Term 1 Week 6

3rd March 2025

Our P&C AGM will take place Monday 17th March at 7:00 pm at Woonona Bulli RSL. I hope to see as many parents and carers as possible attend this meeting to have their say in what could happen at school for the remainder of the year. I have booked the Governors’ Room in the hope that we have a large turn-out. All positions will be deemed vacant and expressions of interest sought. There are many different committees or interest groups that require a team of members to ensure that our P&C continues to operate efficiently. New volunteers are always welcome. Similarly, I invite you just to come to watch and listen if you have not attended a P&C Meeting previously or if it has been a long time since you last attended. At these meetings, I often provide updates to classroom programs and upgrades to facilities. If you would like to find out more information regarding the specifics of various roles, please see our P&C President, Holly Williamson, any current P&C member or me.

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is sat by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. 

NAPLAN 2025 will take place from Wednesday 12th March to Monday 24th March. 

NAPLAN is just one part of our school’s learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school, so the best preparation is their everyday classroom learning. Our school will also undertake activities to help students become familiar with the types of questions and tools available in the online tests. 

The public demonstration site, (https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site), is available for you to see the format of the online tests.

Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website (https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/naplan) and the NAP website (https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers).

Disability adjustments are available for NAPLAN to allow students with disabilities to participate on the same basis as other students. The adjustments provided for NAPLAN should be similar to the type of support and assistance your child is already receiving for classroom assessments. All parents should have been contacted already regarding the adjustments that will take place. If you feel that your child requires and adjustment and you have not been contacted, please contact your child’s teacher. Similarly, if you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher.

The date for our Cross Country Carnival has been set – Thursday 27^th March with the back-up date to be Thursday 4^th April.

Our SRC and House Captain Induction Assembly will take place Friday 7^th March at 9:15 am (Week 6). Parents and carers should have received an invitation to this already. Swimming Carnival ribbons will also be distributed, however individual invitations were not sent out for this.

School Photos will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 4^th March. It is our hope that all students will wear the entire proper school uniform for this. Information has already been distributed outlining the online process for ordering and payment of school photos. 

Ride 2 School Day will take place Friday 21^st March in which we will be encouraging students to ride their bike or scooter to school. In a lead-up to this, we will also be discussing road safety. It is great to see so many students currently riding to school, however it has come to my attention that a small group of students are riding dangerously on the footpaths and not having consideration for pedestrians who share it. Please slow down around pedestrians and pass cautiously. If your child rides to school, please ensure to have regular discussions with your child about the route they take and how to navigate busy areas.

Fit Futures will return next week to deliver their gymnastics program to students in K-2. This program is provided at no cost to the school or families as we were once again successful in obtaining the Sporting Schools Australia grant.

Scripture and Ethics lessons begin this week for all students. Thank you in advance to our wonderful volunteer teachers from Catholic, Protestant and Ethics.

A reminder to parents that Health Plans are required to be updated every 12 months under the guidelines of the Department of Education. Although doctors will often sign these for a two-year period, we require updates every school year. If your child has a Health Plan and it has not been updated, please contact the office to do so. 

In our Strategic Improvement Plan that is available on our school website, one of our Improvement Measures is to have a 4.72% uplift in the percentage of students attending greater than 90% of the time. Although I thank families for following the current health advice of staying home when ill, I would like to bring to your attention the impact that regular absences can have on learning.

The Importance of arriving on time: 

Arriving at school and class on time:

• ensures that students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day;
• helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routines;
• gives students time to greet their friends before class; and
• reduces classroom disruption. 

Lateness is recorded as a partial absence and must be explained by parents. 

What if my child has to be away from school? 

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• being ill, or having an infectious disease;
• having an unavoidable medical appointment;
• being required to attend a recognised religious holiday; and
• having an exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g., attending a funeral).

Following an absence from school, you must ensure that you provide the school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. If the school has not received an explanation from you, you will receive a text message from the school. If there is no response, a follow-up email will come.

Principals may decline to accept an explanation that you have provided if they do not believe the absence is in the best interest of your child. In these circumstances, your child’s absence would be recorded as unjustified. 

Principals may request medical certificates or other documentation when frequent or long-term absences are explained as being due to illness. Principals may also seek parental permission to speak with medical specialists to obtain information to collaboratively develop a health care plan to support your child. If the request is denied, the principal can record the absences as unjustified.

My child won’t go to school what should I do? 

You should contact the principal as soon as possible to discuss the issue and ask for help. Strategies to help improve attendance may include a referral to the school’s learning and support team or linking your child with appropriate support networks. The principal may seek further support from the Home School Liaison Program to develop an Attendance Improvement Plan. 

What might happen if my child continues to have unacceptable absences? 

It is important to understand that the Department of Education may be required to take further action where children of compulsory school age have recurring numbers of unexplained or unjustified absences from school.

Holiday Travel

Family travel can be educational and enlightening, and there are many experiences in life that cannot be taught in the classroom. However, any absence, short or long, impacts on each child’s education. If a student is not engaged in any part of his/her education, that student can fall behind in classroom work and returning to school can be traumatic.

All family circumstances vary so please consider whether a family holiday is an appropriate reason for missing school. While students may take homework on a trip, they risk missing out on direct teaching and learning and the classroom experience. This message is not about singling families out or guilt trips, but we do need to recognise that when a child is standing out front of some of our national wonders, they may be learning a lot about our country, but they are not necessarily learning everything that they would be learning at school. Parents and carers should ensure that their child is keeping up with his or her reading, writing and mathematics skills if you choose to take these journeys.

Missing just one day of school has negative consequences for a student’s academic achievement, and studies have dispelled the common belief that there is a safe level of absences that students may take before their grades will suffer.

Times have changed and they are going to continue to change at a rapid pace in what has become a very technological society. Children these days have their own phones at a much younger age than most of us did, and, understandably so, as phones are a form of communication for students who travel to and from school on their own. Many of these students travel outside the Russell Vale PS boundaries. I bring to your attention, however, that our school policy does not allow students to have phones in classrooms or in their bags during school hours. This does not mean that they cannot bring them to school at all as our policy states that if they choose to bring a phone to school, it is to be signed in at the office in the morning and then signed out at the office at the end of the school day. This also includes other cellular/mobile devices such as smart watches that can send messages, unless they are set to school settings locking them from being used during school hours. Thank you for your assistance in ensuring that your child is following this procedure.

Tik Tok, Snap Chat and Online Communications

Let me please stress to all parents and carers the importance of having a direct knowledge of what your child is doing online at home. There are reasons as to why sites and apps such as Tik Tok, Snap Chat, Facebook, Instagram, etc. have age restrictions. It is because children of this age do not have an understanding of the implications and problems that may arise from using social media. All children are different and develop a broader understanding of the world around them at different ages and, along with that, a sense of what is appropriate to share online.

All of these apps state that the intended age for users is the age of 13 years and over and have a 12+ App Store rating. The new law will also come into effect later this year making it illegal for children under the age of 16 to access these apps.  If you enable ‘Parental Controls’ from Google and/or Apple, the app will automatically be blocked on any underage children’s devices that you have identified. I thank you for your assistance with this as it has and may continue present problems in student relationships at school, which of course is not desirable.

5 Things Parents Need to Know about Tik-Tok

Research shows 81% of parents hand their child an internet-connected device by the age of 4, so active parental engagement and oversight of a child’s online activities is critical from the start, to help ensure that students are prepared for what they may encounter. As young people often do not have the maturity or judgement to cope with confronting content online, it is important to guide and instil critical reasoning skills, so students become aware that not everything they may see or may receive online is in actuality for real.

We encourage parents to co-view, co-play, and ask questions to your children about the games and apps they are using, and to let your children know that you are there to support them if they are upset or uncomfortable about anything which they come across either online or information made available through discussions or contact with other students or adults.

Here are five top tips to help limit your child’s exposure to harmful content online:

 • Engage in your child’s online activities – ask what apps, sites and games they are  using and make sure these are both age-appropriate and fitting for your child.
 • Use parental controls on devices to help limit what your child is exposed to  
 • Let your child know that not everything he/she sees online is real or true.  
 • Help your child report and block any untrue or potentially upsetting content.  
 • Let  your child know he/she can come to you about anything upsetting they see online, and do not hesitate to contact Kids Helpline if they need further support.  

We encourage parents to visit www.esafety.gov.au/iparent for information and advice on keep your child safe online.

Paul Cuthbertson
Principal

Please note that as of Term 2, the process for giving consent and paying for excursions/activities on School Bytes will change. You will receive an email with a link to give consent for the excursion/activity. Once you have clicked on the link and completed the consent form you will be required to make payment for the excursion/activity immediately. Your consent will not be saved unless you make payment. 

If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

Extended leave applications are only required when students are going to be absent for more than 5 days. For any absences that are 5 days or less, please go to School Bytes, click on Attendance and create a Planned Absence.

If you have urgent communication to pass on to your child at school, please call the office rather than emailing.

Sushi Day will be held on Wednesday 19^th March - order via Flexischools.

Frozen berries $0.50

Jelly Stix $0.30 (can only be ordered during lunch break)

The canteen is getting a name, the kids at RVPS will be leading the way with this initiative - watch this space.

Candice

• 4th    School Photos
• 5th    Farm Incursion - Stage 1 & 2
• 6th    Scripture Starts
• 7th    SRC and House Captain Induction Assembly (includes Swimming Carnival Ribbons) 9:15am
• 10th  South Coast Swimming Carnival
• 12th - 24th  NAPLAN 
• 17th  P&C AGM 7pm Woonona Bulli RSL -  The Governor's Inn
• 18th  StEPS Vision Testing - Kindy
• 19th  Sushi Day
• 21st  Harmony Day - SRC Mufti Day
• 21st  Ride 2 School Day
• 25th - 28th Life Education Program (Healthy Harold)
• 27th  Cross Country Carnival (back up date 4th April)

Esther A

Liam J

Lacey J, Penny J

Molly J, Harvey S, Ashton M, Holly W, Macy D, Cooper L, Louis F, Amarli M, James J, Ruby F

Lachie E, Spencer D, Kendyl A

Jack M

Will S, Ruben M, Ashton M, Sophie H

Lux P, Cruzer C, Lowndes J, Millie M, Emily M, Jaxon L, Lewis K, Isabella P, Fletcher H, Vali T, Milly A, Cooper H

Elissa O

Daisy S

Disclaimer: Russell Vale Public School advertises in this column as a service to parents. Russell Vale Public School does not endorse, sponsor or accept responsibility for the management or organisation of the advertised events or services.