Dear Families,

It is with huge excitement that I officially welcome all students and families back along with many new families to Drysdale Primary School for the start of the new year! I have heard many stories of adventures and excitement over the holiday break, and it seems that everyone has returned feeling refreshed and ready to go for 2024.

I have been impressed with how settled, calm, and eager all the students have been. We are all set for another big year and there will be lots happening.

This year teachers are focusing on developing their teaching of mathematics and will be working on making maths as engaging as it can be and ensuring that everyone can be successful.

Glen Lauder

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Thank you to all our Foundation families for supporting their children last Tuesday. It certainly helps create a calm environment for our new students to enter the school.

The Foundation students have also been given exclusive access to the playground last week to assist in their transition. It was so pleasing to see some of the new Foundation families socialising after their first drop off! The social side of school is so important for the children but equally as important for the families too!

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Thank you to all the parents/carers that have taken up the BYOD option for their students this year. Unfortunately, they are taking longer to synchronise to our system than anticipated. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and thank you in advance for your patience.

If you have not yet purchased a device and may need some financial support with engaging in the BYOD program, please contact Kate Wojcik via the school office.

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This year we have moved to 1 hour blocks of learning which means that our breaks and bell times through the school day have changed. School is from 9am – 3:30pm each day, with classrooms opening their doors from 8:50am for students to enter and begin preparing for the day ahead.

While we adjust to the longer blocks of learning, many classes are ensuring adequate time to eat snacks prior to recess play at 11am and we have also found many year levels starting to introduce a healthy fruit snack at 10am between session 1 and 2. Please check Sentral bulletins from Year Level Leaders for details on this.

Recess is now a half hour break outside for students, lunch has 15 minutes of designated eating time then 45 minutes of outside playtime.

Moving from 50 minute blocks to 1 hour blocks is allowing us to enhance learning opportunities across the day and everyone is adjusting well to this change.

While this impacts us at school, it is important for families to remember these times in case of early pick ups or late arrivals. We can call students over the P.A at break times but this is avoided during learning time, so parents/carers will need to sign students out at the office and go to their classes to collect students.

Please see the list of times below.

Bell Times:
9:00am – Start of day
11:00am – Recess Playtime
11:30am – End of Snack
1:30pm – Lunch in Classroom
1:45pm – Lunch Playtime
2:30pm – End of Lunch
3:30pm – End of Day

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Dear Parents and Carers
There is at present an increase in community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria.

You can help us keep our school as safe as possible by taking 2 important steps:

1. Ensure your COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date. Information on how and where to get
vaccinated is available on the Get vaccinated webpage.
2. If your child shows symptoms of COVID-19, please ensure they stay home and get tested.
The easiest way to test is to use a rapid antigen test (RAT).

Free RATs are available from your local council where you can collect 2 packs of 5 RATs and an extra 2 packs for each person in your household. People with disability and their carers can get 4 packs of 5 RATs. You are not required to have a Medicare card and you can collect RATs as many times as you need. You can also buy RATs at supermarkets,
pharmacies and other retailers.

If your child has symptoms but tests negative, please ensure they stay home until they no longer have symptoms.

If the RAT test result is positive, please ensure they say home for at least 5 days and until there are no more symptoms.

Thank you for your support – these steps will help us all stay well.

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A reminder that the Department of Education has in place a mobile phone ban that requires students who bring mobile phones to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours. At Drysdale PS phones are to be handed in at the Office before school.

The Department is requiring all schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced from the start of the 2024 school year.

The ban applies equally to all government schools right across the state.

This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions.

By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause.

I ask for the support of all our families, staff, and students in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school.

Further information

Exceptions: For a small number of students with particular health needs, an exception to the policy may be granted. Please contact Glen Lauder if you would like to discuss this.

Emergencies: In the event of an emergency or if you need to immediately contact your child, I ask that families contact the school office who will pass on a message as required.

School mobile phone policy: A copy of our school’s local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available here: http://www.drysdaleps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DPS-Mobile-Phone-Policy-2021.pdf

Parent support: The Mobile phones in schools webpage provides links to resources for families to help them balance their children’s time using mobile phones.

If you have further questions, please contact the administration office.

 

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This week we welcomed back our Breakfast Club for 2024. It was great to see so many of our students coming by the kitchen in the Seniors Building to get a toastie and some fruit on their way to class. It is open each Monday and Friday morning from 8:30am til 9am as the music starts. There is no cost to anyone that comes along, they just need a friendly face, a smile and some manners! Students can help themselves to some fruit from the bowls and have 1 toastie. We have vegemite, jam and cheese options each morning.

Thanks to many local community groups that have helped fund this again for our school, including Clifton Springs Golf Club, Feed Me Bellarine and The Uniting Church Drysdale.

If you would like to support us, we accept donations of jam, vegemite and paper bags. We have started the year well stocked but your generosity is always appreciated.

Just a reminder that the food we provide is for Drysdale PS students only.

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Our whole school assembly is held every Friday afternoon in the hall starting at 3.00pm. All families are welcome to attend. Weekly Values Awards are presented at these assemblies. If your child is going to receive an award, your child’s class teacher will notify you. We do not notify the children in advance.

Kids Matter Assemblies

In week four and eight of each term we have a Kids Matter assembly, they also start at 3pm and are lead by Trent Stephens and our Kids Matter Kids from Year 6. During Kids Matter Assemblies the children sit in their house groups.

These are the days we ask that children wear their house shirt. Replacement house tops can be purchased from the office for $20.00.

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The Drysdale Primary School Parents and Friends group is a small group of parents that come together to organise fun events for the children and run various fundraising activities to raise funds for upgrades around the school.

We would like to extend the invitation to the school community to join us for our next meeting via Microsoft teams on Monday 3rd March.

Please email your expression of interest to dpsparentsandfriendsgroup@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Please find top 5 tips for parents to help your child to do maths at home.

Please see read more for Maths at home flyer.

Read more…

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Please check that your child/ren’s school uniform and all lunch containers have their names clearly marked on them. We often have a lot of unnamed items in our lost property that could easily be returned to their rightful owners if they were named!

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Our uniform supplier, Noone, has opened an onsite shop. The shop is open on Tuesday’s from 8.30am to 9:30am in our portables at the back of the hall, in the room next to our secondhand uniform shop. Families will be able to purchase uniform via eftpos only.

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Our second hand uniform shop is open every Tuesday 8.45am – 9.15am and Friday 3.15pm-3.45pm. Most items can be purchased for a gold coin donation.

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Congratulations to our Values Award recipients.

Read more…

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Welcome back to a brand new year of awesome music and performance opportunities for the lucky kids at Drysdale Primary School.

Sonic Boom Rock School is back again this year with more awesome instrumental lessons and coaching and the most fun a kid can ever have…playing in a rock band!

For those of you who are new to the school or have not yet experienced what we offer in SBRS, here is our basic info sheet.

We are a holistic music tuition and performance program designed to free up creative thinking in children from Grade 2 onwards.

It’s a path of discovery between teacher and student and ultimately their whole family and the wider community. Read more…

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