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If you'd like to find out more about how our school functions and what is expected of our parents, take a look at our Handbook.
Parking
Getting to our school safely.
Safety is our main concern when it comes to parking at, and around our school.
We are fortunate that our school is located in such beautiful surroundings, overlooking Lake Goollelal. Our secluded location, at the top of Montessori Place, means that we don’t have an abundance of parking; however, we do have about 30 parking spaces available on our street. These bays, paired with parents arriving at different times in the morning, parking being available on nearby streets, and our staggered finishing time, provide ample parking for our families.
Drop-off and pick-up time is always busy for our families, but we must ensure that we remain cautious and attentive to our surroundings. Unsafe behaviours pose a risk to children, pedestrians, and other road users – so we have established guidelines to keep our school community safe.
Grace and Courtesy
The grace and courtesy lessons, which we teach to our students, are designed to ensure the needs of everyone in the setting are respected while promoting social harmony, and this extends to our parents and community and does include parking. As such, we ask that you be kind and respectful to other families, our neighbours, as well as our staff who assist with the parking area at drop-off and pick-up time.
Parking on Montessori Place
Parking on Montessori Place is mainly reserved for the families who:
- Have children in the pre-primary classrooms;
- Are parents/carers of young children (under the age of three);
- Are expectant mothers.
However, there are other reasons why people may park on Montessori Place, e.g., people who may have a disability or limited mobility; other family members doing the drop-off or pick-up who are not familiar with the area; people who have a temporary illness/injury; people who are time-poor with work commitments; people running late; and people with heavy loads such as dropping off the laundry.
Whatever your circumstances, we ask that you think of others and, if you can, park in nearby streets and leave Montessori Place for those who need to park closer to the School.
We wish to remind you that parking outside the School gate is STRICTLY reserved for parents/carers of young children (under the age of three), as well as for our expectant mothers (these are the four bays immediately outside the gates).
We also ask that you do not park on the driveways or verges of the houses on Montessori Place.
Crossing Montessori Place
Anyone who parks on Montessori Place across the Montessori Place should use the footpath and cross at the crosswalk, as walking up behind parked cars is not safe since reversing vehicles often cannot see people walking behind them, especially little ones.
Dedicated Drop Off Zone
While our school doesn’t have an official kiss-and-go area, you can drop off your child in the cul-de-sac. For the sake of efficiency, we ask that, should you be the first car to arrive at the cul-de-sac, you drive to the end of the cul-de-sac so that other cars can fit behind yours.
In addition, it is imperative that you do not go up on the verge and that you do not park in the cul-the-sac.
Parking on Nearby Streets
When parking on nearby streets, we ask you not to park on anyone’s verge/yard as we need to be mindful that vehicles do not damage anyone’s lawn or sprinklers. Also, please ensure that you do not block any driveways.
Chatterbox
If you are eligible to park on Montessori Place, but intend on either grabbing a coffee from the Honkey Nut Café, chatting with other parents, or going into the School Office for any reason, we ask that you park on nearby streets, allowing for parents who are dropping off or picking up to do so as per usual.
No U-Turns
If you park on Montessori Place opposite the School, it is imperative that you go to the top of the cul-de-sac and park on your way down the hill (i.e., please do not do a u-turn in front of oncoming traffic into a parking place as this is a dangerous practice).
Disabled Parking
Our street only has one disabled bay and, as you are aware, parking in this bay is prohibited – unless you have an ACROD (Australian Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled) permit, so please don’t park in this bay, unless you meet the requirement.
Share the Rules
As some of you have relatives or friends dropping off or picking up your children, we ask that you share these rules with them.
Alternative to Driving
In the interest of sustainability, we encourage our families to carpool, children, and parents to ride to school, or, for those who live nearby, walk to school. We have a bike rack inside the School gates so students are welcome to leave their bikes there during the day (please make sure your child still locks it up).