Scarborough Primary School Newsletter - The Link

Dear Community

A highlight of the last fortnight for me was taking a group of our Year 6 Student Leaders to Parliament House as guests of our local member, Stuart Aubrey MLA. This is always such a special experience for the students who are privileged enough to be invited. As usual, the students were fantastic and suitably impressed! We had an amazing lunch and a couple of ministers stopped by to chat (Dr Katrina Stratton, Member for Nedlands, and Mark Folkard, Member for Burns Beach)

Professor Lyn Beazley, former Chief Scientist of WA (and the first female to hold the position) was also a guest in the dining room and we were very lucky that she spent 10-15 minutes talking to the students individually. It was truly inspirational to get to spend some time talking to such a dedicated and passionate lady. Premier McGowan also stopped to say hello on his way into Parliament for question time. We all returned to school with a sense of wonder and very full bellies!

2023 Planning

We are well underway with planning our class and staffing structures for 2022. As we are a highly transient community, with people continually coming and going, we won’t be able to finalise our class structures or teacher placements until the end of January. However, there are a couple of things that you can do to help us with this process.

• Please let the front office know asap if you intend to move schools next year.
• If you have any requests that you would like considered for next year, please email me at Sarah.Dawson@education.wa.edu.au or make an appointment for a meeting or phone call.
• Please note that whilst all requests will be carefully considered, they may not be able to be granted. Please make requests directly to me, not through classroom teachers, to ensure they receive appropriate attention.

Booklists and Contributions and Charges

This week you should have received the 2023 Booklists through your children. If you did not receive them, please contact the front office for copies.

In regard to the booklists, orders need to be submitted before 9 December to receive free home delivery. Orders can still be placed after this date but will be charged a late fee of up to $5.00 for delivery. Alternatively, you may choose to visit the Campion store in Canning Vale or Malaga for a "while you wait" collection service. Further information can be sourced from the form sent home with your child recently. A Skoolbag post also went out today with booklists attached for future reference.

In the next fortnight, the 2023 Contributions and Charges schedule will also be sent home through your children.

In regard to the contributions and charges, please note the following:

• The estimated costs for charges are maximum amounts that the school will not exceed.  Actual costs for most items will be below these figures.
• The total amount of contributions parents/caregivers are being asked to pay has been set at $60.00 per student which is in line with the School Education Regulations 2000.
• Money collected will be used to supplement school expenditure in the curriculum learning areas.  While the contributions are voluntary, the quality of our teaching and learning program will be maximised when each family makes its contribution to the cost of supplementing funding gained from other sources, including the State and Commonwealth governments. Your family’s contribution will go directly towards the purchase of resources needed in the provision of the learning program activities.  The table on the sheet gives you the breakdown of where we are likely to direct your voluntary contribution and some examples of the types of things they may be spent on to supplement our students’ learning experiences.

School Website

You may have noticed that our school website has now been replaced by a holding page whilst our new site is developed over the next month or so. In the meantime, for any enrolment or general information, please contact the school office.

COVID Update

As you would be aware, our state is entering into another wave of COVID infections. We have had a couple of recent cases in our community. Whilst we are no longer required to report cases, it serves as a timely reminder of guidelines developed from current health advice and to be vigilant when monitoring your family for symptoms.

Testing positive to COVID: To reduce the risk to others it is recommended that staff and students:

• stay home until symptoms have resolved. The infectious period for COVID-19 varies. A minimum of 5 days is a useful guide, but it can be 10 days or longer
• register RAT results
• if you must leave the house, wear a mask when indoors and on public transport
• avoid large gatherings and indoor crowded places.

COVID-19 positive cases and close contacts cannot visit public hospitals for 7 days.

Close contacts:  A close contact is a household or household-like contact, or intimate partner of a person with COVID-19 who has had contact with them during their infectious period.

Isolation for close contacts is no longer mandated, but close contacts are encouraged to test daily for 5 days and only attend school following a negative RAT result.  

Restrictions still apply for high-risk settings. To protect those most at risk from COVID-19, for 7 days after becoming a close contact:

• you must not visit public hospitals; and
• you should avoid visiting high-risk settings including disability, mental health and aged care residential facilities and healthcare settings such as private hospitals, ambulance services, GP clinics, physiotherapy.

Close contacts may choose to wear a mask.

School Board

We have 1 more Parent Representative position on the School Board that is currently vacant. The tenure runs from now until the end of 2023.  You will need to be a parent at Scarborough Primary School until the end of 2023 to be eligible.

We also have 3 positions, 2 of 3 years and 1 of a 2 year tenure, that will become vacant at the beginning of 2023.

The Board’s role is required to help the school deliver a quality education experience to our children by:

• establishing and reviewing the goals, priorities and policies of the school at a strategic level;
• supporting the development of our School Business Plan;
• noting school budgets;
• discussing the performance of our school in achieving the goals set; and
• promoting our school within the community.

So, if the description above peaks your interest we would love you to consider nominating. If you are interested in nominating for a Parent Representative position, please email  Sarah.Dawson@education.wa.edu.au or express your interest in person to the front office.

As always, if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sarah Dawson

Principal