Dear Parents and Carers,
Creating Futures
Today is the first day of Education Week 2022 - 'Creating Futures'. This theme reminds us of the critical role our public schools play in creating bright and fulfilling futures for all our students. It is a great privilege to be involved in educating this current generation of students who will each play their part in shaping the future of this country.
Open Day
Our open day will be held on Thursday, and I hope many of you will be able to join us to celebrate. I will be hosting a morning tea for parents and carers from 9:00 - 9:30, where I hope to meet many of you. Classrooms will open for visitors from 9:30 - 10:00am. This will be followed by a special outdoor concert in our COLA area at 10:00am. Our band will perform first, followed by dance items from each of our classes. This will be the first public performance for many of our students.
Seetha, our Hub leader will also be attending the Open Day. Please take the opportunity to say 'hello' to her, and to find out about the many programs that are on offer.
New Teaching Staff
Over the next few weeks you will start to see some new regular faces around Rydalmere Public School.
Ms Melanie Robson has joined our casual relief team and will be working for us 2-3 days per week this term as a 'floating' member of staff. Due to the winter flu season, and the pandemic, I am anticipating a higher than usual number of unplanned absences. Ms Robson has been employed to cover these absences, and to provide additional planning time and other release for teachers as needed.
Ms Belinda La Faber Ms La Faber will be taking 3/4 R each Tuesday, commencing August 2. Ms La Faber is a very experienced and accomplished teacher who will be a great asset to our team.
Ms Kerry Hampton
Ms Hampton will commence working at RPS on Monday August 8. She also comes to us with a wealth of experience and expertise, particularly in the Early Childhood and K-2 area. She will be taking the Pre-school class for the first half of the day, and 1/2 T in the afternoon.
Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction (APCI)
This is a new full-time position that the Department of Education has created for every primary school in NSW. The APCI is a leadership role dedicated to improving and enhancing teaching practices in numeracy and literacy instruction to bring about improvement in literacy and numeracy outcomes for our students.
The position will be filled by open merit selection, which will take place this term. A panel, consisting of a teacher representative, P&C representative, a Director of Educational Leadership representative and myself will be formed in the coming days to review applicants and conduct interviews.
Further information will be provided to principals in the coming days about this position. I will keep the community updated as I learn more.
Term 3 COVID Settings
There have been some updates to our COVID Settings for Term 3. Detailed information is provided in an article below. Please ensure that if your child has even minor respiratory symptoms, they should not attend school. If they are a household contact under 12 years old, and are symptom free, they may attend school, but are encouraged to wear a mask. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me through our school office.
I hope to see many of you at our Open Day this Thursday.
Have a lovely week.
Sincerely,
Corinne Campbell
Principal, Rydalmere Public School.