Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members

Welcome to Term 2.  As I said in yesterday’s correspondence, I trust that all of our families have had a wonderful break and are now ready for another engaging school term.  It was terrific to have a large proportion of children back at school today and regain some level of normality to our school and work lives.

I would also like to welcome all new families to our school community and wish them the very best for their stay with us.

TERM 2 ARRANGEMENTS

I would like to remind families to ensure the ongoing safety of our students and staff, we will continue to implement a range of strategies that support the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC). 

These include:

·        Social distancing practices being enforced outside of our classrooms.

·        The hand cleaning regime utilised last term will continue.

·        A split timetable for breaks is being reintroduced. 

·        Main doors to buildings will remain open all day.

·        Two new cleaners have been appointed to provide cleaning to our high use surfaces throughout the day.  These include our playgrounds.

·        The Year 1 / 2 playground will be closed for Week 1.

·        Play grounds will not be used for daily fitness.

·        Drink fountains will be open but we strongly encourage the continued use of water bottles.

·        The process for student drop off and pickups will remain the same as last term where K and PP children are dropped at the class door and our Year 1-6 children are dropped at our gates.

·        Our front office will be open but we ask that you only attend if it is absolutely necessary. 

The gate at the Eastern side of the Administration building will now be closed between 9am and 2pm.  Students are being encouraged to use the red door at the rear of Administration to access the front office.

We thank you for supporting us in maintaining these standards for everyone on our school campus.

LEARNING @ HOME

Children that do not come to school at the moment will have their Learning @ Home packs to support them.  Our teachers will be in touch with these families utilising a variety of approaches, including emails, telephone calls and contact via our online platforms.  All enquiries about Learning @ Home should be directed to our learning area teachers in the first instance please.

NEW CHAPLAIN

I am pleased to announce that we have a new chaplain commencing this week.  Alison Purcell joins our Student Services Team, I am sure  she will be an asset to our school community.

TERM 2 SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT DAY

Please note that our next school development day is on Friday, 29 May.  This is the Friday before the WA Day public holiday which will give our school community a four-day mid-term break.  Your cooperation with enabling this day is genuinely appreciated.

2019 ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT

The link below will take you to our 2019 Annual School Report.  This report is a summary of the 2019 school year and contains a number of highlights from last year as well our progress towards targets set within our current Business Plan. 

https://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsonline/annual_report.do?schoolID=5799&pageID=AD08

I encourage all families to take the time to have a read of this summary of the 2019 school year.

Have a wonderful first two weeks of Term 2.

Kind regards

Craig Ashby

PRINCIPAL

Alison Purcell joins us as our school chaplain.  Alison is provided to us through Youthcare.  Chaplains are there to listen and provide a supportive place to talk.  They offer confidential, non-judgmental pastoral care and programs.  Referrals to the Chaplain can be made via your child’s teacher or through contacting Cathy Stott, Deputy Principal.

LEAVER'S POLO SHIRT ORDERS 

Our Year 6 Leaver's Polo Shirt orders close Friday, 8th May 2020.  Payment must be made before your child's Leaver's Polo Shirt is ordered.  LATE PAYMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Payment may be made online at www.bertramps.wa.edu.au or use the Qkr app and pay by credit card.  Return the consent form with payment to your child's learning area teacher.

CAMP EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Organisation of the Year 6 Camp is well underway. It will be held at Ern Halliday Recreation Camp in Hillarys from Tuesday, November 24th to Friday, November 27th 2020. The aim of camp is to allow children to learn from the unique experience of community living; sharing, working and living as a team. School camps expose children to environments different to what they normally experience in their daily life. Student participation in camp provides opportunities for them to build personal competencies including self-identity, self-worth, self-esteem, leadership and self-respect.

The cost of the Year 6 Camp is a maximum of $­­­­350 per student. This cost does not take into consideration any school or individual fundraising. We are alerting families of the maximum cost in advance so savings may be made. 

Please complete and return the Expression of Interest Form to indicate if you intend for your child to attend camp this year Expressions of Interest close Friday, 8th May 2020.

Further information will be provided once details are confirmed. 

CANTEEN - Will re-open from Wednesday 29/4/20.

UNIFORM SHOP - Will remain closed for now and will reopen as soon as our order of stock arrives (or earlier if deemed necessary). We don't have any new updates on this as of yet, however we still expect it in the next few weeks. When it does arrive, we will determine the best course of action to take in regard to selling it, depending on what the 'current climate' is at the time!

MEETINGS - Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday 11 May, however at this stage we feel it's best to postpone it until a later date. With our lack of ability to carry out our various actives as planned & the restrictions that will affect us holding a 'normal' meeting still being in place we will reassess the situation in a few weeks and keep you updated on when the next meeting will occur.

MOTHER'S DAY STALL - This was scheduled to take place in Week 2 and it is with great disappointment that this too will be postponed. With school not compulsory next week (and therefore not all students in attendance) and the limitations on what can and can not happen at school still in place we are not able to hold our stall when we need too. However we have all of our stock and will be ready to sell our wares to the kids as soon as it deemed appropriate. We hope you and your children are understanding of this matter (and that the Mums are willing to wait a little for their Mother's Day presents) and will still get on board and show your support once we are able to hold our stall.

CAR PARK RAFFLE - Again, given the current changes to to school attendance, pick up, drop off etc we will not be holding the Car Park Raffle for Term 2. The car park will be available for anyone to park in - for Term 2 only - and we can hopefully return to running it in Term 3.

Thank you for bearing with us during this time of change and unpredictability. With any luck we are hopefully at the point of emerging out the other side, but we will just have to keep our fingers crossed and wait and see. We will continue to update you on any changes and keep you posted as necessary.

Thanks again for your continued support of the P&C.

First Aid - Accidents often happen during bushfires due to poor visibility, high stress and increased adrenalin levels. This leads to confusion, poor decision making, loss of concentration and tunnel vision. You should be aware of the likelihood of injury while carrying on fire protection/suppression activities (eg burns,cuts, and falls).You should ensure that you have a well-stocked first aid kit as part of you survival kit, know what contents are in the kit and how to treat potential injuries such as burns, cuts and falls.

All children from Pre-Primary to Year 11 are eligible to dental treatment at the Wellard Dental Therapy Centre located at Wellard Primary School.

Contact details:

Wellard Dental Therapy Centre

25 Breccia Parade 

WELLARD WA 6170

T: (08) 9553 0610