Annual Report to the School Community

Changed your Details?

Parents are welcome to scan and e-mail medical plans to enrolments@oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au

Child Safe Standards

Oakleigh South Primary School is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report, there is a new regulatory landscape (Ministerial Order No. 870) surrounding child safety, underpinned by new Child Safe Standards. This order came into operation on the 1st of August 2016.

In response to this legislation, Oakleigh South Primary School has developed policies and procedures that aim to keep children and young people safe. The school achieves this by developing a culture of safety through risk management to identify and remove risks of child abuse, policy development and implementation, code of conduct screening, supervision and training, processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse and strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children. The school’s policies can be viewed on-line.

To ensure that everyone is well informed about all relevant information please read the attached documents:

Further information about Child Safe Standards can be found at:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/protect/Pages/default.aspx

Oakleigh South Primary School’s commitment to child safety

Oakleigh South Primary School is committed to child safety.

• We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.
• We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.
• We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.
• We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
• Oakleigh South Primary School is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
• Oakleigh South Primary School has robust human resources and recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers.
• Oakleigh South Primary School is committed to regularly training and educating our staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
• We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers. We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability, and children who are vulnerable.
• We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.

Out of Hours Services

Oakleigh South Primary School venue is host to a variety of service providers. Please note that service providers are not managed or run by Oakleigh South Primary School, they hire our venue. Please use the link to find out further information to get in touch with their service.

Parent Group

Policies

Oakleigh South Primary School has developed policies in line with department regulations. They have all been approved by School Council. The following policies are available for your perusal at the office: External Providers Policy, Duty of Care Policy & Procedures, Administration of Medication Policy, Critical incident Plan Policy, Accidents & Incidental Reporting Policy, Working with Children Check Policy. The following policies are available via the links below:

Acceptable Use Agreement OSPS

Anaphylaxis Management Policy OSPS

Bullying and Harassment Policy OSPS

Computers and Mobile Device Policy OSPS

Curriculum Framework Policy OSPS

Dress Code Policy OSPS

eSMART Policy OSPS

Excursions and Camps Policy OSPS

ICT Acceptable Use Policy OSPS

Parent Payment Policy OSPS

Student Engagement & Welfare Policy OSPS

Visitors Policy OSPS

The Department has developed a new Schools’ Privacy Policy and related documents for all Victorian government schools. The new Schools’ Privacy Policy will be implemented over term one of 2018. Please click below for further information. Once ratified by school council, the OSPS policy will be uploaded.
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/schoolsprivacypolicy.aspx

Appendix A: School Council Elections Information for Parents

School Council Elections 2019

WHAT IS A SCHOOL COUNCIL AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within statewide guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

For most school councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected Parent category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education and Training (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.
• A mandated elected DET employee category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.
• An optional Community member category – members are coopted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. Department employees are not eligible to be Community members.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

WHY IS PARENT MEMBERSHIP SO IMPORTANT?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

DO I NEED SPECIAL EXPERIENCE TO BE ON SCHOOL COUNCIL?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. Councilors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them.  What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

HOW CAN YOU BECOME INVOLVED?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in Term one each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider

• standing for election as a member of the school council
• encouraging another person to stand for election.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO STAND FOR ELECTION?

The principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term one each year. All school council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual time line has been varied by the Minister.

If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent category.

Department employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the school council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt in the mail following the receipt of your completed nomination.

Generally, if there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

REMEMBER

• Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do
• Consider standing for election to council this year  
• Be sure to vote in the elections.

Contact the principal for further information.

SCHEDULE 4: NOTICE OF ELECTION AND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

An election is to be conducted for members of the school council of Oakleigh South Primary School

Nomination forms may be obtained from the school and must be lodged by 4.00 pm on 25/2/2019  (insert date and year).

The ballot will close at 4.00 pm on 12/3/2019  (insert date and year)

Following the closing of nominations a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school.

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows:

If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted in a prominent position at the school.

Ron Cantlon
Principal

Term Dates & Bells

Uniforms PSW

School Uniforms are provided by Primary School Wear (PSW)

New uniforms can be purchased form their outlet store in Mills Street, Cheltenham or online.