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)
We were honoured on Monday to have Anthony Carbines, Member for Ivanhoe and Minister for Police, Crime Prevention and Racing, attend assembly to present School Captains badges to Lily Vasic and Joshua Cadusch and School Vice Captains Badges to Lexi Cook and Michaelangelo Vitale. At the conclusion of the presentations we took time to have a few photos to record the event. We wish our school captains well as they fulfil their roles in 2023.
As the school year draws to a close it is timely to reflect on the year gone by. How quickly it has flown! Last night was a fitting send off for our Grade 6 graduates, who all spoke and presented beautifully in a well organised and coordinated ceremony in our school gymnasium. We wish each and every one of them all the best for the future, and whilst they will undoubtedly be a tad apprehensive about the next steps into secondary education, undoubtedly the school and their families have ensured they are well prepared.
To departing students at other grade levels, we also wish you all the very best at your new schools.
We have a number of staff leaving us next Tuesday as we bid farewell to the school year. To Bec Dimer and Jess Ellis, thank you for filling in so capably after Blair Morton’s departure at the end of Term 2 in 3/4M. Both ladies will still be with us in 2023 as relief teachers and so won’t be ‘lost’ to Viewbank PS! As mentioned in previous newsletters, Jane McLeod is taking up a promotion to Assistant Principal at Gaayip-Yagila PS and has been transitioning to that role in a shared capacity these last few months. Rachel Richardson is taking up a new part-time position at Diamond Creek East PS, Tayla Mason is in a new non-teaching role within the DET at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership and Dana Cohen is relocating to Ballarat, so the feasibility of a two hour drive each day probably doesn’t ‘cut’ it. Many thanks to Lakshmi Sena Narasimhan for supporting our integration students throughout semester 2, we wish you well for the future. To all staff, thank you so much for your contributions to Viewbank PS and you will all be truly missed.
I am pleased to announce that all staffing appointments for 2023 are now complete. Zoe Birse, who is well know to all students as a CRT, has been appointed to the vacant Grade 5 position for 2023. Her class will be known as 5Z and she was on deck yesterday for our transition morning. Welcome to Zoe in this more permanent role. We would also like to welcome Heather Gulliford to our school. In a very welcome initiative from the Department of Education, all schools have been granted funding to support better Mental Health. We will employ Heather as an Educational Psychologist for two days per week in 2023 to provide therapy, counselling and wisdom and we warmly welcome her to our school.
With regards next Tuesday, dismissal will be at 1.30pm after an assembly on the Tiger Turf commencing at 1.10pm. This will be conditional on the weather not being too hot, or if it is raining – after all, this is Melbourne, so if it is cancelled we will put out a compass post earlier in the day to advise. There is no Monday morning assembly on 19th December.
To all teaching and non teaching staff, thank you so much for all of your efforts throughout the year as we resumed ‘normality’ after the significantly interrupted and challenging Covid years that preceded it. There are so many things that make Viewbank great, and the dedication and professionalism of the staff in challenging times is to be admired.
Further challenges, albeit of a short term nature, confront us next year as the building program gets under way in earnest. Most challenging for some will be the severely limited parking options. The builders, Stokes Rousseau, will effectively be taking over the staff car park and the car parks at the northern end of Nevin Parade for most of the year. Whilst the morning ‘drop-offs’ via the turning circle at Nevin parade won’t be affected (if they are indeed ‘drop-offs’), the afternoon ‘park’ and collection of children will be. It is in everyone’s best interest to scope out parking options within walking distance of the school over the next five weeks because there will be significant limitations on parking throughout 2023. Perhaps families can practise with their children over the break walking from the various exit gates to a pre-arranged meeting point as there will be definite challenges in this regard. Please remember to be kind and understanding of the reasons for this as the short term pain will yield the long term gain of enhanced school facilities making us the school of envy for many around!
In closing, I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and hope that everyone gets the opportunity to ‘chill’ and relax over the festive season. We look forward to welcoming 648 students on the first school day of 2023 – Monday, January 30.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
As the 2022 school year draws to a close, it feels wonderful to be able to celebrate a full year back onsite at school.
After the interruptions in 2020 and 2021, it has been satisfying to get back to ‘normal’ and enjoy the many experiences that a school year brings such as the school disco, excursions, visits by the fire brigade, camps, special event days and buddy activities.
Thank you for your ongoing support, encouragement and trust throughout the year and for your contributions to our school community.
It was pleasing to see the confidence and excitement our students demonstrated as they trialled their 2023 grades on Tuesday morning. I know there were quite a few nerves but there were also many smiles and lots of excited chatter as everyone got to know each other.
A special congratulations to our amazing graduating class of 2022, who have so much to be proud of. They certainly enjoyed their Hollywood themed graduation celebrations on Wednesday afternoon and evening. I wish them all the best as they head towards secondary school.
Finally, take care over the school holidays and stay safe. I hope you each have a relaxing holiday season and manage to find some time to reflect and be grateful.
I look forward to seeing you in the new year, refreshed and ready for 2023.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year.
Gill
Reports Your child’s 2022, Semester 2 Reports are available from 4:30pm Thursday 15th December. Our staff have spent many hours through-out November and early December completing student reports. As I have mentioned previously, this is not an easy or quick process – most reports are written after hours or on weekends. While we have a robust process for ensuring the accuracy of reports, we are human and an error may slip through or a comment may not be as clear as it could be. If this is the case, please contact the teacher who has written that report (classroom or specialist) to respectfully ask for clarification or to point out the error.
Thank you After the challenges of the past 2 years, it was fantastic to have a mostly ‘normal’ year – whatever that is! There are always challenges, but I feel privileged to work at such a great school with a supportive and understanding community.
Parents and Friends The volunteers in the Parents and Friends Committee have done a mountain of work this year to get the ball rolling again. They have organised a number of large events that have not occurred for a number of years or were scaled down. I would like to thank them, and the helpers who supported their efforts, for the work that they did. There is some important information in their section below regarding some events for 2023.
2023 Class Parent Representative If you are interested in becoming your child’s Class Parent Rep, please complete the form here: https://forms.gle/TznAAg9uQCdDvH597. Please see the Compass post sent on Thursday 14th December for more information.
I hope you have a great Christmas break. If you are travelling, please stay safe!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Patrick
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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
Junior School Council Congratulations to Liam 3/4C for winning the JSC ‘guess the Lego’ competition. Liam was only 2 pieces off, guessing 701 when there were 703 pieces. Liam gets to keep the jar of Lego! Thank you to everyone that participated in this fundraiser. We raised $135 for Container Of Dreams.
Year 6 Graduation Thank You To all of our Year 6 parents who helped to make our Grade 6 Graduation evening a night to remember, we express our sincerest thanks for all your hard work in making the event so special for our students. We would like to say a special thank you to our parent graduation committee especially Stacey and Steven Hadjigeorgiou and Carol and Tony Seneca for co ordinating our spectacular set up in the gym. Thank you on behalf of all the staff and students at Viewbank Primary School.
Code Club 2023 A very big thank-you goes to Shaun George for all of his efforts in planning and running a code club during Monday lunchtimes in the STEM room. He has worked hard to devise interesting activities for the year 5/6 group to do each week. Well done on all of your hard work Shaun!
I would also like to encourage students to have a go at coding on the holidays. ‘Blockly’ is an easy way to develop basic coding skills and activities, with instructions and hints can be found at: https://code.org/student/elementary
Students can access courses that teach them how to code according to their age and ability.
STEM Spiney Leaf Insect Holiday Care The spiney leaf insects are looking for a home over the holidays. There are three female insects that live in the STEM room during term. They are very low maintenance, just needing sprays of water everyday and a change of Eucalyptus leaves/paper weekly. They are a great introduction to having a pet. If you are interested in caring for our spiney leaf insects, please send an email to the school Attention: Nat Carr.
Don’t forget that the holidays are a super time to get into nature and explore the wonders of our great state. Even cloud/star watching is a good activity to slow us down and appreciate the wonders of the world! Of course there are fabulous places like the Zoos, Museum and Science works that are are fun to explore. We look forward to hearing all about the students’ holiday adventures in 2023. Stay safe and curious!
Mrs Carr and Mrs May
STEM
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Just Around the Corner We have some exciting events planned for 2023 to help families reconnect back with the school community after COVID has kept us apart and also some more great opportunities to raise money to help improve our school.
Keep these events in mind as they are coming in Term 1:
And we have a little secret to share....
Running Club will hopefully be back next year to be run one morning before school!!!! Details to follow early next year.
Have Your Say
2022's fund raising activities by the Viewbank Primary School P&F committee have generated over $45,000.
It’s an outstanding result for the school and couldn’t have happened without our wonderful school community. After the COVID hiatus, it’s been a joy to have the Mother’s and Father’s Day stall, to see the happy faces during the Term 3 school disco, and of course, the school walkathon.
We are thrilled to highlight three projects that this money will be supporting in the short term:
- Improving class readers – allocation of funds to upgrade and grow the schools reader resources with a focus on decodable texts.
- Mural – commission a school mural. We hope this will be completed by end of Term 1 2023.
- Weather proof shelter near Jalinga – as you might already know, we have moved the garden program to Jalinga. This shelter will provide a better learning space for the classes who use this space.
And for 2023? We need to hear from you!
Viewbank Primary School P&F committee raises money to improve school facilities and build community connections. Below is an initial list of ideas compiled from P&F committee members, teachers and school council. Please let us know what you consider to be the most important and what else we could be considering via the survey link below. Survey closes tomorrow, 16th Dec.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdO1fwDss5fu3YTm44-mDO_KVZ2yLqKhdVTbNELuHL9-DTVfw/viewform
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