Drummoyne Public School

As my time here at Drummoyne draws to a close, I wanted to give thanks for the kindness and support I have received over the past ten weeks. From the handover with Mr Dill and welcome from the staff, to the respect and interest shown from the students and through to the greetings and support from the community, I have a lot to be thankful for.

The Drummoyne community is a beautiful one and, in partnership with the families, the school is producing wonderfully caring and respectful students that head off into High School ready to face their next challenge. I have particularly enjoyed working closely with Year 6 as they come to the end of their primary years, it's always a special time and it has been humbling to have a small part in that journey. Our staff here at Drummoyne are a dedicated and professional crew and I have been impressed with what they have achieved.

My special thanks to Evelyn, Nina and Kirsty in the office and to Mrs Colb, Deputy Principal, for supporting me during the past ten weeks, I could not have done this without your ongoing assistance and advice.

In having a significant handover with Mr Nguyen this week alongside Mrs Colb, we feel positive about the future years at Drummoyne PS. We all bring different skills and attributes to the position, and I can see how the recent panel selected Mr Nguyen as the next Principal. My thanks to the panel for their dedication and commitment to this task.

Please accept my thanks for everything you do to support your children in their education, we are fortunate to be able to call them our students. I have very much enjoyed my time here, I have learnt lots which I will take back to my own school and I hope that I have imparted some knowledge to Drummoyne as well. 

Enjoy your upcoming break and take care of yourself. 

First Day 2024 Organisation

Students in Years 1-6 return to school on Thursday 1st February, 2024 as there are now two staff development days in Term 1. All students will line up in their 2023 class lines at the beginning of the first day of school.  New students are asked to please meet at the office.

Students in 2024 kindergarten classes will be starting school on Wednesday 7th February 2024 following their Best Start interviews in the first week of school.

2024 Primary Swimming Carnival

The 2024 school swimming carnival will be held on Friday 16th February at the Drummoyne Swim Centre. Please encourage your primary children to go for a swim in a 50 metre pool during the summer break. 

Student Reports

Student reports for Semester 2 were sent home electronically on Monday. Please check your emails and let us know next Monday if you have not received your child's report.

With the school holidays approaching, daily routines often change and everyone is a lot more relaxed. Different play locations and holiday destinations means changed traffic environments and new safety concerns.

To help keep our children safe, we all need to remember these key road safety messages when going on holidays and being in new environments:

• Point out the road safety differences and dangers - Roads, footpaths, parks, car parks and bike tracks can look very different in holiday areas or maybe totally foreign, especially if going overseas for your holidays. The best way to keep children safe is to actively supervise them
• Talk and teach children about road safety every time you are out and about. Even on holidays it is important to actively supervise them.
• When out walking talk about the safe decisions you make, they may not have experienced these situations before. Stop, look, listen, think every time you cross the road.

• If a child is aged 8 years or younger hold their hand when walking near or across roads. Up until at least 10 years old supervise them closely. When on holidays children can often be overly excited and not thinking about being safe.
• It's the law that everyone wears a helmet when riding a bike in a public place. It also makes good sense to wear a helmet when riding scooters and skateboards too! It is a great way to encourage always wearing a helmet.

• Click clack front 'n back every person for every trip. Safe travelling in the car on long distances means taking a break every two hours. Give your children fun things to do in the car so they don't distract the driver. If using a different car while on holidays check they are in the right child restraint for their age and size.

Remind the other adults such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, who may be caring for your children while on holidays, about these key road safety messages.

There are many hats, jumpers and jackets in lost property so if your child has lost anything this term, please check the lost property baskets.

All items left at the end of Friday 15 December will be washed then added to the second hand uniform pool. All non school uniform items and lunch boxes etc will be donated to charity.

Dianne Colb

Deputy Principal

Respect Awards - Rawson says congratulations to:

• Paddington Seow - KN
• Charlotte Groves - 1A
• Frankie Simpson - 1A
• Juno Li - 1J
• Maya Lees - 2D
• Ryan Elalingam -2O
• Jackson Andrews - 5/6C

Responsibility Awards - Monty says congratulations to:

• Lily Tolliday - KB
• Benjamin El-Rahim - KN
• Heidi Christoffersen - 1A
• Russell Bockos - 2M
• Eric Gao - 3/4S

Resilience Awards - Brett says congratulations to:

• Zakee Bailey - KN
• Elodie Duquemin - KN
• Elle Vavdinos - KN
• Mya Weirick - KY
• Eva Bongers - 1A
• Chanel De Saint-Exupery - 1A
• Nick Young - 1J
• Thomas Hadfield - 1P

Mr Ackerman says congratulations to:

• Maya Lees - 2D - Respect
• Russell Bockos - 2M - Responsibility
• Ryan Elalingam - 2O - Responsibility
• Oscar Melville - 2O - Resilience

This week Year 6 were delighted to present to the school their farewell gift, financed from their fundraising efforts throughout the year. With the renaming of the school sport Houses, it was appropriate to order newly designed banners for future carnivals.

We are confident that they will be of good use in the coming years. 

Michelle McCauley

Assistant Principal ~ Stage 3

Student book & stationary packs are now available to purchase for next year. The packs are sent directly to the school and children will receive their packs once they return to school in 2024.

Payments should be made via schoolbytes. Please click on the link emailed to you earlier today.

The book & stationary pack prices for each year group are listed below. They include the student text books and exercise books required at school and necessary stationery they will need during the school year. Depending on the grade, other items may include a ruler, pencil sharpener, lead pencils, whiteboard markers and glue sticks etc. 

Amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar for ease of processing by the office:

Kindergarten $53,    Year 1 $66,    Year 2 $52,    Year 3 $50,    Year 4 $61,    Year 5 $76,    Year 6 $76

If there are difficulties with payment, please contact the school to make alternate arrangements.

School travel Opal cards can be used for free travel to and from school. Depending on where you live and where you are travelling to, you may be eligible to receive a free school Opal card. Applications for next year open at the start of Term 4 this year.

You can apply for free school travel for different modes of transport including train, bus, ferry and light rail using the online form.

You only need to apply:

• if applying for a school travel pass for the first time.
• if requesting an extra pass due to parents living separately.

The student must:

• be a resident of NSW, or an overseas student eligible for free government education.
• be aged 4 years 6 months or older. Pre-school children are not eligible.
• live a minimum distance from your school. The minimum distance varies according to the year or grade the student is enrolled in that calendar year.

Please click on the link for more details:

transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/ticket-eligibility-concessions/school-student-travel

Drummoyne Public School P&C have undergone an extensive review of software providers over the last several months as an alternative to School24. From this review the P&C have chosen 'Flexischools' which allows parents and students a more convenient way to order and pay for canteen, uniform and events online.

This change will be effective Term 1, 2024. DPS will continue to use School24 for the remainder of this term. From Term 1, 2024 you will no longer be able to order via School24. If you currently hold an account balance, please start running this down over the next few weeks. If you still have a balance left after the end of term, instructions for balance transfers to Flexischools will be provided in Term 1, 2024.  

Why are we changing to Flexischools?

• Cost effective - Less fees to parents and the P&C! You can avoid all card fees by topping up from your bank account, and you can use your balance for uniform purchases and events. Service fees with Flexischools are $0.22 cents per child per meal break.
• Better app - A user friendly, straightforward, and reliable app, which is used by approximately 1,600 schools across Australia. The “Favourites” feature remembers your child’s regular order and is a quick way to place your canteen orders.  
• Less back-end issues and better service - Our trial and admin users have already seen a fantastic improvement behind the scenes, and with service levels from Flexischools.

The online uniform shop is now closed, any online orders will be filled in the first week of Term 1, 2024. For any urgent orders please contact the school admin office from Tuesday 30th January 2024.

All uniform shop orders are now to be placed on Flexischools as we are no longer using School24 in 2024.

The uniform shop is open for face to face sales on Wednesday afternoons from 3.00pm - 3.30pm.

If you need to contact the uniform shop volunteers please email:

Dear Parents/Carers,

Please remember to sign up to Flexischools for all canteen orders in the new year. Today was our last day with School24. 

Kind regards,

The Canteen Committee

To book Gowrie NSW - enrolment forms can be found on the Gowrie website:

https://www.gowriensw.com.au/out-of-hours-care/drummoyne-and-stmarks

Contact Rekkha for more information on 0436 616 744.

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