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)
Wednesday March 28 - Crazy Hair Day (Gold coin donation for the Good Friday Appeal)
Thursday March 29 - End of Term 1, 2.30pm dismissal
Monday April 16 - Start of Term 2
Friday May 25 - Fundraising Children's Disco (evening event at Viewbank Primary School)
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.
SCHOOL COUNCIL The March meeting of School Council is always a busy and significant time. It marks the first meeting of the ‘new’ School Council, the election of office bearers for the school year, and the forum to present the Annual Report. All of these events happened last Thursday night, and I am very happy to announce the following office bearers for 2018:-
President - Kate Ryan, Vice President - Rebecca Deighton, Treasurer - Sandra Vander Pal, Secretary - Nancy Wagner
Congratulations and thank you to all of our Office Bearers for their willingness to perform the duties associated with each of these roles over 2018. I look forward to working with the whole School Council to continue to ‘grow’ our school, and to continue to make our school the best we can be. The Annual Report will be posted online for all to read in the next few weeks.
MOVIE NIGHT It was a lovely, social evening last Friday evening as more than 300 people came together to socialise, and when nightfall descended, to watch the movie ‘Sing’ on the outdoor ‘pop-up’ screen. The Parents and Friends did an amazing job coordinating the lamb spit, drink sales, selling of raffle tickets and catering in general. It was an amazingly profitable event, and it means now that our major project (the resurfacing of the basketball courts) will definitely proceed post-haste. I have attached the design later in this newsletter, and the project will start over the Easter holidays. All things being equal, and the normal weather patterns a consideration, we hope that the project will be completed by Anzac Day. Many thanks to the community for supporting all of our fundraising activities over the last few years – all that hard work has paid off!
MOVIE NIGHT RAFFLE Congratulations to the following raffle prize winners last Friday night.
1st – McLauchlan Family – wheelbarrow of garden and electrical tools
2nd – Mitsinikos Family – family weekend holiday
3rd – Coleman Family – 2 days tradesmen labour
4th – Cronin Family – whipper snipper
END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS Term 1 concludes at 2.30 pm next Thursday, March 28. We will dismiss from the gymnasium after a whole school assembly commencing at 2.10pm.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
PRINCIPAL
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLYING Imagine a world free of bullying. That was the theme for the eighth National Day of Action Against bullying and Violence. Thousands of schools around Australia, including Viewbank Primary School, stood united last Friday to say that bullying is never ok and we can all do something about it. All year levels participated in various ways and we thoroughly enjoyed the presentations made by year level representatives at Monday’s assembly. The students learnt:
- strategies to stand up to bullies
- ways we can be kind and thoughtful friends
- that bullying hurts and can cause serious problems for victims
- how to peacefully solve conflict with our peers
Bullying. No Way! And the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence is managed by the Safe and Supportive School Communities working group. This working group has representatives from all state and territory governments as well as Catholic Education and Independent School communities. Please find attached to this newsletter advice from the SSSC working group about looking for signs of bullying in your child. Feel free to visit the website for further information and advice. bullyingnoway.gov.au
SCHOOL UNIFORM ORDERING Tuesday saw the final day of operation for our school based uniform shop. Today a stocktake of uniform items was completed ready for the handover to My Uniform next week. Uniform Orders can be left at the office anytime, with delivery of items the following week. Online ordering will be available from Thursday 29th March. By clicking on the UNIFORM tab you will be able to access all the information required for ordering uniforms online or leaving an order at the office. You will also find retail store details and opening hours for My Uniform.
PLANNING WEEK This week has been planning week across the school. Throughout the week all classroom teachers are timetabled to spend a whole day planning with the other teachers at their level. Specialist teachers also receive time throughout the week to plan for the following term. Together, teachers reflect and provide feedback on the learning that has occurred across the term, discuss student data that has been collected and use this data to inform future planning. The teaching and learning for term 2 is discussed and planned with topics and unit planners being developed for English, Mathematics and Inquiry. Common assessment tasks are planned and in school activities and excursions researched and booked. Planning Week allows our staff the opportunity to engage in professional discussions and develop the rich, differentiated learning programs that allow our students to engage fully in their learning.
Have a great week.
Gill Nicholls
MOVIE NIGHT VPS and the Parents and Friends Club for 2018 would like to say a big thank you to all families that came along in support of the Movie night on Friday. There was a lot of fun had by all in attendance, and we managed to raise close to $5k to put towards our project to resurface the asphalt area. This event would not be able to happen without the assistance of many helpers, and so we offer our thanks to everyone who volunteered on the night to assist in set up/pack up, sell tickets at the gate, serve food and drinks, and sell raffle tickets. A big thank you also to the teaching staff who gave up their personal time to assist on the night. A special thank you goes out to the following VPS families and supporters for donations received:
- Kingdom Constructions
- AM Precision Builders
- LAP Electrical
- Happy Popcorn
- Pioneer Café, 2 Station Rd, Rosanna
- Chen and family at the Mity Mart on Martins Lane
- Danaher's Mitre 10
- The Selwood Family
- The Cook family
- The Muir-D’Orazio Family
JUNIOR SCHOOL COUNCIL - CRAZY HAIR DAY Wednesday 28th March, 2018 All students are invited to come to school with crazy hair to raise money for the Good Friday Appeal. Gold coin donation.
THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGE 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 Friday 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.
BOOK CLUB All items from Book Club Issue 2 have now been delivered. If you have not yet received your order, please contact Louise Buissink at the Library by Friday 23rd March. I will not be able to follow up missing items after this date. Issue 3 catalogues will be sent home at the beginning of term 2. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.
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.
The (Kitchen) GARDEN desperately needs volunteers. If you are a parent of a Grade four or three, why not give it a go. If you know nothing about gardening, then you’ll learn at the same time. We need more volunteers for the chickens too. Contact Dani King via email viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au if you can help with either.
Each fortnight, recipes cooked during the Year 3 and 4 kitchen sessions will be available for download from the STEPHANIE ALEXANDER page on our school website. Happy cooking!
