Monday 2nd September - The Resilience Project (parents)

Thursday 5th September - School Production VMTV (matinee and evening)

Friday 6th September - School Production VMTV (matinee and evening)

Tuesday 17th September - Walkathon Fundraiser

Friday 20th September - JSC Footy Colours Day / Special Lunch Order Day ORDER NOW

Friday 18th October – Student Disco

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October - Vision Portraits

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 3: Monday 15th July - Friday 20th September (2:30pm finish)
• 2019 TERM 4: Monday 7th October - Thursday 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 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp (Mon 05Aug to Wed 07Aug 2019)
• Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp (Tue 08Oct to Fri 11Oct 2019)
• Year 6: Canberra Camp (Mon 14May to Fri 18May 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)

SCHOOL PRODUCTION There’s not long to go now! VMTV takes place next week with matinees and evening shows on both Thursday and Friday nights with rehearsals taking place on Monday and Tuesday at the venue. We know you will enjoy the shows, and I know that students and staff are eagerly looking forward to putting on great performances. Many special thanks to Renee Davey and Jen Hall in particular for the amazing amount of time and effort they have expended in planning and directing this event, ensuring that once again the school production will be a showcase of the talent and skill of all of our students.

RESILIENCE PROJECT PARENT SESSION We have been buoyed by the large numbers who have committed to attending the Resilience Project Parent Session next Monday, September 2 at 7pm at school. I would like to encourage even more parents and guardians to attend as it is a presentation that will have you reflecting long after it is over on perspective, being grateful for what we have and more.

VALUES CLARIFICATION EXERCISE You will know Patrick Walsh has been leading a values clarification exercise over these last few months surveying all stakeholders on what values are most pertinent and relevant to our school. There have been some consistent themes across students, staff and parents and we believe we will be able to finalise and articulate four agreed key values by the end of term for promotion and focus moving forward. Please watch this space.

FATHERS’ DAY STALL Many thanks to the ‘team’ for running yet another wonderful Fathers’ Day stall last week. Greatly appreciated by our students and their fathers!!

And on that note, Happy Fathers’ Day on Sunday to all of our Dads in our school community. I hope you have a great day!

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

ASSISTING YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING

Helping your child to write – Birth to Year 2 Learning to write begins with scribbling and drawing. This is an important first step and should be encouraged. The next step is to encourage your child to write letter-like shapes, before moving on to practise writing the alphabet – both capitals and lower case letters. After this, encourage your child to write sentences containing short words.

If your child cannot write yet, you could write for them. Here is a strategy:

• Ask your child to talk about an experience or something that interests them.
• Ask your child what part of the conversation they would like you to write down.
• As your child is talking, write down their ideas. Use their language.
• Ask your child to describe back to you what you wrote down, or ask them to read back the writing.
• Your child may want to draw a picture or create something to match the writing.

Encourage your child to take over some or all of the writing when they feel confident. When your child starts writing, try the following:

• Discuss the topic to give your child some ideas to explore. This gives them confidence to begin writing.
• Teach your child any vocabulary they might need.
• You can encourage your child by writing on a similar topic alongside them. Then you can share your writing with each other and discuss the differences.

Here are some general tips to help your child when writing:

• Make sure you give your child the necessary resources, such as pens, pencils, paper or notebook, and a desk. Creating a special ‘writing box’ to store your child’s pens and pencils helps them see writing as an important activity.
• Support your child to read their writing aloud.
• Encourage your child to create a picture, drawing or collage that visually represents their ideas.
• Always proudly display your child’s work in a prominent position in your house. This will give them confidence, and demonstrates the importance of writing.
• Create an ‘ideas bag’ or ‘ideas folder’ to use as a writing prompt. To inspire writing ideas, collect objects such as photographs, pictures cut from magazines, brochures, movie tickets, or any other found item.

Writing about experiences and interests

Topics might include:

• a piece of writing about a recent experience, such as a wedding or birthday party, or an excursion. For example, a trip to the museum could result in recounting the day’s activities, a report about dinosaurs, a report about “The Best Thing I Learnt Today,” a short story about a family of dinosaurs, or a written list of exhibitions
• something that interests them. Your child could create a poster or a short article on a hobby or other interest
• a dream or memory they have discussed recently.

Opportunities to write every day at home

Like reading, writing with your child should become an everyday activity at home.

Try some of these writing ideas:

• Write a shopping list or add items to a list.
• Keep a board to write and read family messages.
• Give your child a pad of sticky notes to write reminders for themselves.
• Plan and write your weekly menu together.
• Write captions for photographs in your family photo album.
• Write labels for your child’s art works and creations.
• Make words using magnetic letters and stick them on the fridge.
• Make and write greeting cards, birthday cards, and thank you notes.
• Keep a family calendar on display and write down family events.

Writing creatively

Because creative writing is fun, it is an excellent way to foster a love of writing. It also helps develop your child’s imagination, which has been proven to be important in critical thinking and problem solving. You can use a book you have recently read together as a source of inspiration, or create something new.

Some ideas for writing creatively include:

• Create a short story in cartoon form.
• Cut out pictures of people from magazines and create speech bubbles and dialogue.
• Create your own superhero and have them go on a short adventure.
• Use artworks found on the web, such as paintings and photographs, as inspiration for a story.
• Write a story or create a cartoon together by taking turns at writing sentences or cartoon cells.
• A simple story structure involves a character who has a goal (for example: to win the football match; to find a lost dog; to save the world) but faces problems in achieving that goal. This structure can be the basis for a short story you write together.

Have a great week and I very much look forward to seeing everyone at the school concert.

Gill Nicholls

Student Attendance Like all employees, teachers in Victoria have employment conditions that outline our rights and responsibilities – these are normally agreed upon after an extensive process that occurs every 4 years or so. The Department of Education and Training (DET) is our employer and they, from time to time, have a ‘top down’ approach where providing rights and responsibilities are not infringed upon, we must do. There are numerous examples of this, but one recent issue is the contacting of parents if your child is not present at school and we do not know why i.e. it is an ‘Unexplained absence’. This came about due to a number of incidents, with this, sadly https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/boy-8-found-in-hot-car-in-newport-hid-himself-there-without-mother-knowing-20171114-gzl1qv.html in 2017 receiving much media attention.

As we are slowly coming into warmer weather, it is important that we remind you again of our responsibility to you, as well as your responsibility to us regarding this, as we have approximately 10 students a day who have an unexplained absence.

From DET – (adapted) Fact Sheet for Schools available here: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/participation/pages/attendance.aspx

Our school will text you as soon as practicable on the day if your child is not at school and you haven’t notified the school via a Compass attendance note as to why. If you are notified by the school that your child is away without a reason, please enter a Compass attendance note or contact us as soon as possible by calling the office on 9459 1512. If we cannot reach you because we don’t have your correct contact details (i.e. message notification fail, disconnected number), then we will make contact with any emergency contact/s nominated on your child’s file held by the school, where possible, on the same day of the unexplained absence.

Please remember it is your responsibility to contact us to provide an explanation for your child's absence from school, and where possible, please inform us in advance of upcoming absences.

For further information on the processes and procedures our school uses to record, monitor and follow-up student attendance and absence please read our Attendance Policy here http://www.viewbankps.vic.edu.au/s/Attendance-Policy-6xxj.pdf.

Please note the third last dot point:

“Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding student attendance will result in a formal attendance conference being organised. Unresolved attendance issues may be reported by the Principal to the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education”.

The easiest way to ensure that you do not receive a message as you are about to return from a weekend away, or you are sick in bed with your child, is to record the absence in Compass before 9am on the day of the absence.

The Resilience Project A FINAL reminder to book your spot for The Resilience Project parent session on Monday 2nd September. We realise that this is also in concert week and is an extra night out. However, we think that sessions such as this, and the work done at school, is vital to the mental health and well-being of our students. While much of the session is the same as the students, there will be some ‘adult-only’ content (not said to the students). To help ensure we have catered for all who would like to attend, we are asking you to ‘book’ your spot.

Please book your spot at https://www.trybooking.com/BESGC

Parent Tips From: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/blog/teaching-boys-to-respect-women/ Published 15 July 2019

Teaching Boys to Respect Women Recent events and current statistics highlight that as a nation we have a serious problem when it comes to domestic violence. While there’s no easy solution, together, we can do our part to stop violence against women. If you’re a parent or guardian, you can play an important role. Most studies shows that a boy’s disrespect towards girls generally begins in childhood.

Disrespect shows in small behavioural ways that can often be ignored or go unnoticed. These behaviours include teasing, using put downs and through verbal bullying and harassment. We can break the cycle by teaching our children to be respectful and caring toward all genders from a young age.

Start the conversation about respect early Start by responding to your child calmly when they are disrespectful to others. The following three-step communication approach can be used from early childhood through to teen years. Let’s put it into practice.

If a boy is making fun of his sister or a female friend:

• Stop: Respond calmly rather than react asking him to stop the teasing. It’s handy to have a phrase you can rely on when under pressure. For instance, “Stop please. That’s a personal put down. We don’t use put downs in this family.”
• Empathise: Invite your son to see the behaviour through the eyes of his sister. ‘How do you think your sister/friend feels right now?’
• Educate: Provide options such as ignoring his sister or friend if she’s annoying him or providing an appropriate social script he can use to communicate his thoughts such as, “I find it annoying when you don’t share the computer”

The acronym SEE (stop, empathise, educate) will help you remember these steps.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint When it comes to gaining academic knowledge and learning skills, parents know it takes years of consistent effort from childhood through to adolescence. In the same way, parents can take a long-term approach to teaching life skills such as respecting women, beginning right from toddler to teen.

Resources you can use The Stop it at the Start campaign provides parents, family members and others with information and practical resources to self-reflect, and talk to boys and girls aged 10-17 about being respectful and caring. You can find videos, guides and other resources to help you have conversations with your children here.

There is so much we can do in families to develop healthy attitudes toward women. Through modelling and teaching we can change entrenched attitudes and behaviours that will put an end to the cycle of violence against women.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Patrick

​

TICKETS NOW ON SALE - 2019 Viewbank Primary School Production - VMTV

Tickets for this years school production "VMTV" are now on sale via TryBooking

Venue: Planetshakers Theatre, 360 Main Road, Lower Plenty

Cost: All tickets $20.00 *Please be advised that there is a 50 cent Trybooking fee per seat

Dates:

• Thursday 5th September, 2019 - 12.00pm (A - K)
• Thursday 5th September, 2019 - 7.00pm (A - K)
• Friday 6th September, 2019 - 12.00pm (L - Z)
• Friday 6th September, 2019 - 7:00pm (L - Z)

For all ticketing enquiries, please contact the school office on 9459 1512

All performances will go for approximately 2 hours

https://www.trybooking.com/BEIWY

​

VMTV DVD ORDER ENVELOPE  This week order envelopes were sent home with the children. If you wish to purchase a production DVD please place cash in the envelope and seal it before handing the envelope back to the school office. $30 per DVD. Final orders for DVD purchases must be given to the office by Monday 9th September, 2019.

August School Council meeting The School Council met last week on Thursday. To start we had our School Captain Korey Behayeddin address the meeting about his experiences as Captain, especially in relation to being in charge of the school for a day. He spoke with confidence and we all appreciated his opinion that the Principals and Teachers actually do much more than we think! Last meeting Zoe Bastian spoke to the council and also shared her experiences as Captain. Zoe aired her ideas about a school Culture Day and outlined a possible student award for the outstanding demonstration of school values. What inspiring leadership!

After Kory we heard a presentation from Extendahand about the proposed enhancement of the school grounds around the oval. This included illustrations, pricing and time frames. It was professionally presented and leveraged off work that Extendahand had completed in other local schools. As always we were keen to see the options for creating a better school experience for the students and our mind turned to how the school could fund such a project. This presentation and dialogue took up most of the meeting, with more discussion due on this proposal in meetings to come.

We then talked about other school business including OSHClub, a proposal to launch a School Fair in the future, the parking challenges in Nevin Parade and finally strategies related to increasing school community and non-school community involvement.

Overall I rated this meeting an 8/10! It wasn’t as fun as other meetings but we did cover a fair bit of material. Interested in sitting in on a School Council meeting? You can, and you’re welcome. Simply invite yourself along! We next meet on Thursday 19th Sept at 7pm in the Staff Room.

Ian Sherlock

On behalf of the School Council

Save the Dates!

• Friday 6th September - VMTV Production Raffle Drawn
• Friday 20th September – Footy Colours / Pie Day - Order Now
• Friday 18th October – Student Disco
• Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October - Vision Portraits

Next meeting Our next meeting is ‘pencilled’ in as a dinner meeting on Tuesday 10th September at Kai Mook Thai Restaurant in Lower Plenty. All are welcome to join us.

Parents & Friends Term 3 Dinner Meeting All parents & friends of Viewbank Primary School are invited to attend our next dinner meeting at Kai Mook Thai Restaurant, 63B Main Rd, Lower Plenty. Tuesday 10th September, 7:00pm. This is a great opportunity to get together with other school parents and guardians to finish off the school term. Everyone welcome!! For restaurant booking purposes can you please indicate via the link below your intention to attend the dinner before September 6.

​VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL 2019 CONCERT RAFFLE TICKETS - "VMTV"

• $1.00 per ticket
• THREE WINNING TICKETS - Each winning ticket will win an assorted gift pack
• Please return all sold tickets to school by Wednesday 4th September 2019.
• The draw will take place Friday 6th September during the 7pm performance.

FATHERS' DAY STALL If anyone is still wanting to collect their IOUs you can do so at the office anytime before Friday 30th August. Congratulations to Abbey from Grade 1R on winning the Fathers' Day lucky door prize.

Purchase your Entertainment Membership NOW to help Viewbank Primary School raise much needed funds!

Viewbank Primary School are again fundraising with the very popular Entertainment Book or Digital Membership. You'll receive hundreds of valuable offers for everything you love to do, and help our fundraising at the same time. Hurry, Entertainment Memberships sell out quickly.

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.

STRINGS, DRUM KIT, GUITAR, UKULELE, FLUTE, SINGING, KEYBOARD AND PIANO

Information and “Expression of Interest” forms are available at the general office. Alternatively, you may contact Gabriella on 0413 676 733 or gabriella@the.inter.net.au

The Foundation Meeting Place As part of their second Inquiry unit relating to community the Foundation students decided to improve an area in our school. They designed a central meeting place where students can go to when they are lonely or sad and need someone to play with.

After meeting with the school leaders and people that help us around the school, as well as participating in many activities that encouraged students to discuss the different community groups that they belong to, and what it is that makes them feel like they belong to a group. The Foundation students were very passionate about creating a space that made them feel welcomed and safe.

The whole cohort came together with their plans and ideas, and made compromises on what they believed the space needed to include. The must have items for the space were colourful seating, bright stepping stones and plants to make it more inviting. They also decided it needed some tanbark to make the ground less muddy. (A big thankyou to everyone who helped spread the tanbark at the working bee and to the families that donated items to make the space complete.)

Construction of the meeting place occurred over two weeks, with students working in groups to prepare the area, paint, plant and finally place all the items in the area to complete their vision. On Thursday 22nd August, The Foundation Meeting Place was officially opened by Mr Kersing. The students are very proud of their achievements and can’t wait to use this space.

BOOK CLUB catalogues have sent home this week. All orders are due by Thursday 29th August. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.

Fundraising Survey Many thanks to all those who filled in the Fundraising & Volunteering survey last term. We had over 120 responses (about 30% of families) which is greatly appreciated!

Most people are very happy with the current efforts and appreciative of all the work which is done for the school. The survey was long, so a lot of data and information was gathered about specific events, overall feedback, and ideas for going forward. Some recurring messages included the need to:

• Consider the different cultures/demographics/groups in the school.
• Provide specific information about money raised and purpose of the fundraising effort.
• Acknowledge the support of volunteers.
• Consider environmental, sustainable and healthy options.
• Create a fundraising schedule with variety.

A full report was given to School Council and Parents & Friends, along with a long list of suggestions and comments. Some of these have already been taken on board.

We strongly encourage members of our school community to volunteer with Parents and Friends fundraising initiatives so that efforts can be spread across the community. There are many different opportunities for volunteering so please see the Office Staff, email or ring the school if you can be involved in any capacity.

The Communications Sub-Committee

Dear Parents,

In order to keep our students safe whilst on line, we will be attaching some resources for your information. We encourage you to discuss these with your children - particularly the grade 5 and 6 students who have their own iPads. We have obtained the Information sheets from The Carly Ryan Foundation. The Carly Ryan Foundation is a certified online safety program provider under the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and delivers online safety and healthy relationship seminars to students and parents. The organisation also provides a range of services and support in the areas of internet safety and crime, cyberbullying, connection to resources and counselling and contributing to law and policy reform.

The Carly Ryan Foundation have very generously allowed us to use their Information sheets on a variety of apps that our students may or may not be aware of. The information sheets point out the concerns/challenges surrounding each app and give information on how to set up each app so that our student’s information is completely private. Of course if you are concerned about any app your child is using - DELETE! We will attach a couple of information sheets each week for your information. We are organising for The Carly Ryan Foundation to present to our grade 5 and 6 students and parents in 2020 so keep watching for more information on this.

For more information please use the attached link: https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com

Foundation — Shun

Year 1 & 2 — Olivia, Lincoln, Raymond, Clio, Zahra & Jacqueline

Year 3 & 4 — Chloe, Harvey, Brodie, Kaylee & Harry

Year 5 & 6 — Byion, Josh, Shyam, Ella, Dean, Sky & Zoe

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.

SCHOOL BANKING Don’t forget to hand your bankbooks into your class teacher every Tuesday for banking.

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!

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

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. If you are interested in volunteering, please complete the Volunteer Information form and return it to the school office. Once you have completed the form please book in to volunteer via one of the program staff.

Rosanna Library - The Indigenous Literacy Foundation Great Book Swap, Celebrate the UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages by swapping your favourite book for a gold coin donation. Funds will go to purchase books for children who need them most. (If you don't have a swap, you can still take a book for a donation). Come along and swap your book and make a Crocodile Craft

• Wednesday, September 4, 2019
• 10.00am-8.30pm

Rosanna Library - Virtual & Augmented Reality, Dinosaurs in the library? Planets orbiting inside? Caves to explore? Come and see what is possible without leaving the building. Bookings required. Ages 7+

• Wednesday, September 4, 2019
• 3.45pm-4.45pm