Dear Parents,

It has been so lovely to see our students back and it is clear that they are loving being back as well! Thank you for your dedication and support through the learning-at-home phase. I am sure you are glad that this is over and that your child can return safely to school!

We are working hard here at school to put the strictest measures in place to maintain safety for everyone. This includes extra cleaning, appropriate hand hygiene and sneeze and cough etiquette, as well as safe distancing for all adults. I would like to thank you for your attention to safe distancing at drop-off and pick-up times. Our early pickups for Kindy and Year 1 at 2.35pm and for Years 2 and 3 at 2.45pm will continue until advised otherwise. It has been wonderful to have your support for this, enabling us to keep the Kiss & Drop zones flowing smoothly and assisting with safe distancing for our parents and staff.

Under the COVID-19 school restrictions, we also have minimal additional adults on-site, limiting this to essential departmental staff only. I know it is difficult for you to not be allowed to enter the school. If you need to speak to your child’s teacher or another staff member, please send an email or contact the office.

In accordance with departmental guidelines, all excursions are on hold until further notice. At this point, we are hopeful that the zoo excursion may be able to be rescheduled for Term 3 or 4; however, the Year 5 camp, unfortunately, will need to be cancelled. The school will be in contact with all parents over the next few weeks, to organise camp deposit refunds. At this point, we are unsure of the Year 6 camp. I will keep you informed of this.

Canteen and Uniforms

As you may be aware, our canteen is closed while we undertake the tender process to lease the premises to an external company to run our canteen. Meanwhile, hats and caps can be purchased from the school office at a cost of $10 for caps and $12 for bucket hats. Please contact the office for payment options. Please also contact the office if you need second-hand school uniforms. Donations of second-hand uniforms are gratefully accepted. We have limited larger sizes at present!

Birthday Cakes

It is always lovely to celebrate a birthday at school; however, there are restrictions in place at the moment. If you would like to send something in to celebrate your child’s birthday, please send in your treats in individual snap-lock bags. These need to be handed to the teacher on gate duty in the morning, who will ensure it gets to the right class! Birthday treats will not be eaten at school, but will be sent home with the children. Pre-packaged bags of treats, such as Freddo Frogs or other chocolate bars, are a very good choice and may be consumed at school, student allergies permitting!

Chicken Pox

Who would have thought that I would be writing to you about chicken pox! We have had a confirmed case of chicken pox at our school. Please be vigilant for any symptoms in your child and seek medical advice, where appropriate.

Opportunity Class Placement 2020

The 2021 Year 5 opportunity class placement process was put on hold in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation. We now have a revised and simplified timeline for the OC placement process to ensure that students and families can have certainty about their placement as soon as possible.

The changes include:

·         A new date for online applications. Parents must apply between 9 June 2020 and 26 June 2020. Late applications cannot be accepted.

·         A new test date - Wednesday 16 September 2020.

To ensure fair and consistent assessment of students across New South Wales, students will be offered places based only on their test results this year – there will be no school assessment scores.  There will also be no opportunity for appeals given the tight timeframes.

For further detailed information, please visit (https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

Kindy 2021 Enrolments

Our office is taking enrolment details for Kindergarten 2021. Please contact the office for an Expression of Interest form. More details regarding Kindy 2021 will be sent home in Term 3. Non-local placement applications are also being accepted at this time; however, please note that the placement panel for this does not meet until Term 3, when we have a better idea of how many local students are enrolling. You will be contacted by the school if your child is being offered a non-local placement.

Have a lovely week – and enjoy the long weekend ahead!

Best wishes,

Mrs Jennifer Thompson

We are currently seeking applications for tenders to run our school canteen. It can be a lengthy process but we are hoping to have a suitable tender running the canteen from the beginning of Term 4 2020.

Please spread the word that anyone interested in putting in a tender should contact the school on 47331615.

Last week, we upgraded our digital signs to a 4G format that allows us easier access to update the signs. This will allow us to have up to date information on the signs each day.

The school photo day has been moved to Friday 4 September. There will be more details regarding photos early next term.

It is important that the contact details we have on file for parents are up to date. This includes phone numbers, email addresses and emergency contact numbers. We would appreciate a call from you if your details have recently changed. 

It is that time of year when students are wearing their school jumpers and school jackets to keep warm in the morning. As the day warms up, they take off their school jumper or school jacket and leave it "somewhere".

If your child's name is clearly labelled on the school jumper or school jacket, we can make sure that your child is reunited with it.

It is a legal requirement for schools to keep accurate rolls. In order to do this we need to receive a note from parents for student absences. This note needs to state the nature of the absence ie. sickness, family business, short leave. The notes are to be returned within three days of the absence. After that, a reminder note will be sent home from the class teacher. The Skoolbag app has an easy to use function that allows you to generate an online note we print off  to give to teachers.

Please note that if you are planning to take your children out of the school for overseas holidays, you will need to complete an application form well prior to the date of travel. We will then return a signed certificate for you to have with you in case it is required by authorities at the airport.

A reminder that if your child arrives after the morning bell at 9am please call the front office on 47331615 and a staff member will come out to pick up your child at the gate.

If your child has to leave prior to the 3pm bell they will need to report to the office to receive an early leaver note. NB. The early leaving does not include the current afternoon arrangement due to COVID-19.

This procedure is a legal requirement that is necessary to keep our class rolls accurate.

The canteen will be closed until further notice.

The P&C met on Saturday 23 May 2020, to discuss the relinquishing of running of the canteen. The meeting moved unanimously to support the school in looking for a tender to take over the running of the canteen.

The tender process has begun and applications are being sought over the coming 4 weeks.

We will keep you posted about the progress.