Welcome back to Term 3.

Please keep an eye on the newsletter & weekly parent memo for upcoming events.

During the next 2 weeks we are celebrating NAIDOC Week by have a smoking ceremony in in our Yarning Circle & planting a tree as a start to our bush tucker garden on this Friday. We thank Delise from Pejar Land Council who is leading the ceremony . She has also invited us to be part of helping with a bush tucker garden being established just down the road from our school. It is great for us to access people & resources and be involved in a community project. The tree is being donated by the Council to support National Tree day.  

Year 6 students will be attending the annual NAIDOC Mass and awards on next Thursday 31^st July at the Cathedral .
Next Friday 1^st August will be busy with Kindergarten celebrating 100 days of school & our Fundraising Walkathon. Our fundraising goal is to raise money to improve our playground.

I hope you will support these events.

Mark your calendar for the ART Show to be held on THURSDAY 4^th September . There will be a special grandparents showing from 10.30am & for families from straight after school till 6pm that day.

A reminder that no students should be on the grounds till 8.30am when formal supervision begins.

Pick UP AREA & Traffic flow around the school.

I have been in discussions with local council about the traffic issues around the school especially after school. I would encourage people to study our newsletter which has a very clear explanation about accessing the car line. In the afternoons especially you must not queue cars in Knox Street. Buses are being blocked as they  come up Knox Street . You also can be fined for not following the signage. When using car line we ask people to move right forward as we are trying to load 4 cars at a time to keep the traffic flowing. 

I have few ideas about how we might improve how children are picked up but these will need to be worked through in joint consultation with Council & School.

Our number one goal is children’s safety and I urge people to be patient & follow the rules we have established.

Attendance

I am obligated by law to keep an eye on attendance rates at school . Below is a guide to acceptable & concerning attendance rates.

From time to time I will need to write to parents to note their child’s attendance is falling below the 80% level. If your child is absent because they have an illness or for personal family reasons that goes on more than 3 days it is a good idea to let the school know.

If attendance rates don’t improve you will be called to a meeting to set up an attendance plan. Continued frequent absences could lead to court appearances or a mandatory Child safety report.

My advice is to keep up open communication with the school about why your child attendance might be a concern  and any issues that are stopping them from having a good attendance record

CECG identifies the following levels of attendance:

Excellent Attendance 95% and above (e.g. 2.5 days absence or less in a term or 10 absences over a year)

Regular Attendance 90%-94.9% (e.g. 2.6 to 5 days absence in a term or 10.1 -20 absences in a year)

Emerging Absenteeism 80%-89.9% (e.g. 5.1 to 10 days absence in a term or 20.1 - 40 absences in a year)

Chronic Absenteeism Less than 80% (e.g. more than 10 days absence in a term or 40 absences in a year)