Dear Parents & Guardians
Last week we organised a parent and guardian information night to explain and promote the new Bump it Up Wall writing strategy we are using across the school, a strategy that is already having some positive and noticeable impacts on the learning for the children and their response to writing.
I thank all those parents and guardians who made the effort to attend, however, I will admit that I was hoping for more parents to come along as this is a really important focus for our school and one that has the potential to have a really positive impact on your children. More importantly, it is one that can help inform the discussion between parents and guardians and their children as to what is happening at school.
You will see Bump it Up Walls in all the classrooms at school and they are now being used in every classroom to support the children in learning. Each of our Learning Community Teams are using their Bump it Up Walls in a consistent way though the learning for each child will differ depending on their stage of development. Very soon, each child will be a given their own booklet of the Bump it Up Wall with a checklist so that they can work with their teacher to monitor their improvement in writing. This is a really good opportunity for you to look at this with your children and become familiar with this strategy and their progress (though we need to make sure these booklets are returned to school so the children have them to use in their classrooms.
If you have any questions about the Bump it Up Wall, please come and talk to me about this.
BEFORE SCHOOL SUPERVISION
We have noticed an increasing number of children are being regularly dropped off at school before 8.30am. While I am mindful of the needs of our parents who are working, this is a significant safety and supervision risk. Under the terms of the employment award under which our staff work, they are not able nor required to be at school or to provide supervision before 8.30 and from 8.30, only if they are rostered on duty. It is not safe to have children unsupervised in the courtyard before the morning school duty starts. Furthermore, this potentially puts the school in a very difficult position were an accident to occur.
With this in mind, we have now taken the decision to close the gates to the courtyard from 8.00 – 8.30am. If you are dropping your children off at Kelly Club after 8.00am you will still be able to get access to the school, though you will need to call them to open the gates.
Please note that this does not mean that parents and guardians can leave their children outside the gates unsupervised and leave as this is even less safe. If you need to drop your children early at school on a regular basis, you need to contact KellyClub to book a placement for them. This is only fair to those families who are using and paying for the KellyClub service, and this is the reason this service has been provided.
Our administration team can provide the contact details for KellyClub (you will need to contact them and book a place before you leave your child with them). If you have any concerns or questions in relation to this matter, please call me at school or meet with me to discuss this further.
DISMISSAL & CHANGE TO THE SCHOOL DAY
Thank you to all our parents and guardians with your support and cooperation for the change in school times and dismissal at the end of the day. This has gone better than I hoped and your willingness to cooperate with these changes is much appreciated.
There have been a number of parents who have requested changes to their original choice of gates as the location to collect their children. We have also had some parents ask if they can select different gates for different days depending on who is collecting their children. We would please ask parents to avoid making these changes unless this is really necessary as this creates a significant additional amount of paperwork and organisation for our administration team (they need to recreate all the dismissal lists for staff each time this occurs).
FATHER’S DAY CELEBRATION
We will be celebrating all our amazing dad’s, granddads and special friends tomorrow, Friday, September 1, with a special Father’s Day breakfast from 7.30am. Following breakfast, our dad’s will have an opportunity to see their children start the school day, however, we will be concluding this celebration by 9.30am so that we can start our busy school day for our children. I hope lots of our dads can come!
LEARNING WALKS
We really want to give lots of parents and guardians an opportunity to have a look at what happens in the classrooms, to highlight the learning that is taking place and to get a better idea of all the amazing work our staff do to support your children.
One of the most effective ways we can build this understanding within our parent and guardian community is through Learning Walks; the opportunity for parents and guardians to come to school and see the learning and teaching in action. Education consultant, Tony Dalton will be coming to St Lawrence of Brindisi to run Learning Walks for parents and guardians on Tuesday, September 19. We will be organising three sessions at:
- 9.15am
- 11.15am
- 2.10pm
The administration team will be sending out flyers to all the children this week. We would ask that you complete the expression of interest so we can get an idea of how many parents are interested in attending (Tony prefers to keep a limit of 6-7 people maximum on each walk). We are committed to communicating with you and this is another way in we can do this, so I hope that lots of parents and guardians come and join one of these Learning Walks!
NORTHERN ZONE REGIONAL MANAGER
St Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic Primary School is in the Melbourne Archdiocese Northern Regional Zone, the largest of the four regions in terms of the numbers of Catholic schools in that region. Yesterday it was announced that the Northern Regional Manager, Mr John Mills, has taken the decision to retire from his position as Northern Zone Regional Manager.
John was instrumental in the initial development of our school and has been a strong supporter of our school community and me as Principal since we opened last year. He has worked in Catholic Education across the diocese for 45 years and on behalf of our school community, we wish John well for his upcoming retirement and thank him for all the assistance he has provided to our school.
2024 EXPLORATION (PREP) PARENT & GUARDIAN INFORMATION SESSION
For all parents and guardians with new children starting at St Lawrence of Brindisi in 2024, there is an information session on Tuesday, September 12 at 6.00pm. This is a required event for all parents and guardians involved in enrolment, even if you are an existing parent or guardian.
SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL & SCHOOL COMMUNITY TEAM
As school, we continue to work really hard to build a partnership with our parents and guardians and ensure that we provide opportunities to be actively engaged in the life of the school. As I have said many times, the more the parents and guardians are engaged in the school, the better the results for the children. The engagement of our parents and guardians is something that is hallmark of our school and I can honestly say, I never worked in a school with such an amazing group of parents.
With this in mind, we are always looking for parents and guardians who would like to be part of our School Advisory Council or School Community Team. This is particularly important at the moment, as they are working on some really vital initiatives and getting the input from engaged parents and guardians would be really helpful. Please let me know if you are interested.
SCHOOL DROP OFF AND PICK UP & PARKING AROUND SCHOOL
We have met with Melton City Council regarding our concerns in relation to some of the parking around school, especially as I am aware that a number of parents have recently been fined for traffic infringements. They are planning to complete a site visit so that we can discuss our concerns, however, they are adamant that there is sufficient parking around school.
One area in particular that we discussed was parents waiting on Brewer Way (the road to the left of school as you look at it) when waiting for the Kiss n’ Go to open at the end of the day. At the moment, a significant number of parents and guardians are waiting in the road which is blocking this road and causing a traffic hazard. This could lead to these parents being fined for a traffic infringement.
Melton City Council have advised that parents and guardians waiting on Brewer Way should be waiting in the parking bays, not in the road. We will work with Melton City Council on an education campaign to communicate to our community safer and better ways to collect your children at the end of the day.
We would ask all our parents waiting for the Kiss n’ Go at the end of the day to use the parking bays when waiting.
God bless,
Bill Hill.
PRINCIPAL