An Explanation of the Lyon Road Car Park Strategy
I have heard a lot of comments recently querying the strategy behind where teachers at Aubin Grove Primary School are allowed to park, and I would like to address the issue.
As many of you would know, the car park that runs parallel with Lyon Road underwent a major redevelopment at the beginning of 2016 to try and ease traffic congestion and create some more parking bays.
To further assist with traffic flow through the one-way carpark and onto Lyon Road, and following my observations of driver behaviours, I have directed teachers to park in the first 15 bays, up to the crosswalk at the half way point.
This may appear to be a strange decision, but I believe that there is a sound theory behind it.
By instructing teachers to park in those bays at the beginning of the school day, ideally the first time a bay becomes available to parents during the morning drop-off or afternoon pick-up is in a spot beyond the crosswalk.
So, if a car stops to wait for a reversing vehicle in this part of the car park, the cars behind it are queuing within the carpark- not out onto Lyon Road.
But if any of the first few bays are available to parents, a car waiting for an exiting vehicle from one of those bays has to wait just inside the entry to the carpark- therefore creating a queue of cars stretching back onto Lyon Road, often to the children’s crossing and beyond; and also stopping north-bound traffic on Lyon Road attempting to turn right into the carpark.
This directive has also freed up 15 bays in the Camden Boulevard carpark which would otherwise be used by those staff members now using the Lyon Road car park.
Another situation creating unnecessary congestion is drivers attempting to turn right when exiting the Lyon Road carpark- this is strictly a left turn only exit. I appreciate that drivers do have to drive a little further to turn at the roundabout before coming back down Lyon Road but by doing so we prevent long delays and queues in the car park.
We have a total of 174 parking bays available and 4 ACROD bays, of which at least 60 are required by staff each day. This leaves about 114 bays for the 780 families with children attending the school.
Whilst I know not all families drive, that still leaves a big demand for a limited number of parking bays. Clearly there is never going to be enough for everyone and so we rely on cooperation, patience and understanding.
Staggered start and finish times were introduced some years ago to help ease the situation, but at the end of the day we are relying on people’s behaviour and them making the right choices to make this as bearable as possible.
Each day my Deputy Principals and I stand in the car park and supervise the traffic and I have to say that about 99 per cent of people do the right thing. It is the tiny minority that cause us the problems and I am glad to say that this number appears to be decreasing as everyone gets the message.
It is what it is, and we all have to work together to make it work!
Frank Pansini
PRINCIPAL
Cords on school hats
School hats with cords that secure around the neck are not sold at the uniform shop.
And for good reason- the cords can pose a safety risk to children should they get caught on playground equipment.
Could parents please ensure that if their child does have a hat with a cord that they either cut it off, or bring a different hat to school.
Please see the Student Dress Code on our school website for details on the school uniform and hats in particular.
School Banking
The P&C bank account has received a boost after the Commonwealth Bank presented it with a cheque for more than $3500.
Through the Dollarmites program, the school, through the P&C, receives five per cent of every individual deposit made up to $10.
School banking is held each Wednesday morning from 8.15-8.45am in the undercover area.
Year 6 Graduation Fundraiser
An abundance of school and community spirit has resulted in a successful fundraising event conducted by this years’ Year 6 Graduation committee.
The committee seized the opportunity of the school being an official voting post for the State election on Saturday and organised a sausage sizzle, cake stall and raffle which was run by Year 6 parent and student volunteers throughout the day.
Committee member Justine Johnson said the event proved to be an outstanding success due to support from Year 6 and other year group parents, the P&C, school administration, and the wider Aubin Grove community.
The sausage sizzle was very popular and was made possible by the extremely generous donation of buns from Brumby’s Harvest Lakes, and sausages from Ryan’s Quality Meats, Jandakot.
Also generous in their support for the sausage sizzle were Goodchild Meats Wholesale Butchers, Hamilton Hill; Woolworths Harvest Lakes; Homestyle Vegetable Processors Pty Ltd, Munster; Perth Ice Works, Cockburn Central; Coles Cockburn Gateway; and Spudshed Jandakot.
In addition to a cake stall, raffle tickets were sold for the chance to win one of an amazing array of goods and services donated by amazingly generous local businesses.
These included the Fremantle Dockers; King Road Brewing Company; Aubin Hair Studio; Aubin Grove Chiropractic Care; Gate Bar and Bistro; Cockburn Gateway Shopping Centre; Belen Beauty Cockburn Gateway; Hairhouse Warehouse Cockburn Gateway; Atwell-Aubin Grove Veterinary Clinic; Aubin Grove Chiropractic Care; Michael Walters- Fremantle Dockers; Chemmart Harvest Lakes; Team Shields Photography; and Armando Sports O’Connor.
Mrs Johnson said the $3200 raised from the event would go towards funding the Year 6 graduation events, including the Big Week Out and Graduation Dinner Dance.
