Dear Families,

Many of our students have received much needed support from our school chaplain, Matt Govan, over the past 18 months. This is a program that we value very much. Because of the secular nature of our school, parents must give written permission for their children to see the School Chaplain. Although parents who have enrolled students over the past 3 years have generally taken this up, many parents of older children (for whom this was not done on enrolment) have not completed), have not completed permission forms, and their children are therefore ineligible for support. A form is included in the newsletter for your convenience should you wish to ensure access in future.

Over the weekend I received a rather disturbing email from our neighbours at the AEIOU Centre, the text of which is printed inside today’s newsletter. I am aware of incidents where parents have verbally abused AEIOU staff when asked to move out of their carpark. This is setting a pretty poor example to our students, and like most members of our school community, I am embarrassed to have parents from this school “represent” our school in this way. I know it is difficult to get a park sometimes, but that is an issue that most parents deal with, with patience and good humour. I can only support the hard-line measures AEIOU are taking and remind parents that this is trespassing (a criminal offence) and not just a general parking issue.

Just a reminder that we have our October P&C meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6pm. We have a very hardworking and supportive band of people in our P&C, but we tend to see the same faces over and over. Why not pop along and add your support.

On Thursday we will have our final preconstruction meeting with John Holland construction regarding major infrastructure building (during 2010). This is additional work to our classroom refurbishment program (to commence this Term) and will see us with a refurbished hall and a brand new library. As soon as the architectural plans are completed (within a few days) we will put them on display for everyone to view.

Next week I will be having some medical treatment which will require me to be away for 2-3 weeks. In my absence, Mr Orphanides will be Acting Principal and Mr Hovey will move into the role of Acting Deputy Principal. I am sure this will, as previously, be a very workable arrangement, and that things will continue smoothly for the school in my absence. Mr Hovey will be replaced in 7C by Ms O’Farrell who has recently returned from leave to help out with short term placements. Welcome back Ms O’Farrell. We’ve missed you!

On Thursday I will be meeting with Year 6 students to discuss our leadership elections for 2010. If you believe your child has leadership potential, please encourage them to apply. The first part of the process is a written application, and these are due to the Office by close of business Wednesday 4 November. I’d like to see lots of applications, as there is a great deal of potential amongst our Year 6 students.

Have a great week,

Anne Mauger

Principal

Ms Mauger,

I am writing to you in regards to a parking problem.

We are a centre for children with autism and we are situated next to your school and open from 7.30am to 3-30pm.

Once again our parents are having problems parking, we have spoken to some of their parents however they continue to park in our carpark resulting in our parents having to park away from our building and struggling to get their children into their car. Occasionally aeiou staff and parents are receiving verbal abuse, with threats of physical abuse.

From discussions with the local police service, we have decided to start clamping wheels on trespassing vehicles. If possible would you be able to place a notice in your parent newsletter advising that we are going to commence clamping wheels. To have the clamp released a payment of $200-00 will be required. If this payment is not paid then we have arranged for a towing company to tow the vehicle. This will then cost the owner $85-00 for towing and $25-00 per day depending on how long the vehicle is held in the holding yard. We will also start advising of this through notices on windshields of cars who are doing this.

It’s unfortunate that we have had to resort to these measures however after a year of trying to speak nicely to parents they are still using our carpark.