- Tuesday 2nd September - Sushi Day
- 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
FOUNDATION TRANSITION PROGRAM – MOVEMENT LAND The final of our Term 3 transition sessions takes place next Tuesday, September 2, with ‘Movement Land’. Many thanks to families for supporting this important program and to the Foundation staff (and student leaders) for enabling the sessions to run so smoothly.
FATHERS DAY STALL Thank you to the Parents and Friends group for organising this important stall for next Wednesday, September 3. Always lovely to watch the students eagerly purchasing their special and secret presents for the deserving dads in our community!
SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING An early ‘heads-up’ that the September meeting of School Council is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, to be held in the staffroom from 7pm.
WORKING BEE The term 3 working bee is set down for this Sunday from 9am. As always, there are tasks for all range of abilities – manual labour and cooking usually fits my skill set! Hope to see you there, even if just for a short time.
PARENT OPINION SURVEY I hope by now you have found time to access and complete the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey. It only takes around 20 minutes to complete and provides valuable feedback to guide the future direction of our school. It remains open online until Friday, September 19.
The days are lengthening and spring is upon us. I hope the weather picks up for a lovely weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
REGULATING EMOTIONS Understanding our feelings and emotions and being able to regulate our emotions are important skills that develop throughout childhood. The following article is from the Raising Children Network and provides helpful advice on helping children to understand how to manage their emotions.
Understanding and managing emotions: why it’s important
Understanding and managing emotions is important for development and wellbeing during childhood and adolescence.
Children and teenagers who can understand and manage their emotions are more likely to:
- express emotions by speaking calmly or in appropriate ways
- bounce back after feeling strong emotions like disappointment, frustration or excitement
- control impulses
- behave appropriately – that is, in ways that don’t hurt other people, things or themselves.
And this is good for children because it helps them learn, make friends, become independent and more.
Your child’s ability to understand and manage emotions develops over time. When your child is young, they’ll need help with understanding emotions. This mostly involves recognising and naming emotions, which lays the groundwork for managing emotions as your child gets older.
As your child grows, they’ll learn more strategies to manage their emotions without your help.
Understanding and managing emotions is also called emotional regulation. It’s an important part of your child’s self-regulation.
Children 3-8 years: learning to understand and manage emotions
Children develop their ability to recognise and name emotions through plenty of practice. It’s easier for children to practise through play, when they’re relaxed, or before their emotions get too intense.
Here are ways you can help your child practise recognising and naming emotions:
- Talk about the emotions that characters in books, TV shows or movies might be experiencing. For example, ‘Look at Bluey’s face. She looks sad’.
- Read books about emotions with your child. To start with, you could try The way I feel by Janan Cain, All about feelings from Usborne, or F is for feelings by Goldie Millar and Lisa A. Berger.
- Show your child how you recognise your emotions and help them to recognise theirs. For example, ‘When I broke that glass, I yelled really loudly. Does that happen to you when you make a mistake and feel angry?’
- Help your child work out how their body feels when they’re experiencing an emotion. For example, ‘You look nervous. Have you got butterflies in your tummy?’
- Give your child opportunities to explore emotions through play. Play ideas to develop preschooler emotions and play ideas to develop school-age emotions include messy play, drawing or painting, puppet play, dancing and music play.
- Do an emotions activity with your child. You choose an emotion like ‘excited’ and act it out with your child. You can turn this activity into a simple guessing game.
You can also start helping your child learn simple strategies to manage their emotions. For example:
- Teach your child ways to calm down from strong emotions like counting to 10 or taking 5 deep breaths.
- Suggest ways to react to strong emotions – for example, clap your hands when you’re excited, ask for a hug when you’re sad, or squeeze your cushion really hard when you’re angry.
Pre-teens and teenagers: strengthening emotional skills
Pre-teens and teenagers often feel strong and sometimes overwhelming emotions like shame and humiliation. They might know the words for these emotions but still have trouble recognising them when they’re upset. Also, because of teenage brain development, teenagers don’t always have the skills to express and manage emotions in an adult way.
That’s why pre-teens and teenagers still need help with understanding and managing emotions. With practice, your child will be able to manage their emotions without you.
Here are ideas to strengthen your child’s ability to understand and manage emotions in the teenage years:
- Step in when you can see emotions building up. The sooner your child can spot their emotional changes, the easier it will be for them to stay in control of their behaviour.
- Help your child notice early physical signs of strong emotions. For example, ‘When I was stuck in traffic yesterday, my heart was racing and I felt really hot. Does that happen to you when you’re frustrated?’
- Help your child notice early behaviour signs of strong emotions. For example, ‘You’re starting to hit that keyboard a bit hard. Do you need to stop for a minute and get some fresh air?’
- Talk with your child about what you do when you notice the signs that strong emotions are building up. For example, ‘When I start to feel really angry with myself, I focus on something I’m really proud of instead. Would that work for you?’
- Work with your child on a list of things they could do when they notice strong emotions building up, like going for a run, listening to loud music on their headphones, or meditating. Try to include plenty of options so your child can choose ones that feel right in different situations.
Remember that talking with teenagers about emotions won’t be as effective when they’re struggling with the strong emotion. You need to step in early or wait until the emotion has passed.
Signs your child might need help to manage their emotions
All children need help and support to manage strong emotions sometimes, especially younger children or children dealing with extra challenges like a death in the family or other traumatic event.
Children might need help to manage strong emotions if they:
- feel upset or miserable about how overwhelming their emotions are
- feel very strong emotions that are out of proportion to the problem or situation
- still feel strong emotions for a long time after whatever sparked the emotions
- often go from being calm to feeling an intense emotion like anger very quickly
- express emotions inappropriately – for example, laughing in response to bad news
- go very quiet, hide or push people away when they’re overwhelmed.
Also, pre-teen and teenage children might need help if they:
- seem to make poor decisions because they feel strong emotions like frustration
- find it hard to relax enough to enjoy their hobbies or be with family and friends.
Have a great week.
Gill
PLANNING WEEK Week 8 (08 September – 12 September) will be our Term 3 Planning Week. Planning Week is where your child/ren’s specialist classes are compressed into one day and they do not have specialist classes at any other time throughout the week. All classroom teachers in a year level (e.g. Foundation) have the same day together to plan.
This day is to reflect on the past term, and to plan for Term 4. A question we sometimes have from parents is ‘Will my child have the same Specialist Teacher? e.g. Mr Peters for PE’. The answer is (like all good questions) ‘it depends’. The reason for this is that we have a number of part time staff in specialist roles, and they may not be available on the allocated days. Our Specialist Teachers also receive time to reflect on the term and to plan for next term.
Some classes may not have their time on the same day due to the teacher being on leave.
The timetable for next week (Term 3, Week 8) is:
- Monday 08 September: Year 1 and Year 2
- Tuesday 09 September: Foundation and Year 4
- Wednesday 10 September: Year 5
- Thursday 11 September: Year 6
- Friday 12 September: Year 3
These weeks are always tricky to plan with so many considerations e.g. staff leave, Division Athletics, Whole School Science Show, Foundation excursion to Edendale Farm, State School Spectacular rehearsals and F-2 Swimming.
SWOOPING SEASON It is that time of year again, unfortunately. We have seen at least two adult plovers and at least one plover chick that have taken up residence in the school grounds, somewhere. Generally, they have remained on the oval, but they have ventured out onto the two artificial turf areas, particularly before and after school. They are very territorial, and at time aggressive. There are also some magpies and noisy miners that are located near the corner of Lascelles Avenue and Nevin Parade that are protecting chicks. Fortunately, most swoops are occurring before and after school. Please be mindful when moving through these areas.
You can find out about plovers here: https://www.wires.org.au/wildlife-information/plovers
Here are a couple of online maps that show where members of the public have recorded swoops in Victoria.
https://www.wildlife.vic.gov.au/managing-wildlife/swooping-birds
SUNSMART POLICY - HATS 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
BOOK CLUB Issue 6 catalogues have sent home this week. All orders are due by Tuesday 2nd of September. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.
Father's Day Stall– Wednesday 3rd September (Helpers Needed!)
The VPS Parents & Friends Committee is excited to host our annual Father’s Day Stall on Wednesday 3rd September 2025 during school hours.
Students will have the opportunity to purchase a special gift for Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, or another loved one. Don’t forget to:
- Bring some coins
- Bring a bag from home
- Get ready for some savvy shopping!
Parent Helpers Needed! We are urgently seeking parent helpers to assist on the day. If you are available, please sign up here: https://volunteersignup.org/XJY8T
Thank you for your support in making this event a success – we know the children will love it!
Viewbank Primary School Parents and Friends
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 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!
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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.
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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.
Credits:
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