• Monday 2nd March - Education Sub Committee meeting, 7pm
• Tuesday 3rd March - Parents and Friends Association AGM, 7pm
• Tuesday 3rd March - Engagement Subcommittee meeting, 7pm
• Sunday 15th March - Term 1 Working Bee, 9am to 12pm
• Friday 28th March - Special Lunch Day

PUPIL FREE DAYS

• Tuesday April 14th, 2020
• One extra day yet to be confirmed in 2020

TERM DATES

• 2020 TERM 1: Tuesday 28th 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 Fri 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 COUNCIL The March meeting of School Council is set down for next Tuesday, March 10. The Annual Reporting Meeting is scheduled for 6.30pm, followed by the Election of Office Bearers meeting at 6.45pm and then the General March meeting will commence at 7pm with our newly elected office bearers in ‘place’. More on that in next week’s newsletter.

A BIG FEW WEEKS IN SPORT Congratulations to our swim team who performed with honour on a chilly Wednesday last week. As a result of their performances, a number of students qualified to swim at a Divisional level (yesterday) at the same venue (Northcote Pool). Congratulations to everyone who made the swim team and in particular Connor Burdell, Brody Cameron, Matilda Carr, Jacob Clare, Huy Ho, Ishara Lewis, Jake McCully, Callum McLauchlan, Jesse McLeod, Hayden McMurray, Alex Pulverenti and Luke Whitby who went on to Divisional level and possibly region. Thank you to staff who helped coordinate the activities and in particular, Blair Morton, who oversaw and organised everything with his usual precision.

And then, of course, we had our school athletics carnival on Tuesday at Willinda Park, Greensborough. None of these activities just happen. They rely on many hours of careful planning and implementation and a commitment that goes over and above! Heartfelt thanks to the staff who made this event happen, to volunteers and supporters and of course, well done to all students who gave of their best on the day.

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY Whilst we would love to think every day ought to be Clean Up Australia Day, paying special attention to a day in particular inspires and empowers communities to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment. All students were actively engaged in a big tidy up last Friday and we hope the message becomes ingrained and shared. Thanks to Paige Deery and her Sustainability Committee (and the Green Team!), for initiative and commitment to this day!

SCHOOL REVIEW As part of the improvement cycle, each Victorian government school undertakes a review every four years. The school community completes a comprehensive self-evaluation against the FISO continua of practice, which should involve students, teachers and community members.

An independent analysis is also completed of a school’s performance against their goals and targets in their school strategic plan. The review evaluates the school's strengths, areas for improvement and the impact of its improvement efforts.

At the end of the review, a new four-year school strategic plan is created and endorsed by the school community.

2020 is our year of School Review and it is scheduled to take place formally in Term 4. So, watch this space for updates and opportunities to be involved as the year unfolds.

Have a great long weekend everyone. We look forward to seeing everyone back on deck on Tuesday. Two assemblies this week – none next week.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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School Athletics Carnival Congratulations to all our Year 3-6 students who participated so enthusiastically at our athletics day held at Willinda Park on Tuesday. The weather was perfect and a large crowd of supporters were present to cheer on the students. Many hours of planning needs to occur prior to such event, so a big thank you must go to Blair Morton and Patrick Walsh, who made sure the day ran smoothly. Of course, the day could not run without the support of our fabulous staff and amazing school community helpers. It was a huge team effort from all.

Education Sub Committee Thank you to the small group of parents who attended the Education Sub Committee meeting on Monday night.

The committee reviewed the Complaints Policy, Visitors Policy and the Personal Hygiene and Toileting Policy. Many of our school policies are currently under review. Once they have been approved by School Council, the new policies will be available on the school website.

Have a great week

Gill Nicholls

Mental Health and Wellbeing for Students In 2019, we were fortunate to have the services of an external provider for mental health services (see Term 2 Newsletter: https://spark.adobe.com/page/4QIV4s5IPzav9/). Unfortunately, the psychologist we had working with us found another position and the company, DBT in Schools, has not been able to replace her. As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, our Department of Education and Training’s (DET) psychologists do not generally work directly with students, DBT in Schools addressed this much needed service as they worked with students directly (only with parental consent).

We are currently looking for a replacement service and will inform you when this has occurred.

DET Parent Advice If you have not done so already, I strongly encourage you to access the Department of Education and Training’s Parents and Carers page, which can be accessed here: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/Pages/default.aspx

In the ‘School age’ section, there is a range of information available including:

• Going to school;
• Learning;
• Carer planning;
• Services;
• Behaviour;
• Child development;
• Students with additional needs;
• Safety; and
• Family health.

Each of these sections then addresses multiple areas in depth.

The below infographic came from The Resilience Project’s Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/resiliencep/posts/2805776876165104

Have a great weekend everyone,

Patrick

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Free Sanitary Items in Government Schools Initiative The government is committed to providing free pads and tampons in all government primary, secondary and specialist schools via a dispenser which has installed at our school in the sick bay.

The aim of this initiative is to:

• Provide students with the confidence that there will always be sanitary items available at school.
• Relieve female students of the stigma, anxiety and discomfort that can be associated with menstruation and its management.
• Ease the cost of living for families.

The use of sanitary items provided at school will be entirely voluntary. Providing both sanitary pads and tampons allows students to make a choice based on their own needs, cultural beliefs, maturity and preferences.

CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund) CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund) is a government assisted fund which provides payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports and excursions ($125 per child). Applications for the Governments ‘CSEF Fund’ can be accessed by filling in the attached form and return to the office with a current Health Care card. To be eligible for this funding, you need to hold a current Centrelink Health Care Card or Pension Concession Card or Veteran Affairs Gold 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 are paid to the school and will be automatically allocated to the Term Expenses unless otherwise stated by the parent at the start of the year.

COMPASS If you have any questions or require assistance with Compass, please do not hesitate to contact the office or refer to the Compass Parent Guide on your Compass Newsfeed.

Kind regards

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

The School Fair Committee is working hard to deliver the School Fair in November 2020 but we need your assistance as a liaison or co-ordinator. No matter how big or small you can contribute we would love to hear from you.

If you can assist with any of the following please contact the listed co-ordinator for more information.

Communications and Sponsors - Dale Armstrong 0417402432 or emal: armstrong.dale70@gmail.com

• Sponsors
• Marketing and promotions

Stalls - Jules Kent 0437423260 or email: juliennekent@gmail.com

• Food vendors
• Market stalls
• School stalls
• Rides & attractions

Programming & Logistics - Neralie Cadusch 0412551430 or email caduschconsulting@gmail.com

• Permits
• Risk Management Planning
• Stage Programming
• External contractors

If you are unsure who to contact and wish to offer your assistance, we would love to hear from you. You can contact Dale Armstrong (Fair Convenor) on 0417402432 or email armstrong.dale70@gmail.com

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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.

Uniforms can be purchased online at www.aplusschoolwear.com.au with one of three delivery options:

• Free collection in store during trading hours.
• Postage to address of customer’s choosing, at $12.50 for two items or less, or $17.50 for three items or more.
• Free delivery to school, to an existing student at Viewbank Primary. Please note, this option is not available if the customer does not already have a student at the school.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Parents and Friends Association (P&F) Annual General Meeting on Tuesday evening.

Before electing the Office bearers for 2020, we had a discussion about the new requirements for all parent clubs at government schools. Only registered members of the P&F can vote on an issue. If you wish to join (and be eligible to vote), you will need to complete the Registration Form (available at the General Office) and submit it (can be submitted to the Office) before the next P&F meeting. At that meeting, your membership will be tabled, and you will then be entitled to vote at the next P&F meeting.

You can collect a copy of the Constitution and Registration form from the Office.

At the Annual General Meeting, the following Office bearers were elected:

• President: Andrea DiToro
• Secretary: Carol Seneca
• Treasurer: Georgeina Fisher

We would also like to thank the outgoing Office bearers for their work over many years:

• President: Sarina Sherlock
• Secretary: Brooke Williams
• Treasurer: Carol Seneca

There is a big year planned, including working in close consultation with the 2020 Fair Committee.

We hope to see many new faces at our next meeting, this has been ‘pencilled in’ for Tuesday 28th April.

I

A little bird told me about this month’s bonus offers with Entertainment. You can spend and save, get extra membership months and receive a gift with purchase. Don’t forget you would also be supporting Viewbank Primary School fundraising. https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/1891w37

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.

Viewbank Primary School Sports Recap

Swimming On Thursday 27th February Mrs Mooy, Mrs Farley and Mr Morton accompanied 53 swimmers to the Heidelberg District Swimming Carnival at Northcote Swimming Pool. All students enjoyed the experience of taking part in a competitive swimming race, regardless of the result. It was also pleasing to hear how proud students were of personal bests, achieving a first ever swimming ribbon, or feeling the comradery of a relay team. On Wednesday 4th March, 12 students returned to Northcote Swimming Pool to compete at a higher level again – the Banyule/Inner North/Moreland Division Swimming Championships. We acknowledge and congratulate all our swimmers who have represented our school this term. A special mention and best wishes to Jesse McLeod who moves on to the Northern Metropolitan Region Swimming Championships. Jesse will be competing in both freestyle and backstroke on Tuesday 17th March at Watermarc Swimming Pool in Greensborough.

Athletics On Tuesday 3rd March, approximately 400 students from Years 3-6 travelled to Willinda Park Greensborough for our annual athletics carnival. It was fantastic to see all students giving their best in a variety of running, jumping and throwing events. The day was a significant undertaking that could not have happened without the assistance of our school community. I would like to extend a huge thankyou to Patrick Walsh for his expertise in planning, Kara Lane, Dana Cohen, Paige Deery, Sharon Groves, Sophie Noakes, Narelle Taylor, Michael Betson, Ellen Maxwell, Karli Mooy, Sandy Farley, Tara Dean, Phil Byrne, Jane McLeod, Bonnie Boness, Pete Walker, Showji Ito, Andrea Cleeve, Sarina Sherlock and Louise Buissink who worked tirelessly on the day running events/assisting students, and parents/grandparents such as John Forbes, Wendy Cameron, Lili Curigliano, Carol Seneca, Bree Buszard, Kate Ryan, Amy McKellar, Timothy and Neralie Cadusch for their dedication to running the day (apologies for any names I have forgotten – rest assured your assistance was vitally important and greatly appreciated.)

The next round of competition, District Athletics, is to be held on Thursday 26th March (again at Willinda Park Greensborough). Incomplete/yet to be held events, the list of district competitors, and ribbons from our athletics day will be finalised over the coming weeks.

Tennis On Friday the 28th February Josh Seneca and Ryan Forbes represented Viewbank Primary School at the Heidelberg District Tennis Competition. From all reports both boys displayed high levels of skill and competiveness against some of the best tennis players from schools in our local area. Well done Josh and Ryan for the manner in which you represented our school. Best of luck to Ryan who has qualified for the Division Tennis Trials on Friday 6th March.

Bushfire Appeal Viewbank Cub Scouts A number of our Students who are members of Viewbank Cub Scouts wish to raise money for the Bushfire affected communities.

They will be selling cookies for $1 each at lunchtime on Friday 6th and 20th of March.

Chocolate chip cookie ingredients – unsalted butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, plain flour, baking powder, chocolate chips.

Anzac cookie ingredients – rolled oats, plain flour, sugar, desiccated coconut, golden syrup, butter, bicarbonate soda.

They are selling chocolate chip cookies on the 6th March and Anzac cookies on the 20th March.

BOOK CLUB forms have been sent home this week. All orders are due by Wednesday 11th of March. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.

MESSAGE FROM DANI THE SCHOOL GARDENER

I'm taking part in the World's Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation soon and I need your help! I'm on a mission to shave the world from blood cancer.

Please be my shave sidekick and sponsor me to give Aussie families facing blood cancer the emotional and practical support they need, plus fund vital research.

Every day another 35 Australians are diagnosed with a blood cancer. That’s one Aussie every 41 minutes. Although research is improving survival, sadly an Australian loses their life to blood cancer every two hours.

Will you help by sponsoring me?

http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/daniking

Thank you!

Dani

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

RUNNING GROUP Starting from week 3 every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:35am on the oval, for any student. 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!

PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422

EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au