Parent Information
Page Page
Parent Information
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. Message to Parents
3. School Profile
4. How Can You Help As a Parent?
5. Code of Conduct
6. School Administration
ABSENCES
ADMISSIONS
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES
7. ATTENDANCE
BANKING
CHILDREN WHO NEED MEDICATION
8. COMPLAINTS
9. DENTAL THERAPY
FIRST AID AND SICKNESS
GRIEVANCES
HATS
HEAD LICE
HEALTH EXCLUSION TABLE
10. HOMEWORK
HYGIENE
INTERVIEWS
11. JEWELLERY
LOST PROPERTY
L.O.T.E.
MOBILE PHONES
MONEY
NEWSLETTERS
NORMAL SCHOOL ROUTINE
PARADES
12. PARENTS’ AND CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION
PHOTOS
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
REPORTING
REFUND POLICY
RESOURCE SCHEME
RESOURCE CENTRE
SCHOOL PHOTOCOPIER
13. TUCKSHOP
UNIFORMS
VOLUNTARY TEACHER AIDES
Page 1
Parent Information
MESSAGE TO PARENTS
Wheatlands State School welcomes your family to our school community. We look forward to meeting and working with you during the course of your child's education here.
What is it that schools really do?
A great many things actually. They teach essential academic skills which children need to survive and thrive in later life. Amongst these are Literacy and Numeracy skills, information technology skills, a range of knowledge and skills to operate effectively in the Key Learning Areas of the Australian National Curriculum, including English, Mathematics, Science and History, as well as Key Learning Areas of the Queensland State Curriculum, including Studies of Society and the Environment, Music, Health and Physical Education and The Arts. We also provide lessons in Japanese, in the senior years, as part of the Language Other Than English curriculum.
Over and above all these academic endeavours, our school hopes to assist children in the task of growing into happy, healthy, well-rounded citizens who will enjoy useful, productive and stimulating lives.
Schools are the means by which all societies hope to achieve this goal of educating and socialising their future citizens. We recognise however that the most effective schools are those that build good partnerships between parents and school. There will be many opportunities for you to participate in such partnerships, all of which will have these features in common: Mutual trust, harmony and a dedication to the task of producing the very best for your children; our students.
The Mission Statement of the School is a general guide to how this school hopes to achieve its task. Our school Mission Statement is as follows, 'Wheatlands State School aims to give each child a quality education within a rural small school environment. Our School Rules encourage Learning, Respect and Safety and promote our school motto “Education for a Better Future”.
It is essential to the process of home and school co-operation that you get to know your child's teacher. Discuss your child's progress with him or her because we do have your child's interest in common.
Please encourage, praise and be interested in your child's school activities. Educational research, as well as common sense, says that children who are helped and encouraged at home invariably progress faster and further than those who are not.
We hope this booklet will answer many of the questions about how your child will enter into our school life. With this booklet goes a sincere invitation to visit the school, and speak to teachers or Principal when you wish to discuss anything about your child.
SCHOOL PROFILE
Wheatlands State School is located in the South Burnett District and services the communities of Wheatlands, Mondure, Murgon and Wondai.
The school consists of a mixture of socio-economic groups and has shown considerable growth in the last few years and is expected to sustain numbers in coming years. Buses also transport students to and from the school.
Community support for the school is a particular feature with parental involvement being evident at all levels within the school.
The school offers curriculum programs which cover all of the Key Learning Areas as prescribed by Education Queensland. The school also offers specific programs to cater for less able students and students with unique gifts or potential. Japanese is the Language other than English being studied at the school. Learning Technology is also a priority area within the school with keyboarding, Information Technology and computer literacy being addressed throughout the school.
Class teachers are supported by our 4 Teacher Aides, Administrative Officer, Schools Officer (groundsman) and visiting specialist staff in Music, Physical Education, Learning Support, Special Education Programs and Guidance Officer.
The student community consists of students across the 5 to 12 years age group (Prep - 7) with the Preparatory Year now well established.
A range of year level combinations operate throughout the school. Students are keen to learn and display a sense of purpose and commitment in the tasks they undertake. They recognise that it is their school and actively demonstrate the school rules.
Other features of the school include:
· re -landscaped grounds including a forestry area
· A relatively new and multi-purpose court
· 2 newly constructed double classrooms
· Leadership team of two school captains
· A Student Council
· Wireless laptop mobile learning devices
· A Biennial camp to Sydney and Canberra with surrounding small schools
HOW CAN YOU HELP AS A PARENT
1) Communicate as often as possible with your child's teacher. Staff is encouraged to do the same with parents. Our common interest is your child's development.
2) Communicate with your child. (Make sure there is two way communication.)
3) Take a genuine interest in nightly homework your child brings home. Supervise and ensure that home-tasks are done effectively and signed nightly.
4) Read to and with your child regularly.
5) Have your child read to you.
6) Listen to your child.
7) Take an active role in volunteer activities at school that enhance your child's academic and social development. Don't be frightened to volunteer; who knows what talents you may have! Some suggestions are:
® Working Bees
® Become parent helpers
® Attend workshops for parents
® Assist the Parents and Citizens’ Association when they ask for your help.
8) Support the School's Parents & Citizens’ Association. Any good school is characterised by an active P & C which, in the modern era, is far more than an organisation for raising much-needed funds, although this role will always be important. The P & C is the ideal venue to learn what makes a school “tick” and the organisation is enriched by the involvement of as many parents as possible. The P & C meets every fourth Monday of the month at 6.30pm in the school staff room.
9) Support the school's sporting, musical, cultural and social activities. These activities not only enhance the child's social development, but represent publicly the school's achievements in these areas.
The task of educating your child is a partnership between parents and school and we can assure you that this school is willing and capable of playing its role in allowing your child to develop socially, physically, mentally and emotionally to their fullest. The key word is partnership.
CODE OF CONDUCT:
The school is guided by the ‘Responsible Behaviour Plan’ that everyone is expected to comply with, to ensure that the school is a comfortable safe place for everyone and effective teaching and learning can occur.
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
ABSENCES:
Parents are requested to supply a note explaining a child's absence or to contact the school by phone. This is a courtesy to the class teacher and potentially important for your child's welfare.
When phoning in absences please use the school phone number 41684970. Using this number before school frees up office staff to deal with counter enquiries. When you call, please leave the following information:
® Your name and phone number
® Your child’s name and class
® The reason for absence, e.g. sick with an ear infection
® The length of absence
It is important to remember that it is a legal requirement that schools maintain accurate attendance records.
By law we are required to instigate a formal follow up and notify the appropriate authorities if a child is absent for more than two days and we have not received any information from parents/carers.
Children who are to be absent for more than 10 consecutive school days (for a family holiday outside school vacation times, for example) need to apply to the Principal for an exemption from compulsory schooling. This exemption needs to be applied for and approved before the absence.
ADMISSIONS:
Wheatlands SS has an enrolment agreement that outlines rights, responsibilities and obligations about student's education at our school. As part of the enrolment process, parents are interviewed by the principal where other school information and policies are explained to parents and students before enrolment is accepted. These inform parents and students of how certain matters are dealt with by school administration. The school's Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students and Student Dress Code are also provided to parents.
Since 2007, children have been eligible to attend a full-time non-compulsory Preparatory Year of education before starting Year 1. Children need to be five by 30 June in the year they intend to commence Prep. Queensland State schools offer enrolment to children of compulsory school age and to young people of compulsory participation age.
When creating official school records, the name on the child's birth certificate is used. Students are able to enrol under a surname the enrolling parent requests if such an action is not intended to defraud, contravene a court order or infringe the other parent's rights. The child’s Birth Certificate or an Official Copy of the Birth Certificate MUST be sighted before enrolment can occur.
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES:
School commences each day at 9:00 am The first bell, however, rings at 8:50 am to remind children to organise themselves for the first lesson. Pupils should be at school twenty minutes before the official starting time, to allow them to settle down and prepare for the day's lessons.
Except in exceptional circumstances, there should be no need for children to be at school before 8:30 am. Children who arrive before this time are required to stay in defined and reasonably visible areas until 8:30 am. School ends at 3:00 pm.
Parents requiring their children to arrive late or depart school early, are required by law to sign their children in and out at the school office, in the Late arrivals/Early Departure register. This register is maintained so that in an emergency, we know exactly who is and isn’t on the premises.
ATTENDANCE:
Regular attendance is necessary if pupils are to gain the greatest possible benefit from their school experiences. Frequent absences have a definite effect on results. Parents will be contacted if a pattern of absenteeism is identified. Attendance is compulsory and we are obliged by the Education Act 2006 to respond to unexplained irregular patterns of attendance.
All classes are dismissed at 3.00 p.m. Children who live locally and who make their own way to and/or from school, must leave the school grounds immediately and go directly home. Children riding bicycles to and from school are required to walk their equipment into the bike rack once they arrive at the school gate, and must obey road laws in terms of using bike paths and wearing helmets. Children who are driven to and/or from school should be collected as near as possible to dismissal time. Parents are asked to exercise utmost care when leaving or arriving in their vehicles at this busy time.
BANKING:
School banking is conducted by members of the School’s P&C at the school each Tuesday. New accounts may be opened and deposits made. Bank books should be left in folders provided in each classroom on Tuesday. These are then given back to the children later in the day. Account enquires should be directed to the Commonwealth Bank in Murgon.
CHILDREN WHO NEED MEDICATION:
Below is the directive given to schools regarding administration of medication.
Should medication prescribed by the student's medical practitioner be required to be administered while the student is at school or involved in school-approved activities, a parent/legal guardian must, in the first instance, make a written request to the principal of the school and complete a Medication Advice Form, available from office.
A teacher or other adult person on the school staff authorised by the principal to give medication to a student, may accept responsibility to give medication to a student while at school or while involved in school-approved activities, following such written request from a parent/legal guardian.
Where a teacher or other adult person on the school staff authorised by the principal to give medication to a student, is to administer medication, the instructions provided should be written on the medication container by the pharmacist at the medical practitioner's direction. The teacher or other authorised person should not accept the instructions solely of the parent/legal guardian. The instructions on the medication container need to indicate specific times at which medication is to be administered, as well as the quantity of medication to be administered.
At no time should any medication provided for one student be administered to another student.
At all times, medication must be kept in a secure place. (One exception, in selected cases, is that of inhaler therapy for asthma. On written permission from a parent/legal guardian, and with the approval of the school principal, the student may be responsible for the inhaler.) All unused medication is to be returned to the parent/legal guardian of the student.
Oral Medication
A teacher or other adult person on the school staff authorised by the principal to give medication to a student, may give oral medication, provided it is given strictly in accordance with instructions written on the medication container by the pharmacist at the medical practitioner's direction and is requested by a parent/legal guardian in writing. Non-prescribed oral medications (such as analgesics and over-the-counter medications) should not be administered by teachers or other persons on the school staff.
Injections
Teachers or other persons on the school staff must not give intravenous injections.
Types of injections other than intravenous injections may be given, following a written request from a parent/legal guardian to the principal, only by teachers or other adult persons on the school staff who are authorised by the principal to give medication to a student, and who:
® are experienced in the procedure of giving such injections; and
® are willing to give such injections
Injections may then only be given in circumstances where:
® there are full written instructions from the medical practitioner on the giving of such injections:
® an explanation is given by the medical practitioner of possible complications arising from the giving of such injections