School Uniform - #lovewhereyoulearn

I would like to sincerely thank our entire school community and especially the students for ensuring our school uniform is worn with pride. There has been a marked increase in students wearing full school uniform. It is an impressive sight when you stand in front of 656 students in the Regentville blue!

P&C News

It was great to see some new faces at the February P&C meeting last Tuesday. There was a lot of discussion about the canteen and I informed the meeting about the Department of Education’s Healthy Canteen Strategy. In particular we discussed the departmental regulations about menu items and portion sizes.

I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work of the P&C members who have been working tirelessly over the last 12 months to ensure that the students of Regentville have access to good food and drink that conforms to the Healthy Canteen Strategy.

As you know, the P&C have employed a cook to prepare meals on site. They have also invested a considerable amount of money to ensure that the canteen is capable of handling the demands of the Healthy Canteen Strategy. However, the canteen can not function without volunteers to assist with preparation and over the counter sales. If you are able to help, even for a small amount of time, please contact the canteen.

Communication between school and home

Bookings opened last Friday for next week’s Parent/Teacher meetings. These minutes are an opportunity for parents to sit down with their child’s teacher to talk about goals for the year and to discuss individual student needs. I urge you to look at our Skoolbag app for information about how to book a time.

If you require more time to discuss your child with their teacher, please contact the school at anytime to arrange a mutually convenient time. Teachers are more than happy to talk about individual students and their progress.

This year we are utilising the convenience of the Regentville Skoolbag app to keep you informed about what is happening. Keep an eye out each Friday for the “What’s On” which outlines the following week’s events. The event section of the app has been loaded with important dates throughout the year. The app is also used for this newsletter and important announcements.

Staffing News

As you know I have had the privilege of being principal of Regentville Public School over the last 14 months while Mrs Maraga has been working in the School Leadership Institute. Mrs Maraga has been offered a fulltime position with the Institute which she has accepted.

Mrs Jennifer Thompson will commence as principal of Regentville Public School at the beginning of Term 2. Mrs Thompson will be spending time over the coming weeks getting to know the school and its community.

At Regentville, we aim to develop the leadership capacity of our students. This year we will select one student from each class (Kindergarten to Year 2) and two students from each class (Year 2 to Year 6).

As the student voice, the representatives will conduct and chair class meetings, collect ideas and provide feedback to their peers. They will also present information/proposals to a K-6 audience of like-minded representatives.

This Friday, 21 February the student representatives of each class will be presented with their badge during assembly. The K-2 assembly takes place after recess from approximately 11:20-12:20 and the 3-6 assembly is after lunch between 2-3pm.

SRC Team

 

See the Skoolbag app for information regarding bookings.

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)

Parents of students who are receiving Silver or Gold Awards, will receive an invitation to attend the assembly. Infants assembly - 11.30 - 12.15pm; Primary assembly - 2 -3pm.

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.

• Parents if you have not updated your child's Individual Health Care Plan could you please do so by the end of this 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 Care Monkey 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. If your child has lost a piece of clothing or drink bottle etc. please visit the office as soon as possible to check the lost property bin. 

It is a legal requirement for schools to keep accurate rolls. In order to do this we need to receive a note from parents for student absences. This note needs to state the nature of the absence ie. sickness, family business, short leave. The notes are to be returned within three days of the absence. After that, a reminder note will be sent home from the class teacher. The Skoolbag app has an easy to use function that allows you to generate an online note we print off  to give to teachers.

Please note that if you are planning to take your children out of the school for overseas holidays, you will need to complete an application form well prior to the date of travel. We will then return a signed certificate for you to have with you in case it is required by authorities at the airport.

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.

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 and has also satisfied the criteria of the award:  

“Very Good Behaviour, Consistent Effort, Positive Attitude, School Citizenship”

Gold Awards

A Gold Award* will be awarded to a student who has earned and submitted 3 Silver Awards and has also satisfied the criteria of the award:

“Excellent Behaviour, Consistently High Effort, Enthusiastic Attitude, Outstanding Citizenship”

 *It is important to note that, to ensure the integrity of the awards, Silver and Gold Awards may be withheld from a student if they do not satisfy the criteria stated on the award.

 Specialist Teacher Awards

This year, we will have a number of support teachers working with classes by providing learning support for small groups of students, team teaching with teachers in the technology area, covering classes while teachers have their release from face to face (RFF), participating in sport, taking library classes and releasing executive staff to support teachers with professional learning and development. These teachers will be handing out Specialist Teacher Awards. These awards replace the previous RFF awards

(Library, Music, PD/H/PE, Computers).

 Given this change we have simplified the awards process and students can trade ANY combination of

4 small RFF awards and/or Specialist Teacher Awards for a Blue Award.

ANY 4 x RFF or Specialist Teacher Awards = Blue Award

 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. Class teachers can sight the Specialist Teacher Awards/RFF awards anytime throughout the year.

Teachers will direct students to Miss Fitzgerald (Kindergarten to Year 2 students) or Mrs Macleod Jones (Year 3 to Year 6 students) to sight the awards to be traded for a Silver or Gold Award, or recognition on the Honour Board. These awards can be sighted anytime up to the Friday two weeks before the Gold and Silver Assembly each term. During this time the awards are printed and invitations are sent to parents. Awards trading then re-commences the following term.

Blue Awards are presented at Friday assemblies. Silver and Gold Awards are presented in the second last week of each term at the Gold and Silver Assembly and parents are encouraged to attend to see their child receive their award.

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.