Newsletter 31st January 2024

Principal's Message

Welcome Back! It was lovely to see everyone start school today. I hope that you will find our school to be a welcoming and inclusive community. We have a dedicated team of teachers and staff who are passionate about education and are committed to helping each student succeed. We believe that every child has the potential to achieve great things, and we are here to support them every step of the way. Please ensure you keep hydrated this week as our weather is going to be uncomfortably warm.

Please keep a look out for EduDance and Swimming notifications. 

Fortnightly Newsletters

This is a special newsletter, but normally newsletters go out each fortnight - even weeks (as the first week of term, this is an odd week and next week is an even week being Week 2) on a Wednesday.  Keep an eye out for a notification on SZapp to let you know it is available.  This is the best way to stay informed.

Welcome New Staff Members

School Development Days for 2024

• Term 1
  • 29^th – 30^th January (school starts for students the following day – 31^st January
• Term 2
  • 6^th May - please note, this is not the first day of term (it is Monday of Week 4)
• Term 3
  • 15^th July 
• Term 4
  • 4^th November - please note, this is not the first day of term (it is Monday of Week 5)
  • 13^th December – day after school finishes for students
    

2024 Contributions and Charges Information

Please find the Contributions and Charges information for 2024 in the flyer below.

Annual Reminders

We are required to provide everyone with some annual reminders.

While school starts at 8:50am each morning, we are happy for students to arrive at 8:30am when classroom doors open to allow students time to setup for the day and participate in before school sessions such as reading. This enables everyone to be ready for the start of the day. Students who arrive before this time must be seated in the quadrangle area and must not interrupt the teachers’ preparations for the school day (K-P students must be supervised by the parents before 8:30am). We can only guarantee supervision from 8:15am onwards. Students should not arrive at school before 8:15am. All students who arrive after 8:50am must report to the office so that we can record attendance without interrupting the classroom teachers’ lessons.

All students who have to wait at the end of the day for pickup must wait with Miss Jones at the kiss and wave. Any students who have not been collected by 3:15pm will be taken to the office for collection. We are happy for students who are being directly supervised by the parents to play on playground equipment after school. Supervising other people’s children, without consent from their parents, is not compliant with legal requirements. Equipment cannot be used before school (except by clubs who have been licensed to use the school site for training) and the oval is out of bounds before and after school.

All visitors to the school must report to the office first. This includes parents who are attending the school after the start of the school day. Students will not be released from their classroom without a slip from the office. This is a safety precaution to ensure only people who have the right to access students do so.

We have completed a deed of licence with OSHClub and allow them to use the undercover area before and after school each day so we must avoid this area altogether to allow them to run their program uninterrupted. Please access the quadrangle via the gate near the library rather than through the undercover area.

For safety reasons students are not allowed to ride their scooters, skateboards or bikes on the school grounds. Students are asked to walk these items instead. We also ask that parents follow the same rules as good role models.

Children are allowed to climb trees but they should not climb higher than a teacher can reach (approx. 1.8m).

A reminder that all student absences must be explained either in writing (by the SZapp app or by email) or by speaking to the school/class teacher (who will record the explanation in writing). All families taking vacation leave outside of school holidays must also write to the principal. It is important to note that Australia has mandatory school attendance.

The staff car park is not available for dropping off students in the mornings or picking up students at the end of the day. It is a small car park and our staff can’t all park there because it is so small. It is also difficult getting out during peak times (especially if others are trying to get in) so please do not use the car park. While I realise that often people think that when they do it there is no harm, but if everyone did it, of course, there would be chaos. It is also not safe for children to be in this area as backing cars don’t always see small children and children can move quickly and unpredictably. Thanks for your support on this.

It is a condition of entry that you abide by the school rules and the directions given by the principal or her delegates.  Please be aware that the principal has no control over what occurs outside school grounds, such as on the roads surrounding the school.  The school cannot enforce road rules or control the parking on the side roads, nor can it actively control traffic on those roads. The school is, however, in charge of the kiss and wave on the school grounds. Instructions on how to use the Kiss n Wave (alternatively called the Kiss n Drive) can be found on our website under the “For Parents” in the document called “Kiss and Drive guidelines” Kensington Primary School eNewsletter (kensingtonps.wa.edu.au).    There is also a link to this document under “Forms and Documents” on the left side of this newsletter.

We encourage all parents and children to use the pedestrian gates to access the school, rather than the gates used by cars to drive through the kiss and wave.  Apart from holding up traffic, this can be unsafe for children especially, who don’t always have the ability to process the traffic information in a timely manner.

Please note that the school has a Mobile Devices policy as part of our Positive Behaviour Plan.  This policy states that children should not use personal mobile devices during school hours.  This includes smart watches.  Students who use their smart watches inappropriately (including being distracted by looking at things on them) will run the risk of having them confiscated and given a yellow behaviour slip.

P & C News

UNIFORM SHOP AT VISTA STREET KINDY

We have set up a temporary shop for Term 1 at Vista Street kindy. Online orders are still available but face to face is off site for the time being.

Uniforms

Follow the QR code for a direct link to the uniform shop to order online. Include your child’s name and classroom and we will deliver the following Thursday. Easy as! Happen to have ordered the wrong size? No problem, we are happy to exchange, just leave the tags on. Wondering what to do with uniforms you’ve outgrown? Leave them in the red donation bin located next to Room 7.

Reminder - the uniform shop has moved to the donga with the bright mural next to the staff car park.

Containers for Change