PUPIL FREE DAY (OSHClub available)
- Monday 31st October 2022
FUNDRAISING BAKERY LUNCH ORDER DATES - Lower Plenty Bakehouse
- 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)
REGIONAL ATHLETICS Congratulations to Joshua Cadusch, Brody Cameron, Julia Clencie, Crissy Patroungas and Alexandra Palmer who all advanced to the Regional Athletic Championships held yesterday at the Meadow Glen Athletics Track. This was a mighty effort for all students and we are very proud of you all.
JAPANESE DAY To celebrate all things Japanese, and as a link to the study of the Japanese language, all students will take part in Japanese Day next Tuesday. The children will have the opportunity to sample some sushi from a Sushi Sushi kids party platter, participate in a sporting festival and be involved in a variety of Japanese cultural experiences.
BUILDING WORKS Unfortunately, the start of our building works program has been delayed by three weeks to early November. We will keep you posted!
GRADE 5 CAMP Whilst we did highlight the adventures of our Grade 5 campers last week, I wish to say congratulations to all Grade 5 students for the way they participated in all activities, showed respect and manners at all times and challenged themselves to complete activities that may have been out of their comfort zone! Special thanks to all teaching and non-teaching staff and to our parent volunteers who all gave of their time so generously to ensure a successful camp.
And whilst I am definitely repeating myself, the following items are really important as we finalise plans for 2023. Please read them carefully.
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.
Enjoy your weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
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The last couple of days have certainly been a bit soggy but spring is all around us, especially up in the new veggie patch. During recent working bees, a number of fruit trees have been relocated and it is fabulous to see that they are establishing well and in blossom. The rain has certainly helped and we look forward to hopefully seeing the fruit in the coming months.
We can’t thank all our amazing volunteers enough for the hours they have spent helping to establish our new Stephanie Alexander vegetable garden. If you haven’t had time to contribute yet, there will be another working bee in the coming weeks. I look forward to seeing you there, but if you can’t make it you may like to contribute by donating plants or other garden items.
It has also been lovely to see students beginning to wear our new summer dress. These are now available from our uniform supplier. Annie and Rachel from Year 2 are very much enjoying the new uniform. It is certainly uplifting.
Annie commented ‘It’s bright and refreshing and very comfortable. It’s easy to put on and take off as it has buttons down the front.’
Fingers crossed for the return of some fine spring weather soon.
Have a great week,
Gill
Teaching Staff Professional Practice Days Starting next week, and continuing until Friday 4th November, as per Department of Education and Training guidelines, our teaching staff will be undertaking Professional Practice days. Professional Practice days provide teachers with release from their scheduled duties (all duties which would have been otherwise scheduled, including teaching) to focus on the improved delivery of high-quality teaching and learning.
The recently legislated Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022, provides teachers with three Professional Practice days in 2022 (Term 4 is the last one for this year), two Professional Practice days in 2023 and one Professional Practice day in 2024 and beyond.
Professional Practice days are pro rata for a teacher employed part-time. For example, a teacher who works at a time fraction of 0.5 FTE is entitled to one half day per term. Please note: our Term 4, 2022 Professional Practice days are NOT pupil free days.
The work undertaken on these days will be consistent with Departmental and school priorities and selected from the following areas:
- planning
- preparation
- assessment of student learning
- collaboration
- curriculum development
- relevant professional development
- peer observation including feedback and reflection
Bike Safety To And From School Earlier this week, we received a phone call from a concerned member of the community regarding some unsafe riding behaviour from some Viewbank Primary School students. As the weather warms and dries up (hopefully soon!), more students are likely to ride to school. Can you please reiterate to your child the importance of wearing a helmet, if on the foot path - slowing down when crossing driveways and going past people, and looking very carefully before crossing roads.
Parents and Friends Just a reminder to please complete the School Disco survey if you have a minute or 2 https://forms.gle/gC8y2XVc1gUrdi7k8. The link will not work from Thursday 20th October. Thank you!
Coming up on Tuesday 25th October is our Walk-A-Thon. We will need many volunteers to help with supervision around the course. At this stage, the timetable will be:
If you can help out with keeping our students safe while they walk/run along the footpath next to the roads (as per the course) please sign up here https://volunteersignup.org/DMM3D, we still have plenty of spots to fill! 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
BOOK CLUB Catalogues have been sent home this week. All orders are due by Wednesday 19th of October. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.
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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Please Help - Not Possible Without You We have our School Walkathon coming up on Tuesday 25th October and require a large number of volunteers to help make this event happen. At the Walkathon helpers will be asked to marshal different points along the course, in and around the school grounds, to ensure students are following the path and remaining safe as well as encourage students to keep doing their best.
If you are able to help out at one or more of the sessions it would be greatly appreciated - please sign up via this link, https://volunteersignup.org/DMM3D. Without enough volunteers, this fundraising event that the students are so excited to participate in won't be able to run.
We welcome all volunteers; parents, grandparents or special adults in a student's life. The only requirement is that all volunteers must have a current Working with Children’s Check (WWC). If you would like to help now or in the future information about how to apply can be found here- workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1.
If you have any further questions, please contact the office.
Regards,
Kate Doran (Parents and Friends President)
VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL WALKATHON 2022 One of our major Fundraisers for 2022 is our Walkathon. On, Tuesday 25th October all Viewbank Primary School students will take part in this annual event completing laps through and around the perimeter of the school. Each lap is approx. 600 metres in length.
The students will walk at the following times:
- Foundation - 9:15 – 9:45am
- Grade 1 & 2 - 9:55 – 10:50am
- Grade 5 & 6 - 11:40 – 12:45pm
- Grade 3 & 4 - 2:10 – 3:15pm
We ask you to sponsor our students, and to seek sponsorship from family, friends, neighbours and workmates. This can be done as a lump sum for participating or a nominated amount per lap. Of course, the children will get great benefit from taking part in the walk!! We anticipate the maximum laps completed in the time allowed will be 8 for the younger students and 14 for the older students. All money raised will be going towards our major fundraising school upgrade project.
All students will be rewarded with an icy pole back at school after the completion of the walk (Please advise your class teacher if you do not wish for your child to receive one).
As a further incentive, the class that raises the most money per capita in Foundation to Year 2 and Year 3 to 6 will be rewarded with a Hot Chip lunch, later in the term.
All students will be provided with a wrist band for the walk, and these will be hole punched at the conclusion of each lap. Once the walk is over the children will bring their cards home and collection of monies can then be organised.
Sponsorship monies can be paid via Compass (Course Confirmation and Payments) or returned to school by Friday, November 11. Thank you if you have already made a payment. If payment is made via Compass you are not required to return any forms to the school.
As always, we could not hold an activity such as this without the support of our parents and friends, both financially and on the day. If you can assist during the day by walking with the children, acting as a course marshall, hole punching cards after each lap, or simply cheering on our students we would be very grateful for your assistance. All volunteers must have, and presented to the school in advance, a current Working With Children Check, or approved exemption (e.g. VIT card, police badge etc).
Please register to volunteer here https://volunteersignup.org/DMM3D.
Please support this major fundraiser, as it is the only one of its kind in 2022 (since before COVID), and we do rely on fundraising to support school upgrades and equipment, which in turn support your child’s education.
We are excited to be offering Vision Portraits $30 family photo fundraising photos again this year.
- When: Saturday 12th November 2022
- Where: Viewbank Primary School
- Booking link: https://viewbank22.eventbrite.com.au
All bookings welcome - click here to book.
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 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