NEWSLETTER

Before school:

Much of our Staff Room conversation this week has been about student safety. We are quite concerned about the number of students arriving on school grounds before 8.30am. Supervision in the yard begins at 8.30am, so please ensure that your children do not arrive before this time. If you need your child(ren) supervised prior to 8.30am, due to work commitments, etc., please use the Happy Haven OSHC service.

Happy Haven phone number: 0424 979 634 Happy Haven website: https://www.happyhaven.sa.edu.au/nuriootpa

Cyber safety:

Another aspect of children’s safety that we are particularly concerned about is online safety. Online games and social media, where students can ‘talk’ to each other present issues for kids every year. Even when students know each other, they tend to be ‘braver’ with their mean comments when they are online. This impacts the social interactions and learning at school, as the harassment and bullying have a flow-on effect, especially in the playground.

Many of the online platforms that children are using are not even age appropriate. These are some of the age ratings of games and social media that we hear our students talking about:

Games:

Fortnite           -           age rating: 15+            (M rating in Australia)

Among Us       -           age rating: 10+

Mine Craft      -           age rating: 10+

Social Media:

TikTok               -           age rating: 13+            (as of 23/11/22 the age rating will be increased to 18+)

Instagram        -           age rating: 13+

Facebook         -           age rating: 13+

Snapchat         -           age rating: 13+

Given this information, NONE of the students in our school should be playing Fortnite or be on TikTok or other social media platforms. The dangers for children are not just around peer bullying, but also the potential for viewing of adult content and, at worst, grooming.

For further information about this, you can access the Australian Government’s website for esafety.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide

ð  Provides more information about specific games, apps, websites and their content and age rating

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/gaming

ð  Specific advice about ensuring safe gaming

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/are-they-old-enough

ð  Advice in making decisions about online usage and mobile phone ownership

If your child(ren) has access to a mobile phone, laptop, home computer or gaming device, please make sure you know what they are viewing and engaging in. Don’t allow them to use these devices behind closed doors or alone in their bedrooms and make sure you frequently check up on what they are doing. Navigating the online realm can be tricky for all of us, but it’s worth it to keep our children safe.

Gail Holland

Principal

Front Office Hours:

The school reception area is staffed between 8:30am & 4:00pm (open term time only)

Contacting the School:

You can contact the school by phone or email (details at the bottom of this newsletter). 

*On a day where there is only one staff member working in the office or if you call outside of school hours, the answering machine may be on.  Please leave your name, number and a short message with the reason for your call.  If you ask for a call back, we will respond as soon as we are available to do so. All messages are passed on to the relevant staff member.

Staff in the Front Office:

·         Monday         -      Gail  *

·         Tuesday         -      Liz (am) & Gail

·         Wednesday   -      Mari & Gail

·         Thursday       -      Mari  *

·         Friday            -       Mari  *

Uniform Purchasing:

Uniforms can be purchased on Monday – Wednesday preferably by appointment.  Call the school office for an appointment time or you can also order over the phone and quote your EFT payment reference number.  Please see Gail A.

Uniforms cannot be purchased outside of these times.

Preferred payment method is by EFT or Credit Card and uniforms will not be issued until payment is received.

Drop Off and Pick Up Times  -  Drive with caution:

Remain in your car and move off after your child has left or entered the car.

These are very busy times of the day and we ask for your cooperation so that our students and the school community can come and go safely each day.

Remember to drive slowly .

PLEASE DO NOT U-TURN OR REVERSE IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL

School Supervision  -  Yard Duty:

Yard Duty begins at 8:30am each morning.  Please ensure children arrive after this time.  Staff will be on duty until 3:30pm each afternoon and children will be supervised within the JP playground area until they are picked up by their adult.

Please arrange to collect your children at 3:10pm each afternoon and contact the school if you are going to be late.

If you are having difficulty with these times, consider using the Before/After School Care, Happy haven, who are operating from Nuriootpa Primary School.  Phone 81555 444 or 0424 979 634 to book or for more information.

Late Arrival and Early Departures:

If your child is late to school (ie arrives after 8:50am), they will need to see staff in the Front Office who will issue them with a yellow ‘Late Arrival’ card to take to their class teacher.  Parents picking up children early for an appointment, will need to tell Front Office staff before taking a pink ‘Early Departure’ card to the classroom teacher. Signing a slip is no longer necessary with EMS, whereby your child’s late arrival or early departure is entered straight into the system by staff on the Reception Desk.

Illness & Injuries at School:

Students who are sent to the Front Office/First Aid room by their teacher due to illness and also for injuries that are considered more serious eg a hard knock to the head, will be sent home. 

Colds, the flu and bugs are still around us and are passed on if unwell children attend school.

Parents will always be contacted first and you will need to collect your child promptly and keep them at home until they are fully recovered.

If you are unable to collect your child, please organise your emergency contact and let the school know who this will be.

Make sure you have provided the Front Office with an updated list of your emergency contacts in case we need to contact them.

The school will no longer be sending home student information forms to be updated at the beginning of each year. 

Therefore, so that we can best support your child at school, we ask parents & caregivers to keep the school informed throughout the year when there are changes to your family circumstances including:

*  home address (residential and/or postal)

*  contact phone number

* employment &/or place of employment

* email address

* emergency contacts

* student's medical condition

* custody information

You can let the school know by completing the 'Change of Details' eform on the Skoolbag App or contact the Front Office by phone or email. 

Wow - I can’t believe it is Term 4 already! It seems not so very long ago that fifteen rather anxious looking kids came into the classroom for the first time. And they have come so far already. With just nine weeks of this term we’ve got to pack a lot in. This term we will be working towards completing Jolly Phonics and the Heggerty program during English lessons, as well as working on recount and descriptive texts. In Maths we will keep working on numbers and explore subtraction, as well as looking at three-dimensional shapes. In HASS we will be learning about celebrations around the world and take a bit of a look at the history around us in various objects - like, for example, how toys have changed over time. And, finally, in Science we will be looking at how things move. Of course we also have our End of Year Concert item to prepare for (shhh - it’s a surprise!), Sports Day, our make-up swimming lesson and all the other day-to-day things we have at school. It certainly is going to be a busy term! As this is the last time our class will “host” the newsletter, I have included some photos from throughout the year.

Adam Claridge