose and mouth.
Please refer to the following link for more information:
Corona Virus- DET Notice
Dear Parents and Families,
As you may be aware, the situation regarding the emerging outbreak of novel coronavirus has continued to evolve.
Over the weekend, the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and Victoria’s Chief Health Officer recommended a stronger precautionary approach to managing coronavirus for travellers returned from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) from 1 February 2020.
This recommendation is that parents/guardians/carers should ensure that any children returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) who were in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020 is isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China.
This recommendation does not apply retrospectively. It applies only to students who were in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020.
The existing advice remains that parents/guardians/carers of students should ensure that any student is isolated at home and should not attend school for 14 days:
- following exposure to any confirmed novel coronavirus case; or
- after leaving Hubei Province.
If you think your children are showing relevant symptoms, please call the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to discuss further actions on 1300 651 160.
You would have recently seen media coverage regarding the Corona Virus, and the possible impacts it may have upon schools. Please refer to the attached Department of Education (DET) Notice.
Where can I get more information?
For Victorian updates to the current incident, go to: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/novelcoronavirus
For national updates: https://www.health.gov.au/news/latest-information-about-novel-coronavirus
For international updates: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/novel-coronavirus
WHO resources https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne. © State of Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services, January 2020. |
Communicating with the School Administration Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2020, and welcome your input:
Damien Kitch (Principal) kitch.damien.p@edumail.vic.gov.au
Janet Young (Business Manager)
upwey.south.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Janette Clarke (Office Manager)