2023 TERM DATES
- Term 1: 27th 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)
BUILDING WORKS When we return to school after the long weekend, you will find you will not be able to access the school through Gate 1 until further notice (the main gate – see map). Builders are setting up their fences to surround/secure the Japanese and Art room in preparation for demolition over the next 4 weeks.
ATHLETICS CARNIVAL Today saw all Grade 3 to 6 students journey to Willinda Park in Greensborough for the annual House Athletics Carnival. At time of writing, the weather forecast looked promising for the day and I know a lot of planning and preparation had been completed in order to make the day run smoothly. Many thanks to Lucas Prell, head of the PE Department, and the many staff and parent volunteers who have made the day possible.
SCHOOL COUNCIL The first meeting of the new School Council is set down for next Tuesday, March 14, commencing at 6.30pm. Office bearers will be elected at the meeting prior to the March General meeting and a final School Councillor will be seconded onto Council to fill a casual 12 month vacancy. The Council members are :-
- PARENT CATEGORY – Jason Hemingway, William Tong, David Filcoff, Ben Bailey, Kate Cullen, Kate Doran, Michael Parrent, Michelle Pan
- SCHOOL EMPLOYEE CATEGORY – Gillian Nicholls, Patrick Walsh, Lucy Addati, Bill Kersing
COLOUR RUN Not long now until the major fundraiser for 2023 – the Colour Run. This will take place on Friday, March 17 after lunch on the school oval. The event details are on Compass but reminders to wear a WHITE shirt (no singlets/tank tops) and closed toe shoes. Students will be given free sunglasses and a rainbow headband for the event and will be covered in non-toxic, biodegradable colour powder from head to toe! There is even rumour of someone getting slimed at the end of the event. Sounds like a lot of fun!! Even for the ‘slimee’, whoever that is!
NAPLAN The NAPLAN ‘window’ commences next week, with NAPLAN being held in Term 1 from 2023 onwards. Please refer to Patrick Walsh’s ‘column’ in this week’s newsletter for further details.
DIVISIONAL SWIMMMING Good luck to the swim team who take part next Tuesday in the Divisional swimming championships at Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre. The team comprises Johan Inn, Max Berry, Anne Carpenter, Inaya Bhardwaj, Joachim Lai, Darragh Finn, Luke Cullen, Harrison Kent, Joshua Cadusch, Madison Ford, Rubi Parker and Alexandra Palmer. Sure to make a splash!
WELLBEING BADGE We had our final school captain badge presentation this week with Daniel Ioannides, School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support Coach from the Regional Health Wellbeing & Specialist Service Branch, presenting the engagement and wellbeing captain’s badge on March 6. The worthy recipient was Zara Narula from 6T. Green Team members will receive their badges at assembly on March 20.
WEDDING WISHES Congratulations to Karina Dudderidge (Grade 3D) who next weekend marries her soon to be husband Matthew. We hope it is a perfect day, before a perfect life together!
I wish everyone a lovely long weekend as we celebrate Labour Day on Monday. School resumes on Tuesday, March 14 but there will be NO whole school assembly on that day.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
Students Arriving Early We have noticed many more students arriving early each day, well before any staff member is on duty. We would like to remind you that our supervision responsibilities are 10 minutes before the school day begins and for 10 minutes after the school day finishes (normally this is 8:50am – 9am and 3:30pm - 3:40pm). As we cannot have students unsupervised in the yard (this will become increasingly important as the building works increase), early arrivers will generally be sent to TheirCare and charges to parents made accordingly.
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy **Change to Schedule** Our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be completing the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) next week. The following table shows our schedule:
Make up assessments will be provided within the assessment window (between Wednesday 15th March and Monday 27th March). Make up tests will only be provided for students after the class has attempted the tests and in line with NAPLAN administration guidelines. We will not be doing make up tests in advance.
If you have any concerns about your Year 3 or Year 5 child completing NAPLAN in 2023, please contact your child's teacher a soon as possible.
Have a great weekend.
Patrick
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Congratulations to all our amazing students who are demonstrating positive behaviours and rapidly collecting behaviour rewards on their Value cards. Each day we see students demonstrating Kindness, Respect, Resilience and Responsibility both in the classroom and out in the school yard. We are seeing the first ‘exchanges’ of completed Value cards for Viewbank Bees and look forward to seeing many more bees appearing in the coming weeks on our beehive. Parents, I hope you receive a congratulatory email soon celebrating the completion of a Values card that your child has filled.
Have a fantastic long weekend.
Gill
TheirCare (Outside of School Hours Care) Please be aware that if your child is not registered with TheirCare they will be unable to access the program in an emergency. Therefore it is highly recommend that you register your child/ren with TheirCare in case you may need it one day.
SCHOOL TOURS We will be running school tours on a Tue, Wed, Thu at 9.30am for prospective families from 09Mar. Please call the office to make a booking.
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.
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.
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
Hear from the students! Taya (Communication Captain) and Zara (Engagement and Wellbeing Captain) interviewed some students about their school experience. Here is what they had to say.
Year 4 Health Inquiry This week the Year 4 students participated in an incursion from Life Ed.
Healthy Harold and Carly delivered the ‘All Systems Go’ incursion and taught us about:
- The impact food choices have on health and energy levels
- The effects of second-hand smoking
- Exploring ways to manage peer pressure
- The function of vital organs (heart, lungs, brain, kidneys)
The Year 4s have been busy demonstrating their prior knowledge of Health and Wellbeing during the initial ‘Tuning In’ stage of our first inquiry for the year.
This incursion provided a terrific opportunity for students to further engage with their learning as they explore the ‘Finding Out’ and ‘Sorting Out’ stages of the inquiry cycle.
It was wonderful to see so many of our students asking questions and responding to the session.
Keep up the great work, Year 4s!
Please complete the event registration as detailed in the link below if you haven’t already. Fundraising closes on the date of the event, 17 March 2023; so, get fundraising!
The funds raised will go towards improving our school grounds and classrooms and the cost of the event. The specifics of these improvements are to be decided, and communicated once the major building work is nearing completion.
Free Dress Day - wear a WHITE shirt that covers your shoulders (no singlets) and closed in shoes. Students wearing school uniform without a change of clothing will not be able to participate.
Please inform your class teacher via email if you do not wish for your child to be covered in non-toxic, biodegradable colour powder from head to toe. IF YOU DO NOT EMAIL YOUR CLASS TEACHER, THIS WILL CONFIRM THAT YOUR CHILD CAN PARTICIPATE.
This fundraiser is run in conjunction with Viewbank Primary School by Australian Fundraising (https://australianfundraising.com.au) with a percentage of funds raised going towards the running of the event including materials provided, fundraising platform and prizes.
Lower Plenty Bakehouse will be providing the school with fundraising Lunch Orders every Thursday. These lunches have been implemented via our Parents and Friends Committee. All money raised will be used towards our major school upgrade.
Our Term 1 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates are:
- Thursday 16th March (Orders closing on 13th March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 23rd March (Orders closing on 20th March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 30th March (Orders closing on 27th March, 3:00pm)
- Thursday 6th April (Orders closing on 3rd April, 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 1 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 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 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
STRINGS - MR CAI
- Email: cai66@optusnet.com.au
- Phone: 0403 490 078
GUITAR/BASS GUITAR - Alec
- Email: alec.stalder@gmail.com
DRUMS/BEGINNER KEYBOARD - Michael
- Email: michaelfindlaymcnab@gmail.com
- Phone: 0451 394 540
PIANO/KEYBOARD – Tiaryn Griggs
- Email: tiaryngriggs@gmail.com
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.
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