2 April 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.

Principal’s Report

Dear Families and Friends,

During these truly uncertain times we are struggling to come to terms with the changes we all need to make to ensure our own, our families and the wider population’s health and wellbeing.

COVID-19 Update

As outlined by the Premier of WA, if parents have the capacity to keep their kids at home, they should do so for the remainder of the school term. The Government recognises there will still be families who must send their children to school. These may include:

• Children of frontline and emergency service personnel and other essential workers.
• Children of parents and carers who need their children to attend school to maintain employment.
• Children who live in families with aged relatives.
• Children where it is safer for them to be at school.

In Week 10 (6 to 8 April) teachers and education assistants will be preparing teaching programs for the possibility that an alternate education model may be required throughout Term 2 and beyond. During this time (6 to 8 April), no teaching will occur however students who attend school will be supervised.

As to what the future holds for schools, I am still waiting to be informed as to whether schools will be open or not next term. As soon as a decision is made by the Government and the Education Department lets me know, I will be passing this onto parents as soon as possible.

Learning from Home Resources

The staff have been working together to develop a common format for our Learning from Home programs for now and into the future months should they be required. The staff will be adopting the same format across year levels and classes so that there is consistency and continuity school wide. When developed, these documents and resources will be uploaded to our Byford Primary School Website and will be found under the School Life tab. All you will need to do is go to the year levels your children are in and download the relevant documents. To this end, teachers will be developing a weekly Learning at Home Timetable which is an overview of what should be covered that week. There will also be a Daily Timetable and Resources package for each year level which corresponds to the weekly overview. As soon as this is active parents will be informed.

Along with this, teachers will still be contactable through Dojo as usual. However, I do ask that parents are respectful of teachers and not contact them outside of regular school hours. It is important for our staff to have their personal time to look after their families and take care of their own health and wellbeing.

Inability to access the Internet

Parents, it is critical that you to let the school know if you do not have internet access for your child/children to access the Learning from Home resources. Alternative strategies will need to be put in place for these children so that they still have access to the learning program while at home.

ANZAC Day

Unfortunately, this service has been cancelled due to COVID-19. This is in line with all services around Australia also being cancelled.

NAPLAN

All NAPLAN testing for 2020 has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

End of Term

Our final day for students for Term 1 Wednesday 8th April. School holidays for Byford Primary School commence on Thursday 9th April. Should schools be open fully for Term 2, students will return to school on Tuesday 28th April as Monday 27th April is a public holiday.

To finish, I’d like to thank you for all your support over the past few weeks for both myself and all the staff at Byford Primary School. I hope you all stay safe and well over the coming weeks. Look after yourselves and your families. It is important that we support each other during this crisis, together, while staying apart.

Sue Doncon
Principal
Ph 9526 6300
Email: Susan.Doncon@education.wa.edu.au

Room 11

In Room 11 our Pre Primary and Year 1 students made tangram pictures in Maths. We made pictures of fish, butterflies, penguins, dragonflies, horses and even a lion and giraffe! We used lots of colours and had lots of fun.

Click here to see all our wonderful tangram pictures

Room 11 Tangram Pictures

Harmony Day

On Monday 16th March we celebrated Harmony Day as a whole-school event. It was great to see students working with a range of teachers, in groups with different peers and enjoying fun, engaging activities.

Merit Certificates

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

Aussie of the Month

Each month two students are chosen as our ‘Aussie of the Month’ and are presented with a badge, certificate and reward at our assembly. It is awarded to an outstanding citizen in our school community.

Chaplain Chatter

Hi Everyone

With all that is happening with the COVID-19 Youthcare would like to keep the lines of communication open between the Chaplain and students, staff, parents, guardians and concerned family members. The service of the Chaplain is free and optional.

People have noted that anxiety does weigh the heart down but a word of encouragement does wonders to lift a person up again.

It brings to mind things spoken by Eamon Sullivan, a champion Aussie swimmer who has won many medals for Australia at the Olympics. He spoke at the ‘National Young Leaders Day.’ He said, “We all continue to learn every day. When we are faced with a challenge, we have two choices: 1. Give up. 2. Find a way.” I think we are all learning a lot from what is going on. From what we are learning we have to find a way to work together to defeat COVID-19.

I will be available to speak with, whether the school remains open or shuts down in order to reduce the effect of the COVID-19. My email address is joe.grida@education.wa.edu.au and all conversations will be confidential.

May you all stay safe, well, resilient and hopeful during this time of uncertainty.

Joe Grida
School Chaplain

Fathering Project

Tips for Fathers and Father-Figures

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. Click here for Tip 32– Benefits of Being a Dad.

Dads Group at Byford PS

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

Easter Raffle

Thank you for supporting the Byford Primary P&C Easter Raffle. Congratulations to all our lucky winners!

Canteen

The P&C would like to say a big THANK YOU to Retravision for their very generous discount on the purchase of our new fridge. We are extremely grateful.

School Banking

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 at the 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.

Thank you for supporting the Byford Primary P&C

Community News

Ziggies Educational Supplies

Ziggies is open in Canningvale to support parents and families who may need extra resources for their children who are now learning from home in a distance education, home schooling environment.

Come in and explore our range of student text books, activity books, stationary and reading books to help engage kids and continue their learning from home.

Address is: 25b Baile Rd, Canning Vale WA 615