Glendale East Public School Newsletter

Welcome back everyone to Term 3. What a wonderful first week back. It has been fantastic to see all of our students over the past week after a well deserved holiday break. Last term, all students worked incredibly hard and achieved outstanding things. I am sure the next two school terms are going to be just as good.

Return to School

Current media reports explain a new wave of COVID-19 present in Australia and indicating that vigilance with COVID-19 should be upheld. This latest wave, coupled with the Flu, has the unfortunate potential to make Term 3 complex for school operation. Please feel reassured we have plans in place to always put student safety and learning first.

The Department of Education is strongly recommending as part of a 4 week blitz that all NSW schools reconsider large scale events over the next 4 weeks to support in minimising the risk of COVID-19 during this current wave and winter period.

As always when it comes to the pandemic, everyone can help to keep our community safe. We kindly request that all families continue to follow all COVID-19 guidelines, especially keeping your child home from school if they are displaying any kind of symptoms. Keeping children at home who are unwell, will significantly support us in maintaining our normal operation at school and reduce the risk of both COVID and other viruses/illnesses spreading.

If your child is at home due to illness or isolating, and they have enough energy to complete some school work, the Department of Education has released quality, easy to use learning from home packages that are regularly updated. This week’s online ‘Digital Learning Pack’ is called ‘Seal, next week it will be 'Turtle'. The units have been designed to provide continuity of learning for students who need to self-isolate or need to work from home due to the school temporarily ceasing operations. They are not to be used as a form of distance education, unofficial home schooling or homework. The ‘Digital Learning Packs’ will be added to each fortnight. You can access the unit if needed, via the below link

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/learning-from-home/learning-at-home/2022-digital-learning-packs/primary

If children are unwell or showing symptoms of COVID-19 while at school, GEPS is required to call home to have them picked up. Please ensure someone is available for us to contact so collection of your child can be promptly made, should we call you.

Additionally, last week, GEPS sent home another round of Rapid Antigen Tests for families to use for symptomatic testing. We have a surplus supply of these RATs, if you require additional kits, please call our office and we will happily send them home.

Education Week – ‘Creating Future – Education Changes Lives’

Education Week 2022 is scheduled to be held from 1-5 August (Week 3, Term 3) across NSW. This year’s theme is ‘Creating futures – education changes lives’ and celebrates the quality education we provide and the opportunities available to everyone in NSW Public Education. Due to the Department of Educations COVID safe blitz, we will be celebrating Education week later in the term. This will mean, we may be able to have an assembly and welcome parents into classrooms to see the incredible teaching and learning happening each day at GEPS. We will send out information in the coming week, regarding dates and agenda.

Lockdown and Evacuation Drills

This term we are planning on holding both a lockdown and evacuation drill. As neighbours of our school, you may hear some continuous bell ringing for a short period of time. To reduce anxiety and fear, we always tell our students that these are about to occur, discussing fully what to do and what they will hear. Practising these drills is incredibly important to ensure we are fully prepared in the unlikely event we ever need to have a real evacuation or lockdown. It is also a requirement of the Department of Education WHS procedures that we regularly discuss and practice these drills.

School Communication

GEPS’s subscription to the Skoolbag app, is expiring next week. All school updates will still come through regularly via SeeSaw, Facebook and paper copies of necessary correspondence sent home with students. We also have a section on our website ‘notes home’ which is regularly updated. The fortnightly school newsletter, canteen menu and any other information that would’ve been shared via Skoolbag, will be available on the same routine on the GEPS website.

Office hours: Monday – Friday - 8:30am – 3:30pm. 

Email – glendalee-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au 

Website –  www.glendalee-p.schools.nsw.gov.au 

School Volunteers – If you wish to volunteer in your child/s class or in the canteen. Please sign in at the school office with the QR code and please complete all the relevant paperwork if needed.

• Notes sent home - Copies of notes sent home are uploaded to our school website and seesaw.

• Voluntary School Fee – Our voluntary school fee remains at $50.00 per student for the entire year. Payment can be made online via our website.  

• Student belongings - Please ensure all your child’s belonging are properly and clearly labelled. Lost property is in a box out the front of the kindergarten rooms.  

• School Hats - We cannot provide spare hats to children if they are lost or left at home. If a child does not have their hat they are to play in the designated undercover area, so please remember to bring your school hat each day. School hats can be purchased at the office for $13.00 cash only. 

• Emergency contacts – It is important that the school office has up to date contact details for parents, carers, and emergency contacts. If you need to update your details, please email the school at glendalee-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au so we can amend these changes in our system.  

• Student and Family information 2022 – Please remember to hand back your 2022 consent forms that were handed to students at the beginning of the year. Marking your preferences re walking excursions, PG rated movies, computer lessons, scripture, and permission to publish. 

• Early/Late - If you are dropping off your child or picking them up early, please make sure you come into our office and speak to our staff to sign in/check out.  

• Contacting Teachers or Staff - If you need to you contact your child’s teacher or a staff member, the most effective method is via our school email address. glendalee-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au - Please attention the email to the teacher or staff member and include your child’s name and your best contact number. 

• Payments - Making a payment online (preferred method is online payments)  

It is possible to make your parent online payment via a secure payment page, where possible parents are encouraged to pay for excursions on the parent online portal.  

 Steps as follows:  

· Go to Glendale East Public School webpage at – 

 glendalee-p.schools.nsw.gov.au  

· Select Make a Payment (found on the top of the front page of the webpage)  

· Enter all areas marked with a * Asterix only 

· Write this reference number once payment is made on the permission note.   

• Medication – If medication is required during school hours, then it must be approved by the school principal.  

Parent/ Carer must complete a medication form if a child requires specific medication or ongoing health management. A letter from the prescribing doctor is required and all medication must be properly labelled by pharmacist.  

• Notifying of absences – If your child is going to be away, you are welcome to call our office to let us know/message teacher on their class platform, alternatively a text message is sent out at 10:00 am each day that you can reply to, and we can amend their absence in our system.   

We have three entry points into our school.

A reminder that if you are picking up or dropping off your child  between school hours or need to come into the school grounds during this time to please enter via Margot Avenue gate.

For the safety of our students, If your child is coming to school late or being picked up early you must come from Margot avenue entrance and present with your child in the school office. Please see our friendly staff for a note and to justify their absence.

POP is our schools preferred option of payment. 

It is a secure payment system hosted by Westpac to ensure that your credit/debit details are captured in a secure manner.  These details are not passed back to the school and are not stored by Westpac.

Parents and Carers can make online payments  via our school website.  Payments can be made using a Visa or Mastercard and will be processed via a secure payment page hosted by Westpac.  Debit cards are also accepted. 

Please note: the website will not tell you how much you owe so please have your term account handy when paying.

The advantages of POP are:

• Secure payments 
• Parents can print their own receipt or have it emailed to them for record keeping – no more searching in the school bag!

When you make an online payment you must enter the child's name and date of birth, plus the child's class.  This allows us to identify your child – ie in case we have some students with exactly the same name. No reference numbers are required - they are not mandatory fields.  These details are entered each time you make a payment as student information is NOT held within the payment system.  No student's details are given to Westpac.

PLEASE NOTE - Uniform purchases aren't to be done via POP payments. 

Term 3 Calendar 

Tuesday 2nd August - Zone Athletics

Wednesday 3rd August - Stage 3 Bathurst Excursion

Thursday 4th August - Stage 3 Bathurst Excursion

Friday 5th August - Stage 3 Return From Bathurst

Thursday 11th August - Stage 2 Sydney Excursion

Monday 22nd August - Book Week Begins