ELC Bulletin - Term 1, Week 3

It was wonderful to have so many parents attend our K-1 Meet the Teacher Evening last week. Please follow the links provided below to access documents relevant to your family.

Meet the Teacher Evening Welcome Presentation K-1

Meet the Teacher Evening Info for Kindy

Meet the Teacher Evening Info for Pre-Primary

Meet the Teacher Evening Info for Year 1

Primary Specialist Teacher Info K-Y1

1. KINDY Speech & Occupational Therapy Assessments by External Therapists - 5 to 15 March 2024

(SHORT form required before 20 February please - follow the link provided below)

We are currently planning for all Kindergarten children to participate in our recommended St Mark's Kindergarten Speech and Occupational Therapist Screening Program later in Term 1 (from 5 March). All the Kindergarten children will be individually assessed by two external therapists: Julia Dekenah, a Speech Therapist, and Vanessa Wheeler, an Occupational Therapist. (Detailed information is provided via the link below.) These assessments will take place in the Early Learning Centre during the school day. On completion of the screening program, reports will be provided to parents by the external therapists.

To allow your child to participate in this screening process, please follow the link provided below and complete the short permission form on Page 2. In order to maintain confidentiality, therapists’ email addresses have been provided in the information sheet so that completed forms can be scanned and emailed directly to them by parents. It would be appreciated if this could be done as soon as possible (by 20 February at the latest). Thank you.

In order to maintain confidentiality, the therapists would like to be able to communicate with parents directly via email. Parents/carers have, therefore, been asked to provide one preferred email address on the form. However, if there is a necessity for communications from external therapists to be shared separately with a second parent / carer, a second email address may also be provided.

LINK to the information sheet and permission form from external therapists (permission form is on Page 2): SP & OT Assessments-2024

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please ensure you save the document to your computer BEFORE adding in any details or print a paper copy to use instead. Thank you.

2. KINDY Health Assessments by Government Community Nurse

(a form will be sent home in the next few weeks for parents to complete and return to teachers)

In addition to the speech and occupational therapy screening mentioned above which is a St Mark’s initiative, a Government-appointed Community Nurse will carry out a general health check on all the Kindergarten children at some point during the year (dates yet to be confirmed). Enveloped paper forms, once provided to the School, will be sent home for parents/carers to complete and return to teachers as soon as possible. For confidentiality reasons, please return the form in the envelope provided.

LINK to information sheet: Health Assessment-Info for Parents-2024

We are asking for volunteers to assist with our ELC Upcycling Area in 2024. The Term 1 Roster is now available via the link provided below.

We require volunteers on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8.30-9.30am (one Parent Commitment Hour can be claimed).

Please note that the regular task is to sort any upcycling donations which families bring to school and keep the area clean and tidy.

Instructions will be listed on the whiteboard in the Upcycling Area. The Upcycling Area is located at the back of the ELC building facing Endeavour Road.

Thank you in anticipation of your support of sustainable practises in the ELC.

ELC Shared Upcycling Roster

We are asking for volunteers to assist with our ELC Upcycling Area in 2024. The Term 1 Roster is now available via the link provided below.

We require volunteers on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8.30-9.30am (one Parent Commitment Hour can be claimed).

Please note that the regular task is to sort any upcycling donations which families bring to school and keep the area clean and tidy.

Instructions will be listed on the whiteboard in the Upcycling Area. The Upcycling Area is located at the back of the ELC building facing Endeavour Road.

Thank you in anticipation of your support of sustainable practises in the ELC.

ELC Shared Upcycling Roster

There are currently no other general opportunities available. Parents will be advised via the Weekly Bulletins or Class SEESAW pages when opportunities do become available. Parents will be able to access the shared roster via the link provided below to add their names for the advertised tasks.

ELC GENERAL PARENT HOUR OPPORTUNITIES

Thank you to all our parents who have added their names to assist with the ‘watering’ task in Term 1 – very much appreciated. Parent commitment hours are still available for the task of ‘sweeping, crates and tables’. This task involves sweeping up the sand, taking the crates off the tables and wiping down the tables in the paved area adjacent to the Groovy Grass area. This task is available on every day. Please follow the link provided below to add your name to the shared Term 1 roster if you are able to assist.

Thank you.

ELC Outdoor Enviro Volunteer Roster

Please be aware that we need to be kept advised of the following regarding the collection of ELC students:

• The days on which your child will be collected via drive-through so that they can be waiting for you in the correct location
• The days on which your child will be collected by childcare establishments (include the name of the establishment)
• Names of other family members or friends who have permission to collect your child(ren) when necessary

Most parents have already provided this information, which has been included in the 2024 class lists of regular child collections for teachers. Regular collection arrangements are encouraged with daily changes being kept to a minimum. Should any additions or changes be necessary, please contact ELC Reception prior to 2.15pm of the relevant day (email elcreception@stmarks.wa.edu.au or phone 9403 1398). Thank you.

It has been noticed that some parents are arriving in the drive-through area well before collection time. Kindy and Pre-Primary Parents/carers are asked not to arrive before 2.50pm in order to keep the area clear for parents collecting children early for appointments and to prevent waiting cars queueing out onto Endeavour Road. Thank you. (Year 1 children are only available for collection after 3.15pm.)

A link to our ELC Drive-Through Guidelines is provided below in case you missed it in the Back to School Welcome Guide sent out at the end of the holidays.

LINK: 2024 ELC Drive Through Guidelines

On Monday 19 February, at approximately 12.15pm, the School will hold a lockdown drill for all students and staff. The drill has been scheduled since the beginning of the year and follows the emergency drill plan of one per term.

Please note:

The purpose of evacuation and lockdown drills is to practice the required procedures and processes and to become familiar with them in case we need to put them in place at some time in the future. We all need to know what to do so we can keep safe.

There are any number of reasons why an evacuation or lockdown may be necessary for a school – a fire nearby or in some part of the campus, a severe weather event, or even a runaway animal from the local circus that strays onto our grounds!

You know best whether your child may need a discussion at home ahead of the drill to put it in perspective for them.

If you have any concerns for your child, please contact the appropriate teacher (classroom/PCG) at the School ahead of the drill to discuss it.

The Parents Prayer Group (PPG) meet fortnightly to pray for the students, staff and school community. We will be meeting every second Friday 9am in the school chapel, starting 9 February. Please sign in at reception and perhaps stop by the coffee van on the way. All are welcome. Please share any prayer requests by emailing parentsunitedforprayer@gmail.com or call Wing Shattock on 0433 002 151.

We have received a number of emails and notifications that our families are continuing to park in our neighbouring businesses. Please do not park in the following neighbouring businesses when dropping off/collecting children or when attending school-based events:

• Endeavour Centre (cnr Endeavour and Banks Ave)
• Whitford Business Centre (Mitre 10, Better Pets, AutoMasters, SuperCheap)
• Endeavour Childcare and Whitford Family Centre

The bays in the above areas are purely for the businesses who operate out of those premises and their customers. They are not for our school community to utilise.

Should you require additional parking, Whitford Shopping Centre has kindly allowed us to use the bays in the carpark where Muzz Buzz is located.

Tara Uniforms is changing the opening days/times of our uniform shop to provide the St Mark’s community with a greater choice of opening days and in response to the changing needs of customers due to the increase in online ordering.

With effect from Monday 12^th February the uniform shop will be open on Thursday afternoons, and the trading hours for Term 1 2024 will be:

• Mondays : 7.45am -11.15am and 1pm – 5pm
• Wednesdays : 7.45am – 11.15am
• Thursdays : 1.00pm – 4.30pm
  

For Term 2 2024 onwards, the trading hours will be:

• Mondays : 7.45am -11.15am
• Wednesdays : 7.45am – 11.15am
• Thursdays : 1.00pm – 4.30pm
  

Our HaSS department is looking for members of our community who are business owners and would like to share their insight into starting/owning/running their own business with our current Year 11 and 12 General Business, Marketing and Enterprise students.

We would especially love to hear from our trades, small businesses and start-ups.

If you are comfortable speaking to groups of students and willing to share your experiences, we'd love to hear from you.

Please contact Amanda Kemp via email for further information or if you'd like to join the register to share your experiences.

PAYMENT NOMINATIONS must be submitted by Tuesday 6 February 2024. Download the Payment Form here.

There is no need to submit a payment nomination if you have paid your 2024 fees in full. Thank you.

• Annual Fee Due 13 Feb 2024
• Quarterly Fee Due 13 Feb, 30 April, 30 July, 22 Oct 2024
• Monthly Fee Due 25^th of each month Feb to Nov 2024, or the next business day if the 25^th is not a business day
• Fortnightly Fee Due Friday fortnightly commencing 16 Feb and ending on 8 Nov 2024

Subject and music adjustments will be amended later in February once payment nominations and queries are effectuated.

Please contact Kaye at familyaccounts@stmarks.wa.edu.au if you have any queries.

Thank you for your patience during this busy start to the 2024 school year.

Reminder to all families to update your School App subscriptions on your mobile device for 2024. You may otherwise be missing new extra-curricular, general or appropriate year-level notices.

Please find attached a handy how-to guide. If you have not downloaded the School App - go to the App Store or Google Play and search for St Mark's ACS.

Did you know that our Old Scholars' Association Little Lions Playgroup is run on-site every Friday during term time? We'd love to see your little cub there this Friday!

Join us from 8.45 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. for lots of fun and games. Little Lions Playgroup is a community-based group run in conjunction with Playgroup WA and caters for children up to school age. Families attending our Kindy and not in session on Fridays are more than welcome to join as well.

For more information and to book your spot, please email us, osa@stmarks.wa.edu.au or join our Facebook group HERE.

Everyone is welcome - you do not need to be an Old Scholar (former student) of St Mark's to attend.

If your child will be absent, late to class, or if they will need to leave early to attend a medical appointment please notify the School by emailing absentee@stmarks.wa.edu.au. Please include your child’s name (first name and surname) and class/year level in the subject line of the email. Please do not send absentee/appointments/late information to any other email address - it must go to absentee@stmarks.wa.edu.au no matter what year group your child is in. Thank you.

To ensure emails to the Student Services team are dealt with promptly, please address future emails to each sub-school reception, as follows:

Early Learning Centre – elcreception@stmarks.wa.edu.au
Junior School Reception – jnrschool@stmarks.wa.edu.au
Middle School Reception - midschool@stmarks.wa.edu.au
Senior School Reception – snrschool@stmarks.wa.edu.au
Parent Reception – parentreception@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Tickets are selling fast, for our Old Scholars' Milestone Reunion on Saturday 24 February 24.

All Old Scholars who graduated from St Mark’s in 1994, 2004 and 2014 are invited, and we can't wait to see you all and hear what you've been up to since leaving the land of maroon and blue!

Ticket details are available here.

If you have not received an email regarding the reunion, it means we do not have your current email - please update your details here.

The P&F is excited to be hosting Paul Dillon from DARTA for a Parent Session on Monday 26 February 2024.

Paul Dillon Parent Seminar: Teens, parties, alcohol and vapes: What do parents need to know?During adolescence, teens develop a biological need to be around friends, and it is important to provide them with opportunities to socialise with their peers whenever possible. Using the most current data available, this presentation will examine the use of alcohol and other drugs by school-based young people. Simple strategies will be provided to help ensure teens are able to interact with friends on a Saturday night and, at the same time, reduce the risk of underage drinking and the potential dangers associated with such behaviour. In addition, up-to-date information will be provided on vaping, particularly in relation to young people. It aims to empower parents with a positive message and assist them in having open and honest family discussions in this complex area.

When: Monday 26 February 2024

Time: 7:00pm - 9.00pm

Where: St Marks Anglican Community School, St Marks Drive, Hillarys WA 6025

Cost: FREE | Secure your free tickets here.

To check out more about Paul and his work with DARTA head here.