Henley Beach Primary School Newsletter

School Times:

8.30am                                       Yard supervision commences

8.50am                                       School Begins

8.50am -  10.40am                 Class

10.40am - 11.00am                Recess

11.00am - 12.40pm                Class

10.40pm – 12.50pm               Lunch eaten with teacher

1.50pm -  1.20pm                    Lunch

1.20pm -   3.00pm                   Class

3.00pm                                       School Dismissed

3.00pm – 3.10pm                  Yard supervision concludes

Maintaining positive school and home partnerships is a priority for our staff and to help facilitate this, the Seesaw app will be used as a communication tool by teachers. Please note that staff will endeavour to check Seesaw daily (Monday-Friday) and respond to messages at their earliest convenience. Please be aware that messages sent after 4:00pm may not be viewed until the next teaching day. If you have any pressing/urgent needs you should contact the office on 8356 2117.

We hope you will find the use of Seesaw helpful and enjoy the opportunity to share in your child’s learning. If you are having any difficulty setting up your account please speak to your child’s teacher.

Please be aware of the following aspects relating to student supervision and safety:

·        School grounds are supervised between 8.30am – 3.10pm. Students should not be on the school grounds prior to 8.30am. We also request that in the afternoons if students are staying on the grounds with a supervising adult, that they play away from the classrooms.

·        Students who ride a bike or scooter to school need to walk once they are inside the school gates (this includes at dismissal time also). Students also need to walk across the crossings with their bike or scooter.

·        Students (from Rec – Yr 7) cannot leave the school grounds during regular class time on their own, regardless of whether a permission note has been provided by a parent/carer. All students need to be collected by a parent/carer from the front office if they need to leave school between 8.30-3.00pm and they need to be signed out.

·        Please use the start of the year to reinforce safe pedestrian habits with your child by using the designated school crossings when arriving and leaving school. We look forward to our student crossing monitors continuing in this role; if your child has the opportunity to volunteer to help with this job, please encourage them to do so as it is a great way to promote positive community values.

·        Please ensure the kiss and drop space is used appropriately as it is only a short term parking space.

Any child who is not in their classroom at 8.50am is considered late and must present to the front office to sign in on the kiosk and collect a printed slip to give to their teacher. If your child needs to leave school early, parent/caregivers are asked to come into the front office to sign their child out and collect a printed slip to take to the teacher.

The number to text for student absences is 0476 857 370 (please note, the absence text message line should not be used for other purposes). Please text this number by 9am if your child will be late or absent from school and include a reason for their absence. The marking of attendance is a legal document. All absences, be 2 minutes late or two days late, are marked as unexplained unless parents provide the school with an explanation (via telephone, text or written note). A text message will be sent to parents/caregivers if a child is late or absent without explanation.

Should you need to get a message to your child during the day, all communication must be made through the front office by calling 83562117. We will attempt to contact the class teacher to pass urgent messages only. Parents/carers are kindly asked to make personal arrangements before school as much as possible to limit the disruption to classes.  Any general communication to your class teacher should be done via seesaw or email.

We also ask that if you need to drop anything off during the day (forgotten lunches, musical instruments, homework etc.), please do not go to the classroom, rather drop it to the office and we will get your child to collect it.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these matters.

Health Care Plans

If your child has a medical condition or health care plan please ensure that you have informed the school. This is to be done annually and if any changes to plans occur throughout the year, please let the school know. All medication needs to be labelled with a pharmacy label with the child’s name and dose. Please check and ensure the expiry date is current. If your child self-medicates e.g. Asthma puffer etc. a form needs to be signed by the parent and Principal.

 Allergies

There are students in our school that suffer severe allergies to a variety of food types. The worst of these allergic responses can result in ANAPHYLAXIS.

The school policy is based around “Harm Minimization” which essentially means that we take precautions to reduce the chance of a child contacting or ingesting foods they are allergic to.

In your child’s class, parents may be asked not to send food containing significant amounts of NUTS. This includes peanut butter, Nutella, nut bars, cakes and slices. Many products including chocolates, muesli bars etc. have a “may contain traces of nuts” warning as a precaution. These are acceptable at school but must not be shared. If this applies to your child’s class a more detailed letter will be sent home.

 Fish, cheese, shellfish and eggs are also identified triggers for children in the classes. For these we request that parents do not send items containing these products for shared meals such as class parties or picnics where they may be eaten without knowledge.

If there is an issue please see the class teacher for clarification.

Children will be encouraged to practice good hygiene and wash their hands before and after eating.

Mobile phones are not to be used on the school premises and should be switched off when students enter the grounds. Mobile phones need to be handed into the office for safe keeping and can be collected at the end of the day. Students can check their phones for a message from you when they collect them at the end of the day and then they must be returned to their bags/pockets. We appreciate your support in this matter. Henley Beach Primary School does not take responsibility for any loss or damage of a phone that is kept in a school bag throughout the day, so please strongly encourage your child to follow these expectations.

The wearing of the school uniform by all students is school policy, approved by Governing Council. The uniform is available from Westside Schoolwear, Shop 6, Falkirk Avenue, Seaton. There are many advantages, for both parents and the children, in wearing a school uniform. In particular it gives children a sense of belonging and develops pride in the school as well as being cheaper, functional and non-competitive in terms of fashion.

Out of hours school competitions

Earlier this week a nomination form was sent out for various out of hours school sporting competitions scheduled for this year. If your child is interested in participating, please ensure this information is returned by the due date. The success of these competitions relies on positive levels of parent/carer support with coaching and managing teams so please consider volunteering for these roles, without this help we cannot nominate teams. All coaches will be supported by school staff with administration requirements.

It has been an exciting start to the year at OSHC. New director, new receptions, and a new beginning for OSHC. It has been amazing to see how welcoming, compassionate and supportive our current OSHC students have been to the receptions. They have been made to feel like they belong, and are already flourishing. The OSHC program is in the process of being restructured to maximise learning and development opportunities for our students. Currently, there is a lot of craft activities taking place as we look to decorate our room. This is a great opportunity for students to show off their craft abilities and contribute to how they want the OSHC room to look. Of course, there will still be the games that the students know and love, like corners, freeze and bob and museums. These games are a great way to build skills such as teamwork, leadership and communication skills.

An order has been placed for new furniture! We will be getting new tables and chairs that are interactive and easily manoeuvrable, which will allow us to create a more dynamic learning environment. Our new furniture will be arriving sometime this term.

We are still accepting enrolments, so if you are interested in OSHC this year, either drop in to say hello or give us a call.

Lego Club is back again this year, starting Monday 8 February (Week 3). All students are welcome to join in developing their fine motor, creativity, problem-solving and teamwork skills - just some of the benefits of working with Lego.

When: Mondays and Wednesdays during lunch

Where: STEM area

Play Group will be re-commencing later this term and is available to families who either have an older sibling attending our school or are in our school zone and will be enrolling. Our main goal is to assist future students transitioning into the school environment. Playgroup is coordinated by Trudy Tunbridge who also works at the school in a SSO/classroom support role. Further information will be sent out via Skoolbag in the coming week. 

The school’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday Feb 9th at 7pm. All parents/carers are welcome to attend. After the AGM has finished the first Governing Council meeting for the year will occur. Governing Council has an integral role in representing the school community and if you are interested in nominating to be a member of this group, please fill out the nomination form by either downloading it or filling it out at the front office.

Welcome to another year of Book Club.

All Book Club ordering will be done online. Children were sent home a catalogue and will have their orders delivered to school.

Parents have the convenience of ordering online via the internet or through the iPad/ iPhone app.

The process is simple. You can track the progress of your order all from the comfort of your home. The process eliminates children losing order forms, misplacing the money and double handling at the school level.

No orders will be processed at School.

No money to the office.

ISSUE 1 CLOSING DATE: Monday 8 February.

Canteen Volunteers

Please make sure you have your WWCC or DCSI clearances are up to date.  Some of you would have received an email to update your volunteer clearance. This is free for anyone wanting to volunteer at the school in any capacity.

If you have your clearances up to date please volunteer at your canteen at least once a term.  Your children will love it and we would love to see new faces at the canteen.

Welcome to new and returning families for 2021. 

 New parents should have been sent a current menu .  

 PARENTS’ GUIDE TO THE CANTEEN

Please use Qkr to order lunches where possible. It is our preferred method.

Ensure you have filled in the correct year level and teacher in Qkr.  

Qkr cutoff is 9am on the day. Specials may have a different cutoff time to help with planning.

We have 2 specials each term when possible. There will be separate instructions in the flyer for these.

You can order ahead. If you miss the cutoff you can phone your order through and pay via EFTPOS.  Please do this before 11am to allow us time to prepare the lunch.

If your child forgets their lunch canteen provides a cheese or vegemite sandwich. You will receive an invoice which can be paid on Qkr under the tab “money owed to canteen” or by cash in an envelope.  Reminder emails for payment will be sent out at the beginning of every month.

We are aiming for zero waste in the near future so our packaging is either compostable or recyclable (often both). 

We have a menu that is homemade where possible and practical. Foods marked with a * are made by the canteen either wholly ( i.e from scratch) or using ready made products. 

This year we will continue to make more of our lunch and snack foods.  We now make our macaroni cheese at the canteen.  There are currently only two lunch items that are not made by canteen ( lasagne and pies).  Every other lunch is either wholly or partially made by canteen with healthier wholefood ingredients.  I hope this helps with lunch choices.

I hope this quick guide is helpful. If you have any questions please direct them to me via the front office during my work hours of 9.30am -2pm