A Message from the Principal
Harmony Day
Last Thursday we had a wonderful day of celebrating the diversity of our community. It was great to see some family members joining the Harmony Walk and sharing their experiences with classes.
Courtyard Mural
Have you seen the work of our wonderful teacher Gene in the courtyard? Gene has refreshed the big white wall with a new spray paint landscape. Thank you Gene!
2024 School Improvement
We continue to focus on Priority 1 in our current 5 year plan.
In term 1 we are doing this by:
Planning Day Monday 29 April
A reminder Monday 29 April is a student free day. There will be no student supervision provided at ACT Public Schools.
Seesaw Digital Learning Portfolio
The Seesaw platform is back up and running. Teachers will begin to share student learning with families who have approved access. Please note the messaging function is no longer available.
Contacting the School
Communication by email is the preferred method. Teachers want to respond to parent queries at the earliest opportunity and will do their best to do so, however, the majority of teachers' time is taken up teaching and preparing for lessons. Teachers' responsibilities extend beyond the classroom, and they may be unable to respond to you on the day a query is made. We have also agreed with staff that there is no expectation to respond to queries during their personal/family time.
Telephone
Please use the main reception number to leave a message for a teacher to contact you:
- Reception staff will relay messages to teachers as soon as possible.
- If a call is urgent, please inform the receptionist who will attempt to find a member of the leadership team to speak to you.
- We will try to respond to you within three working days, if not sooner.
- Please note, lessons will not be interrupted for teachers to take calls.
Please use staff email addresses if you need to contact staff directly:
- Teachers are not in a position to check emails consistently throughout the day and the school does not expect work email to be checked during a teacher's personal time.
- We aim to respond to you as soon as possible and within three working days. Part-time staff may take longer to reply.
Meetings
The day-to-day care, welfare and safety of your child is managed by the person who is placed closest to them. In the first instance, please approach the following members of staff who are responsible for your child in the following order:
- Classroom Teacher
- Executive Teacher
- Deputy Principal
- Principal
Meetings should always be prearranged with members of staff. If you urgently need to see someone, for instance if there is a serious family emergency or a child protection issue, please phone ahead and the reception staff will do their best to find a senior member of staff to see you.
For non-urgent meetings we will aim to meet with you within five working days. The school will determine the level of urgency at its discretion, to enable it to manage multiple demands.
Contacting You
Our preferred method of contacting you is via email. The school also provides a range of opportunities to share information about students' learning and progress throughout the year, including newsletters, semester reports, parent-teacher interviews and learning journeys.
If our teachers identify any concerns about a student's learning or behaviour, or have other matters that need to be discussed, they will contact you as soon as possible.
Contact Details
If your contact details have changed over the holiday period please email the info line with your up-dated details. info@ngunnawalps.act.edu.au. Please ensure that you include your child's name, the year they will be in in 2024, your name and up-dated details.
Parent Portal FAQs
What is the Parent Portal?
The Parent Portal is a new, secure online platform for sharing key student information between schools and parents and carers.
The Parent Portal will help streamline the everyday school administrative tasks parents and carers need to do for their children by offering a one-stop-shop tool and minimising printed documents in its second phase.
What services will be available in the Parent Portal?
Using the Parent Portal you will be able to:
- notify us if your child is sick or explain an absence
- book parent-teacher interviews
- receive academic reports
- receive our school newsletter
- receive messages from your child’s teachers
- make payments
- access the school calendar and your child’s student timetable.
How do I register to use the Parent Portal?
To access the Parent Portal, you will need to create or have access to an ACT Government Digital Account which you can do using the link in the email sent to you from your school.
Why do I need an ACT Government Digital Account to access the Parent Portal?
The ACT Digital Account offers community members secure identity verification to access ACT Government digital services using a single account. Digital Account users only need to provide their identification documents once to access an ever-increasing range of ACT Government digital services. Using the Digital Account to access Parent Portal, you can be sure your identity information is secure and safe.
Identification documents needed for Parent Portal
To access the portal, you will need to create or have access to an ACT Government Digital Account. The mobile number, first and last names for your Digital Account must be an exact match for those the school uses to contact you. If you already have a Digital Account in which any of these are different from what’s on the school’s records, you can:
- contact the school to have your mobile number in the school records changed, so you can use your existing Digital Account (recommended), or
- make a new Digital Account just for use with Parent Portal.
You can sign up now and complete the Identity Verification process at any time to get ready for your school’s launch if you have not already done so.
To complete Identity Verification with your Digital Account, you must provide the details of one primary AND one secondary Australian identity document (e.g. Drivers Licence number, Medicare Number). These identity document details will be verified against your account name and Date of Birth, using the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS).
Primary identification document
- Australian Birth Certificate
- Australian Citizenship Certificate
- Record of Australian Immigration Status (ImmiCard)
- Australian Visa
- Australian Driver Licence
- Australian Change of Name Certificate
- Australian Marriage Certificate
- Australian Passport (current or expired up to 2 years)
Secondary identification document
- Current Australian Medicare Card
- Australian Passport (if it is not used as the primary document)
- Centrelink Concession Card
- Australian Driver Licence (if it is not used as the primary document)
Both primary and secondary identity documents must be in the same name. Details of these identity documents will be verified, using the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS) to confirm your first name, last name and date of birth.
If any of the documents have a different name or an incorrect date of birth, you will need to contact the issuing authority for the document (e.g., Medicare, Australian Passport Office, etc) to have it reissued with corrected details.
Is signing up to the Parent Portal mandatory?
No, signing up to the Parent Portal is not mandatory. There are many benefits to signing up and it will simplify your communications and administration processes with your child’s school. If you choose not to register, you will continue to receive these communications and requests via the existing channels.
Will I still receive communications/reports/absences if I don’t have an account?
If you choose not to register for the Parent Portal, you will continue to receive these communications and requests via the existing channels.
Can I message my child’s teacher using the Parent Portal?
You are not able to use the Parent Portal to start conversations with your child’s teachers. You may receive messages from teachers about specific issues and you will be able to respond to them directly. If you need to speak with your child’s teacher, please contact them directly via phone or email.
What devices can I use to access the Parent Portal?
You can access the Parent Portal via a browser on your mobile phone, tablet or computer.
Is the Parent Portal available via a mobile app?
No, there isn’t a Parent Portal mobile app for ACT schools to use at the moment. You will need to use an internet browser such as Microsoft Edge, Safari or Google Chrome on your device to access the Parent Portal.
I forgot my email address, username or password, what can I do?
Visit https://www.myaccount.act.gov.au/s/trouble-logging-in.
Do I need multiple ACT Digital Accounts if I have more than one child at the school?
No, you will only need one ACT Digital Account regardless of how many children you have attending ACT public schools. You will receive a separate access for each child at the school which will link their student information with your existing ACT Digital Account.
Do I need multiple ACT Digital Accounts if my children are in different ACT public schools?
No, you will only ever need one ACT Digital Account. We are among some of the first ACT public schools to launch Parent Portal, with other schools to follow shortly. If you have children at nearby schools you will not need to sign up to the ACT Digital Account twice. You will be able to easily add a student to your account once their school has access to the Parent Portal.
I am having trouble doing level 2 identification with my ACT Digital Account
For a list of primary and secondary documents that are required for level 2 identification visit https://www.myaccount.act.gov.au/s/support
The contact number for the ACT Digital Account is 13 22 81.
Is my data safe?
To provide confidence that the ACT Digital Account complies with the Information Privacy Act 2014 (IPA) an independent Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) was undertaken. The PIA reviewed compliance with the Territory Privacy Principals within the IPA including risks to individual privacy and community expectations.
The PIA confirmed that management of personal information in the ACT Digital Account exceeds the requirements of the IPA, and strategies have been implemented to enhance the protection of your privacy.
Will all parents and carers listed as primary contacts on a student’s records receive a separate access code?
Parents and carers listed as primary contacts 1 and 2 will receive a separate access code as the account for Parent Portal is for an individual and not a household.