Principal's Update
Firstly, welcome to our new families and welcome back to all our other families.
I trust everyone had a rejuvenating and refreshing break. Although I know as a parent with school age children, I personally felt this one was a little too long and I was counting down the days until my kids returned to school. I know the staff have returned refreshed and from my discussions with students it appears they had a great break too.
We have returned this term with several new students and staff. We welcome Jarrah, Czarren, Mylee, Crowley, Maxwell, Caleb, Umair, Jad, Jamarley, Will, Cypress, Jakob, Kenneth, Robbie, Kyrie-Lee and their families to our school. We look forward to working with each of you - as we say, "We don't simply enrol students we enrol families".
We are also welcoming back Mrs Claire Gardner along with new teachers to our school Ms Sally Reed, Mrs Julie McCaugh, Mr Enrique Aiken-Featherstone. Mrs Yiu, Miss Douglass and Miss Cook are our new EAs. We spent two days at the beginning of the year discussing programs for 2025 and organising classrooms and learning activities to meet the varied needs of our students and doing some exciting team building activities. I have great confidence in our amazing and competent staff. Each one of our members of staff bringing their own uniqueness and varied experience to their roles. I look forward to working with them this year.
I would also like to thank students, parents, staff and the wider community for being so supportive over the last two weeks as I have transitioned into my role as Principal for the term. It has filled me with warmth and made me feel very content as I try to fill the big void left by Ms Winrow’s absence. Ms Winrow is currently on secondment as Principal at Castlereagh School and will return to us in term two. This term while I fill the in as Principal, Mrs Casey Gardiner is acting as Deputy Principal.
Parents/Carers will have the opportunity to meet with their class teacher regarding their child's IEP. A meeting invitation will go home soon for those wanting a meeting this term - some met at the end of last time and set new goals for this year at that meeting - If you choose to have a meeting this term either in person or by phone, please choose a number of possible meeting times - this gives us the flexibility to schedule everyone. Also, don't forget to include the names of any therapists/key workers that you choose to bring. If you met previously or don't require a meeting this term, please check the box on the invite to let us know. We hope to hold all meetings in weeks three and four.
It has been lovely walking around the school meeting new families, catching up with old families and seeing all the children settling into their new routines. We have included a selection of pictures in this newsletter showing some of the fun that has occurred across the centre over the last two weeks.
This term we are going to trial a slight change to our school eating times. This suggestion was raised by staff from the Community School and as a shared site we have spoken about it and agreed to a trial for term one. Previously, students have eaten their lunch during the first 15 minutes of the lunch break and then been released for playtime. This term from week 4, we will be swapping this to students going out to play as soon as lunch starts and then coming back from play 15 minutes before the end of the lunch break to sit down and eat. We are hoping that this swap will help students transition back to class in a calm manner. Students that take a particularly long time to eat or are hungry before the final 15 minutes of the break will be able to access their food and eat at any point during the lunch break time. Students will also have access to crunch ‘n’ sip through the day and their regular access to food during the recess break. If you have any concerns or would like to speak about this in detail, please contact me. Toward the end of the term we will assess if this change has had the desired effect and decide about continuing the swap for term two.
This term as always will be action packed. Swimming lessons at Cockburn Arc will start in week 9 - March 31st to April 11th for students in years PP - 6. Enrolment forms will be sent home soon. We will also be celebrating Harmony day on the 21st of March with classroom based activities and we encourage students to wear orange on the day. There will also be a fire evacuation drill this term. At the moment it is currently scheduled for week 6. We will ensure teachers give students prior warning in the days leading up to the drill. However, we know that there may be some anxiety/stress related to this drill for some of our students and we ask that you talk to them about this at home in the lead up to it as well. I will provide more information once the date is finalised.
On-site and Off-site Therapy forms are required to be submitted before any therapy can take place (during school hours), On-site forms have been sent home - please return these signed as soon as possible and please make sure your therapists nominate at least two day/time options - this will increase the processing time.
If you want off-site therapy - during school hours- please contact me for the relevant request form. I need to approve this before therapy can commence.
I have included both forms in this newsletter.
Also, please remember that if your child is going to swimming lessons in weeks 9 & 10 they will be off-site from 10.45am so no therapy will be taking place. (If the student is not swimming, I am happy for therapists to continue with their visit). Please share this information with your therapist/s.
We continue to prioritise communication between home and school and to this end we will continue using our Communication Books. Please remember to sign off any messages - we will do the same. We understand that not all messages require an answer however, it is good to know that the message has been read. In addition, we will continue to post items on SeeSaw. Some of you may already have received your link to join for 2025. (Others will receive theirs soon) Our aim is to have at least one post per week which will often be a photo of something wonderful your child has done during the week. Comments can be made on posts; however, SeeSaw will not be used as a method of general communication between parents/carers & staff. For these communications, please use the Communication Book, or contact the teacher via admin or me to arrange a suitable time to meet and chat. You can of course email me directly and I will endeavour to assist or pass the request on. Our website also houses lots of information and some great links to our community partners etc. We try to keep the site up - to -date, especially with Council meeting times and minutes, uniform order forms & calendar of events etc.
I look forward to a great term, working with you and our team to provide the best social, functional and academic programs for your child. We appreciate the support and collaboration you provide us and value your input and your ideas.
Please remember that you can be involved in many ways - via the P&C or by joining our School Council - please feel free to contact me if you are considering either of these roles. In addition, you can make suggestions and/or raise issues via the Schoolzine Newsletter's feedback option.
Have a great start to term one!
Kind Regards,
Sarah