• Saturday 25th April - ANZAC Day
• Saturday 14th November - School Fair

PUPIL FREE DAYS

• Two extra day yet to be confirmed in 2020

TERM DATES

• 2020 TERM 2: Tuesday 14th April - Friday 26th June (2:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 3: Monday 13th July - Friday 18th September (2:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 4: Monday 5th October - Friday 18th December (1:30pm finish)

CAMP DATES

• Year 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp (Mon 27July to Wed 29July 2020)
• Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp (Tue 06Oct to Fri 09Oct 2020)

A warm hello from the Principal’s Desk, and a fervent wish that everyone is fit and healthy. I hope that everyone is managing this new world a little better this week as some of the bugs are ironed out, feedback is considered and we all get used to the current reality.

Demolition started in earnest on Wednesday, which was fortunate really because it enabled us to get our time lapse cameras in place, and our drone camera operator on board. Once we have edited the footage we will post it online. We will keep you posted.

For now, just a few photos to keep your attention. The last is taken on a factory site in Brooklyn, as our classrooms get constructed – ironically, the ultimate ‘remote classrooms’! These will be transported to our school site sometime in June to be craned in, potentially in 10 or 12 ‘pieces’. All very exciting and the best type of distraction in these difficult times.

I mentioned school camps last week and right now, as you can imagine, these are somewhat in a state of suspended animation. They have all been postponed rather than cancelled in the hope that our students might get to experience the camping adventure before the year is out.

I thank our wonderful school community for your support. I especially wish to thank and congratulate our staff who have shown great professionalism and dedication to the challenges of Term 2 and our students who have been showing great resilience and reacted so well to remote learning. I think every single one of us has learned one or more new skills these last few weeks!!!

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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As week 2 of remote learning draws to a close we are starting to feel that something resembling a routine is beginning to be established. Without a doubt, it is a new and at times challenging routine but at least it provides us with a sense of direction.

I’m sure many families are continuing to find their way and navigate the best way forward for remote learning at their home. There is certainly no ‘correct’ way so please go with what feels right and be kind to yourselves. Not every lesson will be successful and technology will certainly throw up unexpected challenges but all we ask is that you do your best. And this is also what we ask of our teachers. They are also doing their best and making informed choices regarding content and lesson presentation. It may not always work and you may think that there is a better way of doing something but we need to have confidence in our teachers and trust their professional knowledge.

I’d like to pass on my congratulations to our students who are certainly giving set learning tasks their best go and submitting an amazing range of work. Through your Google Classrooms I can see weekly journals, writing tasks, maths activities, boats being made from straws and plastic wrap, pictures being painted, songs being written and much more. I can also see many, many student questions and comments on the classroom stream. I hope over time each student’s level of independence and self confidence steadily grows as they become more familiar with their remote classroom.

Remote Learning is a work in progress and we are making adjustments along the way to make the experience more successful. From week 3, remote learning tasks at all levels will be released each day at 7.00am to assist families to better prepare for the day’s learning. However, this does not mean that students need to be online any earlier. Class begins at 9.00am. Our teachers will continue to be online from 8.50am through to 3.30pm each day.

Continue to look out for each other and thank you for supporting your child’s learning.

Have a great week

Gill Nicholls

Work samples from our students

School work in the time of COVID-19 As of the time of writing, the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Australia has flattened significantly. This is primarily because the majority of our population has heeded the call of the various state and federal governments (although it may not seem like this on a Saturday morning at your local shopping centre or Bunnings!) It has been frustrating, lonely, and tension levels have definitely risen.

On Tuesday 21st April, the NSW government released a plan for getting their students back to school in a staged manner from the 11th May, with all students back at school by the end of their Term 2, providing infection rates remain low https://www.smh.com.au/national/students-to-spend-one-day-a-week-in-class-under-back-to-school-plan-20200420-p54lhl.html. While no announcements have been made as yet from the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET), the Victorian experience of this virus means we are around 2 weeks behind NSW – I am sure DET will be carefully watching what happens in NSW. Regardless of what happens in NSW, we will be taking our advice about this from the Victorian authorities.

It goes without saying, our parents have been amazing, doing the best that you can. Our staff have never worked harder or longer – many are at their computer screens at 7am each morning and it is not unusual for us to see in our conferencing chat that many are still online well past 7pm at night. As Bill, Gill and I check in with staff, an underlying theme is that our staff, despite the hours they are putting in, believe that they are not doing enough, or well enough, or responding quick enough, or helping enough. Many have challenges around no NBN or cable internet, teaching their own children and trying to be there for you and your child. They are trying to give authentic feedback and answer every email and question. Personally, I received nearly 800 emails on Thursday and Friday last week – I cannot get to them all.

Your children’s learning IS vitally important (it is why we are here) – but so is their (and yours) physical and mental health. Whether your child/children complete 4 hours of school work a day, or 2, at the moment, it won’t make a major impact on their educational outcomes between now and the end of their compulsory schooling. Our staff have training and experience, they will pick up your child’s learning from wherever they are when they return to us, and appropriate learning accommodations will be made. For those of you working from home, your workload may increase in the coming weeks in preparing to return to your workplaces – having food on the table, a roof over your head and financial security is so important. Your children DO notice how hard you work and this in and of itself is such a learning experience – they are learning that you work extremely hard and have pressures on you, you do not sit at home all day doing nothing.

So, please, reduce some pressure on yourselves and your children. If they can do some work each day, check in with the teachers (including specialists and learning support), this is enough at the moment. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon due to the decrease in cases. We just need to hang in there a little longer.

Remote Learning We are continuing to update our website with information to help you navigate this current period of Remote and Flexible Learning. Last week, (see below) we informed you of the technology aspects, this week we would like to share some mental and physical health resources. We have a new page on our website which is devoted to Health and Wellbeing. You can access it here http://www.viewbankps.vic.edu.au/wellbeing. This, and the Remote Learning Page, can be accessed under the ‘Our Community’ tab. You can find links to Victorian Government information, articles, physical health, Nurse-on-call, videos from the RCH, and mental health support resources and services. If you have other resources that you believe may be of use, please send any links to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au These will be carefully vetted and we reserve the right to not publish any submissions.

We have a number of iPads available for loan to families who require them. Please send an email to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au requesting one of these. Please put ‘Device Required’ in the subject line. Please note, our devices are Wi-Fi only.

From last week’s Viewbank Voice: I would like to remind you of our Remote Learning page on our website http://www.viewbankps.vic.edu.au/remote-learning. We are slowly building the resources here so that it is a one stop shop. Currently, it has some bare-essentials information about Google Classrooms (including a ‘helpdesk’ email address support@viewbankps.vic.edu.au) . This will be expanded to cover areas such as Health and Wellbeing while working and learning from home, as well as other technology guides for you.

Google Classroom is a fabulous tool for us at the moment. Some staff are posting links to sources on the internet (such as YouTube, Mathletics, Study Ladder etc) that normally go through the internet filters at school. However, because you are at home, the school filters are not in place and rely on your home settings. We strongly advise you to use the Parental Controls on the devices and internet router at your home. These are not perfect, so you will need to continue to carefully monitor what your child is viewing on the device at your home.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Patrick

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Remote Learning: Limited Access Access to school grounds is limited to:

• school staff
• students attending on-site learning
• contractors, including cleaners and maintenance workers
• outside-school-hours-care (OHSC) staff, enrolled children and their families.

If you need to collect anything from the school please call the office and a staff member will meet you at the gate at the top of the ramp on Lascelles Avenue.

Remote Learning Office Hours The new Remote Learning Office hours are from 9am to 3.30pm. To contact the school outside of these hours you may send an email to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au or leave a message on the answering machine.

Attendance On Compass Can all parents continue to mark any school absences on Compass as normal. This will allow the school to be aware of missed lessons.

Thank you and take care

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

Hi everybody, hope you have had a good week of remote learning. Here are this week's puzzles. Hope you enjoy them!

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ANZAC Day 2020 ANZAC Day will not look like the ANZAC Day that so many of us are used to participating in. There will be a Dawn Service, wreaths will be laid, the last post will be played, a minute of silence in memory of the fallen will be observed, but the service community and the public will be asked to stay at home.

This does not mean that ANZAC Day is cancelled. It just means that ANZAC Day will be different.

In 2020, on April 25, when you can't go to the Shrine of Remembrance or a local Dawn Service, the RSL is asking that instead you #STANDTO.

As the Last Post is played during the ANZAC Day Dawn Service walk outside, stand in your yard, driveway, or on your balcony and observe a minute of silence in respect of our veterans. Make sure that you snap a quick picture and share it on social media using the #STANDTO.

Together, let's amplify our commitment to the ANZAC spirit. Lest We Forget.

For those Parents and Students looking for new reading material while remote learning this term, Scholastic Book Club is available for online ordering and delivery to your home. Due to access restrictions to School, we can only offer the Home Delivery option, for an additional fee of $5.99.

Copy the link below and share https://scholastic.com.au/book-club/virtual-catalogue-1/

After accessing the online catalogue above, you can place your order using your Scholastic LOOP account or app.

It is recommended that orders for Issue 3 be placed no later than Wednesday 6th May.

Thank you for supporting our school.

PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422

EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au

Uniforms can be purchased online at www.aplusschoolwear.com.au with one of three delivery options:

• Free collection in store during trading hours
• Postage to address of customer’s choosing, at $12.50 for two items or less, or $17.50 for three items or more
• Free delivery to school, to an existing student at Viewbank Primary. Please note, this option is not available if the customer does not already have a student at the school