Dear Parents,

CHILD SAFE STANDARDS

The Victorian Government is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young peo-

ple. As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of

the Betrayal of Trust report, which found that more must be done to prevent and respond to child

abuse in our community, there is a new regulatory landscape surrounding child safety, underpinned

by new Child Safe Standards. The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for

all Victorian early childhood services and schools, to ensure they are well prepared to protect chil-

dren from abuse and neglect.

All Victorian schools (Government and non-Government) are required to review and update their

policies and procedures to ensure that they are compliant with Ministerial Order 890. As such our

staff and school council is currently reviewing its Child Safe Policy, Code of Conduct, and Recruit-

ment of staff and Reporting of child abuse procedures.

Further details about each of these policies and documents will be provided to the whole school

community when available.

END OF DAY PICK-UP

School finishes at 3:15 each day. The school provides supervision until 3:30 each day. We have a

bell that goes at 3:30 to indicate that supervision has concluded for the day.

The school DOES NOT provide supervision for students after 3:30pm. Children who are not

collected by 3:30 will be placed in the After School Care program and parents will be charged for

this service.

If you are running late then we kindly ask that you ring the school on 9366 2071 to let us

know. Please arrange to pick your children up before 3:30 each day.

PARENT OPINION SURVEY

Each year we send out Parent Opinion Surveys to a randomly generated list of parents.

This is one way we ask families to provide us with feedback about how the school is going. This

year we sent the survey to over 60 families. I do want to sincerely thank the parents who received

the survey and sent this back to the school. This is greatly appreciated.

2017 ENROLMENTS

Do you have a child who will turn 5 by April 30th next year? If so the child is eligible to start school

and now is the time to enrol. Please contact the school on 9366 2071 so that enrolment package

can be sent home and to make an appointment to meet with me to discuss your child’s start to

From The Principal

Newsletter No. 13

5 August, 2016

Mon: Sandra

Tue: Marion

Wed: Marion

Thurs: Jane

Fri: Jackie

PRINCIPAL:

Anne-Maree Kliman

St Albans East Primary School

Station Avenue, St Albans, 3021

PHONE:

9366 2071

FAX:

9366 4237

EMAIL:

st.albans.east.ps@edumail.

vic.gov.au

“E

xc

ell

en

ce

in

Ed

uc

ati

on

”

Sch

oo

l N

ews

Visit our web site at www.saeps.vic.edu.au

12 August-3-6 Athletics

29 August– 5/6 Sport Museum & MCG excursion

31 August– Water Safety- Life Saving Victoria

7 September– Sticks n Stones— Whole School Incursion

Important Dates Canteen Roster

Page 2

school life.

Children enrolled to start prep in 2017 are encouraged to attend the First Steps program that runs on a Friday morning from 9:15

to 10:45. This program is part of our schools orientation program that assists the children to transition into school. Currently we

have about 30 students who are regularly attending this program weekly. We will also be conducting two formal sessions in No-

vember.

PARENT PARTICIPATION

Each year the school has excursions and a camp and we encourage parents to attend these events as it offers great support to

staff and students. . We strongly encourage parent participation as we know that has a positive impact on children. Increasing

parent participation is also one of our goals in our current School Strategic Plan.

To volunteer in a school or attend excursions/camps you need to have a Working with Children Check.

Only parents with Working with Children Checks (WWCC) will be allowed to assist at excursions and volunteer their time. The

office staff are happy to help parents apply for a WWCC or alternatively you can apply on line at: http://

www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

NATIONALCENSUS OF POPULATION& HOUSING You might already be aware that the next Census of Population and Housing will be held on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The data collected supports planning, policy and funding decisions for a range of local services and infrastructure, including in the area of education. The Census aims to count every person in Australia, wherever they are staying on Census night. You will receive a unique code to access the census in the mail. The census can be found at: https://www.census.abs.gov.au/eCensusWeb/welcome.jsp#top2 ACCIDENTAL INJURIES

The Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Student accident insurance may be taken out by parents/guardians. Contact the office if you would like further information about how to purchase Student acci-dent Insurance. SCHOOL POLICIES Schools are required as part of their registration with the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority (VRQA) to have policies and procedures to help them guide the actions of all individuals involved in the school. They ensure and endorse the well-being of all families, children, staff, volunteers and everyone who is connected to the school. When policies and procedures are well thought out and, most importantly, implemented they provide common understanding and agreement on how things should be done at the service. Procedures provide clear instructions and guidelines on what should/must be done in a particular set of circumstances or with regard to a particular issue. For the above reason I will now include a school policy as a regular feature of our school newsletter. This week I have included the School Attendance Policy.

Attendance Policy

St Albans East Primary School

Date: May 2016

Anne-Maree Kliman Principal

Rationale The Education Act 1958 requires that children of school age (six-seventeen years) residing in Victoria

are required to be in full-time attendance at a government or registered non-government school unless

they are receiving approved home tuition, correspondence education, or have been granted an exemp-

Aim To maximise student learning opportunities and performance by ensuring that children required to

attend school do so regularly without unnecessary absences.

Implementation All enrolled students are required to attend school unless reasonable and valid grounds exist for them

to be absent. The Department of Education and Training (DET) absences codes are to be used to indicate the type

of absence. Parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children attend school regularly, and are only absent

if ill or in consultation with the principal. Parents have a responsibility to provide a written note or return a completed absence form or phone/

email to the school explaining why an absence has occurred. The principal has a responsibility to ensure that attendance records are maintained and monitored at

school. All student absences are recorded in both the morning and the afternoon by teachers, are aggregated

on our eCASES database and communicated to the Department of Education and Training. Teachers use Compass, (Compass is a modular, web-based school management platform), to mark the

class rolls twice a day which is then exported on a weekly basis to eCASES. The Department of Education and Training and enrolment auditors may seek student attendance rec-

ords. The principal has a further responsibility to ensure that unexplained absences are investigated, and

that high levels of absenteeism are adequately explained. An educational support staff member will be provided with time each day to make phone calls to fam-

ilies when students are absent. On the 3rd consecutive day a student is absent their classroom teacher will make a phone call to the

family. Principal/Nominee will contact parents of students with high levels of unexplained or unapproved

absences, with the view to developing and implementing strategies to minimise absences. Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding student attendance will result in a

formal attendance conference being organised. Unresolved attendance issues may be reported by

the principal to the Department of Human Services. Student attendance and absence figures will appear on student half year and end of year reports. Aggregated student attendance data is reported to DET and the wider community each year as part of

the annual report.

Evaluation This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.

Review Year 2019