IMPORTANT DATES
- Saturday 19th March 2022 - Working Bee - 9am to 12noon
PUPIL FREE DAY
- Tuesday 15th March 2022
FUNDRAISING BAKERY LUNCH ORDER DATES
- Thursday 10th March (Orders closing on 7th March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 24th March (Orders closing on 21st March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 7th April (Orders closing on 4th April, 3:00pm)
2022 TERM DATES
- Term 1: 28th January (Students start 31 January) - 8th April (2:30pm finish)
- Term 2: 26th April - 24th June (2:30pm finish)
- Term 3: 11th July - 16th September (2:30pm finish)
- Term 4: 3rd October - 20th December (1:30pm finish)
2022 SCHOOL CAMP DATES
- Year 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp - Monday 8th August to Wednesday 10th August
- Year 4: Anglesea Recreation Camp - Wednesday 18th May to Friday 20th May
- Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp - Tuesday 4th October to Friday 7th October
- Year 6: Canberra Camp - Monday 6th June to Friday 10th June
PARKING AROUND VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL AND GENERAL ROAD SAFETY There have been a spate of complaints and incidents advised to us in recent weeks, ranging from inappropriate parking to unsafe driving. We aren’t the traffic police, nor are we parking inspectors, but we can plead to the general population and ask for adherence to the rules and regulations in place to keep us all safe – especially our children. Banyule Council has been contacted and will be conducting extra patrols as a priority.
SCHOOL COUNCIL The first meeting of the new School Council is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8 commencing at 7pm. We hope this is the last ‘enforced’ WebEx for some time – all members will be posted with a link to the meeting by the end of this week. Membership is confirmed as :-
Parent Members – Jason Hemingway, Nicholas Deane, Michael Parrent, Carol Seneca, William Tong, Michelle Pan, Kate Doran, David Filcoff and Roger Schmidt
School Employee Members – Bill Kersing, Gillian Nicholls, Patrick Walsh, Jane McLeod (to be confirmed)
At our first meeting, we will present our Annual Report of 2021 as well as electing office bearers for 2022. Our standing orders confirm that office bearing positions include President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. These names will be confirmed in next week’s newsletter.
WORKING BEE I can confirm that with the latest easing of restrictions we can move forward with our first working bee on Saturday, March 19 from 9am until 12.00 noon (approximately). The main aim of this first working bee is to prepare the tennis court area in the ‘staff carpark’ land for future development as our school’s vegie garden. In addition, we will be sifting and sorting through our shipping containers and running a ‘garage sale’ of excess furniture on the morning. In addition, we will be spreading softfall and undertaking a range of routine ‘working bee’ tasks, so the more in attendance the merrier.
DISTRICT SWIMMING, DIVISIONAL SWIMMING, SCHOOL ATHLETICS We are managing to ‘tick off’ a range of ‘normal’ school activities which is a good thing! Congratulations to all students who participated in Monday’s District event at WaterMarc with some students now proceeding to the Divisional event next Monday – details can be found elsewhere on the website. In addition, we are holding our School Athletics Carnival for Grade 3 to 6 students on Friday, March 11 at Willinda Park, Greensborough which will be keenly anticipated.
PUPIL FREE DAY A continued reminder that Tuesday, March 15 is a pupil free day and there will be no school for students on that day. OSH Club care is available all day.
UPDATED OPERATIONAL ADVICE It remains ‘steady as we go’ in terms of the easing of restrictions in our school setting. Masks continue to be mandatory inside school buildings for all Grade 3 to 6 students and staff. The arrangements with regards drop offs in the morning and pick ups have been working well. We have been managing to have a few onsite incursions and off site excursions, as well as the sporting activities previously discussed. When we commence our parent helpers program (to be advised) it is important to note that the third dose vaccination requirements will apply to all helpers, with that third dose due by March 25.
That’s enough from me for this week. I hope everyone has a pleasant weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
Free Dental Care All children deserve a healthy smile and the Smile Squad are coming to Viewbank Primary School in Term 2 to make sure this happens.
Smile Squad is the exciting new State Government program that will provide free, high quality dental care to all Victorian public primary and secondary school students.
Once a parent provides consent, the Smile Squad team will then check their child’s teeth and mouth and show them how to keep their teeth healthy and strong. They will also provide any preventive services that have been consented for at no cost to you.
Smile Squad Consent forms and Dental Care packs have been sent home this week with all students.
The Consent Form can also be found on Compass.
Please complete the Dental Consent Form and return it to the school office or your child’s teacher by Friday 31st March.
Parents may attend dental appointments with their child, if required, subject to current DET Covid Operation Guidelines.
Smile Squad will be at Viewbank PS on the following dates:
Learn more about the Smile Squad by visiting www.smilesquad.vic.gov.au or contact the team at smilesquad@dhsv.org.au.
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Congratulations to all the students who are demonstrating positive behaviours and rapidly collecting behaviour rewards on their Value cards. We had the first ‘exchange’ of completed Value cards for Viewbank Bees last week and look forward to seeing many more bees appearing in the coming weeks on our beehive.
Enjoy your week.
Gill
FIRST AID We are very fortunate at Viewbank Primary School to have a staff member whose role is dedicated to the first aid needs of our students – Fiona Crowe. Fiona’s hours are 10am until 3pm Monday to Friday, and she is fantastically supported by our office staff before and after these times, as well as throughout the day during any ‘peak’ times.
As part of our duty of care, we record anytime a student visits the first aid room and then will let families know. Over the past 3 or 4 years, our reporting system to you has evolved from paper slips that would invariably end up scrunched up in the bottom of bags and found during the term holiday school bag clean out, to using Compass and text messages.
Our primary communication method for notification of non-urgent visits to first aid is a Compass notification and/or Compass text. If our first aid room has had many visitors that day, these non-urgent notifications may happen later in the day. With 650 students at school and in the yard, we can have 10-15 students requiring icepacks and band aids.
If Fiona requires an acknowledgment from you, a text message will likely be sent. For urgent injuries, illness, a child needing to be collected from school, or something we require an immediate response for (e.g., permission to administer paracetamol), we will phone you.
If you wish to contact Fiona, please call the office on 94591512 between 10am and 3pm, as she is not always available to answer the first aid mobile (e.g., when attending unwell or injured students). She will also respond to non-urgent emails sent to viewbank.ps@education.vic.gov.au.
If an ambulance is deemed necessary, our default position is that this will be called first, before contacting families. Please note: families are responsible for the cost of any Ambulance Victoria intervention regardless of their ambulance subscription status.
We have a number of health-related policies on our website here:
http://www.viewbankps.vic.edu.au/forms-policies
- Medication Request Form
- Anaphylaxis
- Asthma
- First Aid
- Head Lice
- Health Care Needs
- Personal Hygiene and Toileting
Have a great weekend.
Patrick
School Tours We will be running school tours on a Tue, Wed, Thu at 9.30am for prospective families from 29Mar. Please call the office to make a booking.
Enrolments We are currently accepting enrolments for 2023 and are happy to assist with any queries.
Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.
If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.
Payment amounts this year are $125 for eligible primary school students. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.
It is important that funding made available in 2022 supports students to participate in school trips, camps and sporting activities this year rather than being held for future years. This funding can also be used in conjunction with any funding accrued from previous years. Please note these activities will only take place if they meet COVIDSafe requirements.
If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.
If you would like to apply for the first time, please complete the attached application form and return to the office with a copy of your card.
You can also find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page.
Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
Lucy Addati
Business Manager
Grade 4 students were very excited to be back in the kitchen this week!
Last week the Grade 2s learnt all about the, “Super Hero” within themselves. They spoke about things they are good at and played some games to help build team building skills. At the end of the session they created masks that represented themselves.
NEW MENU ITEM - Hot Dog Pastry (Please inform the office if you have any other menu suggestions for our Bakery Lunch Order lunches)
Lower Plenty Bakehouse will be providing the school with fundraising Lunch Orders every second Thursday during Term 1. These lunches have been implemented via our Parents and Friends Committee. All money raised will be used towards our major school upgrade.
Our Term 1 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates are:
- Thursday 10th March (Orders closing on 7th March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 24th March (Orders closing on 21st March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 7th April (Orders closing on 4th April, 3:00pm)
Orders need to be placed in advance via Compass Canteen. Ordering will close the Monday before the lunch date at 3pm. All of Term 1 lunch dates are now open for orders, and can be placed in advance for the whole term if you choose to do so.
Please see attached a Parent User Guide on how to order via Compass Canteen. Please note a 35 cents order fee will be charged at check out.
Parent assistance is required on Lunch Days from 10:30am to 12:30pm to assist with the packing of our orders. If you are available to assist in anyway can you please email the school at viewbank.ps@education.vic.gov.au so your name can be added to our roster.
Thank you for your support.
ICY POLE FRIDAY Students are able to purchase icy poles over the counter at lunchtime every Friday. All icy poles cost $1.00 each.
Lunches must be ordered online using the CLASSROOM CUISINE website.
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WEEKLY SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE - Every Friday 8:45am to 9:15am, next to the music room. Jumpers with the school logo, long and short sleeve school polo tops and school dresses will be $5.00 and all other items $2.00. We are currently asking for donations of any unwanted reusable school uniform items to sell at our stall.
Instrumental Music Enrolments Can all students who would like to join our school instrumental music programs please inform the relevant teacher below of your expression of interest.
SINGING WITH GABRIELLA - Gabriella
- Email: favrettogab@gmail.com
- Phone: 0413 676 733
SINGING WITH JADE - Jade
- Email: jadefaving@gmail.com
- Phone: 0413 834 933
STRINGS - MR CAI
- Email: cai66@optusnet.com.au
- Phone: 0403 490 078
GUITAR/BASS GUITAR - Alec
- Email: alec.stalder@gmail.com
- Phone: 0422 690 842
PIANO/KEYBOARD - Ella
- Email: ellac.blackburn@gmail.com
- Phone: 0410 938 840
DRUMS - James
- Email: orangejimmy@gmail.com
- Phone: 0405 845 628
PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422
EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au
A PLUS SCHOOLWEAR Our uniform supplier is A Plus Schoolwear which is located at 41-43 Northern Road Heidelberg West. Open hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday’s from 9am to 4.30pm (closed on weekend and public holidays).
You can also purchase your uniform online at www.aplusschoolwear.com.au