FUNDRAISING BAKERY LUNCH ORDER DATES - Lower Plenty Bakehouse
- Thursday 15th December (Orders closing on 12th December, 3:00pm)
2022 TERM DATES
- Term 4: 3rd October - 20th December (1:30pm finish)
2023 TERM DATES
- Term 1: 27th January (students start 30 January) - 6th April (2:30pm finish)
- Term 2: 24th April - 23rd June (2:30pm finish)
- Term 3: 10th July - 15th September (2:30pm finish)
- Term 4: 2nd October - 20th December (1:30pm finish)
SCHOOL COUNCIL The final School Council Meeting for the year is scheduled for next Tuesday, December 13 commencing at 6.30pm. Councillors will receive all documentation for the meeting before the end of the week.
GRADE NAMES AND LOCATIONS With today’s newsletter you will receive a map of the grade locations for TERM 1 next year. This is deliberately ‘capitalised’ because a separate plan will be developed once the building works commence in earnest. The Grade 2, 3 and 4 classes will be impacted for short periods of time from just before the Term 1 holidays until 3 or 4 weeks after, but for now please read these as how we start next year.
SCHOOL CAPTAINS BADGE PRESENTATION I am grateful for our local Minister’s commitment to our school. Anthony Carbines, Member for Ivanhoe and also Minister for Police, Crime Prevention and Racing has traditionally presented the badges to our new School Captains each year and once again will be in attendance next Monday, December 12 at the Grade 3 to 6 assembly.
GRADE 6 LEADERSHIP 2023 I am pleased to announce the final leadership positions for our Grade 6 students in 2023 as follows:-
House Captains
- Plenty - Karsten Hall and Zara Samad
- Diamond - Jacqueline Smart and Beau Martin
- Darebin - Harry Slots and Lana Parkin
- Yarra - Lucy Li and Zoe Coleman
- Engagement and Wellbeing Captain - Zara Narula
- Communications Captain - Taya Gualano
- Sustainability Captains - Gwendolyn Parrent and Alexandra Palmer
Badges will be presented early in Term 1 at assembly with special guest presenters (to be advised).
TRANSITION DAY AND MEET YOUR NEW TEACHER AND CLASS Our Grade 6 students take part in a statewide transition day next Tuesday, December 13, which allows us to also have a transition day for our Foundation to Grade 5 students. Each student will meet their new teacher in their new classroom for the morning, with information on their class and teacher to accompany them home on the day. At time of writing we are putting the final touches to our classes for next year. Class formation is an extraordinarily complex task aligning student choice of friends, parental requests, grade balance in terms of gender/academia/behaviour and more and takes many hours to complete. We have come a long way from when I was a boy, and we found out our grade teacher on the first day of the school year, without having any opportunity to propose friendship groupings!
STRINGS CONCERT Good luck to the many violin and cello students performing tonight in the annual ‘Strings’ concert in the music room (7pm). Always a highlight with so many extremely talented students performing in front of an audience, some for the first time!
END OF YEAR EVENTS There are many of these still to happen as we manage to yet again have a super busy end of the year, but largely in a celebratory fashion! Next week we also have Graduation for our Grade 6 students on Wednesday night, a Grade 5 disco night on Thursday and Grade 3 and 4 Fitness Workx incursions and BBQ on Friday. A reminder that school concludes for 2022 on Tuesday, December 20 at 1.30pm after an assembly (all things being equal especially with regards weather!) commencing at 1.10pm on the Tiger Turf.
CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to Stella Coetzee (34M) who recently came 6th in the 2022 BMX Racing National Championships in Launceston Tasmania in her age group. A mighty effort.
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
Supporting Students Through Transitions We’re nearing the end of the school year, a period of change for most students.
Many children take these transitions in their stride but for others it is a time of uncertainty and growing anxiety.
The following resource from The Student Wellbeing Hub may help you as a parent to support your child/children through key transition points in their schooling.
Have a great week,
Gill
2023 Classes As Mr Kersing mentioned above, Tuesday 13th December is the day that the students find out who their 2023 teacher is and who is in their class.
Creating grades is a long and complicated process with teachers spending many hours (occurring at the same time as writing student reports after hours and on weekends) placing students carefully into the ‘right’ class. As asked for by Mr Kersing early in Term 4 and required to be returned to school around the Melbourne Cup weekend, the many written requests have been carefully considered and acted upon (where possible). Careful thought has gone into gender balance, and academic, social and wellbeing concerns.
Earlier this term, every student was given the opportunity to list 4 students that they would like to be in a grade with. We ask for 4 friends, but it is unlikely that all friends can be in the same class. All students will receive at least 1 friend from their list, and this has been explained in detail to all students. However, some of our students will still be disappointed that they only have ‘1’ friend from their list, declaring that they didn’t want ‘that’ particular friend, and could they be in a class with another student. This is an excellent time to help your child with their personal growth and resilience.
As you are more than aware, as we move through life, we all have to meet new people, work with new people, sometimes do things (work and home) that we don’t want to – but we do these things anyway. Where did we learn how to be resilient in this manner? Generally, we learnt these skills at schools. Those students who learn how to do this well will cope better moving into secondary school, post-secondary study and into work. The broader the friendship group, the less chance there is for mental health issues – having trouble with 1 group of friends? change friendship groups for a while!
Most of you will have very happy children on Tuesday afternoon when you see them. Unfortunately, some of you will also have upset children. Please use this as a learning opportunity and to talk about resilience. When your child gets through the next 12 months, they will be mentally stronger for the experience – they have faced a challenge and succeeded. Just remember, it is only for 1 year and then you will likely have the opportunity to make a request (as long as it is submitted on time!) for the 2024 school year.
Parent Tips The following link is to a Facebook page that is an article from 2020 along the same lines as the above.
From Positive Minds Australia:
Worried about your child’s class placement in 2021? It’s perfectly natural to have a preference for a particular teacher and normal to feel worried or disappointed if they don’t get them. A child’s emotional adjustment to leaving this year’s teacher and preparing for next year’s teacher is interconnected with your feelings about it.
Here are loads of ways you can help make the transition smoother for your child if you or they didn’t get the news you were hoping for…. (select link for more of the article)
https://www.facebook.com/positivemindsaustralia/posts/2816590495238773
Have a great week!
Patrick
:
CAMPS, SPORTS AND EXCURSIONS FUND (CSEF) The Government assisted Fund provides payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports, incursions and excursions ($125 per child). Applications for the Governments ‘CSEF Fund’ can be accessed by filling in the application form and returning it to the office with a copy of your current Health Care Card. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply) i.e. a Centrelink Health Care Card or Pension Concession Card or Veteran Affairs Gold Card.
If you applied for the CSEF at your child's school in 2022, you do not need to complete an application form in 2023 unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.
You only need to complete an application form if any of the following changes have occurred:
- new student enrolments; your child has started or changed schools in 2023 or you did not apply in 2022.
- changed family circumstances; such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number, or new siblings commencing at the school in 2023.
Funds are paid to the school and will be automatically allocated to the Extra-Curricular Items and Activities unless otherwise stated by the parent at the start of the year.
2023 PARENT PAYMENTS Viewbank Primary School is looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning and would like to advise you of Viewbank Primary School’s Parent Payment Arrangements for 2023.
We continue to value and thank you for your contributions in supporting our school’s programs and resources. These contributions assist us to broaden the educational experience for our students.
All classroom supplies will be provided directly to the classrooms in bulk. Teachers (including specialist teachers) will distribute stationery and other supplies to the students as required.
Payments can only be made on Compass from Monday the 9th of January 2023.
Further detailed information about Parent Payments can be found on your Compass newsfeed.
WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK (WWCC) A ‘Working with Children Check’ is just one part of creating and maintaining a child-safe environment. It is a requirement that all parents/careers who wish to volunteer or participate in school activities have a current WWCC. https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/
Kind regards,
Lucy Addati
Business Manager
SWPBS FUN FRIDAY CELEBRATIONS
We will be holding our final ‘Big’ School Wide Reward for SWPBS on Friday the 9th of December. This will be a water and non-water themed fun games session and school wide picnic lunch on the tiger turf with a free ZOOPER DOOPER.
You may have seen recently in the newsletter that the students have collected over 30,000 behaviour points this year, meaning that collectively our students have displayed an astounding amount of respect, resilience, responsibility and kindness. We are so proud of their efforts and look forward to seeing if we can break these records next year.
Our FUN FRIDAY will consist of fun water and non-water games and relays for the kids on the oval such as fill the bucket, three legged race, parachute games, throw the wet sponge, egg and spoon race, Super Soaker relays, footy handball, tug of war. We may even be able to turn on the oval sprinklers for a short time during each session. Activities will be adjusted to suit age groups. Each year level will only be involved in the activities for approx 45 minutes.
This is an out of uniform day and children may wear boardshorts but no swim wear. All children must have their shoulders covered (no strappy tops) and be wearing covered toe shoes. School hats will be essential.
We ask that you also send your child with a spare change of clothes and towel on this day, just in case!
If you do not wish for your child to receive a ZOOPER DOOPER on this day, please email their classroom teacher directly to notify them of this.
The ‘water’ options will be weather dependent. If it is too cool the activities will continue without water. Fingers crossed for good weather!
If the day is unsuitable for out door activities each class will organise indoor FUN FRIDAY activities or a movie.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program The Year 4 students have enjoyed being involved in the process of designing, budgeting, voting for and then making their special end of year meal in Kitchen. Everyone had a great time and we would like to thank Chris and our amazing helpers for everything they do to ensure the program runs so smoothly.
- “I like everything” – Lennox
- “I loved Kitchen this year” – Harvey
- “I like how Chis put in so much effort for us” – Flynn
- “All the meals have been delicious” – Sienna
- “I always enjoy the food and making the food with my friends” – Yiru
- “Thank you for always getting everything prepared before we come in” - Josh
Year 2 Scienceworks Excursion
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Lower Plenty Bakehouse will be providing the school with fundraising Lunch Orders every Thursday during Term 4. These lunches have been implemented via our Parents and Friends Committee. All money raised will be used towards our major school upgrade.
Our Term 4 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates are:
- Thursday 15th December (Orders closing on 12th December, 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 4 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.
Entertainment Book Upgrade Get a Free membership Upgrade (Validity 4th October - 24th November 2022) for a limited time only. You get all your usual vouchers plus more. Purchase any Single City Entertainment Membership and receive a bonus, Multi City upgrade*, unlocking access to 20 cities and thousands of offers across Australia and New Zealand. And of course 20% of the membership goes directly to support our fundraising at Viewbank Primary School. https://www.entertainment.com.au/current-promotion
People who purchase this book often get the entire value back through savings within the first few uses.
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
PIANO/KEYBOARD - Ella
- Email: ellac.blackburn@gmail.com
- Phone: 0410 938 840
DRUMS/UKULELE - Michael
- Email: michaelfindlaymcnab@gmail.com
- Phone: 0451 394 540
We look forward to welcoming TheirCare to the Viewbank PS community in Term 1 2023 as our new Outside School Hours Care service provider.
Our school has partnered with an independent provider called TheirCare to provide exceptional Outside School Hours Care services for our school community.
The program is available for all children at Viewbank Primary School from 6:30am until 9:00am in the morning and from 3:30pm until 6:15pm each school day.
During School Holidays & Pupil Free Days the service will operate from 6:30am until 6:15pm.
Families wishing to use this service can visit the TheirCare website: www.theircare.com.au
Families are eligible for a Government Rebate called the Child Care Subsidy which can reduce the cost per session by up to 85%.
More information can be obtained by contacting the school or ringing TheirCare Support Team on 1300 072 410.
TheirCare provides a stimulating and safe environment for all children. During sessions, children develop life-skills, friendships, confidence and creativity through play-based programs.
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
Gift-giving is one of life’s greatest joys. What is better to give than the gift of life!
Donating blood this festive season will make a huge difference to someone with cancer, a new mum, or maybe a kidney patient. The Bundoora donor centre is open 7 days a week, including Christmas Day, with appointments need to be filled. Book in to help out.
Book through https://app.donateblood.com.au/ngMh #lifebloodau @lifebloodau