Welcome back to Term 3! What a whirlwind ride it has been. Not to mention the weather this week – what is going on?
I am proud to say all students are settled back into classrooms – I have all of my fingers and toes crossed that this term will be far more settled than the previous two terms.
Welcome to Miss Novak and Miss Schimann. Miss Novak and Miss Schimann are completing a university practicum with us. Miss Novak is with 5/6K and Miss Schimann is with 1/2H until the end of Week 5. I am confident both will love their time here at Stockton PS.
COVID19 RESTRICTIONS
COVID19 still has a big impact on our livelihoods and how we go about day to day business. Unfortunately, I feel that it will continue to do so for a while yet. Our restrictions and guidelines remain the same
- We are not having whole school assemblies – the guidelines only allow assemblies to go for 15 minutes and sometimes it can take the whole school that long to be settled. Instead teachers are celebrating and handing out our new PBL awards in class. Photos of the award recipients will go on Seesaw, in our fortnightly newsletter and on our PBL tab on the school website.
- We are limiting adults on site to essential visitors. Essential visitors sign a Department of Education waiver as they enter the school. This will help if we ever need to do contact tracing.
- If you need to buy uniforms please phone the office. They are able to take your payment over the phone and then give the uniforms to your child to bring home. Parent meetings with a class teacher can be held over Zoom (virtual meeting) or at the school gate.
- Students are leaving via gates according to the child’s surname. I appreciate that this has been difficult for some families but the plan is in place so that we can exit 300 students from the site safely.
- Hand sanitiser, hand washing and cleaning of high touch points is still in place.
- Any child or staff member that shows any sign of sickness is sent home immediately.
- Please note as of next week staff will not be at all of our gates at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. Thank you to the staff who have manned gates - I think they have enjoyed the camaraderie and seeing everyone. Please remember though no adults are allowed on the site - there will be no staff manning the gates but the restrictions are the same. This is to keep all staff and community members well and healthy.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in the changes that we have made. Interestingly we stopped morning/lunch/recess line ups under the COLA when COVID struck. When I have been speaking with students and staff it is not something that we will return to when things go back to normal. The students go straight to class when the bell rings and the teachers say the students are far more settled and the teachers get to start lessons earlier. Maybe COVID19 will change some of our habits for the better.
EDUCATION WEEK 2020
Education Week 2020 starts next week 3 August. Education Week celebrates public education. This year’s theme is “Learning Together”. What a fitting theme for this year – remote learning certainly meant we were all learning together. We are giving you the opportunity to participate as partners in learning by teaching the students in your child’s class a new skill. Each classroom teacher is now contacting parents who sent back the expression forms to organise a time to Zoom in and teach the class for 10 minutes.
SCHOOL PLAN
This year is the end of the current School Plan. 2021 will see a new way of planning in schools “Strategic Improvement Plan” and also a new planning cycle. We have formed a “Strategic Improvement Plan” team of staff members and we are starting to work on collection of data for our situational analysis that authentically describes our school. A part of this process will be collecting opinions and ideas from our community.
I strongly urge you to spend some time filling in the surveys when they are released. It is vital that all stakeholders have a voice in the direction of our school for the next 5 years. I am currently working on a suite of surveys for students, staff and community. I look forward to receiving your feedback and using this in our planning process.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
I appreciate that the weather has been rather cold and wet of late. I have noticed that non-school uniform items are creeping in. Jumpers that are not navy blue or are navy blue but have large red writing on the back, socks that are not plain white, hats that are weekend hats with logos on them……
I am sure I have told you all before, that one of the first things I noticed when I started here 18 months ago was the exceptionally high standard of uniform from black shoes and plain white socks to school navy jumpers and school hats. I was very impressed. Here are 3 reasons why I believe school uniform is extremely important –
- School uniforms make us a team. I can’t imagine that any student shows up to play weekend sport (when we were allowed to) without the correct team sport uniform. It’s all about team pride.
- It puts all of the children on a level playing field. There is no social exclusion or discrimination when everyone wears school uniform. No one has better clothes than someone else.
- It prepares the students for later on in life. A lot of adults work in an occupation that require them to wear a uniform. The Department of Education has a dress code that all staff (teachers, principals and school administration staff) have to adhere to. Wearing a school uniform is good practice and preparation for adulthood.
Please ensure all items are labelled with your child’s name. Thank you to Mrs Bell who washes all of the lost property on Fridays. If your child's name is on the items it makes it very easy to return them to the rightful owner.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty please ring the school office as we have a number of options that could support you to ensure that your child or children are in full school uniform.
I appreciate your attention to this matter.
PARKING
I am sure that you have all noticed the increased presence of police around the school. Please make sure that you are following all of the road rules to avoid a fine. They seem to be fining people for over the 40km/hr speed limit and stopping in “no stopping” zones. We have a number of short time limit parking spaces around the school. Please consider other parents when using these. I have been alerted to a group of people standing on the road in the 5 minute parking zone of Lomond Street in the afternoons. For the safety of the children, please stand on the footpath adhering to social distancing protocols, so that other parents can drive in and pick up their children. We want everyone to come to school and leave school safely.
BIRTHDAY TREATS
We love celebrating birthdays and special celebrations in the classroom. Sometimes students bring in cakes or treats to share with class mates. Unfortunately, due to current COVID19 guidelines I have made the decision that we cannot share food between the children. Rest assured we will acknowledge and celebrate birthdays in other ways in the classrooms.
CANTEEN
Thank you to Leonie Hunt for her ongoing work in our school canteen. We are very grateful to have Leonie back in our canteen. Please remember that we are not accepting any money over the counter. Therefore, there are no cash sales for lunch orders or breakfast. If you would like a lunch order for your child, the only way to order is through QuickCliq. Please note it is a modified menu to limit the number of adults helping out in the canteen.
ENROLMENTS and ORIENTATION
We are taking enrolments for preschool and kindergarten 2021. To enable us to correctly estimate enrolments and staff the school appropriately for 2021, any parents enrolling new children P-6 need to complete enrolment forms as soon as possible. Enrolment forms are available from our office or online via our Website. Please let any neighbours and friends in the local area know that we are enrolling now. Please be reminded that if you live out of zone I am unable to confirm an enrolment, even for siblings, at this point in time. This is dependent on current and new enrolments across the school K-6. Please see school website for current enrolment procedures.
Please contact the school office if you have any questions or concerns.
I am working with the staff to host Kindergarten Parent sessions online. Unfortunately, COVID19 restrictions mean that we cannot meet face to face. We will get back to you in the very near future with a plan.
I hope you are all safe and well. Take care
Kind regards
Ms Jodie Holt
Principal
