Stockton Public School Newsletter

Welcome back to the 2021 school year. Welcome to all of our returning families – so lovely to see familiar faces at the gate. Welcome to all of the new families in our school and community. You have joined a wonderful school community.

Thank you for your cooperation will the COVID guidelines around access to the school site. This is not as I had intended to start the school year but is out of our control.

Please remember –

If your child is in Kindergarten, Year 1 or Year 2 parents and carers (maximum 2 adults) are allowed on site after scanning the QR code at the gate. QR codes specifically for Stockton Public School are located at each gate and all parents/carers must scan the code before entering the site.

If you are on the grounds it is for the shortest time possible. We are so used to families chatting and making play dates, however this needs to happen outside the school gates not on the school site.

I am awaiting further guidelines from the Department outlining the next steps.

I must say (as I touch wood…) this has been one of the most settled starts to the school year I can remember. The students moved into new classes on Friday and everyone is settled and happy. I need to take a moment to brag….when we disseminate classes we meet in the hall and I call each teacher to the middle of the hall and read the students' names and off that class goes. I explained to the students at the beginning that it is just a typo if someone’s name is not read out or it appears that that child is not allocated to a class – it’s not because we don’t care for that child, it’s not because we have forgotten him/her…it’s inevitable that there will be a typo – my typo – but a typo all the same. 2021 – NO TYPOS! All students were allocated to a class. This momentous occasion is a personal best for me.

Staff 2021

UNIFORMS

Everyone looks super smart in uniforms. If you need to purchase uniforms please call the front office to arrange purchases. Our fabulous office ladies will arrange for you to pick up your goods or send them home with your child.

 SCHOOL HATS

I make no apologies for insisting that every student wears a school hat each and every day. We are fortunate to have a huge COLA for the odd occasion that a child has left his/her hat at home. Any child without a hat plays in the shade under the COLA. Rather than no hat, no play – I prefer the term “Have hat, will play” I explain to the students that their school hat is their ticket to freedom – they can play wherever they like (within the rules and playground boundaries). If your child has lost a hat since last year, please call the front office and arrange to purchase a new one. The lovely ladies in the office will write your child’s name inside the hat and make sure your child has the hat before the next play session. Wearing a school hat is an essential part of our uniform policy and our Sun safety policy.

SENSORY GARDEN

We broke ground on our much anticipated sensory garden on Monday. Weather permitting our sensory garden should be finished in approximately one month. Finally we will be able to see the fruits of our hardworking P&C’s labour. This will be a wonderful addition to our school with quiet spaces, plants for students to touch, feel and smell, climbing frames to clamber over and a scramble net to crawl up a large mound. Once we open the new playground, the staff and I will be adjusting playground spaces, allowing students the opportunity to move around both the primary and infants playground as they choose. We are yet to work out the details but will be consulting with the students to come up with an equitable solution for all. Currently with the limited space in the infants playground we are –

• Ensuring kindergarten stay in the infants area with their Year 6 buddies to help them play
• Year 1 and Year 2 can play in either the infants playground or the primary playground
• Years 3, 4 and 5 are encouraged to stay in the primary playground due to the limited space in the infants playground.
• Having four staff members on playground duty with the view of flowing between and  ensuring the busiest part of the playgrounds have enough supervision.

COVID INTENSIVE LEARNING SUPPORT PROGRAM

We know 2020 was an unsettling time for our students and their learning.

The government and department have recognised this with the announcement of a $337 million program aimed at ensuring that schools can identify students who would benefit the most from intensive support. This will be tailored to their requirements to ensure that students’ educational outcomes continue to improve in 2021.

The 2021 COVID intensive learning support program will provide small group tuition for students who need it most.

All public schools across the state will benefit with an allocation to employ additional teachers and educators to support student learning.

We have planned the implementation of a small group tuition program in our school. The groups might be conducted during schools hours with a relentless focus on literacy and numeracy. Mrs Ovenstone as Learning and Support Teacher, Mrs Thomas as Assistant Principal and supervisor of the program and myself have worked closely over the holidays to plan our approach. This will support the work that Mrs Ovenstone does daily with in-class support. We have been fortunate enough to secure extra staffing to support as many students as possible.

Mrs Kerrie Luxford will be supporting our Kindergarten program with in-class support at the point of need. Mrs Jodie Maybury and Ms Cassandra Connell will be working with our Stage 1 students. Mrs Ovenstone will be working with our Stage 2 students. Mrs Abby Mander will be working with Stage 3 students. In Term 3 we will look at including our preschool students where need be.

We have looked closely at data from in class assessments from the end of last year to identify the first round of students. Students in Stage 1,2 and 3 will be withdrawn from class activities and distractions in small groups or individually to work with the teacher on a needs basis in reading and mathematics. If your child/ren have be identified as needing some extra support, you will receive further communication in the very near future.

This funding has allowed us to provide more support than ever before and we are excited about the level of support and improvement to student learning outcomes that we can achieve across this year.

Each class teacher will be sending home a term class note outlining information related to your child’s class, any special information that you need to know, and an outline of the topics of the key learning areas for Term 1. COVID restrictions mean that we cannot hold our annual Welcome BBQ which is a shame as it is always such a great chance for parents to meet class teachers and other families. We are currently planning a different mode for “Meet the Teacher” and will be sending home a note very soon.

BOOKPACKS

This year all families will be invoiced for a $30 School Resource Levy. This replaces the book packs in previous years. I have looked at this closely over the past two years and the difficulties arise around students getting class resources at different times. This impedes the learning, as some students in the class do not have everything that is required.

To avoid this, this year classrooms will have all necessary resources from day 1 – exercise books to write in, pencils to write with, coloured pencils to colour in with, glue to stick pages in etc. All students in all classrooms will have the necessary equipment. We ask for a small contribution towards this to help the school maintain this level of resourcing. This can be paid when it best suits parents and families or paid off with a payment plan if need be. Please speak with the ladies in the office if you would like a payment plan. As always, if you are experiencing financial difficulty please call the front office to make an appointment to discuss further with me. We don’t want any child missing out or being left behind when it comes to learning.

Please note this is separate to the Voluntary Contribution fee of $25.

Ms Jodie Holt

Principal

Classroom teachers will be holding "Meet the Teacher" sessions very soon. But sometimes that means that all of our other wonderful staff members don't get a moment in the sunshine. I will be introducing some of the each newsletter.