Dudley Public School Newsletter

We are very appreciative of the time and thoughts that have been forwarded from our parent community in relation to school improvement and strategic planning. The Principal Chats which have been running for 3 weeks have been attended by a small group of committed parents and carers who have provided some very valuable insights into their expectations of the school and their perspectives on current and future school culture. There is one final session on Thursday afternoon at 2:10pm in the hall focused on school culture and extra curricular activities. Please come along if you would like to contribute.

The Tell Them From Me survey results have provided an interesting insight into parent views of the school and the systems and processes that we currently have.

These two pieces of information will assist myself and the school staff to formulate a strategic improvement plan for the next 4 years for Dudley Public School. Many thanks for the input into the consultative process.

It is with great excitement that I can announce to the school community that the green light has finally been given for the grounds improvement project to commence in the upcoming holidays. There have been many working parts to getting this project moving forward and I am excited to report that a full playground uplift is scheduled for the beginning of 2024. With this great news comes some sacrifice in the form of the loss of large areas of our playground for the students throughout the first six months of the school year. The short term pain will result in long term gain for our students, staff and the wider Dudley community. The inconvenience will affect us all in some way and I ask that families show their patience and support to the school as we manage a challenging situation in providing suitable play spaces for the students during the period of the site works. I hope to share some early concept designs with you as soon as possible. Watch this space!

Many thanks to the 13 parents who took the time to provide feedback to the school through the recent survey. I would like to share a brief summary of the main points raised in the parent survey.

Areas for improvement include:

- a refined approach to reporting to parents

- school seeking parent input on school matters

- maintenance and presentation of the school website

- resources to support student learning at home

- high performance and gifted education

- resilience, mental health and wellbeing of students

Areas recognised as positive include:

- welcoming and inclusive culture within the school

- emphasis on the importance of education and the completion of Yr12/HSC

- readership of the fortnightly newsletter

- approachability of staff

- Dudley PS as a first choice public school (100% or respondents)

- positive sense of community and connection.

These findings will be triangulated with other data sources to inform the school of parent voice in planning future activities and strategically planning for school improvement into 2024 and beyond.

A simple reminder that we will continue to use Audiri/Skoolbag and Sentral for communicating attendance and academic reports in 2023. School Bytes will be our one-stop-shop in 2024 for all communications related to school systems and processes. Please download the SchoolBytes app from your online digital store and enable downloads. All correspondence to staff members should be made via the school email address dudely-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au or by phoning the office to request a meeting or return call.

I am looking forward to hearing the leadership speeches presented by our current Year 5 students who have self nominated for a role as a Student Leader in 2024. The role of School Captain and Vice Captain is an important one as these students are required to represent the student body in a range of formal and informal situations throughout the school year. Following the speeches on Friday morning, students across the school from years 2-5 will place votes for female and male leaders separately and the results form this vote will be revealed to the whole school community at our Presentation Day on Monday 11 December. I wish each of the candidates the very best in the process.

Have a wonderful week.

Kind Regards

Chad Tsakissiris

Proud Principal

Last Wednesday Ms. Dunne and a group of Aboriginal students attended Whitebridge High School and Glenrock Scout Camp to be involved in the filming for the Wiyellai Koa Community of Schools story project. Wiyellai Koa means coming together in Awabakal language, and Dudley PS along with six other schools in our community are collaborating on this exciting project. We listened to Aunty Laurel and Uncle Nolan telling stories about Awabakal culture and we participated in Aboriginal dance. We can't wait to share this exciting project with you!

The garden has been a hive of activity lately with busy pollinators, and helpful students, buzzing around. We've been hunting for strawberries and collecting seeds.

After receiving top honours in the Lake Mac City Council School Environment Awards, this week we were fortunate enough to have ABC radio interview three of our Garbage Guardians about our waste collection stations which include five collection points for bottles, green waste, recycling, soft plastics, and general waste. Beau, Charlie and Sahara did an amazing job, informing the public about our school’s student-led waste group. We cannot wait to share the link with you once the interview has gone to air!

Thank you for your ongoing support

The funds we raise help to pay for thousands of dollars of learning resources and equipment every year at Dudley PS.

Want to know more or get involved? We are always keen to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved or has suggestions and ideas. Please get in touch:

General business: dudleyschoolpandc@gmail.com

Canteen: dudley.canteen@gmail.com

Uniform shop: dudley.uniformshop@gmail.com

Fundraising: dudley.fundraising@gmail.com

Keep up to date via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DudleyPandC

Find out what’s happening at the school and within the P&C by coming along to a meeting. You don’t need to be a member to attend and there’s no obligation to volunteer for anything!

Meetings are Monday of weeks 3 and 7 of each term at 7pm in the library and via zoom.

To become a member of the P&C, simply bring $2 to a meeting or transfer $2 to the account below and email dudleyschoolpandc@gmail.com to advise of payment and provide contact details.

Name: Dudley P&C

BSB: 032-513

ACC: 338 433

Ref: First and Last Name.