I warmly welcome all new families and returning students to Leumeah Public School. I trust that families had a relaxing summer break. Some families may have spent some time in isolation over the holiday period or even at the start of the school year. I hope that family members are recovering, and life is returning to normal after an isolation period and COVID cases.

All staff look forward to a wonderful year of learning with their new classes and students.

Thank you for your patience, while our numbers settled at the beginning of the year. Our classes have now been finalised.

Staff and classes 2022

Kindergarten:

KB – Mrs Donna Bates (relieving Assistant Principal)

KE – Miss Sophie Everingham

KR – Miss Courtney Hall (Term 1)

Stage 1:

1/2H - Mrs Linda Hambley (Assistant Principal)

1/2B - Mr Tim Boyd

1/2C - Mrs Ebony Celin

1/2L - Mrs Linda Hardiman

1/2P - Miss Kaitlyn Pakowski

1/2R - Mrs Kristy Rendell

Stage 2:

3/4M - Mrs Meagan Maytom (Assistant Principal)

3/4G - Miss Taylor Gough

3/4H - Miss Hannah Holman

3/4P - Mr Mitchell Purches

4/5M - Miss Chloe Mahoney (Year 4 are supervised by Mrs Maytom and Year 5 are supervised by Mr Lenard)

Stage 3:

5/6L - Mr Robert Lenard (relieving Assistant Principal)

5/6G - Mr Harrison Green

5/6H - Mrs Kathy Hansen

5/6J - Ms Jo Mayhew

5/6T - Mr Rick Torpy

Support:

Mrs Angela Hall – relieving Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction (Term 1)

Mrs Cecilia Bonfield – Assistant Principal Learning and Support Teacher

Mrs Jessica Seeney – COVID Intervention Learning Support Program (ILSP) Teacher

Mrs Julie Matthews – Release from Face-to-Face teacher (RFF)

Mrs Marie-Anne Zarzour – RFF (M-W)

Ms Sue Hajro – RFF (W-F)

Mrs Lisa Stephens – Community Liaison Officer (CLO), Student Welfare Officer (Chaplain), Library administration.

School Learning Support Officers (SLSO):

Mrs Rachel Dutton – COVID ILSP

Mrs Alliyah Geldenhuys – COVID ILSP

Mrs Sarah Dumesny – Integration Funding Support (IFS)

Mrs Melinda Periera – IFS

Administration:

Mrs Leanne Pritchard – School Administration Manager (SAM)

Mrs Nicole Durham – School Administration Officer (SAO)

Mrs Leanne Clifton – SAO

Mrs Kylie Griffiths – SAO

General Assistant – Mr David Mitchell

Senior executive:

Acting Deputy Principal – Ms Jo Fair

Principal – Mrs Kristy Hill

We have 17 mainstream classes and one Opportunity Class in Stage 3 (5/6L). Miss Hall is taking KR for Term 1. During the term, the position will be advertised to be filled permanently. We anticipate that the staff member who is successful through the merit selection process will take the class for the remainder of 2022.

There will also be a permanent Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction position advertised. Mrs Hall is relieving in the role for Term 1. The successful candidate will take up the permanent position from Term 2.

Our numbers are fluctuating and for this reason, the Deputy Principal position will remain vacant until we have some more certainty with our projected enrolments. Ms Fair will continue in the role.

Impact of COVID on staffing

There will be times throughout the term, that your child’s teacher or an SLSO may be absent for a minimum of seven days. This may occur if they are a household close contact or they contract COVID.

Teachers have worked very hard to come up with programs that are consistent across the stage, so that if a teacher or a SLSO is absent, the learning will continue for this class. We will prioritise getting a casual teacher to take the class during this time. This casual teacher will teach from that stage program and be supported by the Assistant Principal.

If your child’s teacher is going to be absent for a period, you will receive a message on Seesaw. If you have any concerns while your child’s teacher is on leave, please contact the office and they will direct your call to the appropriate person.

COVID reminders

I wrote to you early in the year about our school organisation to ensure that we are COVID safe. You are reminded about the following:

Parents are not able to come onsite. If you have any concerns about your child, please call the school and the class teacher will call you back. If the teacher is not available, someone else will call you back. Often, the person on the gate will be unable to help you.
Students can only leave via certain gates.
- Kindergarten through the pedestrian gate on Burrendong Road.
- Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) through the bus gate on Burrendong Road.
- Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) through the back gate to Parkhill Avenue.
- Older siblings leave with the younger sibling. To avoid confusion for families, if the younger sibling is away, the older sibling can still leave via the usual family gate.
Staggered departure times are in place:
- A-D: 2.10pm
- E-K: 2.20pm
- L-R: 2.30pm
- R-Z: 2.40pm
- All other students 2.50pm
- Families with different surnames will leave with the youngest sibling
- Students need to be handed over to parents if they are getting picked up prior to 2.50pm
If you cannot make your pick-up time, your child will leave at 2.50pm. We do not have the staff or capacity to get students as you arrive. Much organisation has gone into the process of the dismissal routine. If you need to collect your child early, you will need to pick your child up before the dismissal process at 2.10pm.
The uniform shop is online. Any issues with your order will need to be communicated with the uniform shop operator, Gosford Tailoring.
Students should complete their RAT every Monday and Wednesday morning. Your child should have brought home their second round of RAT kits this week for the next fortnight. If you do not want to receive RAT kits, please contact the office and let them know.
You will receive communication when there is a positive case who may have been in contact with your child. The school will not close and students can still attend, as long as they receive a negative RAT result and are symptom free. You will just need to monitor your child and continue with the rapid antigen testing.
Even if your child returns a negative RAT, if they are symptomatic they should not be attending school.
If anyone in the household tests positive, the whole family needs to isolate and follow the directions of NSW Health.
When you pick up your child from YMCA, ensure that you leave the school immediately. Please do not go to the lost property to search for items.

Welcome to LPS

We have some new faces on staff this year. We welcome them all to the LPS learning community.

Mrs Kristy Rendell is new to LPS. Mrs Rendell has just finished university, completing pre-service placements in several schools in the local area. She was successful in obtaining a position at LPS as a result of an Expression of Interest (EOI) process at the end of 2021. Mrs Rendell also lives in South West Sydney. She is looking forward to learning a lot on Stage 1 this year.

Mr Mitchell Purches has worked as a casual teacher at LPS in 2019. He has also taught at schools in the local area on long term blocks. He will be working closely with Mrs Maytom on Stage 2 in 2022.

Mr Robert Lenard was successful through an EOI process at the end of 2021 to relieve as Assistant Principal for the year, for Ms Turrin who is on maternity leave. Mr Lenard has worked in schools in the South West Sydney region for a number of years. He has also relieved as Assistant Principal during this time. Mr Lenard will supervise Stage 3 in 2022.

Mr Harrison Green joins LPS as a member of the Stage 3 team. He has taught in the Wollongong area and in South West Sydney, with previous experience on Stage 3. He was successful at gaining a position at LPS through an EOI process at the end of 2021.

Mrs Marie-Anne Zarzour was also successful in the EOI process at the end of 2021. She has worked briefly as a casual at LPS in the past. Mrs Zarzour has also worked on long term blocks in schools in South West Sydney. She will take classes for teacher release (RFF) working with Mrs Matthews and the team. Mrs Zarzour is at LPS from Monday to Wednesday each week.

Ms Sue Hajro has been a consistent casual at LPS since early 2021. Ms Hajro has also been a resident of Leumeah in the past and worked locally as a casual teacher. Ms Hajro will join Mrs Zarzour in teaching RFF with Mrs Matthews, working Wednesday to Friday.

Shade sails

Last year I reported that our P&C had successfully obtained a grant and committed additional funds to install shade over our fixed equipment. COVID delayed this process, however, during the holidays it was completed. I would like to thank the P&C for their support of initially gaining the grant for the fixed equipment and the subsequent shade sails.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) signs

The PBL team have updated our expectations signage across the school, so that it is explicit to students and staff what behaviours are acceptable in certain areas. Thank you to Mrs Maytom and the PBL team for organising this addition to our school.

Complaints, compliments and suggestions

LPS is a public school and like the NSW Department of Education we are committed to resolving issues with you. When you do have questions or concerns, the best place to start is your child’s teacher. You can do this by contacting the school directly, by calling the office or emailing the school. Our administration staff will direct your question to the appropriate person.

You can make a complaint about the following:

Any aspect of the services we provide
Any decision, including those about enrolment or support for student learning at school
Any practice, policy or procedure
Staff behaviour or conduct

If you find that your issue was not resolved when you have spoken with the class teacher, you can speak with the Stage supervisor / Assistant Principal. In 2022, these are Mrs Bates (Kindergarten), Mrs Hambley (Stage 1), Mrs Maytom (Stage 2) and Mr Lenard (Stage 3).

Often the stage supervisor will communicate your concerns with myself and Ms Fair as they work to resolve it with you. If you are still experiencing anxiety about the issue(s) after addressing these with the stage supervisor, you can speak with myself or Ms Fair.

There are times when you believe that the school has not provided you with adequate support and you may wish to take these concerns higher. In this case you may make a complaint to the Director Educational Leadership.

You may also make complaints via the department’s online complaint form. I strongly encourage you to contact the school first when you need support. You can also use the complaint form to provide feedback or compliment the school, if you think that we are doing things well.

You can go to the department Complaints, compliments and suggestions for parents website to find out more information.

PRINCIPAL

Leumeah P&C Association