Issue 4 - 15/03/2024

Mark your calendar!

Week Nine:

Good Friday Public Holiday - Fri. 29 March

Week Ten:

Easter Monday Public Holiday - Mon. 1 April

Week Eleven:

School Holidays: Sat. 13 April-Sun. 28 April

EXECUTIVE NEWS
Michael Hatswell

Literacy and Numeracy Inquiry - School Visit

Yesterday, we had Mr Tim McCallum, Executive Director of School Performance for the Regional North Operational Directorate in the NSW Department of Education visit Evatt Primary School. The purpose of the visit was to gain an understanding of what the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy looks like at EPS. Tim shared a range of positive feedback from what he saw and noted that this would be shared as part of the Inquiry into literacy and numeracy in ACT public schools.

P&C AGM

It was lovely to see familiar and new faces at the P&C Annual General Meeting which was held at Evatt PS on Tuesday night. The committee was formed for 2024 and we look forward to working in partnership with the P&C throughout the year. Keep an eye out for the P&C updates in the newsletter throughout the year.

City Hill Park Ideas Sharing

This week a group of young innovators from our school have been sharing their ideas as part of the consultation process for the City Hill park transformation exhibition. Our students shared their ideas both verbally and in drawing/design format and these will be shared as part of the Evatt Primary School submission. If you'd like to have your say, it's not too late. More information can be found here: City Hill park ideas exhibition | YourSay ACT

P&C Disco

Thank you to our P&C for running a fabulous school disco last night. As always our students had a great time showing off their moves and grooves, as did a few of our groovy parents!

Thank you to the volunteers who made the event possible and we look forward to our next disco which will be in Term 3

Swimming Trials

Well done to all the students who participated in the school swimming trials last month. We have seven students progressing to regionals in the last week of March.

These students are Oliver D, Zoe N, Liam N, Josh S, Josh S, Kai T and Taj T.

Good luck and have fun!

School Board Election

Please be aware that we will be holding an election for two parent member positions on the Evatt School Board. Voting will open at 11am on Monday 18 March 2024 and voting will close at 11am on Monday 25 March 2024. All parents, carers, and guardians of enrolled students will receive an email to the email address registered with Evatt School on Monday 18 March with a link to the online voting platform and voting instructions. Any questions or inquiries can be sent to info@evattps.act.edu.au.

Parent Portal

Parent Portal is now available. It is a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.

Some reminders about Parent Portal:

If you already have a Parent Portal account, use this Parent Portal access link to start using the great features.
You can’t access Parent Portal directly through the ACT Digital Account website, you need to use the link above.
When you are logged into Parent Portal, we recommend saving the browser as a favourite or to the homepage on your mobile phone for quick access in the future.
The website can only be viewed using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. An app is not available at this time.
If you still need to register, you will need an access key and a Parent Portal registration link via email to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you haven’t received this, please contact the school’s front office team for assistance.

Student Learning Resources (previously known as bookpacks)

During the school holidays we have sourced all of the stationary, supplies and resources required to support your child's learning for 2024. With a goal of keeping costs to a minimum + saving parents and carers time sourcing themselves, we have purchased the supplies in bulk and will provide them to the students as required throughout the year. We have ensured the purchase of high quality resources. Some of these supplies include: workbooks, pencils, pens, textas, glue sticks, scissors, rubbers, sharpeners, rulers, scissors, tissues + a large amount of specific resources required for Art, Science, Technology, Mathematics, Sustainability and Literacy.

We encourage all parents/carers to pay for the learning resource requirements for their child(ren). An amount of $70 per student will cover these costs for the year.

Student Learning Resources payment information

Direct Debit payment:

Account Name: Evatt Primary School Management Account

BSB: 032777

Account number: 001244

Reference: <your child’s surname> <1510BP>

Please note the reference code is not the same for Student Learning Resources and Voluntary Contributions.

Voluntary Contributions

All ACT Government Schools ask families for the payment of voluntary contributions. These funds are extremely valuable for ensuring that the school can provide an enhanced learning experience for all students. We will continue to prioritise our voluntary contributions to a new PA system for our school hall.

As we did last year in consultation with our School Board, we are not going to put an expected dollar amount on the voluntary contributions.

Previously the contribution was $120 for one child, $220 for two children or $290 for three or more children.

If you nominate your voluntary contribution to the library fund this amount is tax deductible.

Payments can be made by cash, Eftpos at the Front Office, or by Direct Deposit.

Voluntary Contributions payment information

Direct Debit payment:

Account Name: Evatt Primary School Management Account

BSB: 032777

Account number: 001244

Reference: <your child’s surname> <1410>

Please note the reference code is not the same for Student Learning Resources and Voluntary Contributions.

Hats On

Our whole school day is generally within the hours that sun protection is recommended for UV safety.

Please make sure your child has a sun safe hat with their name on their hat.

https://www.sunsmart.com.au/

From the Education Directorate

2024 student-free days

From 2024, there will be 4 student-free days for ACT public schools. These are the first day of each school term:

Term 1, Monday 29 January 2024

Term 2, Monday 29 April 2024

Term 3, Monday 22 July 2024

Term 4, Monday 14 October 2024.

We use student-free days for staff development, enabling us to plan in a student-free environment. Student-free planning days have been expanded from 1 to 4 days from 2024 as part of our new Teaching Staff Enterprise Agreement which prioritises better teacher workloads for educational leadership, teaching and learning. F

or all school term dates, visit the Term Dates page: https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/term_dates_and_public_holidays

National Office of Child Safety – ‘One Talk at a Time’

The National Office of Child Safety has launched the ‘One Talk at a Time’ Campaign that aims to help prevent child sexual abuse by encouraging adults to learn about the issue and have ongoing, proactive, preventative conversations with children, young people and other adults. The campaign is aimed at adults with children and young people in their lives. For more information about the campaign, visit One talk at a time. Let’s end child sexual abuse ‘One Talk at a Time’.

Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative

The Australian Government has established the School Student Broadband Initiative to provide free home Internet for one year for up to 244 unconnected families with school students in the ACT.

To be eligible, families must:

have a school student at home;
not have an NBN connection and
live at an address with access to a standard NBN connection.

For more information see www.infrastructure.gov.au/SSBI

To nominate, please fill in this form: https://forms.office.com/r/kHUg92YZaR

COVID Smart reminder

As you may be aware, there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases across ACT public schools in recent weeks.

To help stop the further spread of COVID-19 in our school, we are encouraging and implementing the following measures:

Students who are COVID-19 positive or displaying symptoms (including a runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever) should test and must not attend school while unwell.
Parents and carers must inform schools if their child is COVID-positive.
Keep up to date with vaccinations.
Families can access a free rapid antigen test (RAT) from the front office of their school. Nasal and saliva tests are available. Test when symptomatic or as a precaution.
Practise good hand and respiratory hygiene.
Distance where possible.

For the latest COVID-19 advice please visit the ACT’s COVID-19 website.

Evatt School P&C

Contacting the P&C

Messages for the Evatt School P&C can be sent to evattpspc@gmail.com or connect on Facebook.

Evatt School Board

Contacting the School Board

Messages for the Evatt School Board can be sent to info@evattps.act.edu.au.

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

Code Camp

ACT Government Rent Relief Fund

The Rent Relief Fund (the Fund) is an ACT Government initiative to assist renters to sustain their tenancies and prevent evictions. The Fund provides financial assistance to eligible households in the ACT's private rental sector who are experiencing either rental stress or severe financial hardship – alleviating some of the hardship they may currently be experiencing.

In September 2023, the Government announced an additional $1.81 million for the Fund to continue helping Canberrans facing housing affordability and cost of living pressures in the ACT.

Applications to the Fund are now open

The Fund provides grants for up to four weeks’ rent capped at $2,500.

ParentlineACT

Woden Community Services

Woden Community Services Evatt Preschool program offers a safe, secure, and supportive environment for your child. We have built a nurturing, child focused environment in which all children are welcomed and are supported to thrive. Our friendly and qualified educators guide the program with a focus on educational outcomes and school reediness in a small group environment with a high educator to child ratio.

We offer a range of programs at Evatt Preschool to suit your individual care needs,

Before school care: 7am to 9am – from $25.40 per session
Whole day preschool: 7am to 6pm - $124.60 per session
School hours preschool: 9am to 3pm - $83.00 per session
After school care: 3pm to 6pm – from $35.20 per session

All fees attract the child care subsidy

If you would like to enroll, know more about our program, or discuss your individual needs please get in contact with our friendly staff on 02 6147 3318 or email enrolments@wcs.org.au

Joey Scouts

Email: groupleader.crowajingalong@scoutsact.com.au

Issue 4 - 15/03/2024

In this issue

Mark your calendar!

EXECUTIVE NEWS
Michael Hatswell