ANNUAL PRIVACY REMINDER
Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.
Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website Collection Statement from McKinnon Primary School.
For more information about privacy, see: Schools’ Privacy Policy – information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages.
CRAZY COLOUR RUN DAY
We are holding the School Fun Run Crazy Colour Day as a major fundraising event this year! The event will be held on Wednesday 12th March 2020. We are really hoping to raise $25,000 which will pay for STAGE TWO – Adventure Island.
Keep your eyes peeled for the sponsorship forms which will be sent home with your child. Once you have the form, you should sign up for a student profile page at schoolfunrun.com.au
You’ll be able to access online fundraising and can win a $20,000 ultimate family experience!
Students who raise $10 or more will receive a reward, and the more money you raise the better the reward, and the more you help our school!
We are looking for all students to participate and are organising a great day for our community, so we’d love everyone to come down to support the kids.
If you have any questions about the Crazy Colour Day please contact the school office or the school fun run office on 1800 FUN RUN.
Thanks for supporting the school and we hope to see you at the event!
School Council Nominations
Please be aware School Council nominations for 2020 close on Monday 24th February at 4pm.
PARENT INFORMATION NIGHTS
We would like to take a moment to thank all those who took the time to attend our February Information Evenings for 2020. Some of you we know did so on several nights!
It was a wonderful opportunity to explain areas of curriculum we focus on, learn about what you can do to support your child in particular levels or areas and begin this year’s learning journey as a community together. Feedback from both our staff and the parent community has been extremely positive around the opportunity to get together to speak about learning. Staff from all year levels spoke about approaches to English, Maths, Wellbeing, Units of Inquiry, the essential elements of the PYP amongst many other areas. Specialist teachers gave us valuable insight into their learning areas of Physical Education, Performing Arts, Chinese (Mandarin) and Visual Art. Thank you to all staff for their time, thought and preparation for this process.
Visiting our school as a volunteer or parent helper
Classroom helpers and volunteers are required to sign in via the school office. This involves, if you haven’t already, providing the office with a copy of your Working with Children (WWC) card, agreeing to the school’s Code of Conduct and wearing a visitor’s lanyard with your WWC inside. Whilst this may be seen as an imposition, we encourage you all to follow this process which ensures the safety and wellbeing of our students. We highly value and appreciate any form of support from home. If you have previously registered your details, these need to be updated as some WWC cards have expired and must be renewed prior to continued work in schools.
EVERY DAY COUNTS!!
In the Victorian education system, it is compulsory for all students to attend school each day of the school year. At times an absence may be unavoidable, however, every effort must be made to ensure students attend school on time each day. Evidence tells us that students who regularly miss days of school are at risk of missing out on learning the basic building blocks in subjects and may experience long term difficulties with their learning. School attendance helps children develop social skills, such as friendship building, teamwork, communications skills and develops healthy self-esteem. Please try to ensure that any appointments are made outside of school hours. To maximise learning opportunities we need all students here all day. If this presents a problem for you and your child please make time to see us. All late arrivals and early departures need to be signed in/out at the school office by a parent/guardian at the Compass Kiosk on the front counter. It is not acceptable for a student to sign themselves in or out of the school. Late passes and early leave passes are provided through the office. This is a strong focus of the Department of Education & Training. Further information can be found on the website: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/parents/behaviour/Pages/attendance.aspx
THREE WAY CONFERENCES
The Three Way Conferences held this week provided an opportunity to learn valuable information about your children from you and have your child explain their start to the year as part of their learning community.
We thank the staff for their commitment to building their understanding of each individual in their classroom and we can only do this with your support. We would like to thank all the parents and teachers who attended our conferences last week.
ARE YOU BEING SUNSMART?
In line with the school’s policy, Term One is a SunSmart term. This requires all students to have the appropriate navy blue wide-brimmed hat. These SunSmart hats are to be worn during all outside activities during Term 1 and until the 30th of April.
HOT DAYS AND EXTREME WEATHER DAYS
On days when it is extremely hot, the children will remain in classrooms and be supervised as they are on wet days.
UNIFORM/BELONGINGS
Please be vigilant in clearly naming all uniform items and personal belongings (lunch boxes, sports equipment etc.) This allows us to return any found items to the rightful owner.
UPDATING CONTACT DETAILS/MEDICAL
We ask all families to please ensure that you have up to date contact details on Compass and at the office. This includes your current address, phone numbers, emergency contact details, etc. Student enrolment information was sent out to all families on 15th February by email – please make any amendments and return to the office so the Admin Team can update your file.
Any students who have a medical condition must have up to date medical records at the office. Of most importance is to ensure asthma, diabetes, and anaphylaxis management plans are current. These need to be signed off by your local doctor and are required to be updated annually. Of course, these documents are so important to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students, especially yours!
Student SAFETY around our school and on our roads
Children are our most vulnerable road users and to address this road safety issue school speed zones with lower speed limits were introduced many years ago. Motorists should be aware that children in traffic are not like adults. They can be unpredictable and because they are small, they can be hard to see. So take extra care and slow down when you drive past any school. Research shows that slowing down helps to both avoid crashes and reduce their severity. According to the Monash University Accident Research Centre, an 11 per cent reduction in speed reduces road deaths by 40 per cent. Even a small reduction in travelling speed dramatically increases the chance of a child surviving a collision. Read more about safety on our roads via the VicRoads website.
Please observe the parking restrictions and speed limits around the school. Local council and Victoria Police often patrol these areas. We have three pedestrian crossings that are supervised each day before and after school. Please use this service and ensure all children use these crossings. Also please note that the staff carpark is not for parental use. This presents a danger to students and if parents use this space our staff will have nowhere to park!
Never leave children unattended in cars on hot days, it is important to remember that you should never leave your child alone in a car. The temperature inside a car on hot days begins to rise as soon as the door closes and within minutes the temperature inside can be double the temperature outside. Leaving children in hot cars – even for a moment – can result in injury or death. Young children’s smaller body size and underdeveloped nervous system places them at a much greater risk of life-threatening heat stroke, dehydration and other serious health risks. Victorian legislation makes leaving a child unattended in a car a criminal offence. Penalties have recently been increased and can include six months in jail. If you are travelling with a child in a car and you need to get out, make sure you take your child with you. No exceptions. No excuses. Your child’s safety is non-negotiable.