Head of Preparatory School

• Print

Meet the Teacher Evening Reminder

Don’t forget that our K-2 Meet the Teacher evening will be held this afternoon from 5pm-6pm in Grade rooms. The Prep staff are looking forward to meeting you all and sharing information that will be helpful to begin our year together. These sessions are short, so our staff have chosen information that they feel is relevant to you all at this stage of Term 1. Further parent sessions regarding information technology, reading, wellbeing and new curriculum information will occur later in the term. These dates can be found on the school calendar for your diaries. A gentle reminder that this afternoon’s session is an adult only function. No baby sitting or children playing in the playground please.

If there is anything that you hear this evening that you would like further information about, please talk to your teacher after the session or email them on their school email. Members of the Executive Team will also be wondering around and introducing themselves so feel free to have a conversation with us as well.

Prep Photo Day

All families would have received information this week regarding Prep School Photo Day, 15 February. Students are to wear their full summer uniform (including blazers). If your child has PE on that day, they will bring their sandshoes only their bags to change into. Please refer to communication from further details. It can also be found on Pulse.

Term 1 Lunchtime Wellbeing Activities

Lunchtimes are a time for our students to refuel and connect with friends. For some, the playground can be a place that is a little overwhelming or it can seem so big that a feeling of ‘what should I do’ can cause some butterflies in tummies. The Prep lunchtime wellbeing activities provide students with opportunities where they can enjoy some new friendships, try some new fun experiences and develop new skills. They are age specific, and some require the students to sign up to the whole term. At our Prep Assembly, next Tuesday afternoon, Ms Fiebiger will be launching the Term 1 schedule and the students will then decide what they would like to try. There is no pressure for our children to join the activities. The beauty is that they are led by both staff and by our student leaders and will change each term depending upon the interests of the children and the staff.

Calling All Volunteers!

If you would like to volunteer some time to help our teachers in classrooms or help Mrs Roberts in the Library, we would love to hear from you. Listening to reading, reading to students, art, shelving and covering books are just a few ways your help would be welcomed in the Prep School. At this stage we are keen to get an idea of how many parents would like to put their hand up to volunteer. We will then ask our teachers to provide further information as to what this may look like in their classrooms. A few points to know before you decide to volunteer:

• You may not always be in the same room as your child
• Volunteers will need to provide Head of Prep a current Working with Children’s Check
• Volunteers will need to attend an information session before beginning where guidelines and expectations will be discussed

If you are interested and would like to know more, please chat to me in the playground or if you would like to volunteer, please email your teacher directly. Our aim would be to have this process up and running by week 6 (this will give everyone enough time to gain a WWCC and attend our sessions).

Parking issues

Once again, can I please ask parents and carers NOT to park on Allister Street between the hours of 7.30am-9am and 2.30pm-4pm. This time frame is for drop off and pick up only.

A staff member will often be out the front of the School to remind parents of this. If you are asked to move on or not to park (even for a few minutes) I would ask that you respond to them in a respectful manner, please. Thank you.

Car line pick up and drop off is always an option for parents so please consider that option when a car spot cannot be found. A reminder that when exiting the car park, you must turn left only. This is to keep pedestrians, our staff on duty and other drivers who are coming up Allister St safe.

Lunches

What delicious lunches arrive at school every day. Thank you for sending healthy food choices for your children. Can I please remind families that lunchboxes need to be able to fit inside school bags and be able to be opened easily by little fingers please. As a parent myself, I understand that food is love but please consider the number of little containers, forks, spoons and ice packs that you send your child with. They need to be able to manage all of this while chatting to friends and finishing the actual food! One final reminder please label every piece of property that your child brings to school. Thanks for helping us with this.

2023 OOSH

A message from Ana Nogueira

Welcome to our Week 2 OOSH. As part of our continuous improvement, a survey was sent to all families this week and we encourage families to take a few minutes to fill it in. Feedback is an important tool that I and the team use to reflect on our service. Thank you in advance for doing this for the ongoing development and growth of OOSH.

Don’t forget to let us know if your child requires medication as we need to keep this stored in the OOSH room with all relevant documentation!

Lucy Hill Library

Get to know the Library session – 8.20am Thursday 16 February

A message from Mrs Roberts

Welcome back to school and to the Lucy Hill Library. I am very excited to share with you all that the Library Literati newsletter has returned and can be found on all Prep Year Group Pulse pages. I encourage all families to read the latest information at the commencement of each term. I am more than happy to have a conversation about any of the content or answer any of your questions that you may have.

I am very excited to welcome any parent or carer who would like to know more about the Lucy Hill Library to come to the Get to know the Lucy Hill Library session on Thursday 16 February at 8.20am.

At the session, I will also share the information about the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge that the Prep students will once again take part in this year.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Mrs Ainslie Breckenridge
Head of Preparatory School
abreckenridge@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9848