Welcome back to Term 3!

Sometimes people think I am kidding when I say that I always look forward to returning for a new term. Unlike in most professions, teachers get greeted by smiling, excited little faces with stories to share. It is in these stories where the highlights lay. Many, many times I hear about amazing holidays near and far but when I ask the question “What was your favourite thing about the holidays?”, quite often the response will be remarkably simple - going to the beach, playing at the park, having a play day with friends, building a cubby house - it generally doesn’t matter where in the country or world children are, it’s the simple connection with family and friends that make the world of difference.

Refugee Experience

Next Monday, Year 5 will travel to Macquarie University for a Refugee Experience. This is a new opportunity for our students and is one that is quite different. Generally, excursions are opportunities to see and reinforce learnings that have happened or will happen in the classroom. But for this excursion, its not so much about gaining knowledge but trying to build empathy towards the plight of millions of people around the world. Over the past decade, our school has welcomed quite a number of refugee families along with many immigrant families who are in quite a different situation. I am very keen to hear from our Year 5 students when they return to see what impact, if any, this opportunity will have on their connection with others.

Responsible Use of Technology Policy

At the beginning of each year, parents are asked to digitally sign their acknowledgement of this policy. Predominantly, this is aimed at Year 5 & 6 students who are part of the 1:1 iPad program but also covers all use of digital technology across the school. Parents will be notified if a child intentionally breaches the policy. Basically, students are asked to use technology for it’s intented purpose at the specified times. When their is a breach, parents are notified and the iPad taken away for 24 hours. A second breach would have the iPad taken away for a week. A third breach would have the iPad removed until parents are available to attend a meeting where an intervention plan would be implemented. In the 10+ years that we have been using iPads, there are only 2 occasions where students have gone to the level of 3 breaches. The vast majority of students conform to the school rules with the use of technology and we have very few issues. A first breach is generally an opportunity to learn from a mistake. This policy also covers students who bring mobile phones to school. Once again, very few issues arise as students know the routine of handing them in to the office as they arrive at school.

ICAS_2025_Newsletter_Inclusion.pdf

ICAS_2025_Newsletter_Inclusion _pdf 652.49 KB

AMENDMENT TO DATES

**Year 1G Assembly is now on 19 September 2025 at 2.10pm**

Attendance

Changes to the CEDoW Attendance Policy have been flagged a number of times this year. Essentially, unless children are sick, most other absences will be recorded as Not Approved. This isn’t to say students can’t have the leave but the emphasis is now on the fact that students should be at school every possible day that they can. An average attendance of above 90% is the goal for every child. 

Mobile Phones / Smart Watches

Minor Head Injuries

Further updates in Compass now allow for minor injuries to the head of a student be relayed to parents via SMS. These injuries are assessed as usual in the office and if deemed ‘minor’, an SMS will be sent. As usual, if deemed more significant, a parent will be contacted via a phone call. This process will free up a lot of time for office staff having to look up phone numbers and individually call parents. By minor injuries, we are looking at a soft ball bouncing on their head or lightly bumping a head on another child’s shoulder. If there is a significant bump on concrete or other hard surface, or head clash with another student, parents will always be contacted via phone.