20 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

Byford Primary News

Please assist us in reducing vandalism at the school by contacting one of the telephone numbers listed below if you notice any suspicious behaviour on the school grounds.

Upcoming dates to remember:

End of Year Concert 2019

All classes performed wonderfully at their End of Year Concert last year. Well done to everyone involved in making it a huge success and congratulation to all our award winners.

Principal’s Report

Dear Families and Friends

Welcome to the 2020 school year. I trust that you had a restful and enjoyable break and that your children (and you) are excited to return to school.

Staffing 2020

This year we welcome Ms Eva Harris to our staff and at the end of last year we said goodbye to Ms Alison Frampton. The remainder of the staff is the same as last year. We have two groups of Kindy children at Byford Primary School and one group at the Byford Community Kindy.

The following is a list of staff for the start of 2020 and this is correct as the time of printing.

School Hours

Students are not encouraged to arrive at school before 8:30am. Students arriving before 8:30am are required to be seated in the Undercover area until rooms are opened at 8:35am. Games are not permitted at this time.

Late Arrivals at School

All students arriving at school after 8.45am must report to the School Office to collect a late pass before going to their class. The time they arrive at school will be recorded on the School Roll by the office staff. Students who do not collect a late pass will be sent up to the office by the class teacher to obtain one.

Leave Passes

To ensure the safety of all students, parents are requested, when removing students from school during the hours of instruction, to arrange for a Leave Pass from the school office before collecting the students from the classroom. Teachers will not release students from the classroom without a leave pass being presented and parents will be redirected to the office.

Attendance

Under the Education Act 1999 all absences from school must be explained. In order to access the full curriculum, and give your child the best chance of success, the Department recommends the rate of 95% attendance. The chart below gives a breakdown of the amount of time missed in a year, and if maintained, how it impacts on the future education of your child.

Legitimate reasons for absence are genuine illness, or medical appointments that could not reasonably be expected to be made outside school hours. We request you to advise us via our website, on the Absence Reporting tab on our newsletter, by phone or in writing, if your student is likely to be absent for an extended period of time.

If you remove your child from school for a family holiday during the term, permission must be sought from the Principal.

Student Update Forms

Student Update forms are being sent home with students. Please check your details carefully and return your form to the front office as soon as possible, even if there are no corrections required. It is important that student records are kept up to date throughout the year. Should there be any change to address, contact, medical or access restriction details, please advise the school immediately.

Canteen

Our canteen will continue to operate Monday and Friday during Term 1. Ms Stacey Adey will manage the canteen during this time. Our canteen can only operate if we have parent help on both days. If you are able to support the canteen by volunteering your time, please contact Stacey. Any time that you have would be appreciated – whether it is once a week, once or twice a term.

Parking when picking up students

The beginning of the year has seen some issues with parking around the school, especially when picking up in the afternoon. Please be very careful as you are reversing out of parking bays. Some of our children are small and cannot be seen easily when they are behind cars. The disabled bay in the staff car park is for ACROD parking only. If you are not eligible to park in the disabled bay, you may receive a fine. Our Rangers have been out and about and at this stage they are giving warnings. Please abide by the signs so that you don’t receive a fine.

School Board Membership

This year we are requiring some new School Board members. Please read the attached to find out what being a member of our School Board involves and how to nominate.

Rotating Councillors

Our rotating councillors for Term 1 are Ella G and Kaitlyn R – congratulations girls!

Sue Heath
Principal
Ph 9526 6300 / Mb 040 937 0903
Email: Suzanne.Heath@education.wa.edu.au

Room 9 & 10

Library

Students who wish to borrow books from the Library must have a library bag. It’s important that we take care of our precious books. Here are our other book care rules:

Merit Certificates

Congratulations to all students who received Merit Awards. Well done and keep up the good work!

Nurse News

Welcome to the new school year from the Child and Adolescent Community Health Nurses.

Jane Skoll will be visiting the school regularly throughout the year and she is available to discuss any health concerns you may have about your child. Her contact details are: 9391 2289, 0429 566 905 or through the school. I am also available on email: jane.skoll@health.wa.gov.au

Chaplain Chatter

Hi everyone and welcome back to a new year and a new season. Many people are already facing great hardships. With that in mind I would like to retell the old Chinese proverb I told at the end of the last year.

If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap.
If you want to be happy for a week, go fishing.
If you want to happy for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help someone.

I would like to give a big shout out and thank you to all the people that are helping the victims of the bush fires both in the Eastern States and here in WA. Thank you to the fire fighters, the pilots of the aircraft dropping water to put out the fires, all the people taking food and blankets to the towns to help those people in great need.

Thank you to everyone who helps someone in need who requires some form of help. Your kindness will never be forgotten. Food for thought.

Joe Grida
School Chaplain

Fathering Project

As part of The Fathering Project involvement with your school I will be including helpful tips and ideas for all fathers and father-figures. I hope these tips will help, inspire and encourage all fathers and father-figures to be the best that they can be, as all fathers and father-figures are critically important in every child’s life.

Payment Options for Excursions, Incursions and Voluntary Contributions

To ease the financial burden on families over the year, we encourage parents to make payments throughout the year, to be assigned to fees, excursions and swimming etc. This can be as a regular weekly or fortnightly payment, or whenever you have some money available. See Jill Walker, in the front office to arrange this. Jill will be able to provide a breakdown of payments made, if required.

Direct Bank Deposit

Pay directly into the Byford Primary School’s bank account. Simply access your internet banking service provider and pay to the following account:

Please enter the name of your child and the purpose of the payment in the description field i.e A Smith Zoo Exc.

Please DO NOT use this account for P&C payments.

EFTPOS

Byford Primary School have an EFTPOS machine as an option for you to pay for school fees, excursions and incursions. The EFTPOS machine can ONLY be used to pay for Byford Primary School expenses.

• There is NO “cash out” option on the machine, and
• We are unable to take any payments for the P&C

Cash or Cheque

Payments by cash or cheque can be made at the Front Office for Voluntary Contributions. If you are paying for an Excursion or Incursion, please take your payment to your child’s teacher so it can be processed through their money book.

Don’t Forget Your Hat

Please remember to bring your hat to school each day. It is important to protect ourselves from the sun. Your hat must be wide brim or bucket style.

Students who do not have a hat will not be able to participate in sport / fitness or any outside activity and will be restricted to the undercover area. So please remember - No Hat, No Play!

P&C Association & Year 6 Fundraising News

P&C AGM

The P & C are holding their Annual General Meeting on Thursday 20th Feb at 6:00pm in the Library. All positions are now vacant and need to be filled for 2019. Nominations can be sent via email to ByfordPrimaryPandC@hotmail.com before the AGM. Should you have any questions contact Hayley Edwards via facebook or email.

Canteen

The Byford Primary School Canteen is open for recess and lunch on Monday and Friday. Orders can be made direct to the canteen, or through QuickCliq:

If you have any spare time on a Monday or Friday, volunteers are required to help in the canteen.

New Canteen Menu available here:

School Banking

New to School Banking? There are three simple ways to get your child started.

Banking is held every Friday morning in the Library – we look forward to seeing you there!

Uniform Shop

The QuickCliq ordering system is an easy and convenient way to order your child’s uniform. QuickCliq is approved by the Department of Education, it’s free, safe and secure. You can use Paypal or Credit Card for immediate payment. You can also use Direct Deposit. To sign up, click this link below:

Orders can still be placed at Uniform Shop which opens every second Wednesday afternoon from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. The Wednesday will be on the even weeks of each term, which is also assembly day. Payment can be made by cash or cheque only at the Uniform Shop. If you are unable to visit the Uniform Shop on a Wednesday, order forms (with payment) can be left at the Front Office. Please ensure there is a name and contact number provided.