Principal's message
Welcome back to term three,
Our students all appeared happy to be back at school after their holiday break.
New staff/extended hours.
We have new staff joining our school this term.
Jodie Smith is our grade three and four teacher replacing Liz Maher who retired at the end of term. Laura Philips will teach this class on a Tuesday for Jodie.
Annette McKenzie will take our science sessions on Tuesday through to Friday.
Cam Green has joined our staff as a learning support officer and will be working in the grade three and four area.
Freya Postlethwaite has been working in our after school care and will continue in this role as well as a Learning support officer in grade 1 and 2.
Staff Away
This term Gerard Nolan is on Long Service Leave and his Physical Education sessions are being taken by Brendan Hernan.
Jane Holmes is on sick leave after becoming unwell at the end of term. Jane will be away at least until the 4th August, we are negotiating her replacement.
Colleen McIntosh will resume from her LSL on 24th July.
Parent teacher interviews
We will be conducting our parent teacher interviews differently this year.
Parent teacher interviews will be held on Monday 24th of July in a pupil free day format.
This was not our preferred way of conducting interviews, however given the extenuating circumstances we have this term, this is the best way to conduct these in a timely way for all.
Parents will be able to book their parent teacher time from this Thursday via Simon.
If the short notification of this date poses a problem for families, please let me know and we can organise a resolution.
TheirCare
Our new out of hours school care provider began this term.
Care is being provided after school and also before school from 7.00am.
If you require care please contact the company to enrol your child, details are in the newsletter.
OHS Audit
During the last week of term an external company conducted an Occupational Health and Safety audit of our school.
We have been having this audit conducted annually for the past few years and each year our goal is to improve on the previous year and ensure that our school is a safe environment for all.
Our result showed consistent improvement with an overall rating of 97%.
This is an excellent result and provides us with areas to focus on for further improvement.
ART Show
Our Art show will run in fourth term this year.
This is our major fundraiser and a key to its success is the sponsorship of prizes for the various categories in the art show.
Further information regarding the art show and sponsorship will be communicated to families via Simon and PAM.
Maintenance
We have had a lot of maintenance work carried out over the holidays and our school is looking fresh, safe and welcoming for our community.
Tasks completed were
- New mats outside the grade 3 and 4 area.
- Electrical maintenance work.
- New works in the staff planning and photocopy area.
Carpark and Drop Off Protocols - Reminder
We encourage parents to drop off or pick up their children at the internal drop off / pick up zone near the hall or the drop off / pick up point at the front of the school.
The carpark is entered from Skehan Ave.
Cars travel at 5kms an hour and either -
1. Drive into the car park, where parents park their car then walk to the crossing point with their child and cross at the crossing point.
At no time should children cross into the carpark, except at the designated crossing point with their parents. A teacher will be on duty at this crossing point.
Or
2. Choose to drive into the drop off zone where children will get out of their parent’s car on the left side of the car and walk up onto the footpath and into school.
Parents will then continue to drive out of the school by entering back onto the driveway out of the school.
The exit gate is automated to open.
At pick up time, a teacher will be at the drop off bay to direct children to their parent’s cars. The children will wait under the verandah of the hall and be directed by the teacher on duty to their parent’s car at the drop off point.
Parents do not leave their cars in the drop off zone.
If you have grandparents etc supporting you with the drop off please familiarise them with the protocols for using the drop off zone.
It is important that students are waiting for pick up at the end of the day in either the hall drop off zone or the pick up zone at the front of the office.
There are teachers on duty at both zones to supervise the pick up of students.
Gates locked
An element of child safety in our school is the locking of our school gates. They are locked each day at 9.15am and then opened at 3.10pm each afternoon complying with child safety regulations.
Have a great week, everyone!
Patricia Boak
Principal