NEW BUS ROUTES

Good News for families who live in the Maryland/Fletcher area with new school bus routes servicing the area announced this week. Changes to routes starting on Tuesday 15 June means that some families will now be able to catch the bus to school in the mornings from estates further along Minmi Rd than at present. A new bus (Route 261 at 8:21am in Waterside Dr) will link with the 6248 at 8:23am at the Community Centre on Kuraka Dr. 

Parents can check this link to look at the route maps and timetables:

https://qrgo.page.link/DEdwJ

Hopefully this will benefit more families from this area.

KINDER ENROLMENTS

We will be starting the enrolment process with interviews and offer positions for Kinder 2022. Parents who are enrolling for next year should contact Leanne in the office to arrange an interview appointment over the next two weeks.

HIGH SCHOOL ENROLMENT

Those families seeking High School enrolment at San Clemente next year and have not sent in enrolment forms should do so as soon as possible to ensure they receive an offer placement.

TRAFFIC

It is encouraging to see parents being mindful of the traffic along Lovell Pde during drop off and pick up times. Some hints to keep in mind:

• No U-turn on Lovell Pde
• Move to the end of the stopping area to drop off - you CAN stop and drop off in the No Parking spot
• Don't have conversations on the road
• Drive slowly
• Know where your children are
• Be mindful of time limits in the morning in the drop off zone
• Park in the church car park if you are coming into school -- no matter how short your visit
• Don't use the Disabled Zone if you are not displaying the required permit
• Stop or park on the correct side of the road

All these hints will keep your children safer during these times and also avaoid any fines if there is a surpise visit from the council parking rangers or police.

DISCO

I am sure everyone is looking forward to the Disco tomorrow night. It is a MASKerade theme and I am looking forward to seeing all the weird and funny masks bopping around the dance floor from 6:30pm.

Just a reminder that children are in the care of their parents (or arrranged minders) for the evening which finishes at 8:30pm. Don't forget to get you dinner orders in by tomorrow morning.

PLANTING DAY

On Tuesday 15 June, Years 3 & 4 will be participating in a Tree Planting activity with the Wallsend/Shortland Landcare and Newcastle City Council.  The children will be part of an exercise to get 2500 trees, shrubs and grasses into the ground along Crawchie Creek just on the other side of Derna St. They will walk to the planting site to be briefed at 9:30am and will finish their shift at 10:30 to return to school.

As the site could be a little damp, the children may bring gum boots or a change of shoes to work in.

It should be a great practical example of the studies Yrs 3 & 4 are doing in their HSIE unit.

SCHOOL REPORTS 

The children are currently experiencing end of Semester assessments which will be used in conjunction with the on-going assessments to formulate a report for parents on the progress of their children. These reports will be available from the end of week 9. Parents will be able to access the reports through the COMPASS App and online. Please check that you access is working properly. Contact the office if you are experiencing difficulties.

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS

There will be some changes with Parent/Teacher Interviews this year. We will not be having a pupil free day to hold these. Teachers will be offering times to parents who are asked to make appointments during the last week of the term. Some may be during school hours and some after. Please look out on your child's class COMPASS news for details as the time approaches.

LIFE EDUCATION VISIT

On Friday of Week 9 & Monday of Week 10 we will be visited by the LIFE EDUCATION van. The children will participate in the program of Personal Development and Health. Please look out for the Event Permission and payment on COMPASS next week. The cost will be $12.00 per child.

SLEEP OUT

The school launches it St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal on Thursday 24 June. Staff and students from years 3 to 6 are invited to a sleep over in the school hall. Mrs Dunn and the Mini Vinnies are organising a hot drink for supper and breakfast the next morning. The “wintery cold” hall will give the children a feeling of how the homeless and poor people experience a cold winter’s night. The rest of the school will be coming to school in their Pyjamas the next day for a donation and a BBQ lunch will be available. All proceeds will go to the local St Vincent de Paul chapter.

CASHLESS OFFICE

One of the limits withing the new Finance system is its aversion to cash and how that is managed. As it is closely linked to COMPASS, one of its great assets is how parents can pay for different things via the Events and Apps. One of our aims in the office is to get parents use to the idea of paying accounts, excursions, etc via the COMPASS and the APPs. We have been looking at a payment APP called QKR which many of our parents might already have had experience with their high school children, to make payments even easier.

There will be occasions of course where cash is the only option such as fundraisers, canteen, BBQ's etc. These will mainly be in the P&F domain and will be accepted, though cashless will be encouraged by the office where practical.

PAPERLESS OFFICE

The other advantage to having COMPASS and TechOne as our service platforms is their close link to each other. We are now able to link payments and permissions in one space and we aim to encourage this. The first trial was with our Athletics Carnival (though no payment is required). The permission note and information went home to parents via COMPASS and most families responded quickly and without fuss. There were a couple of glitches but resetting passwords seemed to overcome these.

The other advantage is that permission notes won't get lost in the movement to and from school, or if a child is absent when they are given out etc. They will always be there in COMPASS under EVENTS. Just click on the EVENT for your child, read, APPROVE and PAY all at the touch of the screen. The next PAPERLESS contact will be nominating for events at the Athletics Carnival (See SPORTS NEWS for details)

MRS HINGSTON'S RETURN

I am pleased to let parents (especially of Year 1) know that Mrs Hingston will be returning to duties from the beginning of Week 9 after her Maternity Leave. She is very excited about returning to her class and is looking forward to meeting her class and joining our community again.

SOO1

It was good to see the worst team ever win the SOO series last year. Can't wait to see the blues sent home with their tails between their legs next week from Townsville. Good luck to the mghty Maroons next Wednesday. If anyone is game to wear their colours next Wednesday, feel free.

NAMELESS CHICKENS

We have two young hens running around our chook pen without a name. We are going to have to give them a name. So-- if you can think of some fun names for our two new chickens, send them into the NAMING COMP with a 20c donation to Vinnies. At the end of next week we will draw two name out at random. You can make as many suggestions as you like for 20cents each.