15 February 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Welcome to - 2023

The artwork from our Science Week theme for Glass is up on our wall.
Thank you to the School Association for helping fund this beautiful piece.

It has been wonderful seeing so many happy faces this week. The students are happy to be back with their friends and there is a very settled feeling in the school. Students are settling back into routines, renewing and making new friends, getting to know their new class expectations and generally getting back to learning

Staff

We have a few staff changes for this year.

Jessica Dilger is coming to us from Margate and is working on the 5/6 (M-W) with Steve Jeffrey.

Hello, my name is Jess Dilger. I am in my 13th year of teaching and really enjoy teaching in the upper primary area. My husband and I have two young boys who keep us busy. Teddy is four and Felix is two. Some things I love to do are spending time with my family and traveling to new places.

Sharni Adderton is returning to us after a year away and will be taking Drama on Mondays and the Year 2 class on Fridays.

Flora Cheng has also returned to us after a year’s leave and will take up her role teaching Chinese to our students on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Jesse Jia is our English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher working with students on Fridays. Jesse worked with us in in the last half of 2022.

Roos Klomp, our Art teacher, is currently on leave and Ms Joey Arnold will be taking Art during this time.

Clare Lanning is our new Psychologist who will be with us every second Thursday. We would like to thank Nikki Saunders for her incredible work in the role of psychologist for our school for many years.

Staff Professional Learning

On Monday and Tuesday last week staff were at school participating in professional learning as well as having some time to set up classrooms. We did some learning and planning around our whole school priority of Student Agency. This term students will be learning about their Character Strengths and how setting goals can help them in their learning. Student agency is about students being participants in their learning rather than recipients. We will be sharing more about this priority on the coming weeks.

We shared our updated Student Engagement and Wellbeing strategies, heard from specialists how to support students with sensory needs by the way we set up our classrooms as well as learning about Maths Mindset norms and some inspiring maths activities for our students. Numeracy is our other school priority, and we will share more about our student maths journeys are the year progresses.

Meet the Teacher and Parent Communication

We are able to have our Meet the Teacher sessions this year face to face 😊.

These sessions will be on Wednesday 22nd February, after school. Teachers will talk to you about their classroom expectations, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the running of the classroom. Students will be supervised outside in the Northern Yard during this time. The sessions will be in your child’s classroom.

• Kinder – 3:00-3:15
• P-2 -3:15 3:35
• 3/4s & 4/5– 3:40-4:00
• 5/6 – 4:05-4:25

Curriculum Overview letters will be sent out soon or handed out at the Meet the Teacher session. Specialists will also share what they will be doing and their class expectations.

Class teachers will be making phone contact with families in week 4 (27/2 -2/3) to have a chat about how your child has settled into school, their aptitude to learning and give you the opportunity to share information about your child, their interests, feelings about school and anything else you feel would be relevant to the teacher to support your child with their learning and wellbeing. There is a booking system for you to allocate a time suitable for this phone conversation. Information will go out shortly.

If your child has a Learning Plan, you will not have a phone call during this week. Your child’s teacher will organise a meeting after we have updated the Learning Plans. This will be later in the term.

Please remember that any time you have any concerns or questions you can make a time to speak with your child’s teachers.

Lockdown Drill

As you would know we have regular fire drills to ensure everyone knows what to do. We had a few extra of these last year, even a couple during the fair 😊. We are also required to drill for lock down. This is for if there is a bad weather event or a safety issue or even an accident near our site. We have recently updated our lockdown procedure and will be having a drill during this term.

Swimming Carnival

Due to changes in timetables, particularly NAPLAN now being in Term 1, we have had our 3-6 swimming carnival yesterday. We would like to thank Ms Renee Britton for all the planning she did at the end of last term and during the holidays to get this up and running so early in the term. Also well done to all the parents for getting their forms back so quickly to ensure your children had the opportunity to participate.

Once again it was a great session and lovely to see so many children shine, persevere and even some being brave and getting into a pool for the first time.

Thank you to our parent helpers.

Remember, if you want to help at our school for excursions, sporting events, canteen or inside the classrooms, you do need a current Working with Vulnerable People card.

Congratulation Albuera!    Well Done to all competitors!

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is now this term from Wednesday 15th March until the 24th. All Year 3 and 5 students around Australia will be participating at this time. We will be sending information out soon. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to your child’s teacher.

Parent tip – Helping your child through friendship issues.

From Alexandra’s Big Life Journal

Looking forward to a fantastic 2023, where we can get back to engaging more often with families in our school. 😊

Jo Waldon
Principal

Important dates coming up:

Wednesday 22nd Feb – Meet the Teacher

Parents Phone calls on week 5

Harmony Day – Thursday 23rd March

School Association

School Association – First Update for 2023

Welcome back to school everyone! We hope families have had a safe, restful and enjoyable summer holiday.

Safer Ways to School Plan

Work is continuing on this project despite the sad departure of the Ross family from our school; they will be missed! Ted Ross has kindly agreed to see the plan through to its conclusion, for which we are extremely grateful. Further updates will follow as things progress in the coming weeks.

Fundraising and contributions

We had hoped to have some artwork from local artist Cathy Edwards installed over the school holidays but this proved a little ambitious! We are working with Cathy to develop a budget and refine current ideas with school management, with the hope that we will start to see some new artwork appearing before the end of term.

Association Committee for 2023 and next meeting – WE WOULD LOVE YOU TO GET INVOLVED!

The Association again invites all parents, carers and guardians who may be interested in joining the Association Committee in 2023 to please get in touch with us! The Association Committee is heavily reliant on volunteers from our school community for its ongoing viability and success. The Association Committee can have up to 15 members. The Committee now only has 6 members (with Ted Ross having recently retired), 2 of whom will either retire or nominate for re-election for another two-year term at the next Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) of the Association. As previously advised, the Committee’s current Chairperson, Alastair Oxbrough, is also retiring from the Committee following the next AGM.

Our first Committee meeting for 2023 will on Wednesday, 22 February 2022 at 6pm via Teams. This would be a great time for anyone interested in joining the Association Committee to learn a bit more about what the Association does and how you may be able to help. If you would like to attend, please send an email to albuerastreetpssa@gmail.com with your preferred email address, so that we can send you an invite to the Teams Meeting.

The AGM will then be held on Wednesday, 29 March 2023 at 6pm. Immediately after the AGM, there will be a regular Association Committee meeting at which the new Committee will vote in its new officeholders (Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer) for the following 12-month period. While you don’t have to be an officeholder to be on the Committee, the Association would love to see some new faces taking up officeholding positions (particularly the Chairperson role, given Alastair’s retirement).

If you would like to nominate for a position on the Committee, please complete the attached nomination form and return it to albuerastreetpssa@gmail.com. We will issue further reminders prior to the AGM. You can also contact us at albuerastreetpssa@gmail.com or call our Chairperson, Alastair Oxbrough, on 0400 818 636, if you would like more information.

Finally, if you don’t want to be on the Committee but would just like to volunteer for the Association in other ways (e.g., organising or helping out at our fundraising events), then please do get in touch. The Association welcomes any and all support and we would always love to hear from you!

Launching into Learning

Please Note: LiL will be on Thursday afternoon this year at 1.45 pm to 2.45 starting tomorrow on the 16th February.

Athletics Carnival – Monday 27th

Below is the letter and program for the Carnival next week.

Please fill out form below if you are available to help.

COVID-safe behaviours reminder

COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses (like the flu) are still circulating in Tasmania. The official COVID-19 risk level has been raised to ‘Moderate’.

Together, we need to keep practising our COVID-safe behaviours to manage the risk.

Simple things we can do:

• do not come to school if unwell – stay home and test
• stay at home while you have symptoms, regardless of the result of a rapid antigen test (RAT)
• cover coughs and sneezes and wash your hands with soap and water, or alcohol-based sanitiser
• try to stay a reasonable distance away from others when you can
• consider wearing a face mask if you wish to – they are readily available for use at the school.

All students should ensure they have access to a quantity of RATs. If you need RATs, please ask for them at the school office so they are in your home ready for use if symptoms develop.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

For any COVID-19 enquiries, please contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline  on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Canteen 2023

Welcome to the Albuera St Primary School Canteen for 2023.

For those families new to the school (and to remind the old), the Canteen operates on Fridays and provides both recess and lunch options. It is available to all staff, students and any Friday volunteers. Orders must be submitted by 10.00 am Thursday with food being delivered to classes by 11.00 am for recess and 12.50 for lunch.

To submit an order, parents/ carers must install the Qkr! app and follow it to Albuera St. Remember to update the class information. It is very important to specify your child’s class – not just the year – and use the correct teacher initial as there are multiple classes in each year. Seriously, it really helps to get orders to your child.

Food, except for Sushi and bread, is made in house and fresh on Fridays. Menus are similar to last year. Specials are published in the newsletter each fortnight. In some situations, menus can be adapted to accommodate food allergies or intolerances. If your child is vegetarian/ vegan or have another cultural consideration please let me know to prevent accidents. Again, in some situation’s food can be adapted. The canteen is “Nut Aware”, like the rest of the school, but not considered to be nut free. That said, I do endeavour to prevent nut products entering the canteen space.

If there are questions relating to menus, please feel free to contact me on the number below or drop into the canteen on either Thursday or Friday morning.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, the canteen will not start operation until the 3rd March.

Volunteers

The canteen cannot nor will not operate without the help of parent/carer volunteers. The canteen will not start operation until there are sufficient volunteers. Kids love it when the important adults in their lives help. This can be parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or family friends. Please note a working with vulnerable people card is required. Usually volunteers are required from 9 to 2ish. However, shorter time periods can be negotiated to fit in with busy schedules. If you can help, please contact me on 0417 559 920 or fill out form below.

Please remember to choose the correct order date on the Qkr! App.

Caron Summers
Canteen Manager
Canteen Specials

GETI – Temporary Residents Info

Is your child a Temporary visa holder enrolled with an Authority to Enrol letter from GETI?

Remember to let GETI know if any of your child’s details change, including:

• contact details (address, phone, email);
• a new visa is granted by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA);
• change of school or intention to move away from Tasmania.

GETI often send email newsletters or important reminders – remember to check your email junk folders if you haven’t seen anything from them in a while.

Email: trp@geti.tas.gov.au

Masks update

Public Health has advised that from Monday 27 June 2022, face masks are no longer mandatory in schools and Child and Family Learning Centres. This is because of reduced COVID-19 cases in our community.

It’s important to continue to:

• stay at home if unwell, and get tested
• practise COVID-safe behaviours such as frequent handwashing and sanitising
• be up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations.

Students, staff and visitors are supported to continue to wear face masks if they choose to. Face masks are still available at our school if you need them.

When face masks are required

If you’re a close contact , you are still required to wear a face mask indoors as per current Public Health advice.

From time-to-time our school might identify activities or situations where masks are required to be worn. We ask for your support when this happens and know that it is in the best interests of our students, staff and our school.

Our staff will continue to wear masks when working closely with students who are vulnerable to COVID-19.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us directly to discuss.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au  or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Uniform Times

This year as we are setting times available for the purchase of uniforms.

Tuesdays: 2.30pm to 3.00pm
Thursdays: 8.30 am to 9.15am

Orders can be made and paid for over the phone and be ready to pick up at an arranged time if the above times do not suit you.

LEVIES REMINDER

Thank you to parents who have paid levies and to those who are making regular payments. Levies are now overdue, if you are experiencing difficulties with making payments, please contact Annette and discuss a payment plan. Payments can be made weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Payment Options

• BPay, Service Tasmania, Eftpos
• Credit Card over the phone (6223 2268)
• Cheque payable to Albuera Street Primary School
• Levy Instalment Plan (Please contact Annette.reggett@education.tas.gov.au or 6223 2268)

Student Medications

It is a Department of Education requirement that all medications to be taken by students during the school day are to be passed into the office or teacher in charge of an excursion or camp. The medications require a signed doctor/pharmacist as well as parent permission form (these forms are available in the Forms and Documents panel in the newsletter or at the office). The medication is also to be in the original packaging so that staff know what they are administering. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Medical Action Plans

Every child at Albuera Street Primary with a medical condition needs to supply an updated medical plan to the school each year, especially those with Anaphylaxis and Asthma. Staff from Albuera have been trained in Anaphylaxis using EpiPens and also in Ventolin administration for Asthma. If you are new to the school and your child has a medical condition please come into the office and collect an appropriate action plan form, or if you just have questions please don’t hesitate to phone the school.

Working with Vulnerable People Card Reminder

Sign In Requirements and Checks

New requirements for record keeping have been in effect from August 2018 which specifies that all sites are required to keep visitor sign in registers. All volunteers, external providers, contractors and visitors (where appropriate) must sign in using the visitor register.

A DoE site must request the RWVP card and perform a status check via the DoJ website each time someone presents at or attends a site in their respective capacity. The status check will return current information and indicate any conditions applying to a registration.

If a search fails to return information, this indicates a change in registration has occurred. DoE staff at the worksite must sign off on the visitor register to confirm that RWVP verification has occurred.

The Department requirement is that you must present your RWVP card EVERY time you sign in.

Information for those who need to apply for WWVP card

To volunteer at this school, you will be required to hold a “Registration to Work with Vulnerable People”. It is extremely important that parent helpers and volunteers are registered and Albuera Street Primary School is recorded in your application.

How to apply for a WWVP Card

Complete the online application form. This is available from the website at the link below:

Chose Department of Education from the organisation drop-down box and also select Albuera Street Primary School from the location drop-down box. Please remember each time to volunteer at the school you need to bring your card each time.

Sickness

Parents/carers are reminded to advise the school office if their child is unable to attend school due to illness or any other reason.

• By phone (62232268) leave a message anytime on the answering machine.
• Email albuera.street.primary@education.tas.gov.au
• Schoolzine – click on the absentee tab

A medical certificate is required if a child is absent due to illness for 5 days or more

Nut Allergy – Reminder

We have a number of students in our school who are allergic to nuts and nut products. Exposure to nuts can trigger an allergic reaction and be life-threatening for these students, so please avoid sending nuts or nut based products to school. We aim to keep our school as nut-free as possible to keep our students safe.

After School Care

ASC is provided on site by Lady Gowrie Child Care Services (Ph: 6230 6806).
ASC is available from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm each school day and 1.00pm – 3.00pm Thursday for Kinder.

Term Dates for 2023

Community Notices