MORNING DROP OFF AND AFTERNOON PICK UP ARRANGEMENTS

Children's safety is our priority therefore it is important that we all work together to ensue we follow procedures for morning drop off and afternoon pick up.

MORNING PROCEDURES

Staff supervision of students begins at 8:20am. No student should be arriving at school before this time without prior approval from the principal. 

When students arrive at school by bus they leave the bus and walk up the path way along the side of the school. Students must come into the school immediately after departing the bus. 

Students that arrive by car may be dropped in the 2 min drop off zone. Parents and carers are not able to leave the car in this zone and come into the school. Students must immediately walk into school via the side path. Please discuss the importance of going immediately into school with your child. Sometimes children like to wait for their friends. It is much safer for children to wait for their friends inside on the playground.

Parents or carers may choose to park and walk their child into school. Please ensure it is not in the bus zone or the drop off zone. Police do monitor the area. 

Parents and carers are welcome to walk their children onto the school grounds however we ask that you do not walk into the school in the mornings. Some classes are required to put their bag outside the room, collect their hat and then come out to the playground. Parents and carers are asked to wait in the infant's weather shed while their child puts their bag inside and then they can wait with them on the playground. If a parent or carer needs to see a teacher you must enter the office and see if the teacher is available to meet with you.  Teachers have a lot of preparation work to do before school and are not always available for a discussion. Parents and carers are asked not to enter classrooms with out prior permission and the company of the classroom teacher or leadership team member.

AFTERNOON PROCEDURES

Buses: Children line up in bus lines and are escorted by the duty teachers to the buses on Garrett St from 3pm. Bus drivers are asking the children to have their bus passes ready for them to see. If your child has not yet received their bus pass in the mail then please contact Berrima Buslines for further information.

Walkers and riders: Leave from the Garrett Street exit after the first three buses have left. If you are going to be walking with your child, we ask that you wait out the front and once the buses have left you may leave with your child. No student should be leaving by car from this exit unless previous arrangements have been made with the principal. There are circumstances where a parent or carer may need to collect a student from the front entrance. This is arranged with the family and often occurs after the buses have left for safety reasons.

Cars: If you are picking a child up by car then you must pick up from Innes Road unless an agreed arrangement has been put in place with the principal to collect your child from the front entrance. We deliberately keep cars and buses separated to ensure everyone’s safety. Children are walked in colour house groups by the duty teachers down the egress to the yellow painted line. We ask parents and carers to wait inside the gate and behind the yellow line. Once the children have arrived they may walk to their parents or carer and then leave. Children must hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road. Children are not permitted to walk out the gate to meet you. Parents and carers must come inside the gate. This is to ensure everyone's safety and that no child can get through the gate without an adult.

Teachers wait until 3:10pm before walking back into the school. Children who have not been collected by this time are taken to the office. We ask parents and carers to please be prompt in collecting your children. Your children are not supervised by a teacher after the pick up times. Colour house order for arrival at the Innes Rd exit is Blue, Red and then Gold house.

Changes to pick up arrangements: Please notify the office by 2:30pm. It is very difficult for messages to be delivered after this time and can result in confusion. For younger children it can be helpful for parents or carers to make a small card the same size as a bus pass that says what the arrangements are each day if they are not the same everyday.

We appreciate and thank you for your support with these arrangements as it ensures everyone is safe when going home.

Learning to read and read well is one of the principle goals of primary education. It takes seven years for a child to become a competent, independent reader.  Most children make steady progress towards this goal during their primary school education. Not all children progress at the same rate. This is to be expected and is a normal part of learning to read. All children require support and attention as they learn to read. We have a number of ways in which we support children’s reading growth and development.

At St Paul’s, we provide a number of reading interventions from Year 1 to Year 6 to support those children who require additional support at any given time. We use a suite of well researched programs from MultiLit, an organisation who are attached to Macquarie University. Teachers and support staff are trained in administering these programs to ensure the integrity and rigour of the program. We work hard to ensure quality and consistency so that the lesson delivery is of the highest standard. The lessons complement classroom instruction. Children who participate in these programs are being given an additional opportunity to learn and grow. They do not miss out on what the class is learning. These programs are a regular part of the holistic education program that we provide at St Paul’s. 

Entry into the reading interventions is based on a thorough data analysis of the student’s literacy skills. If your child is identified as needing to participate in a reading intervention, you will receive a letter explaining the intervention program your child will participate in. You will also be notified as to who will be working with your child.  At the conclusion of the program, you will receive a report on your child’s progress with learning gains and further recommendations.

MiniLit Sage targeting Stages 1- 2

MiniLit Sage is a small group intervention of up to five children that focuses on developing student’s initial reading skills. On occasion on a needs basis, MiniLit is run as a one to one intervention. There are two levels to MiniLit each comprising of fifty sequential lessons. 

The program provides explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, systematic synthetic phonics for reading and spelling, letter formation, and connected text reading. Groups run on a daily basis until the children have achieved all the lessons. 

Reading Tutor Program  targeting Stages 2 - 3

The MultiLit Reading Tutor Program (RTP) caters for students who have not sufficiently acquired basic reading skills to become functional readers. This program is a one to one program, occurring up to 4 days a week. This research based program incorporates intensive, systematic and explicit instruction in three areas identified by research as to being the most effective for low-progress readers. They are phonics (or word attack skills), sight word recognition, and supported book reading. 

Word Attack Extension Skills targeting Stage 3

After completing the Word Attack Skills component in the MultiLit Reading Tutor Program many students are able to generalise the strategies they have learnt to all text. However, in some cases, students do need further assistance to continue to make progress. The one-to-one Word Attack Skills – Extension program teaches strategies to help struggling readers tackle multi-syllable words with confidence. This is a one to one program that occurs up to 4 days a week.

Corrective Reading Comprehension targeting Stage 3

The Corrective Reading Comprehension Program is a program that has been developed and published by McGraw Hill Education. Corrective Comprehension uses direct instruction approach to target comprehension skills for students who display difficulties with understanding instructions and understanding what they are reading. Direct Instruction is a well researched strategy that communicates learning expectations and skills to students, allows evaluation of their performance on a moment to moment basis and supports student mastery of the skills being taught. It is consistent with our school wide approach to reading being an extension of that approach. It works best in a small group setting. You will receive a letter to indicate if your child will be participating in the program and a report at the end. It is mainly for Stage 2 and 3 students.

Personalised literacy instruction

A personalised literacy instructional program is administered on a case by case basis. Typically children who participate in these bespoke programs have previously worked in one or more of the other programs described above. Children who participate in a tailored literacy intervention do so to address a specific need for the student. You will receive a letter explaining the purpose of the intervention and the amount of time it is expected the intervention will take. You will receive a report of the student’s progress at the end.

PB4L AFFIRMATIONS

A foundational principle of our school’s Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) approach, is to teach the children our expectations and then affirm children for making positive, prosocial choices. We have a school wide reward system that the children absolutely love. Children are given an affirmation when their teacher “catches them making good choices and being good citizens of our school”. The affirmation, which is both a verbal affirmation and a sticker or stamp, is recorded on a colour chart which each child in the school has been given. 

When children have reached halfway on their sticker chart and again when it is filled, they come to visit the Principal or Assistant Principal. If a student has filled the card with stickers they receive their next coloured card. This milestone is recorded and entered into COMPASS. Parents will receive a notification that their child has achieved their Green award (forty affirmations), Blue award (eighty affirmations) or Gold award (one hundred and twenty affirmations). Once a child has reached gold level, they go back to green second level. You will see a number 2 sticker on the front of the sticker chart. The system continues with a larger certificate being issued at each milestone.

This is an opportunity to celebrate with your child that they have been doing their best with their learning and being a great member of the St Paul’s community. Please let the children know that you have got the message. Children are very proud of their achievements and particularly love receiving a “yahoo” from the principal. Each morning, as part of the announcements, the children who have moved onto the next card are announced. This is a wonderful achievement for all our students. 

When your child reaches each milestone, your child will come home from school with the filled affirmation card as well as a certificate. We will send you a COMPASS notification of this milestone achievement. Please celebrate your child’s achievement at home just as we have celebrated your child at school.

What happens when a student makes an incorrect behaviour choice?

We teach and reinforce positive behaviour expectations to our children. We want to set up all our children for success at school. Sometimes, things go wrong. Our school escalation sequence manages children who are making poor choices and decisions. The card system is a key part of this escalation process. Children are given the opportunity to correct their behaviour. Teachers will reteach, redirect, remind and / or remove a student or item to assist them in making a better choice. If the student continues with this inappropriate choice then they will be given a warning via a yellow card. The Yellow cards stays with the child for the day and is a reminder for them. If a child continues to make poor choices then they will receive an orange card. This will result in further discussion and a suitable consequence to support the child in making better choices. If the child still continues with inappropriate behaviour they will receive a red card. This will result in a consequence that is suitable to the inappropriate behaviour and a phone call home to let you know. Most times children who receive a yellow card make a change to their behaviour and have a productive day. When children are consistently receiving orange and red cards the classroom teacher and a member of the leadership team will organise a meeting with you to put a plan in place to support your child with their behaviour concerns. Children who receive a yellow, orange or red card reset and start each day fresh, cards do not carry over.

As a system we have defined behaviours under low level and high level behaviours. High level behaviours require contact with parents /carers to discuss the behaviour and consequences for the child and to collaborate on how we can support the child moving forward.  Low level behaviours are managed at school by the teaching staff. If there is something unusual about the behaviour or out of character for the child the teacher may contact the family.