Welcome back to Term 2. I hope that you all had a happy Easter and relaxing break.  The students have returned to school excited to see their friends and continue learning. 

Winter Uniform
This week your child can wear either their summer, winter or sports uniform on their allocated days depending on the weather. All students should wear their full winter school or sport uniform starting next week Monday 5th May.  Please ensure that your child wears the full winter uniform, not mixing and matching summer and winter together.  School hats are also a very important part of our uniform and other sporting teams or leisure hats should be kept at home. 

We thank you for your support with uniforms as this contributes to our school's positive behaviours of respect and responsibility.

Compass & Emails
We ask for your support with Compass entries and request emails to the office or teachers, only when necessary.  As you can imagine, sometimes the office is receiving up to one hundred emails a day for information that only needs to go to the class teacher.  Also class teachers are receiving emails about absences when they can see the information on Compass. The following procedures which would greatly assist us.

Absence - whole day
If your child is sick and will be away for the whole school day, please enter this directly on Compass.  You do not need to email class teachers or the office as teachers can also access this information directly on Compass. 

Absence - first part of the day or late to school
On occasions, students have appointments or arrive at school after the bell.  Please don’t add an absence to Compass as parents should only enter whole day absences.  For partial absences, there is no need to phone or email the class teacher or office.  Even though you will receive an ‘absence’ sms,  just ignore this if you know you are bringing your child to school later in the day and the Compass roll will reflect this once you bring your child to school.  Parents just need to sign in on the office Compass Kiosk.  

Absence - leaving early during school hours
Parents please sign your child out using the office Compass Kiosk.  If you are entrusting another parent, friend or relative to collect your child during school hours, please email the office prior to the time to advise of this as we can not dismiss children to another's care during school hours unless advised.  

If you have made arrangements for after school pick up, for example, one parent taking a few children to sport, dance, events, then as long as your child knows who they are going home with, we do not need to be emailed about this.  Please phone the office if this is an unplanned arrangement - do not email as if the office is busy, your child may not get this message.

Emails
We encourage students to be responsible for their own learning and resources and most students should be able to tell the teacher if they have forgotten their homework  or instrument, so no need for you to email.  Should you need to advise the class teacher of anything of a ‘courtesy’ nature for example wrong uniform, please email teachers directly via Compass.  There is no need to email the office as well.

Other items where we seek your assistance:
Amadeus Instruments
If your child forgets their instrument - they can learn without it for the day.  This is part of students being responsible for their own learning.  The Amadeus tutors will still involve them in the lesson.  

Labels for clothes and containers
Please label all items of clothing and lunch containers.  Winter uniforms especially need labelling as children tend to take off jumpers and jackets and they can only be returned if your child’s name is clearly marked.

Bardwell Street Parking
Please be mindful of residents' access to their driveways. Unfortunately we had a resident call on the last day of Term 1 advising that one of our families had parked over their driveway and when asked them to move, our parent refused to move or even acknowledge that they might be causing someone else a problem.  Those of you who have been at the school for many years may remember that for a long time the Bardwell gate wasn’t opened due to residential complaints. 

School Photos
The School Photographer has finalised the proofs and is starting to print and collate all of the photos taken last term.  This process takes about six weeks, so we should receive them in the second half of the term.  As soon as they arrive at school we will distribute the photos to our families.

Good News Story
Congratulations to James in Year 2 who participates in competitive gymnastics and has been selected as one of the top 32 boys from across the State to form the NSW State Development Team.  Even though James is not yet 8 years old, he has been offered a position on the NSW State Development Team for 8-12 year olds.  He was required to do some gruelling activities including muscle ups on rings, timed rope climbs without using his legs, circles on the pommel, holding a still handstand without walking for 10 seconds, and more.

James will be awarded a NSW uniform and attend State Camps and training days with the NSW Institute of Sport High Performance Coaches throughout the year. He is the youngest boy in the State to receive this honour.  We are very proud and excited for you James! 

Mrs Jane Taylor
Assistant Principal