Dear parents,

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2021. It has been great to see our students return from their holidays ready for a great year of learning ahead. It has been especially exciting to see our new Kindy students start school for the first time. What a wonderful educational and social journey they have ahead of them!

All students are now in their 2021 classes. Our staffing has remained fairly stable this year, although we have welcomed some additional staff into our school. Our two Deputy Principals are Mr Bamford and Mrs Haran. Mrs Haran is presently relieving in a principal’s position for Term 1, returning to us in Term 2.

Mrs Gerrish continues to manage our office, ably assisted by our office staff, Mrs Gibbs, Mrs Rowe, Mrs Fearnley and Mrs Cameron. Mr Canning (Mr Brendan) is our amazing general assistant!

Our classroom teachers are:

·         Mrs Farran-McKee (KF)

·         Mrs Hunter (Miss Tesoriero) (KH)

·         Mrs McLoon (KM)

·         Mrs Bell (KJ)

·         Miss Tsiattalos (KT)

·         Miss Oaten (1O)

·         Miss Huynh (1H)

·         Miss Peek (1P)

·         Mrs Thurlow (1T)

·         Mrs Bayada and Mrs Albert (2A)

·         Miss Cotter (2C)

·         Mrs Hand and Mrs Everingham (2H)

·         Mrs Vergara (2V)

·         Ms Cavanagh (K-2C)

·         Mrs O’Keefe and Mrs Tinker (3A)

·         Mr Buckley (3B)

·         Mrs Robens (3R)

·         Mr Jones (4J)

·         Ms Lees (4L)

·         Mrs Newton (4N)

·         Mr Miskell (5/6M)

·         Mrs Riches (5/6R)

·         Miss Aleksanian (5/6A)

·         Mrs Hawkins (Miss Fitzpatrick) (5/6H)

·         Mrs Macleod-Jones (5/6G)

·         Ms Kidd (5/6K)

 Your child will have regularly scheduled lessons with our teachers who provide release time (RFF) for our classroom teachers as well as providing small group support, both within and outside the classroom. These teachers are Miss Bunting (who also manages the library), Mrs Absalom, Mrs Ryan, Miss Pendlebury, Miss Tipper-Lawrence, Mrs Scott, Mrs Weir, Ms Cattell, Ms Mantas and Mrs Everingham. Our school counsellor, Mr Vidler, also supports our children and staff at school.

Additional specialist staff work with our students, both in the classroom, in small groups outside the classroom and in the playground. These staff include Ms Farran, Mrs Kennedy, Mrs Wadey, Miss Kirk, Mrs Boros, Miss Menolotto, Mr Seeds, Mrs Rizzo and Mrs Kehoe.

As you can see, our school provides a comprehensive range of support for all our students.

 Assistant Principals

Our Assistant Principals provide exceptional leadership and management for the Stage they supervise. Our Assistant Principals are:

·         Mrs Farran McKee, who supervises Kindergarten and K-2C

·         Miss Oaten, who supervises Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

·         Mr Jones, who supervises Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)

·         Mr Miskell and Mrs Riches, who jointly supervise Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6)

·         Mrs Absalom, who supervises our Learning Support staff

If you have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to contact your child’s class teacher in the first instance. If your concern cannot be resolved by the classroom teacher, please contact the relevant Assistant Principal by either emailing or phoning the school.

 COVID Safety

As I have been out and about in the school, I have been impressed by how well our community is following the safety rules and I thank you for this. Please be aware, however, that changes may happen quickly in our school, as we respond to the guidelines from the Department. To assist with us keeping within the current guidelines, please be reminded of the following:

·         Non-essential adults, including parents, are not permitted to be on school site, unless for a pre-arranged essential meeting with school staff.

·         Parents are to drop their child to the school gates in the morning. There is teacher supervision in the school playground every morning from 8.35am, and our senior school leaders are supporting our younger students at the school gates.

·         Students in Years 2-6 may be picked up from the school gates in the afternoon, unless they go to after school care or walk/ride home independently or catch the school bus. There is teacher supervision at the school gates every afternoon until 3.15pm to assist with this.

·         Students in Kindy and Year 1 may be picked up from the basketball court at the back of the school or from the synthetic turf at the front of the school, unless they are picked up by an older sibling or go to after school care.

·         Teachers will not be available onsite for parent contact, except under exceptional circumstances. Please do not approach the teachers either at their classrooms or in the playground. If you need to get an urgent message to your child’s class teacher, please phone the office or write a short note.

·         The safe distancing rule of 1.5 metres between adults must be adhered to at all times, including at the school gate.

·         Any parent who needs to access the school office, must call the office beforehand. Parents must use the COVID QR code to check in and out, as well as complete the COVID screening questions required by the Department.

·         Parents should not enter the school office for the late arrival or early pick up of their child, except in exceptional circumstances. Please phone the school office if needed.

·         Any student who presents with flu-like symptoms, such as a cough, sore throat, fever, persistent sneeze or runny nose, will need to be collected from school by their parent and taken for a COVID test. The school must sight a negative COVID test result before the child may return to school.

Thank you for your understanding in these difficult times. If you have any questions about our COVID regulations, please phone or email the school.

 Swimming Carnival

This will be held on Wednesday 17th February at Penrith pool. Students in Years 3-6, and any eligible students in Year 2, will travel to the pool by bus. A permission note will be sent home soon. Our school is obliged to follow the COVID regulations for any venue they attend, including the pool. These regulations include maximum numbers of people allowed to be onsite. With almost 390 students and staff attending, this will mean, unfortunately, that parents and spectators will be unable to attend the carnival. While this is certainly not what we want for our community, these are exceptional times and we must all do what we can to keep our community safe by abiding by the regulations.

Positive Partnerships

Do you have a child with autism? Positive Partnerships provides support and information for parents of these students. Please see our flyer attached to this newsletter for a free online workshop. 

The Positive Partnerships website also provides information and free online learning resources for parents.

 Have a wonderful week!

Mrs Thompson

Principal

Congratulations to the following students:-

School Captains - William and Ava

Prefects - Logan, Jake, Liam and Hollee

We would like to officially thank the NSW Government for the community grant that provided the funds for our fantastic playground equipment in the grove area. This equipment will provide the children in our community the opportunity to climb and explore in a safe, child-centred environment.

We are sure that the new 2021 Kindergarten students will enjoy spending time utilising this great resource.

These photos are for easy identification of students when completing roll marking, assessments, medical care and early and leaver notes.

This meeting is open to all and will be held in the library. Only financial members can vote.

This carnival is for students in Years 3 to 6 and any Year 2 students who are competitive swimmers. Held at Penrith Pool. Unfortunately COVID restrictions means we can't have parents at the event.

Students will be notified if they qualify for this event.

All welcome to attend. Only financial members can vote.

Students collect 4 Blue Awards and trade them in for a Silver Award, 3 Silver Awards earn a Gold Award. (See item in this newsletter)

All students will have class photos and individual photos taken. Order forms will be sent home one week prior to the date and are due back on the day of photos.

Siblings photos can be ordered and taken as well.

Welcome back after what we hope was a restful summer holiday.

• Parents if you have not updated your child's Individual Health Care Plan could you please do so by the end of next week? It is very important we have the most up to date information for your child in the event of a medical emergency. Please upload your child’s Individual Health Care Plan to their Operoo account.
• If your child is new to the school or your child has a medical condition we should know about please contact Mr Bamford at the school as soon as possible.
• If you have any questions relating to Individual Health Care Plans or the medical needs of your child please call the school office on 4733-1615.

• Please label your children’s clothing, drink bottles, containers and other items as our lost property bin gets extremely full of items not marked with student’s names.

It is a legal requirement for schools to keep accurate rolls. In order to do this we need to receive a note or phone call from parents for student absences, within three days of the absence starting stating the nature of the absence ie. sickness, family business, short leave. The Skoolbag app has an easy to use function that allows you to generate an online note we print off  to give to teachers.

A reminder that if your child arrives after the morning bell at 9am or has to leave prior to the 3pm bell they will need to report to the office to receive a late note/early leaver note.

This procedure is a legal requirement that is necessary to keep our class rolls accurate.

There are an increasing number of students who have allergic reactions, some potentially life threatening, to peanuts.

It would be appreciated if peanuts, and products containing them, be excluded from student’s lunches and kept as treats for home.

Parents and Friends, the Kiss and Drop Zones at the front and back of the school are monitored by Traffic Officials regularly. Please only use these zones to drop off or pick up your children. Do not park as the fine is quite hefty. 

Students should only bring mobile phones to school if parents deem it necessary to make contact before and after school.

Mobile phone contact is not needed during school hours because any emergency contact can be made through the office.

Phones should be brought to Mr Bamford’s office as soon as the student arrives at school.

Phones can be picked up from the office at 3pm.

We cannot take responsibility for any loss or damage to phones that are left in student’s bags.

A number of parents have contacted the school to report incidents regarding the dropping off and picking up of students around our school.

There are several key points that need to be highlighted:-

·         The ‘Kiss-and-Drop’ zones are not parking areas. They are designed for parents to stay in the car with the engine running, to drop off/pick up, then leave. Council Rangers and Highway Patrol cars randomly patrol these areas

·         Students have been asked not to walk out into the bus bay area at the back to get into waiting cars

·         The car park areas are not to be used to pick up students or as pedestrian access. CAR PARKS ARE FOR STAFF PARKING ONLY.

·         There are pedestrian crossings at the front and rear of the school that should be used at all times. Adults need to model safe practices to all students

·         Parking on or near the pedestrian crossing is illegal and extremely dangerous

We are aware that parking spaces are limited, however, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that our students are not put in danger.

Some parents ask their children to wait 5 to 10 minutes before coming and picking them up. If you are able to wait a few minutes, the congestion eases to make picking up quick and easy.

We look forward to your support with these issues to help make our school area safe for the students.

Blue Awards

Blue Awards are one of the many ways that teachers can acknowledge student achievements. Students are presented these awards at Friday assemblies and records are kept of all students who receive an award.

 Silver Awards

A Silver Award will be awarded to a student who has earned and submitted 4 Blue Awards.

Gold Awards

A Gold Award will be awarded to a student who has earned and submitted 3 Silver Awards.

 4 x Blue Awards = Silver Award

3 x Silver Awards = Gold Award

2 x Gold Awards = Honour Board

Awards can accumulate every year and once students have the required amount these should be brought to School.

Blue Awards are presented at Friday assemblies. Silver and Gold Awards are presented at the end of each term at the Gold and Silver Assemblies.

There are other awards presented to students that are not part of the awards trading system, such as the ‘Reggie’ awards for being safe, respectful learners and worker of the week awards.

If you require clarification about any part of this process, please contact Mr Bamford at school.