- Monday 18th August, 9am - Book Week Costume Parade
- Wednesday 3 September - Father's Day Stall
- Wednesday 10 September, 9:30am - Year 6 Graduation Photo Day
PUPIL FREE DAYS (TheirCare School Holiday Program will be available on pupil-free days)
- Monday 3rd November – Report Writing Day
2025 TERM DATES
- TERM 3: 21 July - 19 September
- TERM 4: 6 October - 19 December
2025 CAMP DATES
- Year 3 Phillip Island Camp - 27 October - 29 October
- Year 5 Lady Northcote Camp - 08 October to 10 October
- Year 6 Urban Camp - 15 September to 17 September
WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK! Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.
Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.
The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September 2025. All families are invited to participate in the survey
The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.
The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home.
Survey links and PIN(s) will be distributed to all families next Monday 18 August.
SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING The August meeting of School council was held on Tuesday night. Matters discussed included a mural for the ramp on Lascelles Avenue, presentations from companies to provide out of school hours care service for the next two to four years and the reinstatement of the staff car park.
BOOK WEEK Book Week is celebrated next week with a whole school parade kicking off the week at assembly on Monday. During the week we will also be treated to a visiting author, Coral Vass. Coral is an award-winning Australian Children’s Author with more than 25 books published including a Book Of The Year Award in 2021 for Grandma’s Treasured Shoes.
STORY LAND The second of our Foundation transition sessions, Story Land, is set down for next Wednesday, August 20 from 9.30am. These sessions serve a dual purpose – they familiarise our 2026 students with their new (much larger) educational setting as well as enabling our teaching staff to get to know our new enrolments (and their parents) just that little bit better in order to make transition a smooth process.
WORKING BEE At the Grounds Group meeting last week we scheduled the Term 3 working bee for Sunday, August 31. As always, if you can manage even an hour to come and assist we would be eternally grateful. The working bee is set down for 9am to 12 noon with further information available via an upcoming Compass post.
Last weekend’s weather might be hard to beat but fingers crossed for something similar this weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Ramp Mural Project I’m excited to share with you another school grounds improvement project that will soon begin.
For some time, we have been considering how we can enhance the southern side of the school and after careful consideration we are going to have a mural painted on the Lascelles Avenue ramp. The aim of this project will be to create a welcoming entry point to our school and celebrate the connection between our learning environment and the local environment.
Hayden Dewar, a Melbourne based artist with over 20 years of experience, will complete the mural towards the end of term 3. He has completed many colourful and imaginative murals across Melbourne and beyond. Hayden’s murals often form a narrative style that combines the real and imagined worlds to create a work that tells a story about a place and its inhabitants.
The basic concept and first draft of the design is below. This concept will be workshopped over the coming weeks to include flora and fauna native to our local environment.
On the central part of the main curved wall a young girl sits cross legged on a eucalyptus tree branch reading a book. Perched on the book is a Scarlet Robin, to her right in the foreground is an eastern rosella and to her left (on the wall that recedes from the curved wall) is a Sugar Glider. These animals are perched on a eucalyptus branch in the foreground that curves above the girl and extends onto the lower wall to the left.
An Eltham Copper Butterfly is perched on the branch on the lower wall which also features eucalyptus leaves and flowers. Perhaps some branches and flowers from a wattle tree with bees are nearby.
Colourful forms are emerging from the book and spiralling around the tree branches, this element conveys the magic of reading and of nature.
Below are some further examples of Hayden’s work.
We certainly have not forgotten our much anticipated Indigenous Mural Project. This mural will be completed by Simone Thompson during the next school holidays in September.
Both projects will certainly be welcome and colourful additions to our school environment.
Have a great week.
Gill
EARLY ARRIVALS The days are slowly getting longer, and the weather is on the improve. As happens every year, parents start dropping their children at school (or they are walking to school earlier). We need to remind you that staff do not begin yard duty until 8:50am, and there is no yard supervision until that time. We understand that parents may need to be at work at a time that does not lend itself to a later drop off time, which is why we strongly recommend you make use of our fantastic out-of-school-hours care program – Theircare. Theircare opens at 6:30am every morning and closes at 6:15pm. You can find out more about Theircare here: https://theircare.com.au/
SUNSMART POLICY - HATS With a 2.2 degree start on Monday morning at 7am, it seems a little ridiculous to be reminding families about our SunSmart Policy. However, we need to remind you to start looking for the school hat that you have not seen for the last 5 months! Each year in August, we make a decision regarding hat wearing that is in line with our SunSmart Policy. http://www.viewbankps.vic.edu.au/s/SunSmart-Policy-9rp9.pdf.
Hats will be required to be worn daily from Monday 01 September 2025 until Thursday 30 April 2026. All students must wear a sun protective hat that shades the face, neck and ears for all outdoor activities. The hats below can be purchased from our uniform supplier, Lowes, at Northland https://www.lowes.com.au/schools-online/viewbank-primary-school
Have a great weekend,
Patrick
Volunteer OHS – Keeping Everyone Safe We greatly value the time and support our volunteers bring to our school. To ensure the safety of students, staff, and volunteers, we follow the Department of Education’s Volunteer Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Policy.
For the remainder of 2025, all volunteers are required to:
- Read our Volunteer OHS Induction Handbook
- Complete the Volunteer OHS Induction Checklist and return it to the office
This process outlines your tasks, school safety procedures, emergency exits, first aid information, and how to report hazards or incidents.
Inductions are valid for 12 months and a new one will be required for 2026. Even if you’ve volunteered before, you may need to refresh your induction.
All volunteers must sign in at the office, wear a visitor pass, and follow staff instructions. If you notice something unsafe, please tell a staff member immediately so it can be reported.
By completing the induction and checklist, you help us maintain a safe, welcoming environment for everyone. Thank you for your commitment to our school community.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact myself (HSR) or the principal.
Kind regards,
Lucy Addati | Business Manager
National Week of Action Against Bullying The National Week of Action Against Bullying happened this week at VPS. It went extremely well. Students at Viewbank Primary spread awareness about bullying and developed strategies to help them to speak up. Students wore an orange accessory and participated in different activities. The Year 6 Leaders came together to make a whole school pledge against Bullying. The pledges will be made into a whole school display. Overall, the week was a massive success and we hope students learnt a lot! - The School Captains.
Book Week Author Visit – Coral Vass We’re thrilled to announce that award-winning children’s author Coral Vass will be visiting Viewbank Primary School as part of our whole-school Book Week celebrations!
With over 25 published titles, including Sorry Day, Grandma’s Treasured Shoes, and Jorn’s Magnificent Imagination, Coral is a celebrated storyteller whose books have received national recognition and been featured on ABC’s Play School and StoryBox Library. Her visit promises to be an engaging and inspiring experience for students, with storytelling and writing workshops that encourage creativity and foster a love of reading.
All students will attend a session with Coral on the day, and we’re excited to offer them this special opportunity to learn from a talented Australian author.
🔹 Consent Reminder: Please log in to Compass to provide consent for your child to attend.
Learn more about Coral at: Lamont Authors – Coral Vass
Book Week Costume Parade – Monday 18th August To celebrate Book Week, we are excited to be holding a Whole School Costume Parade on Monday 18th August at 9:00am in the school gym.
All students are invited to come dressed as their favourite book character and join in the fun!
Families are warmly invited to attend and enjoy the parade with us.
We can’t wait to see the creativity and imagination on display as we celebrate the joy of reading together!
Science Week This week is the annual Science Week. The theme is ‘Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language’. To celebrate, our school is running a big Science show in week 8 (Planning week – to minimise classroom disruption). We will also be celebrating during STEM lessons this week. If you would like to get your child/ren involved in some activities please see some links/ideas below. This weekend looks like a good one to try some experiments/activities at home indoors! Happy Science Week…
- Activities and information on upcoming events : https://www.scienceweek.net.au/diy-science/
- PlayMatters have a free downloadable booklet: https://playmatters.org.au/events/science-play-matters
- ScienceBuddies have experiments, engineering challenges and demonstrations with these fun hands-on STEM activities: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities
Father's Day Stall Only 3 weeks to go until the iconic Father's Day Stall at Viewbank Primary School.
Organised by the VPS Parents and Friends Committee, the Father's Day Stall is being held on Wednesday 3 September 2025 during school hours.
Get your coins ready, bring a bag from home, and do some savvy shopping for your special person.
Celebrate Father's Day in style with the perfect gift for Dad, Grandpa, or Uncle.
Lower Plenty Bakehouse proudly partners with our school to provide fundraising lunch orders every Thursday.
This initiative, organised by our Parents and Friends Committee, serves as one of our school’s major fundraising efforts. All proceeds will go towards our significant school upgrade project.
Term 3 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates:
- Thursday 21st August (Orders close: Monday 18th August, 3:00 PM)
- Thursday 28th August (Orders close: Monday 25th August, 3:00 PM)
- Thursday 4th September (Orders close: Monday 1st September, 3:00 PM)
- Thursday 11th September (Orders close: Monday 8th September, 3:00 PM)
- Thursday 18th September (Orders close: Monday 15th September, 3:00 PM)
Ordering Instructions: Orders must be placed in advance via Compass Canteen. Ordering will close at 3:00 PM on the Monday before each lunch date.
You can now place orders for all Term 3 lunch dates in advance if preferred.
A Parent User Guide on how to order through Compass Canteen is below for your convenience. Please note, a $0.35 transaction fee will apply at checkout.
All food is Halal.
Thank you for supporting our school community!
.
ICY POLE FRIDAY Students can purchase icy poles over the counter every Friday at lunchtime for $1.00 each. We offer an assortment of different icy poles each week, but always have Zooper Doopers available.This serves as a school fundraiser.
If you're interested in volunteering as a parent helper to sell icy poles, please contact the school's general office.
Entertainment Book 20% of the membership goes directly to support our fundraising at Viewbank Primary School. https://www.entertainment.com.au/current-promotion
Lunches must be ordered online using the CLASSROOM CUISINE website.
.
WEEKLY SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE - Every Friday 3:00pm to 3:30pm, next to the music room. Jumpers with the school logo, long and short sleeve school polo tops and school dresses will be $2.00. We are currently asking for donations of any unwanted reusable school uniform items to sell at our stall.
SINGING WITH GABRIELLA - Gabriella
- Email: favrettogab@gmail.com
- Phone: 0413 676 733
STRINGS – Jack Cai
- Email: jack3bld@gmail.com
- Phone: 0426 665 044
STRINGS - MR CAI
- Email: cai66@optusnet.com.au
- Phone: 0403 490 078
PIANO/KEYBOARD/DRUMS - Daniel Tucceri
- Email: info@banyulemusicandtutoring.com
- Phone: 0405 667 908
GUITAR - Dimi Holborow
- Email: mastermusic606@outlook.com
- Phone: 0409 629 612
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.