The Facta

Deeds Not Words Facta Non Verba

Term 3 Week 2 - 31 July 2020

Dates for the Diary

Principal's Message

Dear Parents, Carers and Community,

Welcome to Term 3!

Over the holidays, I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on our first 6 months of 2020 - the challenges, our new way of life, the change in our daily operations, the introduction of online learning and the importance of home and school partnerships. And after my period of reflection, my most significant “take-away” was the importance of gratitude - acknowledging the positives that we have in our life.  

So in light of this, I’d like to begin this term with a message of acknowledgment. I’d like to thank you all for your overwhelming support over the past few months. Restricting K-2 parent/carer access to the school grounds at drop-off and pick-up times, and in turn, to all our parents/carers was not an easy decision and one that I deliberated over for many weeks. The basis of this decision was ultimately about the safety of our children, staff and the entire school community, reflecting the Department of Education’s and NSW Health’s guidelines. It has been received with overwhelming understanding and support and for that, I sincerely thank you. Over the past week, I have been standing at the Stanley Street gate in the morning and afternoon, making contact with you, at a distance, and greeting the students as they enter and leave the school gate. This has been the highlight of my day. We continue to be there for you, whenever you or your family need us. Our office staff and our Assistant Principals are all on call to answer phone calls and reply promptly to emails. 

Welcome back Mrs Kang

Last week we welcomed Mrs Kang back to our school. Mrs Kang has been on leave over the past 2 years. She will be working on Mondays and Tuesdays in the Learning Support role on Stages 2 and 3, as well as the Release from Face-to Face (RFF) role in Term 3. 

Thank you to the P&C

On behalf of all the staff, I’d like to thank the P&C who have recently funded the purchase of new resources for your school. These resources include:

* 9 new laptops, which will be used by our students during project-based assignments

* 20 new webcams – one for each class

* new furniture for the Stage 3 classes, promoting flexible learning spaces

* new sports equipment for our K-2 students, promoting athletics skills

Over the next 12 months, we will be looking at replacing the furniture for our K-4 classes.

Education Week - “Sculptures by Concord”

Next week, we celebrate Education Week, with the theme “Learning Together”. Education Week is an annual celebration of public education and the achievements of our students and our schools.  

This year, Concord Public School’s theme has come from a group of Stage 3 students from 6D who have worked on a project to promote the importance of recycling and its impact on our environment. They are Nishka S., Charlotte C., Ava G., Saskia H.R., Belal M., Hugo S., Lara C., Hana C. and Isabel I. The group have called themselves STEP - Save the Environment Project, and their slogan is “We can all change the world one STEP at a time”.  They were inspired by “Sculptures by the Sea” and as a result, they have come up with our theme for Open Day, “Sculptures by Concord”.

STEP Students from 6D

The STEP group have created a powerpoint presentation and have visited every classroom across the school promoting this key message of looking after our environment. Wednesday 5th August is our official Open Day. On this day, we will be recording the various activities occurring in all classrooms, including the performances by various groups and classes engaged in making sculptures out of recycled materials. All these activities will be collated to form an Open Day video which we will then share with our community. So although Open Day will look very different this year, the true essence of public education and its message will play a key role in our celebrations on the day. We look forward to sharing our experiences on video with you!

 

Happy Education Week!

Ms A. Vountoulas 

Principal

Concord Public School

Parking and Traffic Rules

Driving Offences in School Zones

Student Awards

Congratulations...

To the following students who have or will be receiving a Principal Award or Principal Pennant.

Principal's AwardsPrincipal's Pennant

Isaac J - 2-1C

Harrison H - 5M

Sienna S - 4-3S

Thomas H - 2T

Johnny S - 1-KZ

Sampson C - KG

Tahlia M - 1-KZ

Alby B - 1-KZ

Harrison H - 5M

            

Virtual K-6 Assemblies

Virtual K-6 Assemblies will commence on Monday 10th August. Principal's Awards and Pennants will be distributed during this assembly every fortnight.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disabilty

Notification for Parents and Carers

From 2015, all Government and non-Government schools across Australia are required to participate annually in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).

All Australian schools will collect data on their students who are receiving adjustments to meet additional learning and support needs in accordance with their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for Education 2005. This data will be provided to the education needs of students with disability.

The data provided to the Australian Government by the NSW Department of Education is provided in such a way that it cannot be used to identify any individual student or school. 

General information about the national data collection can be found on the Australian Government Department of Education website at http://education.gov.au/fact-sheets-nationally-consistent-data-school-students-disability.

Privacy Protection

The NSW Department of Education follows the requirements of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. Schools will collect, record, store and use data about individual students in line with these requirements. Data security and protection is a priority and students' personal details will be kept confidential. 

Under Clause 52 of the Commonwealth Australian Education Regulation 2013, data collected by the NSW Department of Education for the NCCD must be provided to the Australian Government Department of Education. This includes the number of students at each level of education, the number in each catergory of disability and the number at each level of adjustment. The information is provided to the Commonwealth as a series of number sets that cannot be used to identify any individual student or school.

The Australian Government Department of Education and Training follows the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 when handling any data provided by NSW Department of Education in connection with the national data collection. A privacy notice has been developed by the Australian Government to provide students, parents and carers with important privacy information in realtion to the data collection. This notice is available on the department's website at http://education.gov.au/notices.

WSPSSA Sport and Zone Athletics Carnival Update

It has recently been confirmed that both the WSPSSA Zone Athletics Carnival and Winter PSSA competitions scheduled to take place in Term 3 have been cancelled.

While there are no regional, state or national pathways for athletics, Concord PS staff are exploring options for athletics events that comply with current guidelines outlined by the Department of Education to minimise COVID-19 risks.

2021 Kindergarten Enrolments

Applications are now being accepted for Kindergarten 2021. If your child turns 5 before July 31, 2021 they are eligible to start school next year. Telephone the school on 9744 8427 to make an appointment with Mrs Coco. 

From the Office

Entering onto the School Grounds During School Hours

Please ensure that you come into the office, if you need to give something to your child, or if they have forgotten to bring something to school. The office staff are more than happy to pass the item on.

If you need to see your child or pass on a message to them, the office staff can help with that too. We encourage parents to allow us to pass on messages during break times, so that your child's learning is not interrupted. All visitors must sign-in at the office and wear a visitor's sticker. This is to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all.

Payment 

When making a payment online you can only pay up to 3 DAYS before the due date of the payment. This is due to online transactions taking 48 hours to process. 

Other payment methods such as cash or cheque can also be sent to the front office and placed in the blue box labelled “School Post”.

Please note that we do not accept online payment for uniform or canteen orders. Please see the uniform or canteen order  form for payment details.

Permission Notes 

If you have more than one child we need to have a note for each child, not all on one note please.

Change of Contact/Address details  

Please inform the office immediately if you have changed your contact or address details, so we can contact you in case of an emergency. 

Bicycle and Scooter Guidelines

If you give permission for your child to ride a bicycle or scooter to and/or from school, and store it on the school grounds, please carefully read and sign the ‘Bicycle and Scooter Guidelines’ document (obtained from the Front Office). These signed forms are to be returned to the office. Once we have received the signed documentation, the school will record that your child has permission from you to ride to school. Please see Mrs Vermiglio or the office for details.

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Book Club - Issue 5