PRINCIPAL’S POST #1
5 February 2021
I welcome all of the new and existing Glendale PS families and community members back for 2021. I am looking forward to working with everyone while getting to know more parents and carers. I acknowledge the unusual start to the year and am grateful to everyone for being so willing to adjusted to what had to be done during the lock down. This was a timely reminder that we are living in unpredictable times.
I also wish to send out the best wishes from myself and all of the staff to anyone who was affected by the current devastating fires. I am sure that most of us have family or friends that are involved in some way and that we will offer support to those who lost their homes. There have been request from the Premier for donations rather that items and there are many charities that will be involved in supporting victims of the fire and the Volunteer Fire Services. The WA State Government’s official disaster relief charity, is The Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund. Please note all donations to registered charities are tax deductable.
RESTRICTIONS UNDER WHICH SCHOOL IS OPEN FROM MON 8 FEB TO FRI 12 FEB
Please note these restrictions are only in place for one week and are subject to no new community transmissions of COVID 19.
- 1. All adults must wear a mask when in the community, which includes the school site.
- 2. Teachers are permitted to remove their masks when teaching/giving instructions or participating in strenuous exercise but will wear it at all other times.
- 3. You or a carer for your child, are permitted on the school grounds before and after school to drop off and pick up your children, but are not to enter classrooms.
- 4. I ask that you or a carer do not stay any longer than 10 minutes on the school grounds if possible.
- 5. All teacher meetings are to be made by appointment.
- 6. There are not to be any mass gatherings of more than 150 people in a group at one time. To reduce the number of adults on site, I encourage you if you have older children that they are left at a school gate.
- 7. There is the requirement for you or a carer to socially distance when on the school grounds.
- 8. Children attending primary schools are not required to wear a mask.
Please note: Parents of children in Kindy or Pre-primary who have children upset when the adult is ready to leave, that the teachers will support the child and in most cases children will calm within 5 to 10 minutes of the parent or carer leaving. If a child remains upset for a length of time a staff member will contact a parent or carer and discuss options.
Welcome to the Newest Members of the Glendale PS Team
I wish to welcome the following staff to Glendale Primary School:
Sophie Rodger EA in kindy and pre-primary
Jo Jones School Psychologist
Staff for 2021
We are lucky at Glendale PS to have a very stable staff with minimum changes each year. Having staff that already know many of the children and families and who are trained in the whole school programmes assists greatly in maintaining a calm and safe learning environment, along with high expectations and well established routines.
Kindy 1&2 Rm 19 Kirsty Press and Nicole O’Halloran
EAs Tash Duncan & Lani Windsor-Ngamata
Pre-primary Rm 18 Natasha Tonner
EAs Deb Pointing & Jason Bishop
Pre-primary Rm 17 Louise Denton
EAs Sophie Rodgers & Lani Windsor-Ngamata
Yr 1 Rm 5 Shona Gilfillian and Meagan Mableson
Yr 1/2 Rm 4 Melissa Taylor
Yr 2 Rm 3 Phil Johnson
Yr 2/3 Rm 16 Judy McIntyre and Vanessa Reeve
Yr 3 Rm 15 Kath Angland
Yr 4 Rm 14 Adeline Morosoff
Yr 4/5 Rm 8 Manioll Yiannakis and Julianne Timmers
Yr 5/6 Rm 9 Heather Wilson
Yr 6 Rm 12 Scott Fairclough
Music Matt Sharp
Engineering & PE Jeremy Marsden
Art Vanessa Reeve
Science Julianne Timmers
Literacy Support Chris Berriman and Jason Bishop
Library Officer Lynn Annandale
School Chaplain Rumbi Tsokota
Gardener Tiggy Bergensen
Head Cleaner Rosemary Beadle
Administration Staff
Principal Helen Fiebig
Deputy Principal Holli Fuller
Deputy Principal Jenny Graham
Manager of Corp. Services Michelle Rouhliadeff
Manager of Corp. Services Kerry Clarke
School Officer Teresa Pimm
School Officer Tam Befumo
School Psych Jo Jones
I welcome back Ian Lindsay who will be used flexibly across the school for Term 1 to release teaching staff for: meetings, leadership roles, mentoring and as relief.
New Timetable Structure
A notice went out on Connect earlier this week advising of the changes to timetable. As a part of that notice I asked parents and carers for their feedback. I wish to thank those who took the time to emailed me and for the 100% support of the play first, eat second approach to lunch time, the implementation of Crunch N Sip and to the increased teaching time in the morning with recess being in the afternoon.
I continue to ask for your feedback as the children return to school as to how they adapt to the new structure of the breaks. Please email me on Glendale.PS@education.wa.edu.au .
Changes to Canteen
Canteen services will still be available on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Due to the earlier lunch and afternoon recess, the routines in the canteen have been adapted to suit. I wish to thank the Canteen Manager, Nerilee Russell and the P&C under the leadership of Tim Ewers for being so accommodating.
Please note the following changes:
- Online Qkr orders will be closed off at 8 am.
- Over the counters orders will close off at 8:30 am.
- There will be afternoon snack boxes pre-ordered and delivered to classrooms for recess on Wednesdays.
- Over the counter sales including ice-creams, will be available on Friday afternoons at recess time.
- There is a new menu which is being sent out with this newsletter.
Dates for the First Term
Please note dates may be subject to change, if so notices will be given via Connect.
Monday 15 February P&C Meeting, 7 pm
Wednesday 17 February Leaders Assembly
Monday 22 February School Board Meeting, 6 pm
Monday 1 March Labour Day Public Holiday no children at school on this day
Wednesday 3 March Year 6, Room 12 Assembly
Friday 5 March Year 6 Leadership Training Excursion
Wednesday 17 March Year 5/6, Room 9 Assembly
Friday 19 March School Development Day no children at school on this day
Monday 22 March P&C Meeting, 7pm
Monday 29 March School Board Meeting, 6 pm
Wednesday 31 March Year 4/5, Room 8 Assembly
Friday 2 April Good Friday Public Holiday no children at school on this day
School Holidays
Monday 19 April Term 2 starts
SeeSaw
During the past week, although staff were not on site they were preparing lessons that could be placed online for home schooling, if needed. We also spent this time getting the online learning platform SeeSaw set up with the new class structure and student names. I wish to thank Jeremy Marsden who manages the computing technology as well as being the Engineering and PE teacher, along with Jenny Graham the Deputy Principal and Michelle Rouhliadeff, the Manager of Corporate Service for working behind the scenes to ensure that the staff were provided with the information they required to complete the set up. The Glendale PS staff remain magnificently supportive of each other and I am proud of how they rallied together.
Many teachers will be using SeeSaw to communicate you and to share your child’s work. Details of how to access this site will be sent to each family. Those families at Glendale PS that used SeeSaw last year should automatically have access again this year.
Staff School Development Days, on 28 and 29 January
On Thursday 28 and Friday 29 of Janguar, the staff were back at work and busy involved in professional development. The focus of these two days was on:
- The expectations for high standards across the school.
- Setting up curriculum and operational committees so that staff have input in decision making.
- The whole school assessment and reporting requirements for the year.
- A new social skills programme that all classes will be implementing.
- Best practices and resources in Mathematics.
- Reviewed computer programmes used across classrooms.
- The five school priority areas.
- Sustainability initiatives.
- Analysis of the Department of Education’s focus areas for 2021 to identify new priorities and to ensure that Glendale PS is meeting these areas.
- How to manage conflict resolution.
Startling Statistics in Children’s Mental health
From the Highway Heroes programme teaher training programme that is being introduced to Glendale PS this year, there was some interesting statistics provided on children’s mental health and the need for action at schools and in the home. (Source www.bestprograms4kids.com)
- 1 ion 7 school children have a mental illness
- Anxiety disorders in children are recorded as 6.9%
- 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys in primary school experience anxiety.
- 1 in 5 Australian children are developmentally vulnerable.
- 27% of Australian children report being bullied.
- 83% of children who bully offline, also bully online.
Safe Parking Around The School
For those families not walking or riding to school, I wish to remind you of the need to park your car only in designated street parking bays and not on any of the neighbours’ lawns, unless you have their permission.
Please note that parking at the back of the school on Lampard Street and to the side in Enfield Road is often less congested than at the front in Glendale Avenue. Also consider using the carpark at the Aintree Community Centre which has a short path straight to the school oval. For convenience there is also ample parking around Aintree Oval which is less than a 3 minute walk.
The staff car park is only to be used if you require the disability parking bays.
I have contacted the City of Stirling to work with me to do a traffic flow study around the school to investigate any improvements that may be made to the current parking conditions. I will keep you posted when the results are available.
PPP
A notice will be sent out with this newsletter advising of a Positive Parenting Program that is being run through the child health nurse at Warwick Stadium on Wednesdays the 3, 10 and 17 March from 9:30 to 11:30 am. PPP is a free program to assist with managing common child behaviour issues.
Please note PPP flyer and Canteen Menu being sent out on Connect.
Stay safe,
Helen Fiebig
Principal