Tuesday 23rd October - Parents & Friends Meeting - All welcome!! 7pm
Thursday 25th October - ICAS English and Mathematics certificate presentation, 3pm
Friday 26th October - Viewbank Primary School Walkathon Sponsorship money due
Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th October - Vision Portrait photoshoot BOOK ONLINE NOW
Friday 2nd November - Day for Daniel - Free dress day (gold coin donation)
Thursday 8th November - Special Lunch Day - ORDER NOW ONLINE
Saturday 24th November - State Election Day Fundraising BBQ
Thursday 6th December - Special Lunch Day
Tuesday 18th December - Year 6 Graduation at Viewbank College
ANNUAL WORKING BEES — Saturday November 10 (Term 4) 9am to 5pm
PUPIL FREE DAYS — Monday December 17
TERM DATES — TERM 3: Monday 16 July - Friday 21 September, TERM 4: Monday 8 October - Friday 21 December
CAMP DATES — Year 5 Lady Northcote Camp 9 - 12 October, Year 3 Arrabri Lodge Camp 29 - 31 October.
SCHOOL COUNCIL The October School Council meeting is scheduled for tonight in the staff room at 7pm
LATE NIGHT EXPERIENCE, SLEEPOVER AND ARRABRI LODGE CAMP Our school camping program is a very sequential one, as evidenced by the upcoming events listed above. Tomorrow night, the Grade 1 students will be staying back late (3.30pm until 7.30pm). This Late Night Experience is an introduction to Viewbank Primary Schools camping program. Students will participate in a range of games and activities after school including a pizza dinner and a movie. Then on October 26, our Grade 2 students will be returning to school at 5.30pm to sleep the night at school with a range of activities planned for their enjoyment. And finally on Monday, October 29, our Grade 3 students will be heading east to enjoy all that Camp Arrabri, Warburton East has to offer. http://www.arrabri.com.au/ Congratulations to the Grade 5s for their efforts and behavior on last week’s Lady Northcote camp, and special thanks to staff and parents who gave up their time to make it such a resounding success.
WALKATHON Today all Viewbank Primary School students took part in this annual event completing laps around the perimeter of the school. The Walkathon is one of our major fundraising events of the year, and monies raised will go towards our major fundraising projects. Today's walkathon asked our students to walk laps around the school of approx. 600 metres.
REGIONAL ATHLETICS I had the pleasure of attending the Regional Athletics at Meadow Glen Athletics Track yesterday and seeing the following students perform at this very high level. We are very proud of your efforts and talents!!
- Athanasia Patroungas - 100 metres and long jump (9/10 years old)
- Mason Smith - Shot Put (12/13 years old)
- Ryder McMurray - Triple Jump (9/10 years old)
INTENTION TO LEAVE Each year, we have a number of families moving into the area and enrolling students at Grade levels other than Foundation, and this seems to ‘ramp up’ around this time of the year. Similarly, and often because of circumstances relating to job transfers, moving house, defence force postings and the like we have families leaving us with students attending other primary schools in the following year. PLEASE, if you are one of these families and you know for certain, or are fairly sure, that you won’t be returning in 2019, could you let us know at your earliest convenience? Some fairly important decisions are made based on enrolment information, and the more reliable the information, the better the decisions! An email to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au or a hand written note presented at the General Office will suffice. Thank you.
PARENTAL REQUESTS Up until Cup Day, parents have the opportunity to provide in writing grade placement requests for 2019. Once again this year, we have subscribed to ‘Class Creator’ –software that generates classes for 2019 balanced by class size, gender, behavior, special needs, EAL and academic abilities, all the while taking into account recommended student separations, pairings, friendships, student sociograms, social dynamics and parent requests. It saves many hours of work for staff and retains a history of parent requests over the years of a student’s education at our school.
At this stage, we have not assigned teachers to grade levels for 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. Having said that, we do invite your input into grade selection if there are special circumstances that we need to know about. Occasionally we may not be aware of these special circumstances which might include but are not limited to health, emotional or learning matters, peer or sibling relationships or changes in the home situation.
There is no place to request a particular teacher by name, NOR to request your child does not have a particular teacher. Selecting a particular teacher does not fit within the realm of special circumstances.
Information requiring our consideration needs to be addressed to ‘The Principal’ and handed to the office by Monday, November 5. Please note that letters received after this date will NOT be accepted. All letters will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. Whilst each request will be given consideration, no guarantees can be given. We are planning to announce class placements by December 12 and these will be provided with your child’s 2019 reports. Finally, if you consider you have special circumstances, please make the request in writing EVEN if it has been made before –as much as we would like to think so, we can’t remember everything from years gone by!!
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
ICAS ENGLISH AND MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT RESULTS The school has received the results for the English and Mathematics ICAS assessments that some students completed in term 3.
Test results and certificates will be presented to the students in the school library at 3.00pm on Thursday 25th October. Parents are invited to come along to the presentation.
FAMILY MATH GAMES Many families are taking advantage of borrowing a maths game from the school library. These games provided the perfect opportunity to reinforce and further develop important number concepts and skills while having quality family time. The games and activities available cover number recognition, counting, place value, addition and subtraction and are most suitable for Foundation to Year 2 students. The games are stored in the school library and hang on a rack just inside the door to the left. You can borrow games as often as you wish. Please fill in the borrowing book when taking and returning the games. If you find any equipment missing from a game please leave a note within the game bag so that it can be replaced and leave the bag on the borrowing table.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAYS All staff are currently in the process of organising their term 4 Professional Practice Day.
The majority of staff will use this day to assess student progress and for data collection and analysis. This day will allow teachers time to assess students individually as well as assess writing samples and collate data, all in preparation for writing end of year student reports.
WALKATHON Thank you to the Parents and Friends members, parent volunteers, pre service teachers, teachers and students who assisted with and participated in our school Walkathon today.
It was a great day with many laps being completed by our eager walkers. Well done and thank you to everyone for your generous donations. The money we raise will go towards our major fundraising projects.
Have a great week.
Gill Nicholls
Day for Daniel On Friday, 26th October, the students who are not at swimming in Prep, Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 will be participating in Australia’s largest Child Safety Lesson. The lesson will be streamed live at 10:30am and over 100,000 students across Australia are expected to tune in.
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s main purpose is to educate young children about personal safety, and wants to make sure that every local community is safe for all children.
On Friday, 2nd November, to help raise money for this worthwhile cause, we are having a ‘Wear Something Red’ Day. So, wear something red and make a gold coin donation.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden I was extremely pleased to have been invited to lunch by 3G during their Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden session on Tuesday. Chickpea Soup, Garlic Pizza, Classic Coleslaw and Baked Ricotta & Spinach Gnocchi were on the menu. It is a credit to the staff, volunteers and students how well everything ran – particularly while I was there. Viewbank Primary School is incredibly fortunate to have such a great program supported by the school and the school community!
TERM EXPENSESTerm 4 expenses are currently published on Compass, if you have not already paid them can you please do so.
Term expenses are paid on Compass via Course Confirmation/Payments and consent for excursions/activities are via the Event link. All items that require action are shaded on your homepage under ‘My News’ and an email is sent when term expenses are put on Compass ready to be paid.
If we do not have payment and consent by the due date unfortunately your child/ren will be unable to attend excursions/activities. The office staff will no longer be phoning on the day of an event to chase payment or consent. If you have paid your term expenses but not provided consent, your child will be unable to attend and no refund will be provided. All activities planned for the term are part of the school curriculum and therefore it is expected that all children attend.
If you are experiencing any difficulty paying term expenses, please contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Addati
Business Manager
viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
9459 1512
Parents & Friends Meeting - All welcome!! The Parents and Friends Committee has operated in various formats for a long time at Viewbank Primary School and has raised significant amounts of money over the years. The next Parents and Friends meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 23 at 7pm in the school staff room. Our ‘meetings’ are very informal, and we would love to see you there. New people are always welcome!
Special Lunch Day (Pizza, Cookie & Juice) - Order Now Please find attached a link for our Special Lunch Day to be held on Thursday 8th November, 2018. CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW Please place orders before Monday 29th October, 2018.
Parent assistance is required on this day. If you are available to assist in any way can you please email your details to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
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.
Cranbourne Gardens Excursion On Monday the Year 3s visited Cranbourne Gardens as part of our Inquiry unit. We saw different types of plants and flowers and which climates they grow in. We also saw some lakes with ducks and black swans. On the way students had a checklist with animals and plants that they could see and then tick them off. The students also had a range of questions about plants and different landscapes in their booklet. All the students enjoyed it and had a great time.
Written by Nikki and Joanne from 3B
This October Viewbank Primary is excited to take part in the state-wide Walk to School program.
About Walk to School VicHealth’s Walk to School encourages Victorian primary school kids and their families to walk, ride or scoot to and from school everyday. Along with the health benefits it also reduces traffic congestion and parking, helps us connect with the community and saves the environment!
Part way is okay! If you can’t walk the whole way, why not try parking at your nearest meeting place and walk, ride or scoot the rest.
Safe Routes to School Map Banyule Council has provided a Safe Routes to School Map. Viewbank Primary’s has convenient meeting places highlighted where families could meet in the mornings before they start their walk. The maps are available at the front office so you can familiarise yourself with the safest way to walk to school.
For more information go to walktoschool.vic.gov.au
HATS ON From 1st September until 30th April school hats must be worn outside during all outside activities.
TRANSITION DATES Please download the below timeline for your future reference.
SCHOOL CHOIR Every Wednesdays, 8.30, in the Music room. Everyone Welcome!
RUNNING GROUP Every 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!
Facility Hire Viewbank Primary School provides a venue for hire with kitchen facilities. Please submit a written application to the office, outlining the details of intended use via email at viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Please note that conditions do apply. At the discretion of the school, venue costs may also be waived in some instances. All applications will be considered on a case by case basis
This week 3G was very lucky because they had 2 special guests. Dani, our 3-4 gardener and Mr. Walsh, our new vice principal. We shared sweet pink coleslaw, a garlicky garlic pizza, delicious spinach & ricotta gnocchi, and a yummy chickpea soup. We hoped they enjoyed the delicious lunch we made on Tuesday.
Kaylee Selwood, 3G
All Big Group Hug donations can be left in the Grade 3/4F classroom.