Handy information for families with children starting school

More than 39,000 ACT public school students will be starting the 2012 school year from
Monday 6 February. All new students will start on Monday with a range of orientation activities and all students will then commence classes on Tuesday 7 February 2012.

With around 5,000 preschool students and 5,000 kindergarten students this year, ACT schools will continue to provide children with the best start in Australia's best education system.

I would like to remind all parents of school children of the useful information available on the Education and Training Directorate's website for the start of the school year.

The brochure Starting School 2011-12 (at http://www.det.act.gov.au/) was first released last year, and contains information for the first day of school, including advice on road safety, healthy foods, food allergies and sun protection. It also has important information on the ACT public school system, term dates, enrolment, evaluating your child's progress, and helpful contact phone numbers and websites.

Public schools provide a range of support services for families and students, including assistance specifically for students with a disability and for those students who have English as their second language. The brochure also describes the assistance available and provides contact details for further advice.

In addition, the ACT Government funds a range of initiatives to help support families with school costs, including:

• the Equity Fund, available to support students who might not otherwise be able to participate in opportunities such as excursions,
• the Student Support Fund, which may be used to help with back to school costs such as school clothing, and
• the Secondary Bursary Scheme, which provides financial assistance to support low income earners with students in years 7-10.

Interested parents and carers should approach their school for further information regarding the support available.

The advice contained in Starting School assists parents and students to ensure that every student's first day of school gets off to a great start.