PUPIL FREE DAY (OSHClub available)
- Monday 31st October 2022
FUNDRAISING BAKERY LUNCH ORDER DATES - Lower Plenty Bakehouse
- Thursday 13th October (Orders closing on 10th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 20th October (Orders closing on 17th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 27th October (Orders closing on 24th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 3rd November (Orders closing on 31st October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 10th November (Orders closing on 7th November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 24th November (Orders closing on 21st November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 1st December (Orders closing on 28th November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 8th December (Orders closing on 5th December, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 15th December (Orders closing on 12th December, 3:00pm)
2022 TERM DATES
- Term 4: 3rd October - 20th December (1:30pm finish)
I trust that everyone had a pleasant time of it over the school holiday break, especially with the four day break afforded by the two public holidays (albeit for different reasons). I know there are a large number of very happy Geelong supporters – congratulations! The weather has started to resemble spring after a cool and wet start to the holidays and a reminder to all staff and students that hats are compulsory outside at school from now until the end of March. Term 4 is a long one and packed with a range of different activities (and some challenges) so buckle up and settle in! Over the term break we had new carpets fitted in the Grade 1 classrooms as well as some external lighting to light up the Tiger Turf and courtyard for those evening events such as Information Evenings, student discos and the like.
BUILDING WORKS Stokes Rousseau has been awarded the contract to build the new administration building and will be working with Fleetwood to complete the rest of the works over the next 12 months. The first ‘landmark’ in the construction phase is the demolition of the Art and Japanese room scheduled for October 20. This will require cordoning off that part of the school, and other inconveniences which will be short term. We will provide advice and information on any impact to school operations when we know the same. The Art program will operate out of the gymnasium foyer from the end of week 2 (October 14).
GRADE 5 CAMP The students from Grade 5 departed for their Lady Northcote Camp (Bacchus Marsh) on Tuesday for a four day adventure, which includes a visit to Sovereign Hill on Thursday. I was fortunate enough to attend on Tuesday and Wednesday with Patrick Walsh taking the baton from me for Thursday and Friday. We have included some photos of the fun with this week’s newsletter. Whilst on the subject of camps, one of the ramifications of the new enterprise bargaining agreement struck between the Department Of Education and Training (DET) and the various unions involved is that the new time in lieu provisions (which are largely unfunded) may impact the camping program offered at our school from 2023. At this stage, we will continue to be able to run a camp for Grade 5 and Grade 6 students into the future, but financially will not be able to run a Grade 4 or Grade 3 camp. In its stead, we will offer an outdoor education for the Grade 4 students in 2023 – more on these arrangements in upcoming newsletters.
SCHOOL COUNCIL The October meeting of School Council is set down for next Tuesday night, October 11 at 7pm in the staffroom.
INTENTIONS TO LEAVE Term 4 is always dominated with planning for the following year – grade and staff selection, budgets, enrolments and more. We have asked this before, (and families have been very good in letting us know), but if any other families are intending to leave our school community in 2023 because of relocation or other reason, could you please advise us as soon as possible. A phone call to the office, or an email to the school or my email account asap would be most appreciated.
ENROLMENTS And on the same ‘numbers’ theme, whilst we think we have nearly all of our current family enrolments for 2023, if there is anyone out there who hasn’t completed the enrolment process yet, please do so asap.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR GRADE PLACEMENTS 2023 Each year at this time, we seek input from families with regards to the placement of students into classes for the following year (if that is necessary). We do recognise that that there might be some limited circumstances initiating a parental grade request, but please think carefully about this and if you really do feel a need to inform us of these circumstances then do let us know.
At this stage, we have not assigned teachers to grade levels for next year, and in fact still need to select a few teachers to fill those roles next year. There are no guarantees that teachers currently teaching at certain grade levels will be teaching there next year, as leadership needs to take into consideration a range of factors including the development of our teaching staff and teacher preferences before this allocation is completed. We have also not settled on a grade structure for 2023, with the possibility of a composite class in the junior area of the school to keep class numbers down. Having said that, if there are special circumstances that we need to know about, you are welcome to let us know of these. Such special circumstances might include but are not limited to health, emotional or learning matters, peer or sibling relationships or changes in the home situation. Selecting a particular teacher does not fit within the realm of special circumstances, and if your request includes that information it will be denied. Information requiring our consideration needs to be addressed to ‘The Principal’ and emailed to the office by Friday, November 4. Please title the email “CONFIDENTIAL – GRADE REQUEST’. Please note that emails received after this date will NOT be accepted.
OUTCOME OF TENDER PROCESS FOR THE PROVISION OF OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS CARE SERVICES During Term 3, School Council went through a process of seeking tenders to provide out of school hours care services for our school as the current contract held by OSHClub was expiring. Following due process, School Council has chosen a new provider for the next two years – Their Care. Their Care will take over the role from the start of Term 1, with OSHClub continuing to run the program (including the December/January vacation care) until that time. The current fee structure for parents will be maintained, and School Council was impressed by the presentation put forward by Their Care. We would like to thank OSHClub for their work with, and at, our school over these last five years.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
Welcome back to term 4. I hope you were able to relax and enjoy the school holiday break.
Education Sub-Committee Meeting The Education Sub-Committee works together to develop and review policies for the benefit of the school community. School policies are developed in line with Department guidelines and the community’s educational aspirations for its children.
Policies are statements of purpose, which are implemented on School Council’s behalf to achieve many of the objectives stated in our School Strategic Plan as well as areas, which need to be addressed to ensure our programs and practices are followed in accordance with the needs of the community in mind. Consultation is sought from various members of the school community according to the purposes of the policy.
Anyone can join the Education Sub-Committee. If you are interested, the Education Sub- Committee will meet via WebEx on Wednesday 19 October at 7.00pm to review the Inclement Weather Policy.
Further details will be sent via Compass next week.
Have a great week.
Gill
A Message From The Community During the holidays, we received the following message from a former parent at Viewbank Primary School. Often, when doing tours for future parents, I explain that that one of the reasons we have good kids at Viewbank Primary School is because we have good parents with good values. The below is a perfect example of this. Thank you to the un-named parents who helped out. Your community mindedness and willingness to help others when they are in distress is an example for us all.
Shout out and heartfelt thanks to the three different VPS parents who assisted me after I fell off my bike on Martins Lane last Friday afternoon (last day of term) around 2:30pm. Thank you to the amazing mum who helped me stand up, picked up my bike for me and pushed it to my house. Thank you to the dad and nurse who recommended that I get myself to the hospital. Good call - it was a broken humeral head and does need medical attention. And finally, to the kind dad who also stopped and offered me water, I did appreciate the offer. VPS has a great community spirit (I’m former VPS parent), and it was a blessing to be surrounded by such good people who were willing to help a stranger in trouble.
Parents and Friends We had our first meeting of Term 4 on Tuesday evening. Thank you to everyone who could make it.
We are pleased to report that the Father’s Day Stall made just over $1000 and the School Disco made just over $4000. Thank you to our wonderful community for supporting these events, and to the organiser and volunteers – we couldn’t do it without you!
The 2022 School Disco was a welcome return to our school social calendar. We are so grateful for the support the school community demonstrated for the Disco. Considering we have not done this since 2019, we think that it went fairly well. The P&F Committee have had a debrief about the evening and have some ideas about what we could do in the future to improve the experience for everyone. To make sure we do not miss anything, we would love to hear your thoughts about the event. If you have a minute or 2, can you please complete the survey at this link https://forms.gle/gC8y2XVc1gUrdi7k8. Thank you!
Coming up in less than 3 weeks is our Walk-A-Thon. We will need many volunteers to help with supervision around the course. At this stage, the timetable will be:
Due to the scheduled demolition of the Art and Japanese rooms, we are keeping away from Lascelles Avenue around that time. Over the next week or so, there will be a lot of information about this event – Click here to sign-up to volunteer on the day. This is the proposed course:
Have a great week!
Patrick
Term Expenses Term 4 Events and Activities (Term Expenses) have been posted on Compass. Permissions and payment are due Friday 14 October.
Any families experiencing financial hardship please contact me for a confidential discussion to make alternative arrangements.
LATE ARRIVALS Please ensure children who arrive late go straight to the office to be marked as present. If the child does not come to the office for a late pass a text message will be sent to the parent/carer notifying that the child is absent. Late arrivals can only be time stamped at the office. When Parents/carers record the late arrival in Compass it provides us with the explanation but does not mark your child as present. When your child presents at the office, staff will record your child’s actual arrival time which updates the class roll.
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
Smile Squad six month fluoride varnish visit The Banyule Community Health Smile Squad team are returning to our school from the 10th -21st October 2022 to complete six-monthly fluoride varnish applications for those students who have provided consent. Fluoride varnish applications help make sure students have the best chance of preventing tooth decay, so we’re excited Smile Squad are coming back.
Consent for this fluoride varnish application was provided when students’ initial consent forms were returned. However, if anyone has changed their mind and do not wish to receive a fluoride varnish application, they can contact Banyule Community Health directly to let them know.
Please contact the Smile Squad team via: CONTACT PHONE NUMBER: 03 9450 2000
The Smile Squad team look forward to visiting soon.
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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 13th October (Orders closing on 10th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 20th October (Orders closing on 17th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 27th October (Orders closing on 24th October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 3rd November (Orders closing on 31st October, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 10th November (Orders closing on 7th November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 24th November (Orders closing on 21st November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 1st December (Orders closing on 28th November, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 8th December (Orders closing on 5th December, 3:00pm)
- 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.
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
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
Free Parent Webinars – on Cybersafety, First Mobile Phone, Online Gaming and Digital Balance
Cybersafety Project are offering free Parent Webinars on various technology topics during October/November. You can find more details on the website by scrolling down to ‘Free Family Webinar Series’, and if interested register to attend.