Foundation (Prep/Kinder) 2015 - Chat

**wysiwyg** · February 18th, 2015, 07:47 AM

Headteacher is leaving end of Term 1, have found out today. A bit unnerving as I believe a head and the teachers are the biggest factor in how good a school is - but given how long has been there etc is not that surprising. A new head is hoped to be in place by Term 3.

**~Hestia~** · February 18th, 2015, 03:10 PM

Both kinder and school council have their meetings in the evening. I wouldn't like daytime meetings as I have 3 year old. The school runs fitness 3 times per week at 9am which parents are encouraged to join in with, lately it has been run/walk around the oval. There is also a mid term breakfast every term that parents are invited to. So lots of ways to be a part of the school besides the council.

**Khaleesi** · February 18th, 2015, 03:34 PM

See if your school needs new school board members, that is also a great way to to be a part of the school & their meetings are usually at night

**wysiwyg** · February 18th, 2015, 05:08 PM

I wouldn't like daytime meetings as I have 3 year old.

If I wasn't working I would still prefer evenings due to having a younger one also.

It seems school councils always seem to be at night - why is that, why would they be at night but parents association stuff in the day?

All the nominations for school council have already closed apparently (I got an email today - with the nominations - but everything is written like you already understand how everything works) - so what is the deal do parents who are not 'on' the council still go to meetings?

There is meant to be some new parent coordinator to help new parents but they are not in place yet to my knowledge.

**Olive** · February 18th, 2015, 06:50 PM

Our parents association meetings alternate, one month it's during the day, next month it's a night, that way it caters to all.
Committees are night, our kinder is too big to do during the day, no place to hold it!

**HotI** · February 18th, 2015, 07:21 PM

My partner is a shift worker, and I don't have family living close by, so no one to watch my kids at night. There are many different circumstances for why different times work better for different families. A mum at my school brought up the same issue (initial committee meeting for the year was held during the day), and the secretary of the committee was also present and took her email address so she could get the minutes.

dd is still going really well. my 3 year old was getting ready for kinder this morning, and dd said wistfully "oh, I remember kinder. such a lovely place, you just get to play all day" cos foundation is pretty hard, ya know

**wysiwyg** · February 19th, 2015, 11:07 AM

I understand about the different circumstances e.g. shift work, family not being around to babysit in the evenings etc. etc. These things also apply to people who work in the daytime.**Alternating seems like a reasonable idea.

I suppose I am just surprised at how many things are scheduled during the school day (3 so far) (things that are supposed to be about people getting to know each other, giving out information and fostering as sense of community – not things that obviously have to be during school hours – like tuck shops etc)* - is like there is an expectation that work is a thing that people can easily come and go from as they please, which can’t be normal surely? (certainly isn’t the experience of DH or I – or friends of ours (teachers being a prime example)).* **Is far easier for me to find a friend who can come and sit with my kids in the evening while I go to a session if DH is away for example – than get time off.* **

Receiving stuff by email just isn’t the same – especially when you need most of it translating by someone who has had a few years experience at the school to understand what it really means.

DD is really enjoying it, but still not eating much. She seems to love before and after care, they had their first assembly yesterday so now it is "why can't you come to assembly mummy - they have a coffee cart !!"

**wysiwyg** · February 23rd, 2015, 06:58 PM

Got a login to Mathletics today (it isn't our login as due to the mix up at beginning of term they don't have one for DD yet) - DD seemed to enjoy playing around with it, but moaned that she couldn't get the avatar to look enough like her :-)

Our parent participation sessions start next week (two evenings) which will be interesting - as the school is bilingual it teaches maths in French and when we were doing Mathletics DD wants to do all the counting in French, which is ok but for some bits the words are written in English so was getting frustrated as she doesn't appear to be able to translate between 'dix' and 'ten' for example so has to count again. So would be good to know what is the best way to deal with that.

Got my working with children card today (I look like a criminal in the photo).

**Khaleesi** · February 24th, 2015, 06:18 PM

It's pretty cool that your little one goes to a bilingual school. Is that why you choose it?

DD2 seems to of settled right in now, always so happy when i pick her up & she tells me she loooooves school.
She loves Japanese & music & gets so excited on those school days.
Her buddy is really nice & she always says hi & has a chat to her when she sees her.
We have school pictures next week. There goes $90.

**wysiwyg** · February 24th, 2015, 06:44 PM

It's pretty cool that your little one goes to a bilingual school. Is that why you choose it?

DD2 seems to of settled right in now, always so happy when i pick her up & she tells me she loooooves school.
She loves Japanese & music & gets so excited on those school days.
Her buddy is really nice & she always says hi & has a chat to her when she sees her.
We have school pictures next week. There goes $90.

No while I think the bilingual aspect is great, we chose it because it happens to be the closest school to us, so it is where we are zoned to go, and as has a good reputation then just went with it (we didn't look at any other school - with jobs and daycare anywhere else would have made life too painful)

We might not be able to stay at that school for the whole of her schooling (our flat is too small and bigger places in zone are too expensive) but from what I have read about bilingual teaching and the way it develops pathways in the brain, we figured that it was worth going to that school even if end up having to move somewhere without a bilingual program.

DD really likes her buddy too, although I don't really quite understand the buddy foundation relationship. Today DD was a bit grumpy and when I asked her what was wrong she said that her and her friends buddy wanted them to sing some song for the teacher but she didn't want to, she just wanted to watch but the buddies said that if she wouldn't sing then she couldn't watch - so not really sure what was going on there - haven't not ever had a buddy myself I suppose I am just surprised at how much time the buddies want to spend with the little ones, and a few times DD has said things where it sounds like she is having to do stuff she doesn't really want to but thinks she has to because her buddy says so.

**Khaleesi** · February 24th, 2015, 08:31 PM

Not sure about other school but our but all our foundation, 1 & 2's get buddies, 3, 4, 5 & sometimes 6's become the buddies.
Sometimes they have lunch or snack with their buddy, sometimes it's just doing reading, writing or class activity.
Sometimes i think some of the kids really don't want to be buddies so they kinda fob them off, which is sad because the little ones really look up to them.

DD1 is so excited that she gets to be a buddy next year, she keeps telling me all the fun things she will do with her buddy lol

**wysiwyg** · March 8th, 2015, 07:01 PM

How do others find the school is at communicating with them? DD loves school - and the teaching side of things seems great - but man they drive me bonkers with the communication. They seem to miss key stuff out (a letter about an excursion asking if anyone can help failing to mention the date is one example), get dates wrong all the time, miss key bits of info out of newsletters and emails etc. etc. All things on their own would not be so bad and mistakes can always be made, but it just seems like they are completely incapable of proof reading something from the perspective of a parent - which must lead to so much more work for them because parents have to follow up with additional questions all the time.

**~Gee_Whizzy~** · March 9th, 2015, 09:31 AM

Our school provides a weekly school letter each Tuesday, a dedicated prep newsletter on Thursdays as well as communication via the "skoolbag" app. I'm really happy with their communication, although it can be overload sometimes Lol!

**Khaleesi** · March 9th, 2015, 11:50 AM

Our school communication is pretty good.
We get weekly newsletter, skoolbag app updates & they will email you newsletters etc if you ask.
They have a FB group which they give information on as well.

The prep trachers put all important info in reader cases & then they check it the next day to make sure you got it.

I can't really complain.

**wysiwyg** · March 9th, 2015, 05:07 PM

Our school provides a weekly school letter each Tuesday, a dedicated prep newsletter on Thursdays as well as communication via the "skoolbag" app. I'm really happy with their communication, although it can be overload sometimes Lol!

The amount we get I can't complain about - indeed it is sometimes overload I think. It is the quality of it - incorrect dates, missing info all the time, and insufficient notification of things for my liking (personally I think if they want you to take time off work, organize care for siblings etc then a week is probably the minimum notice should be giving). Is a bit like that as long as they are sending out communications that is good enough, never mind if they are accurate at all - I don't mind if they are all paper based and come home with DD (like the ones from her teachers) but at least be correct.

They don't use skoolbag as far as I can tell (I have heard good things about that) (but seem to be trialing some other form of web based system Sentral???) - but again it is all a bit sketchy about where to look for what, and what the intention is. Maybe they are focusing too much on the delivery of the communication and not the content - doesn't matter how flash the method if the content itself is wrong or unclear a flash system won't help - I will find someone at the school to ask what the deal is.

**~Gee_Whizzy~** · March 9th, 2015, 06:19 PM

Ahhh ok, incorrect content is a different story! The skoolbag app is really good, has a calender that you can put important dates in with alerts to remind you etc. Our school also sends text msg reminders for the important stuff too e.g. upcoming lap-a-thon, ride to school day and p&f meeting for the school fair.

**~ Zarava Flutterby ~** · March 10th, 2015, 01:33 PM

Wow so much to catch up on again.

DD2 is going really well, loving school and had no issues going to the full week last week.
She is doing so much better than I thought she would with concentrating and no relying on her sister, her teacher said she is quite independent and works very well.

We have started StudyLadder now and the girls love it, DD1 had it last year so we had it for DD2 aswell so she has a rough idea of how to use it which really helps.

We have put forward quite a few ideas to the school for fundraising and the like but I haven't been able to make council meetings as it's the one night we do invoicing for the business, another member has put inn a motion to change the nights though as I would rally love to be there, she's apparently nominated me as 'community member' or something

**leckert** · March 10th, 2015, 06:04 PM

Tomorrow is DS's first Wednesday and DH is going to try kiss & drop both going to & from school. Term 1 Wednesday is now independence days where kids have to get themselves sorted in the classroom without help. Could be interesting ... DS has been wanting to do kiss & drop for a while already