From the Admin Angels

As much as we like them, unfortunately, emojis that are texted to the schools SMS system do not work and turn the entire message into illegible gobbledygook.

Please support Reception and refrain from using Emojis when texting us.

Last week we emailed all families regarding the Australian Governments request for current residential address details. Included with the email was a letter from the Australia Government outlining the reasons for the collection, this letter is also below for your reference. Please refer to that email for information regarding the process for updating your address where relevant.

The links in the letter do not work because it is a picture, these are active links in order of how they appear in the letter for your convenience.

https://www.education.gov.au/review-socio-economic-status-ses-score-methodology

https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/4a256353001af3ed4b2562bb00121564/9099c77cb979d55 (this is a copy of the link provided but the page can’t be found)

seshelpdesk@dese.gov.au

https://www.dese.gov.au/

Term 1 school fees are due Friday the 21st if February 2020. Thank you to all who have already paid.

If you haven’t paid for Term 1 yet and you are not on an approved payment plan please address this by then.

Please remember to include your parent code when paying fees so we can identify you.

Thanks
Julia & Strawberry

As we are at the beginning of the school year, it is timely to provide some information about some of our policies and procedures. These have been developed to ensure your child’s experience at the school is safe, harmonious, productive and positive. Your assistance in working with our policies and procedures is very much appreciated.

Dress Code
Our dress code was developed over time, in consultation with teachers and parents. The dress code is fairly straight forward and is designed to allow the children to learn and play freely. You can support your child by ensuring their clothing fits within the guidelines of the code. Click to view our parent information sheet which gives clear information about the dress code for the whole school.

After School Pick-Up
Parents can collect Kindergarten and Class One children directly from the classrooms after school. For children in Classes 2-6, the options are to use the drive-through pick up option in the bottom car park, or to park the car and wait outside the performance hall for the children to walk down from the classrooms. There is ample shade and seating there for parents who would like the chance to chat, though we do ask that you carefully watch younger children during this time as the car park can get very busy. Your assistance in waiting for children at the hall rather than meeting them in classrooms would be very much appreciated as many of our teachers have after-school duties and cannot get to these if they are having to manage pick-ups at the classroom.

Food
Children expend a lot of energy learning and playing at school. We ask that you send nutritious and filling food to school, avoiding lollies, chips and sugary foods and minimising the packaging that comes to school. Click to view our Food policy, which provides further detail about this.

Communication
We consider clear communication to be an important part of our relationship with you. In March we will be launching our CBRSS app, which will integrate parent communication, the school calendar, notices from the school and access to the parent portal into one simple app. We will be sharing further information about this at class meetings. In the meantime, click to view a parent information sheet which clearly outlines the different ways to communicate in the school.

Thank you for choosing Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School for your child(ren). We look forward to a productive and enjoyable year with you.

Click to view the Primary School Handbook

As of the beginning of the 2020 school year all school fees for any given year must be finalised by the end of December of the same year as opposed to by the end of January of the following year.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the finance office and ask for Julia or Strawberry.

Phone: 02 6639 9304 or email accounts@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au

You can access 2020 School Fees via this link to our website, please note there are 2 pages to view.

A payment was received on the 18th of November in the School Bank Account with an unidentifiable comment.

If you made this payment please contact our Finance Office Ph: 02 6639 9304 or email: finance@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au

Please remember to include your parent code when paying fees so we can identify you.

Please be mindful that if your child is leaving the school we require 1 full term’s notice. We understand that this may not always be possible but sincerely appreciate your assistance with future planning when it is possible. This notice period is important for multiple reasons, including saving you money but most importantly it enables us to provide plenty of notice to new families/students and ensure a smooth transition into the school, it is very challenging for the new student, their family, the class they are entering and for all staff when the process is rushed. It can also be distressing for the community when there is not adequate time to farewell a family/student.

If your child is leaving at the end of the year please wherever possible provide notice by the end of Term 3. (Note: School Holidays do not count in the notice period, as staff are on leave during this time.) 

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO YEAR 12 STUDENTS WHO ARE GRADUATING.

In regards to withdrawal of students please note the following:

• As per the School’s Enrolment & Fee Policies: The school commits substantial resources to the education of each child and the whole school community development. Therefore when a child leaves, there is a significant impact on the school both financially and communally. For a student to be withdrawn from school once he/she has commenced at CBRSS i.e. for parents to end the enrolment contract, the School requires one term’s notice. Parents and guardians must inform and submit a Student Withdrawal Form one term in advance if they intend to withdraw their child from the school and end the enrolment contract. If no such notification is received a Withdrawal Fee of one term’s fees from the date of notification will be charged. If a student withdraws part way through a term, having given one term’s notice, tuition fees and consolidated charges will be charged on a pro-rata weekly basis; for the purpose of this clause, a part week is considered a full week.
• Once notice has been received the Enrolments Officer will proceed immediately with filling the place. Please do not give notice unless/until you are certain that your child will be leaving. If you decide that you would like your child to return to CBRSS they will need to join the waiting list and wait for an opportunity, we are unable to provide any guarantees about when/if they will be able to return.
• Once notice is received, administrative processes will occur that prevent confidentiality so please only give notice once you are prepared for the information to be public, please ensure you have advised your child prior to submitting the form.

You can find our Student withdrawal form on our website under the forms and downloads tab or by following this link. please return it to Enrolments.

If you require assistance with completing this form or need to discuss your options please contact Yvette via email: enrolments@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au or by phone 02 66399302.

To allow for the set-up of the Spring Fair.

Guitar teacher Tim tims@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au has availability for guitar and bass students on Monday and Friday morning. Great opportunity!
Drum tuition with Chris chrism@capebyronsteiner.nsw.edu.au availability Thurs and Friday mornings, and after school Mon, Tues, Fri.

You may be aware that we recently held a “World Cafe” event for parents so that we could enter into conversation with our school community and start the process of working together to make our wonderful school even better. We received some wonderful feedback and hope to soon start some working groups to implement some of the suggestions.

I am aware that not every family was able to attend the World Cafe evening (it was a cold winter’s night after all) and so would like to offer those who weren’t able to attend the opportunity to provide feedback via a survey. We are asking for your constructive feedback as to what is working well and what we could do to make our school even better.

I would be most appreciative if you could take the time to complete the survey which can be found at this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F7BMNHC

You don’t need to comment in every section, but your feedback would be greatly appreciated. This survey is not designed as an avenue to air complaints, rather it is an opportunity for you to offer suggestions which would help us on our path of school improvement. Responsibility for this rests with all of us.

We have a very comprehensive process for planning and running camps and excursions in the school. Each step is carefully planned to ensure we meet all requirements and so that all camps and excursions are appropriately resourced and planned to be safe and engaging for our students. We put a lot of work into making sure that this is so.

The only way to give permission for a camp or excursion, is through the parent portal. We have been working with this system for a couple of years now and it allows us to carefully track who will be attending and to ensure we have the appropriate permissions. It also allows us to ensure we have the first aid supplies appropriate for the particular students attending packed in our first aid kits. The first aid kits must be packed and ready the day before an excursion.

Please note that for the above reasons, permission to attend MUST be given no later than 3pm three school days prior to a camp or 3 pm the day before an excursion. Any student for whom permission has not been given by the deadline will not be able to attend the camp or excursion.

To help you out, we always send reminders prior to the deadline, but the responsibility for giving permission on time does rest with parents and guardians. Also, please make sure you update all medical details when giving permission so that we can be properly informed to look after your child’s needs.