Kindy Parent Information

The School calendar and term dates for each year are published on the School website, parents are strongly encouraged to subscribe to the JSR Community Calendar.

Key dates and events for the beginning weeks of school:

Staff professional development days: Tuesday 27 January to Friday 30 January

Welcome to Kindy session: Friday 30 January 8.45-11.45am

First day for students:

• Group 1 – Monday 2 Feb, Surname A-E
• Group 2 – Tuesday 3 Feb, Surname F-M
• Group 3 – Wednesday 4 Feb, Surname N-Z

All Kindergarten students can attend together on Thursday, 5 February

In the weeks prior to school returning, your child will receive a letter from their teachers introducing themselves and welcoming you to the 2027 school year.

The School communicates most information via email or the School App. Teachers utilise the student diary in the first instance to communicate with you and keep the class portal page current. The class portal page can be found by logging into SEQTA Engage. The teachers keep this updated with a class newsletter, photographs of activities undertaken in Kindergarten, and reminders for upcoming events.

All students are issued a school diary in the first week of school. Hard copies of notes and communications will be available via your child’s diary or emailed directly to parents. Please check the diary daily and return it to school the next morning. The diary is a valuable means of communication between home and school. Please get into the habit of looking for information in the diary from the teacher, and in the same manner, use the diary for any comments you might need to make. Please check your email on a regular basis to ensure you are up to date with scheduled events, as well as checking class portal page for reminders relating to upcoming school or class events.

In Term One, parents are strongly encouraged to make an appointment with the class teacher to discuss any important information pertinent to their child. Open communication is always encouraged, and you are more than welcome to make appointments with your class teacher at any time during the year.

SEQTA Engage – the parents’ portal that allows parent access to the information available to students in SEQTA Learn, but with the ability for parents to access their children’s Pastoral Care and attendance summaries as well as Semester Reports and the class portal page. You can also use SEQTA to log any absences from School.

Access to SEQTA is through the app. The connection is secure, and login and password details are configured for all users personally. Parents can only access timetable, course, and assessment information specific to their children.

The JSR App is an essential communication tool withing the community. All year group notices, newsletters and letters from the Principal at distibuted via the App. It also provides link to all essential resources for parents.

Please make use of our Communications Cheat Sheet to help explain the key communication channels used at JSR.

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Consent2Go is a platfrom that provides for:

• Gathering student health information

• Photo permission

• Excursion and camp permissions and payment

• Parents to advise of updates to contact details

As all parents would appreciate, the accuracy and management of student health records is a critical process for all schools. Government legislation in this space is placing further responsibilities on schools, while also requiring clear and consistent communication between schools and families to ensure that optimum care is provided for all students.

Consent2Go allows the school to capture and confirm health information and permissions for your child in an accurate and timely manner through a secure process. There are a multitude of benefits and opportunities that are achieved by using this system, with positive advancements in areas such as excursion approvals, risk management and sports communication and management. It is also important to note that Consent2Go is compliant with all of the Australia Privacy principles.

The picture (see below) shows the style of the message that will be received by parents of new students.

Should you encounter any questions through your completion of this process, there is a ‘Need Help?’ icon at the top right of each screen, and the technicians at Consent2Go will be available to assist you with your inquiry. As always, Administration staff can be contacted for matters pertinent and specific to the school.

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Teachers will use photographs and videos for learning and assessment opportunities or to record school events. The school has an online presence, including a website and social media. It is imperative that you indicate if you give permission for your child’s photo to be used in publications and on social media platforms. This can be done via Consent2Go.

Please note we do not share any personal information including children’s full names online.

The start of our school day is 8.45am.

The classrooms are open from 8.30am should you wish to accompany your child into the classroom and settle them in. There is a staff member on duty in the morning from 8.30 should you like to drop them with their siblings at the drop off/pick up point. At the end of the school day, we understand that some families with no other children at the school may wish to arrive prior to the end of the day.

Kindergarten children with no other siblings at school can be collected from 3.15pm at the classroom. At 3.20pm, all students are supervised at the drop off/pick up point. Older siblings are more than welcome to wait with them at this pick up point to support you collecting all your children at the same time. Please note the early close on Mondays.

If someone else is to collect your child other than you, you will need to let the class teacher know.

Please help us by ensuring your child is wearing the correct school uniform. At JSR, there is a uniform guideline that all students should abide by. We often see frilly socks, incorrect shoes, and non-uniform hair adornments. We encourage our students to take their shoes and socks off when playing outside for some activities. We teach them to place their socks inside their shoes before going off to play.

Please refer to your uniform requirements information page in the Parent Handbook for further details. Please make sure that your child has a set of spare school clothing as accidents can happen on the odd occasion. Please label all items of clothing with your child’s first and last name.

Please send your child to school with morning tea and lunch from home. Packing them in separate containers helps children to understand what they should eat at each break time until they are better able to manage their food for the day.

Drink bottles should contain water. Some parents choose to provide a frozen fruit juice box drink, or equivalent, to help keep lunches cool during the day (cordial, or other high sugar drinks are not appropriate). Alternatively, you can include a frozen icepack or water bottle to help keep their lunches cool during summer.

Some students prefer a warm lunch in the cooler months and will bring small thermos containers. Please refrain from including lollies, chocolate, or high-sugar foods or drinks. Fast Foods (McDonald’s, Red Rooster, Hungry Jack’s, etc) should not be dropped off. These foods are inappropriate for a school day.

JSR is an allergy-aware school, and families are asked to support us by not packing nut products in their child’s lunchbox. The Canteen is available for Kindergarten children to order their lunch. Lunch orders need to be placed in the box in your child’s classroom at the beginning of the school day if you are not ordering online.

Primary Students have the option to order online via Flexischools. Flexischools is a fast and secure way to order and pay online. A link to Flexischool is available on the School website under the ‘Parents’ heading or go to www.flexischools.com.au.

In the Early Learning Centre, there is a ‘quiet time’ or ‘silent reading time’ after lunch. In the beginning of the year, children may still fall asleep. If your child is still requiring an afternoon sleep, please ensure you let one of the teachers know early next year. Staff will communicate with you about rest time during the first few weeks of term.

Please clearly label your child’s school bag, all items of uniform (including shoes), lunch box, drink bottle, and art shirt.

Students should be able to use the toilet independently at school. If you have concerns regarding your child’s toilet training, please make an appointment to discuss this with staff in the week before school commences. From time to time, accidents do happen at school when students are busy and engaged in an activity. Please pack a spare change of uniform for your child, so that in the event of an accident, they can be supported to get changed with a minimum of fuss.

We love to have your help in Kindergarten. Please let the teacher know if you would like to help in any way. All parent helpers must sign in at the Early Learning Centre Admin and then sign out at the end of the session. All parent helpers must have signed their volunteer declaration form prior to coming in.

All art shirts are used communally by the kindergarten children. As all Art shirts are washed at school each week, it is imperative that you label your child’s art shirt with permanent/washable ink.

Due to the frequent washing, adhesive labels or texta may wash off over time, making it difficult to return your art shirt to you at the end of the year.

We understand that at the beginning of the year, children may wish to have a familiar toy or comfort with them during the day. Favourite toys are often popular with the other children, and we run the risk of the toy being lost or broken. Later in the year, each child will have the opportunity to bring in a favourite thing to talk about as our introduction to “news telling”.