Friday March 16 — Parents and Friends Movie Night

Tuesday March 20 - Live for Lily Foundation Out of Uniform Day (gold coin donation and icy pole sales)

Thursday March 22 - Special Lunch Day - SAUSAGE IN BREAD (Orders due by Monday March 19)

Friday March 23- Hot Cross Buns will be distributed to students who have ordered them.

Monday March 26 - Easter Raffle Drawn (Tickets due back by Friday March 23)

Thursday March 29 - End of Term 1, 2.30pm dismissal

Monday April 16 - Start of Term 2

UPCOMING TRANSITION DATES* — May Information Night: Thursday 3 May 7-8pm, Education Week Open Day: Tuesday 22 May 9.30-3pm, Education Week Open Morning: Saturday 26 May 9am-12pm *Full Transition timeline available below

Annual Working Bees — Saturday May 12 (Term 2), Saturday August 11 (Term 3), Saturday November 3 (Term 4)

PUPIL FREE DAYS — Tuesday June 12, Monday December 17

TERM DATES — TERM 1: Monday 29 January - Thursday 29 March, TERM 2: Monday 16 April - Friday 29 June, TERM 3: Monday 16 July - Friday 21 September, TERM 4: Monday 8 October - Friday 21 December

CAMP DATES — Year 6 Canberra Camp 14 - 18 May, Year 4 Anglesea Camp 30 May - 1 June, Year 5 Lady Northcote Camp 9 - 12 October, Year 3 Urban Camp 10 - 12 December.

NATIONAL YOUNG LEADERS DAY Once again this year, our Grade 6 student leaders will be attending the National Young Leaders day at the Melbourne Convention Centre (March 26). This has been a regular feature of our student leadership program for many years now and this year the school, house and environmental leaders will travel in to town accompanied by myself and Rebecca Andrew to be inspired by guest speakers John Coutis (http://www.johncoutis.com/), Harrison Craig (Winner of ‘The Voice’), Cosentino (Author and Illusionist) and Emma Triscari (Melbourne stars Big Bash Women’s League). The last newsletter of term will feature feedback from our student leaders on the events of the day.

REGIONAL SWIMMING It was a mighty effort for the following students to reach Regional level in school swimming, and they competed yesterday at the Northcote pool. Congratulations to Connor Burdell, Jemima Drake, Derik Du, Jesse McLeod and Thomas Vander Pal. Hopefully, we will have results available by the time this newsletter is ‘published’.

MOVIE NIGHT We are all looking forward to our Movie Night, tomorrow night, from 6pm when ‘SING’ will be shown in our open air cinema. Parents and Friends are coordinating a BBQ and other food/refreshments and when the sun goes down the movie comes on, so bring a deck chair, and watch it in the open air on the basketball courts. If it’s wet the movie will be relocated to the Gym, and there are items such as Sausages, Pop Corn, Drinks, Icy Poles and Glow Sticks available for purchase on the night as well.

SCHOOL COUNCIL - REMINDER The first meeting of our newly elected School Council will take place tonight, Thursday, March 15 from 7pm. This is a slightly earlier start than normal to cater for the election of office bearers for 2018, and the presentation of our Annual Report. Once the Annual report has been ratified, it will be made available on our school’s website for your information and attention.

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION On Friday 16 March 2018, Australian schools will stand united in their communities to celebrate the eighth National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). The National Day of Action is Australia’s key anti-bullying event for schools and in 2018, schools are called to imagine a world free from bullying and share their BIG IDEAS. Tomorrow our school will highlight this day and the impact bullying has on others. Also included in the newsletter over the next few weeks are tips and ideas to assist your conversations at home with your child/ren. Read about more effective ways to prevent bullying at Bullying.No Way! bullyingnoway.gov.au

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT MATHLETICS Most year levels have now sent home the Mathletics usernames and passwords for students. Many year levels are also using Mathletics as part of weekly homework. For your child to get the most from Mathletics it is very important to use the web-based system, rather than the app, as the app is no longer being updated or supported. If children complete tasks when using the app, they will not register with the new system. This can cause the same assignments to appear every week on the app. From the teachers’ point of view, it looks like students are not completing tasks at all. Obviously, this could be an issue for those students who have Mathletics assigned as homework. So, the advice from Mathletics is to use the web-based system, rather than the app, and make sure students use ‘New Mathletics’ for best results. Students also have access to Rainforest Maths for additional revision, Live Maths for improving automatic response to number facts and Times Table Toons for learning times tables by clicking the PLAY tab.

UNIFORM SHOP CHANGES A reminder that the final day of trading for the school based uniform shop will be Tuesday 20th March. Next week’s newsletter will contain ordering options and instructions, store details and opening hours for My Uniform as well as the price list. All information will be available by clicking on the UNIFORM link. Please join us in thanking Sharon Jones for all her hard work in recent years coordinating the school uniform shop. We hope you enjoy your flowers from the Viewbank Community.

THANK YOU, SHARON!

Have a great week.

Gill Nicholls

The uniform shop is open every Tuesday from 9am to 10am until Tuesday 20 March. You can also leave orders anytime at the school office and uniform will be sent home with your child.

Out of Uniform Day Fundraiser - Tuesday March 20 Live for Lily Foundation This term, Viewbank Primary School JSC has decided to support the Live for Lily Foundation as one of their fundraising efforts for charity. The Live for Lily foundation is a not for profit organisation aiming to raise awareness and funds going directly towards research that is dedicated to finding a cure for childhood cancers. The foundations name sake, Lily, was the cousin of Kiara Spinks, one of our students (Grade 3W). When Lily was 8 she was diagnosed with liver cancer, both rare and aggressive. 13 months later after much chemo, radiation and 6 operations she passed away, she was 9. Following this, Kiara’s uncle set up the Live for Lily foundation dedicated solely to raising money for research aiming to eventually find a cure for childhood cancer. Since the foundations beginnings 3 years ago it has raised over $175,000. One of their annual fundraising events is the Ride for Lily. This year, Ride for Lily will see 13 riders travel on mountain bikes from Marree in South Australia to Uluru, Central Australia. The journey is 1000km in 6 days along the Oodnadatta Track. This year, Kiara’s mum Janelle has decided to ride in memory of her niece and also to support her brother who will also be riding. Her aim is to raise $5000 which will help fund a clinical trial for children with high risk or relapsed cancers, children who have less than 30% chance of survival. The cost for one child to enter this trial is $15,000. The money we raise shall go directly towards giving another child this opportunity. For this reason, on Tuesday March 20 we will be holding an out of uniform day where we ask all students to bring a gold coin donation to support this cause. We will also be selling icy poles from the canteen on Tuesday, the money raised also going to the charity. If you would like to further support this charity you can donate to Janelle at http://liveforlily.org.au/product/janelle-spinks/ Regardless, take a look at the website and follow along over the Easter school holidays, there will be regular updates on their progress.

Thanks everyone for your generous support

Viewbank Primary School JSC

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY The internet and social media provide great opportunities for us to network and stay in touch online. While these technologies can offer a positive space for sharing information and ideas, they also have the potential to cause harm to individuals, groups or even whole communities. Just as you would discourage your child from acting inappropriately online, it’s important to remember that sometimes, negative comments posted about a school community by parents or caregivers can have a bigger impact than expected. Reputations of staff, schools and even parents can be damaged. Whenever you’re online, you are potentially speaking to an unlimited audience, even if you think your conversations are private. Taking a few moments to think about the content you post could save upset, embarrassment - and even possible legal action or police involvement. Parental and community feedback is important for schools. If you have a concern, complaint or enquiry about an issue at school, the best approach is to speak directly to us, rather than discussing it in a public forum. If you are worried about online content involving the school community, contact the principal. If you are posting online, remember that your comments help build and support the school community. Make sure you’re honest, respectful, considerate - and a good role model for your children.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND - Special Lunch Day - SAUSAGE IN BREAD, Thursday 22nd March, 2018. Please complete the below order form and return it to school with correct money (no change will be given) by Monday 19th March, 2018. All money raised from the sales will be going towards our major fundraising project - the resurfacing of the asphalt.

VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL MOVIE NIGHT You can now secure your tickets to Viewbank Primary School's Movie Night by visiting the TryBooking link below. This fun filled event will be running on Friday 16th March. Thanks to our wonderful PFA for their organisation. We need volunteers for chopping onion, setup, BBQ, door sales, sales of food and pack up. If you are able to help in anyway please add your name by using the link below. Thank you for your support.

The Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge (VPRC) has commenced for this year. Registration forms are available on Compass and from the Office. Students in Foundation to Year 2 are required to read 30 books (20 from the Challenge list) and students in Year 3 - 6 are required to read 15 books (10 or more from the Challenge list). The Challenge finishes on the 7th September so there is plenty of time to meet the Challenge. Successful students will have their names published in Honour Roll on the Challenge website and will be issued with a certificate in early December. Are you up to the Challenge?

2018 VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL EASTER RAFFLE $1.00 per ticket, lots of great prizes to be won!! Please return all sold tickets to school by Wednesday 23rd March, 2018. Raffle to be drawn on Monday 26th March, 2018 *Please ensure name and phone number are clearly written onto all sold tickets. All money raised will be going towards our major fundraising project - the resurfacing of the asphalt. Thank you for your support.

REGIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS On Wednesday the 14th March, five Viewbank Primary School students returned to Northcote Aquatic & Recreation Centre, this time to take part in the Northern Metropolitan Region Primary School Swimming Championships. Jemima Drake, Thomas Vander Pal, Derik Du, Connor Burdell and Jesse McLeod gave their all competing against students from schools ranging from Sunbury to Kilmore, Mernda to Eltham and in between. What an outstanding effort by those students to reach such a high level of competitive swimming. All should be congratulated and rightfully proud of their achievement.

Blair Morton

PE Coordinator

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) The Government assisted ‘Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund’ provides payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports and excursions. Applications for the Governments ‘Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund’ can be accessed by filling out the form available on Compass, at the office or via the link below. To be eligible for this funding, you need to hold a current Pension or Health Care Card. Please note: as this funding is means tested, the Parent/Guardian MUST be the card holder, no Medical Health Care Cards in the student’s name will be accepted as it will be rejected by the CSEF system. Funds will be automatically allocated to the Term Expenses unless otherwise stated by the parent at the start of the year.

TRANSITION DATES Please download the below timeline for your future reference.

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

COLES SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS VOUCHERS Viewbank PS is taking part again in 2018! Vouchers can be dropped into the collection bin at our school office or at Coles Warringal Mall.

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.

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE MENTOR PROGRAM It’s amazing how quickly Term 1 is going. We have the pleasure of having many new ADF families at our school this year. I have enjoyed meeting with our new students and catching up with our returning ones. Next week we will be having our ADF students Pizza luncheon. There is no cost involved, so encourage your son or daughter to come along with an appetite! I have also attended our Regional Network meeting with Aileen Kris, Education Liaison Officer with Defence. Her number is 9282 3006 or email Aileen.Kris@defence.gov.au if you have any questions about entitlements relating to education.

Hi Viewbank Parents and Families,

Last week our goal was to play outside more and to enjoy the nice weather while we still have it. The children were engaged in a variety of activities when outside, they played cricket, soccer, group skipping, outside drawing and playground fun. It was a great week. This weeks focus is group play that is lead by the children. Last week I asked the children what kind of group activities they would like to do and they came up with a range of ideas. Many of these ideas were included in this weeks planner. We will be playing badminton, rounders, blob tag, creating stone art and glitter firework art. These are only a few of this weeks activities. Next week we are going to be doing a recycle challenge so could we please ask you to send old newspaper with your children. Also if you are interested in vacation care we have itineraries outlining the awesome excursions and incursions at OSHClub.

Thanks,

Viewbank OSHClub