Thursday 5th December - Think U Know Parent Education Session, 7:30pm - BOOK NOW

Friday 6th December - Carols By Candlelight

Friday 13th December - Parent Helpers' Mprning Tea, 10:45 am

Friday 13th December - Sustainability Day - Free Dress (gold coin donation)

Tuesday 17th December - Year 6 Graduation at Loyola College

PUPIL FREE DAYS

• Monday December 16, 2019
• Tuesday January 28th, 2020
• Wednesday January 29th, 2020
• Two extra days yet to be confirmed in 2020

TERM DATES

• 2019 TERM 4: Monday 7th October - Friday 20th December (1:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 1: Tuesday 28th January - Teachers start (All students start Thursday 30th January) - Friday 27th March (2:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 2: Tuesday 14th April - Friday 26th June (2:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 3: Monday 13th July - Friday 18th September (2:30pm finish)
• 2020 TERM 4: Monday 5th October - Friday 18th December (1:30pm finish)

CAMP DATES

• Year 6: Canberra Camp (Mon 25May to Fri 29May 2020)
• Year 4: Anglesea Recreation Camp (Wed 27May to Wed 29May 2020)
• Year 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp (Mon 27July to Wed 29July 2020)
• Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp (Tue 06Oct to Fri 09Oct 2020)

CAROLS NIGHT At the time of writing everything, including the weather, looks set for it to be a lovely night on the oval tomorrow, December 6, as the community joins together to celebrate the festive season with our first Carols night for a long time. Many thanks to Jodi Cook (chief organiser and inspiration) for planning this evening along with her loyal team and we hope it is a great success. I look forward to sharing the evening with you from 5.30pm.

PRESENTATIONS AND OPENINGS Anthony Carbines, Member for Ivanhoe, will be in attendance on Monday, December 9 from 9am to present the School Captain Badges for 2020 to Phoebe Buerckner, Luke Whitby, Annabella Madden and Joel Arul. House Captain’s badges will be presented on Wednesday, December 11, from 9.10am in the gymnasium, by Kyle Langford. Kyle is a current Essendon FC player with over 60 senior games and he was also the Viewbank PS School Captain in 2008. Following that on Wednesday, a representative of the Greensborough RSL will join with Anthony Carbines, to officially open the Gallipoli Oak Memorial at 9.30am, with a plaque ‘unveiling’ and a new flag to be hoisted on the flagpole there. Whilst it will be a low key event, you are nevertheless very welcome to attend.

TRANSITION DAY AND GRADE ANNOUNCEMENT In keeping with the State wide transition day for Grade 6 to Year 7, we will also be holding our own transition day on Tuesday, December 10. Students will meet their classmates and 2020 teachers in their 2020 classrooms in the morning session – 9.30am until 11.00am.

SCHOOL COUNCIL – FINAL MEETING A reminder that the final School Council meeting for 2019 will be held at the earlier time of 5pm in the staffroom on Thursday, December 12.

PUPIL FREE DAY …and don’t forget that Monday, December 16 will be a pupil free day to enable our 2020 teams to commence planning for next year. Whole day care is available through OSH Club.

Enough from me for this week. I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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SO MUCH TO MOVE! ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP? The end of the year is fast approaching and during the last week of school we are planning to relocate quite a few grades ready for the 2020 school year.

With our major building project starting at the end of term 1, we are taking this opportunity to move many classes into new rooms now so that there will be minimal disruption later on. This means that a large amount of furniture needs to be moved and we would greatly appreciate your help if you are available.

We have designated Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th December between 9.00am and 3.30pm as MOVING DAYS.

If you are able to help on either or both days, for one hour or several hours we would love you to contact the school office to leave your name and indicate your availability. You will need to have a current Working With Children Check.

There are many tables and chairs to be moved, as well as cupboards, bookcases, bag lockers and other classroom furniture.

We are hoping that with lots of helpers the task will be straight forward and a nice friendly way to finish up the school year. I’ll even throw in free icypoles, coffee or tea for our helpers.

You know the saying…MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK.

Thank you in advance and have a great week.

Gill Nicholls

2020 Classes As Mr Kersing mentioned above, Tuesday the 10th December is the day that the students find out who their 2020 teacher is and who is in their class. Creating grades is a long and complicated process with teachers spending many hours (occurring at the same time as writing student reports after hours and on weekends) placing students carefully into the ‘right’ class. As asked for by Mr Kersing early in Term 4, and required to be returned to school by the Melbourne Cup weekend, the many written requests have been carefully considered and acted upon where possible. A particular challenge around this is when a parent has one set of requests (e.g. for a particular friendship group) and the child has another, conflicting set (e.g. a friendship group that is not the same as the parent request). This can lead to either upset parents or upset children.

Earlier this term, every student was given the opportunity to list 4 students that they would like to be in a grade with. Out of approximately 575 students who did this, less than 20 students will end up being placed in a grade with all 4 friends, and in most cases (around 400), each student will receive only 1 from their nominated list. Sometimes, some of our students will be disappointed that they only have ‘1’ friend, sometimes we are told ‘I didn’t want that friend’.

As you are more than aware, as we move through life, we all have to meet new people, work with new people, sometimes do things (work and home) that we don’t want to – but we do these things anyway. Where did we learn how to do this? Generally, we learnt these skills at schools. Those students who learn how to do this well will cope better moving into secondary school, post-secondary study and into work. The broader the friendship group, the less chance there is for mental health issues – having trouble with 1 group of friends? change friendship groups for a while!

Most of you will have very happy children on Tuesday afternoon when you see them. Unfortunately, some of you will also have upset children. Please use this as a learning opportunity and to talk about resilience. When your child gets through the next 12 months, they will be mentally stronger for the experience – they have faced a challenge and succeeded. For those who still have difficulties into next year, we have services available (e.g. DBT IN Schools) who can help your child (and you) navigate this. Just remember, it is only for 1 year and then you will likely have the opportunity to make a request (as long as it is submitted on time!)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Patrick

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2020 School Charges/Fees - $320 per Student School Charges are paid through Compass. Payments can only be made online from Saturday 21 December 2019 and are due by Monday 27 January 2020. If you are having issues with Compass, have forgotten your password or have no access please contact the school office as soon as possible.

Alternate Payment Arrangements and Assistance: Please be advised there are alternative payment options for families who may be experiencing financial hardship or who would prefer a regular payment plan. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card are eligible for the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) that provides payments for eligible students to attend activities. The CSEF is an annual payment to the school to be used towards camps and term expenses for the benefit of the eligible student (2020 primary school student rate is $125).

Please contact me if you wish to arrange a payment plan prior to the end of the school year.

OSHClub (Before/After School and Vacation Care provider) is open all day on the pupil free day Monday 16th December.

Kind regards

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

Foundation — Zarah, Samuel & Edwin

Year 1 & 2 — Michael, Ava, Charlie, Lennox, Indi, Dawn, Claire, Max & Jada

Year 3 & 4 — Veronica

Year 5 & 6 — Rohan & Holly

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SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE - Every Friday, 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.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED Volunteer opportunities for "2019 VPS Carols by Candlelight" are now open. To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do. Thank you for volunteering! It will be a merry night!

ICY POLE FRIDAY Students are able to buy icy poles over the counter at lunchtime. All icy poles cost $1.00 each. We are asking for parent helpers to assist with the sale of these icy poles on Fridays from 1pm to 1:30pm.

COLGATE COMMUNITY GARDEN CHALLENGE A huge congratulations to all of the students and families of VPS. Of the 1100+ pre, primary and secondary schools, VPS placed 18th in the Colgate Community Garden Challenge. Together, we have diverted close to 200,000 pieces of oral care waste from Australian landfi lls. Although the competition is over for this year, we will continue to do our part in recycling toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps and floss containers! Please drop any empty oral care waste (any brand is accepted) into our recycling monster located at the office. We will ship to Terracycle to be recycled.

ENVISION HANDS This term, VPS will begin to collect bottle caps for Envision Hands. The Envision Hands project recycles plastic bottle lids bound for landfill, and turns them into colourful, superhero hands for children in need, in Australia and around the world.

What sort of bottle caps are accepted?

Currently, Envision Hands use all flat soft drink, water and milk bottle tops, including those from long life containers. The tops should be numbered either No 2 or No 4 in the recycled triangle but not all are marker. Please ensure all caps are cleaned before they are donated and no extra plastic, metal or other material is attached.

You can find more information about the project here: https://envision.org.au

Psychology service for students at Viewbank Primary School This is just a reminder about our new psychology service that may be of use to you - DBT in Schools.

Areas that DBT in Schools can help with (from http://dbtinschools.com.au/individual-therapy/):

• emotional stress such as depression and anxiety
• grief and sadness
• bullying
• sexuality issues
• substance abuse issues
• trauma
• family breakdown or parent problems, or
• friendship and relationship issues

If you would like any more information and may like to access this service, please contact the school (9459 1512) or send an email to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

HATS ON From 1st September until 30th April school hats must be worn outside during all outside activities.

RUNNING GROUP Every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:15am on the oval, for any students in years 4-6. All abilities welcome. Pack a spare pair of socks/shoes in case the oval is damp. Hope to see you there!

SCHOOL CHOIR Every Wednesdays, 8.30, in the Music room. Everyone from Year 2 to 6 are welcome!

We are currently looking for a family to take home and care for our chicken over the end of year break. If you are able to help us can you please email the school at viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Spring has definitely hit and our vegetable garden is overloaded with produce. Every Wednesday, we will be selling produce at 3pm in the vegetable garden. All money raised will go back into our Stephanie Alexander program.

The program is scheduled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Of course, volunteers are essential to the success of the program, so we are always looking for anybody willing to work with a small group, in the kitchen or garden. You do not need to be a ‘masterchef’ or have a green thumb! Enthusiasm is the only requirement.

PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422

EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au