St Columba’s Catholic Primary School

The CEWA Code of Conduct describes the minimum standards of conduct in all behaviour and decision making to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students. The Code applies to staff, students, volunteers, parents and carers.

The CEWA Code of Conduct describes the minimum standards of conduct in all behaviour and decision making to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students. The Code applies to staff, students, volunteers, parents and carers.

Our Student Code of Conduct describes the standards of conduct and behaviour expectations of students to ensure all children feel happy and safe in our school.

The CEWA Parent and Carer Code of Conduct promotes respectful engagement in school communities.

All Codes of Conduct can be found under Procedures.

Administering medication: Only essential medication is administered at school by staff or the student. Parents complete the School Medication Record and provide prescribed medication in the original container or with a copy of the label, with relevant instructions. The form can be found under Quick Links - Forms.

Medical treatment: The treatment of asthma or use of an EpiPen will be according to the Medical Action Plan provided by your doctor. It is parents’ responsibility to provide updates and medication within the expiry date.

Emergency contacts: Parent and emergency contact details must be kept up to date, in case of illness or an emergency.

Accident or head injury: Parents will be notified if a child is injured or bumps their head. In case of emergency, you will be contacted immediately. An ambulance may be called and associated costs are the responsibility of the parent. Student insurance is included in school fees.

Parent responsibilities:

• Parents are responsible for supervising their child on campus outside of school hours (before 8.35 am and after 3.05 pm), unless the student is under the supervision of a duty teacher.

• Parents must collect children on time to uphold duty of care.

Supervision before school:

• Children should not be on the school grounds before 8.35 am.

• Duty teachers supervise Kiss and Drive from 8.35 am to 8.50 am.

• Students proceed to class from 8.35 am, ready to commence at 8.50 am.

Supervision after school:

• The official pick-up window is from 3.05 pm to 3.20 pm.

• Duty teachers supervise the Kiss and Drive until 3.20 pm, after which students will be escorted to the office.

Play areas and equipment:

• Out of bounds before school.

• Pre-Primary playground: closes at 3.30 pm.

Before- and after-school events involving third-party providers:

• The school is not responsible for student escort, supervision or collection.

• Parents and providers must ensure proper behaviour and timely arrival and pickup.

Food at school:

• We are an allergy aware school and encourage that foods containing nuts, or nuts themselves, not be brought to school.

• For birthdays, children may bring an individually packaged food item to share with the class (no baked goods).

Sun safety:

• Children must wear a hat when outside, or play in the shade. Sunscreen is available in classrooms.

Park and walk

• Parents can park and walk with their children to and from school.

• The speed limit in school zones is 40 km/h – please drive carefully at all times.

• Parking bays are available on York Street and Alexandra Street. Do not park in the parish carpark, visitor’s bay, staff car park or on Forrest Street (which creates congestion and limits visibility).

• The Blue Bays are reserved for ACROD permit holders only.

• Children must be supervised at all times in car park areas.

Kiss and Drive

• Available for students in Kindergarten to Year 6 (not Pre-Kindy).

• Before school: from 8.35 am to 8.50 am

• After school:

  • Kindergarten and Pre-Primary students with no siblings in other grades may be collected from 2.55 pm.

  • All other students from 3.05 pm to 3.20 pm.

  • Do not arrive early - this creates congestion in surrounding streets. Your child will be safely supervised at Kalyara Mia.

• Operates at Kalyara Mia (undercover area). Entry into Kiss and Drive is by left turn only from Forrest Street. Exit by right turn only onto Alexandra Drive.

• Staff will walk children out to their cars in the Kiss and Drop line, three cars at a time.

• Once your child is safely in the car, please move off promptly through the Kiss and Drop area - this keeps traffic and pedestrian movement safe and flowing for everyone.

• For safety reasons, parents are to remain in their car and not walk up to Kalyara Mia to collect their child. 

• Please display your family’s name on the vehicle’s sunvisor for pick up.

• The speed limit on school grounds is 10 km/h – please drive with care.

Cycling to school

Children may ride their bicycle to school. Helmets must be worn. Once on the school grounds, bicycles are to be pushed. Bike racks are available and we recommend the use of a bike lock for safe keeping.

Contacting the teacher: Parents may contact teachers through email during the school’s communication hours (8 am to 4 pm on school days) and we will endeavour to respond within 24 hours. For matters requiring a more in-depth conversation, the teacher may phone parents or request a meeting.

SeeSaw: Teachers publish child and class-related news and notes on the SeeSaw app - please check it regularly. Download the SeeSaw Parent & Family app and the teacher will provide a QR code to log in.

Weekly newsletter: We provide parents with need-to-know school information, important dates and merit award winners in the weekly newsletter. Our aim is to only communicate with you once a week - please ensure you read the newsletter. Previous editions can be found under Quick Links - Newsletters.

Social media: You can choose to follow nice-to-know news, photos, events and videos on our Facebook and Instagram.

Use of student images: A pictures says a thousand words and permission for your child to appear in photos and videos helps immensely. We are respectful in the way we share images and do not publish children’s names on social media.

Handling complaints: We seek to handle any complaints with procedural fairness. According to National Child Safe Organisation Principles, our school also has a child focussed complaint handling procedure. Student complaints are taken seriously; responded to promptly and thoroughly; and privacy is respected. The procedure can be found under Quick Links - Procedures.

Wellbeing: We use the RULER approach to social and emotional learning in educational settings (developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence). The program is based on the five skills of emotional intelligence, which are Recognising, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing and Regulating emotions (RULER). For our younger students, we use the Kimochis Emotional Literacy Program, which features characters that represent different emotions to help children identify and express their feelings in a healthy and positive manner.

Pastoral care: In addition to our staff and leadership team, our School Counsellor offers additional guidance, support and strategies to help students navigate challenges and develop coping skills. We also have access to CEWA’s Psychology, Safety and Wellbeing team for additional support when assessing student needs and recommending interventions.

Behaviour management: We use the Four Ways Primary approach. Our Behaviour Management Procedure can be found under Quick Links - Procedures.

Keeping safe: Each term we teach students about respectful relationships and child safety through the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum. Themes included that we all have the right to be safe and can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.