Boneo Buzz- Friday 4th February

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to our existing and new families. What a wonderful first week back at school. The children are so settled and enjoying reconnecting with their teachers, support staff and peers. There is a real buzz of excitement in both classrooms and the yard. With the beginning of any school year, there is always a certain amount of nervous anticipation and excitement about the return and no more so than this year.

This is a unique and challenging start that we did not expect. I’m grateful for your continued flexibility and adaptiveness. In the coming weeks, this will be more important than ever. I will share regular updates to ensure parents have the information they need to support their family. DET have asked that we limit gathering over the next few weeks. With this in mind, we will need to hold virtual assemblies for the next 3 weeks.

In 2022:

• Assembly will be at 9am each Friday morning but online for the next 3 weeks.
• For the next 3 weeks Wellbeing Friday afternoons will be in class groups rather than House mixed grouping and will be outside where possible. Year 6 lead these activities.

Boneo Market

This year, instead of scones, jam and cream at the market we will run a sausage sizzle with all proceeds going directly to the school. Year levels will be allocated to particular markets and carpark duty will be open to volunteers across the school.  Please see the schedule below:

Boneo Parents and Friends

To support the many school activities throughout 2022 we are asking for a parent volunteer from each class to join our new Boneo Parents and Friends Committee.

Please let your child’s teacher know if you are interested.

INFORMATION EVENING

A Parent Information Evening will be held on Wednesday 9th February at the following times via Zoom:

• 6:30pm – Year 3 and Year 6
• 7pm – Prep, Year 1 and Year 2
• 7:30pm – Year 4 and Year 5

A link will be shared by year level teachers via Compass. At this event, teachers will be highlighting key foci for 2022, sharing vision for the year and discussing some important logistics to support effective communication between home and school. Parents who have multiple sessions to attend will be relieved to know that all year levels will record the session and post the recording on Compass for your convenience.

Mobile Phones

All Victorian government schools are required to implement a local Mobile Phone Policy. Students who choose to bring mobile phones/smart watches to school must have them switched off and hand in to the office at the start of each day. All devices will be securely stored at the office during school hours. You can access the school’s Mobile Phone – Student Use & Digital Technologies Policies on the school website.

Holiday Maintenance

Over the holiday period, we have had scheduled maintenance work completed at the school. The main building painting works has been completed. The students are excited to see that the construction of the new basketball cover is underway. I apologise in advance for the inconvenience that may occur throughout the term as we close off the basketball courts but I know we are all happy that this exciting project is finally underway.

Preps 2022

I would like to formally welcome all of our prep students to Boneo Primary School and congratulate everyone on a smooth and successful transition with a special mention to our new families. It is an absolute joy and privilege to be a part of a child’s primary school education. Everything is new, exciting and wondrous. Every story is enthralling, everyone is a friend and everything is fun! The children have demonstrated high levels of independence and resilience over their first few days and are set for a really successful 2022. This is a wonderful testament to the fantastic partnerships between home and school. Our Year 6 students have been thrilled to spend so much time with their buddies.

Important Reminders

As a SunSmart school, hats are required when the UV rating is 3 or above. Please ensure that your child has their hat and sunscreen at school so that they can enjoy working or playing outdoors.

School starts at 8.45am. Anyone after the 8.45am bell needs a late pass from the Office.

Lunches: to support our focus on sustainability, we ask that students bring food without wrappers or packaging (‘nude food’).

Road Safety

The safety of all our community members is an absolute priority for us at BPS, as such, it is pleasing to see so many families using our designated areas for drop off and pick up. I ask all parents to follow the council directed traffic flow system for drop off and pick up outlined below:

• On the tennis court side of the school enter via Boneo Road and exit at Limestone Road We have a one-way traffic system.
• Only park in allocated spaces. I am concerned to see double parking and blocking of the driveway near the tennis court and at the back of the oval. Please do not create your own parking bay – it is unsafe.
• Keep the disabled parking bays free for those who need this space.
• Please do not park near the collection bins and designated bus pick up on Limestone Road. This is a legal requirement and the shire will be enforcing this.

Research indicates that before the age of 11 years, children are unable to judge the speed of oncoming cars and this increases their risk of injury when crossing. Think of these guidelines as a pro-active approach to helping our child stay safe around traffic.

Privacy Collection Notice for Parents

Information for students, parents and carers

The Department of Education and Training (the Department) values your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal and health information that schools collect.

All school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law and the Schools’ Privacy Policy. This notice explains how the Department, including Victorian government schools (schools), handles personal and health information. On occasion, specific consent will be sought for the collection and use of information, for example, for a student to receive a health service. Our schools are also required by legislation, such as the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, to collect some of this information.

Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, student support service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners, and all other employees, contractors, volunteers and service providers of the school and the Department.

On enrolment, and during the ordinary course of a student’s attendance at a school, schools will collect information about students and their families for the following purposes:

• educating students
• supporting students’ social and emotional wellbeing, and health 
• fulfilling legal obligations, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law
• communicating and engaging with parents
• student administration
• school management
• supporting policy in relation to student education and wellbeing.

If this information is not collected, schools may be unable to provide optimal education or support to students or fulfil legal obligations.

For example, our schools rely on parents to provide health information about any medical condition or disability that their child has, medication their child may take while at school, any known allergies and contact details of their child’s doctor. If parents do not provide all relevant health information, this may put their child’s health at risk.

Our schools also require current, relevant information about all parents and carers so that schools can take account of safety concerns that affect their children. Parents should provide schools with copies of all current parenting plans and court orders about or that affect their children and provide updated copies when they change.

When parents enrol their child in primary school, they will be asked to provide personal and health information in several ways, including via the Enrolment Form, the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and the Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) Transition Form.

The Enrolment Form is used to collect information that is essential for the purposes listed above, and requests information such as:

• Emergency contacts – Individuals parents nominate for a school to contact during an emergency. Parents should ensure that their nominated emergency contact agrees to their contact details being provided to the school and that they understand their details may be disclosed by the Department if lawful, e.g. in the case of emergency communications relating to bush fires or floods.
• Student background information – Information about country of birth, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, language spoken at home and parent occupation. This information enables the Department to allocate appropriate resources to schools. The Department also uses this information to plan for future educational needs in Victoria and shares some information with the Commonwealth government to monitor, plan and allocate resources.
• Immunisation status – This assists schools to manage health risks and legal obligations. The Department may also provide this information to the Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to assess immunisation rates in Victoria, but not in a way which identifies students.
• Visa status – This is required to process a student’s enrolment.

All schools may use departmental systems and online tools such as apps and other software to effectively collect and manage information about students and families for the purposes listed above.

When schools use these online tools, they take steps to ensure that student information is secure. If parents or carers have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact the school.

School staff will only share student and family information with other school staff who need to know to enable them to educate or support the student as described above. Information will only be shared outside the school (and outside the Department) as required or authorised by law, including where sharing is required to meet duty of care, anti-discrimination, occupational health and safety, and child wellbeing and safety obligations. The information collected will not be disclosed beyond the school and Department without parent consent unless such disclosure is lawful.

When a student transfers to another school (including Catholic, independent and interstate), personal and/or health information about that student may be transferred to the next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of the student and assists the next school to provide the best possible education and support to the student. For further detail about how and what level of information is provided to the next school, refer to the: Enrolment: Student transfers between schools

Schools only provide school reports and ordinary school communications to students, parents, carers or others who have a legal right to that information. Requests for access to other student information or by others must be made by lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

To update student or family information, parents should contact their school.

A Tour of the Classrooms