Announcements

Afternoon Pick-Up Routines and Visitors on Campus

Visitors & Volunteering

The school can now have visitors and volunteers to our site. All visitors and volunteers are strongly encouraged to wear a mask, particularly in indoor settings or when distancing is not possible, and when interacting directly with students. Visitors must also comply with the household and close contacts in school procedures outlined above.

Parents are able to attend Primary Chapel Services where their child’s class is hosting Chapel, or where they may be receiving an award. We ask that for the next two weeks that parents attending Chapel wear a mask.

Afternoon Pick-Up Routines

K-6 parents who would like to collect their children in person can do so via the main gate which will open from 2.45 pm, with the following guides in place which will help us to manage the various routines of students after school:

• K-2 students can be met by parents at the Lower Covered area at the main gate – teachers will bring their classes here. We ask that parents wait under the covered area, and for an indication from teachers for when they are ready to have you come to lines. Teachers will need to sight parents before they are dismissed – please do not ask students to meet you in other areas, and we ask that you collect your K-2 children first, before you collect any older children.
• 3-6 students can be met at the Primary quadrangle. Once students are lined up, teachers will sight parents before they are dismissed to your care – please do not ask students to meet you in other areas. In the event of wet weather, students can be collected from their classrooms directly. Students in Years 5 and 6 can be collected by older siblings in high school when this arrangement has been communicated to the class teacher.
• 7-12 students can continue to be met at the grassed area adjacent to the car park Bay 5. Please do not park and wait for students in other bays as this increases pedestrian traffic through the carpark, slowing down our exit lanes considerably.
• All students who are not collected in person, who do not catch a bus or go to after-school care will then be escorted to Kiss and Go. Kiss and Go will begin at 2.55 pm, now from the gate at the café area, adjacent to Main Reception.
• Please ensure that your child/ren’s class teacher is aware of your child/ren’s afternoon routine by completing this survey by Monday 8 August if possible, or no later than Friday 12 August click here for survey. Should there be a change on the day, please contact Reception to let us know and a message will be sent – our teachers may miss a last-minute email communication due to their teaching duties.
• Students who currently utilise the ELC pick-up will continue to be able to do so.

To avoid congestion, please walk straight to your cars with your child/ren and don’t gather around the gate entrance or on the path. We want to make this work well for all and ask that you assist us with this.

Please note that afternoon pick-up is not a time to engage with teachers as they have meetings, duties and other tasks to complete most afternoons. Should you need to make a time to speak with a teacher, please send them an email and they will organise a time with you to connect.

Parking on site

Please note that parent parking remains in Bay 5 for pick-up or Bays 2 and 3 when visiting, and is always rear to curb – this is the safest way to exit your parking space, maximising visibility for when children are around.

New PCS Staff

We have had some staff movement this term, as most of you know, and we are excited about staff that God has provided to fill vacancies. The list below is in addition to those announced by Mrs Deal last term:

• Ms Natasha Gilder joins us in the Science faculty
• Mrs Mahwash Manzoor will transfer from our Science faculty to our Mathematics faculty
• Ms Kate Maddocks and Mrs Sarah Elias will be coming onboard in a couple of our Primary classes and more details about this will be sent to the relevant parents

We praise God for his provision, again, at a time when there are many staffing challenges faced by schools at present.

Daymap Connect Updates

It has been exciting to see many parents making use of the features of Daymap as a tool to engage with their children’s learning and wellbeing at school. If you are yet to use Daymap Connect, it can be accessed using a login and password per parent (with the option to provide multiple logins). The easy-to-use system allows parents to access details for all their children enrolled in the school, anywhere and anytime. You will begin to see increasing features being added to your Daymap portal, and so it is important that you login in at least once per week to stay up to date.

Currently you will have access to:

• Student timetables for Years 7-12
• Assessment data and grades
• School reports
• Bookings for Student Learning Conferences
• Calendars relevant to your family
• Attendance information

Soon you will have access to:

• Student behaviour records
• Excursion permissions – digital permissions will now be in place for most excursions and events requiring your permission, negating the need for paper permissions. We will send you an email with instructions to grant online permission the first time your child/ren be involved in an excursion.

2022 Remaining Term Dates

For the remainder of the year, student dates are as follows:

• Term 3 (9 weeks): Monday 25 July to Friday 23 September
• Term 4 (8 weeks and 2 days): Monday 10 October to Tuesday 6 December

School Attendance Obligations for Parents and Schools

Whilst we completely understand that absences from school are sometimes necessary, regular attendance at school is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes. Schools, in partnership with parents, are responsible for promoting the regular attendance of students. Parents of children from Kindergarten to Year 12 must ensure their children attend school every day. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• being sick or having an infectious disease
• having an unavoidable medical appointment
• being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
• exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral

It is the responsibility of parents, as delegated by the Minister, to provide an explanation for absences to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence, including when late to school. Where an explanation has not been received within the 7-day timeframe, the school is required record the absence as unjustified on the student's record. Please ensure that you reply to the SMS absentee/late to school message as soon as you receive it to ensure that records are kept up-to-date. Please note that partial day absences, for example, when students are late to school, add together for the purposes of attendance records. For some families where late attendance to school is habitual, you will be required to present students in person to reception each day they are late. Lateness is not only disruptive to their own learning, but to those of their classmates as they settle into classes after the bell – at all times we want to protect the learning time of students.

Parents and Friends Association

From fundraising to friend-raising to coordinating special events and ensuring our students are thriving in a vibrant environment. We meet once a term achieving many positive outcomes for the school throughout the year. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 21 September from 5.30pm. For more information please email our Marketing Manager, Danielle Grant at danielle.grant@pcs.nsw.edu.au

2023 Kindergarten and Year 7 Intakes

Kindergarten and Year 7 are our most popular intake years for our school, and in 2023 we are excited to be able to welcome many new families to our community. Should you know of friends or family who are looking to enrol in Kindergarten or Year 7 for next year, please encourage them to do so as a priority, as cohort numbers are filling fast and we would like them to be part of all our transition activities on offer. It is likely that we will begin a waiting list for Year 7 for next year very soon.

Out of School Hours Care (OOSHC)

In response to feedback, we are already putting things in place to improve and I want to note some things in particular. We know there has been some concern about the Out Of School Hours Care (OOSHC) run by Camp Australia. We have made the decision to discontinue the service with them and instead, bring the management and staffing of the OOSHC service in house. This means we can control and run the service in alignment with our values and direction. We envisage this will start in Term 4 as there is an ongoing process, we are currently involved in, to make this happen.

New PCS Staff

We have had some staff movement this term, as most of you know, and we are excited about staff that God has provided to fill vacancies. The list below outlines most of the changes:

• Mrs Thea Laffin has been appointed as our Head of Learning and teaching replacing Mrs Hogan
• Mrs Rhea Joson will be joining our counselling team replacing Mrs Janelle Shead
• Mrs Lauren Jones will be joining us to teach Kindergarten replacing Ms Jenny Allen
• Ms Lucy Jo will be joining our ELC due to increasing numbers in our Toddler room
• Mrs Sophia Rudy will be joining us as Mrs Sarah Sequen from our ELC goes on maternity leave