Friday 13th December - Parent Helpers' Mprning Tea, 10:45 am

Friday 13th December - Sustainability Day - Free Dress (gold coin donation)

Tuesday 17th December - Year 6 Graduation at Loyola College

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 4: Monday 7th October - Friday 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 6: Canberra Camp (Mon 25May to Fri 29May 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)

Carols Night What a simply wonderful time was had by all last Friday night! Our first Carols Night for ‘a long time’ went off without a hitch with up to 1000 people attending and listening to all of our students performing well known Christmas Carols ‘off the back of a truck’. It was a great community event and one that typifies our school community. And it wouldn’t have happened without the initiative, organisational ability and motivation of Jodi Cook, mum of Harley, Lexi and Indi. Jodi came to a School Council meeting a few months back recounting how fond she was of the school carols night when she was growing up and how she wanted to re-ignite that passion amongst our school community. She also came with a plan, and harnessing a committee including husband Neil, Michael and Muireann Finn, Jess and Andy Martin, Louise and David Ricardo, Fiona and George Mitsinikos, Kate Neal, Shaun Suckling and Jo Lewis, that plan came to fruition. Special thanks to Jodi, her committee and everyone else who made the night such a success – office staff, teachers, other parents and especially our students. Special acknowledgement to Kelsey Mentiplay who did an outstanding job as MC! Not sure if Jodi is hard at work planning Carols Night 2020 – she certainly deserves a few nights off!

Staffing 2020 Our final appointments to vacancies were made last week so I am now in a position to announce the staffing profile for 2020. We welcome Tara Dean, Ellen Maxwell and Lauren Beriman as new staff members at Viewbank Primary School. We hope your stay is a long and successful one with us.

The full list of staff for 2020 is as follows:-

Classroom Teachers

• Foundation M Kelsey MENTIPLAY
• Foundation E Amanda ELLIOTT
• Foundation O Colleen OTTREY
• Foundation Y Kirsten YATES
• Grade 1D Suzie DOUMAS
• Grade 1R Jamie RUDDOCK
• Grade 1G Bessie GRANT
• Grade 1W Ashleigh WALKER (M,T,W) Emma SARGEANT(Th,F)
• Grade 2M Kim MOUCHA
• Grade 2C Claire KIELTY
• Grade 2K Meredith KEARNEY (nee COLLINS)
• Grade 2B Lauren BERIMAN
• Grade 3L Kara LANE
• Grade 3C Dana COHEN
• Grade 3D Paige DEERY
• Grade 3G Sharon GROVES
• Grade 4N Sophie NOAKES
• Grade 4T Narelle TAYLOR
• Grade 4B Michael BETSON
• Grade 4M Ellen MAXWELL
• Grade 5M Karli MOOY
• Grade 5T Rhys TEGG
• Grade 5F Sandy FARLEY
• Grade 5D Tara DEAN
• Grade 6B Bonnie BONESS
• Grade 6M Jane McLEOD
• Grade 6P Phil BYRNE
• Grade 6W Pete WALKER

Specialist teachers

• Visual Arts Andrea CLEEVE
• Performing Arts Renee DAVEY and Jen HALL
• Japanese Showji ITO
• Phys Ed Blair MORTON and Kori STUCKEY
• STEM Angela ROCCASALVA and Nat CARR

Support Teachers

• Judy COURSE Literacy Support
• Maralyn LAMB English As An Additional Language (EAL)
• Chris SYMONS General Support
• Bec ANDREW Literacy Support
• Rachel RICHARDSON Numeracy Support

Administration

• Lucy ADDATI Business Manager
• Sue WRIGHT General Office
• Georgeina FISHER General Office
• Fiona CROWE First Aid

Education Support

• Louise BUISSINK
• Thelma RIGONI
• Sarina SHERLOCK
• Bree BUSZARD

Principal Class

• Bill KERSING Principal
• Gill NICHOLLS Assistant Principal
• Patrick WALSH Assistant Principal

We wish Kylie Kirkwood all the best as she takes 6 months long service leave, and we thank Steve Villani for filling in so admirably in Grade 4R for the last three weeks of Term 3 and part time with Ashleigh Walker throughout Term 4. We also would like to take this opportunity to thank Nicole Baillargeon for doing an excellent job in the Art Room for all of Semester 2 and trust we will see her around Viewbank in one capacity or another in 2020. You will note that Meredith Collins has had a name change – I know you will join with me in congratulating her on her nuptials last Saturday (what a perfect weather day!) as she married her now husband Chris Kearney ( a meteorologist). Dare I say some inside knowledge on picking the right day?? Lisa May remains on leave until semester 2 as does Sally Ruddock. One other name missing is Ruth Panaccio who has decided to resign from her position as our performing Arts teacher and dabble in the occasional relief teaching day. We wish her well in this new phase of her life.

Final Week Events Graduation takes place next Tuesday night, December 17 from 6.30pm at Loyola College and preparations and rehearsals have been ongoing for some time now. Moving days are Wednesday and Thursday, December 18 and 19 as we get ourselves in order for the demolition of the northern classrooms and building works in Terms 2 and 3 next year. The final assembly of the school year takes place from 1pm on Friday, December 20 with students dismissed from the gymnasium as is tradition. Please note that dismissal time will be 1.30pm. And don’t forget, Monday, December 16 is a pupil free day as we plan in our new teams for 2020.

House Captains The House Captains for 2020 were announced after Assembly on Monday at a special meeting of Grade 5 students. Essendon footballer, and ex-Viewbank Primary School Captain, Kyle Langford presented the captains badges at a special assembly of all Grade 3 to 6 students on Wednesday, December 11. Congratulations to the following students:-

School Council Meeting The final meeting of School Council for 2019 is set down for 5pm tonight in the staff room.

That’s enough from me. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS We look forward to welcoming many school volunteers to our end of year Thank You morning tea in the gym foyer, tomorrow.

If you cannot make it along please accept our grateful thanks for all that you have done throughout the year to help make Viewbank a wonderfully rich learning environment for our students. It would simply not be possible to offer programs such as SAKG, Inquiry and camps without your support. We rely on volunteer helpers for excursions, school sport events and hearing students read as well as our ‘special’ lunch days, Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day stalls and working bees. Our volunteers ensure we are able to have fabulous school community events such as movie night and Carols by Candlelight. For all those dedicated parents that serve on committees we appreciate your time and effort.

As we near the end of the year, you may like to volunteer just one more time and assist with the moving of furniture next Wednesday and Thursday. Please let the office know if you are able to help out

LOST PROPERTY As the year draws to a close, please find the time to come and see if there is any lost property that belongs to your child/ren. Lost property is stored in the purple storage chest in the breezeway outside the SAKG room. There are many un-named jumpers in lost property at the moment and unless claimed, they will be resold at the second hand uniform shop. We will endeavour to return all named items of clothing before the end of term. Remember to also check the gym foyer for lost property from OSHClub or PE classes.

Have a great week,

Gill Nicholls

Holidays and Screen Time As we draw closer to the end of the year; Christmas is just around the corner and stress levels are running higher, many children will have much more ‘screen time’ than what they have had more recently. Last week, we had Jayne from the Australian Federal Police present 3 sessions for interested parents on some dangers and current developments in the online ‘world’. She was presenting on behalf of 'ThinkUKnow' https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/. We had over 70 parents attend across the 3 sessions. If you didn’t attend this year, she will be back early in 2020 – we STRONGLY encourage you to do so.

ThinkUKnow was started in the United Kingdom by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and was developed for Australian audiences by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 2009.

The program is a partnership between the AFP, Microsoft Australia, Datacom and the Commonwealth Bank, and is delivered in collaboration with New South Wales Police Force, Northern Territory Police, Queensland Police Service, South Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Western Australia Police and Victoria Police as well as Neighbourhood Watch Australia. It is Australia’s first (and only) nationally delivered crime prevention program.

For more information that can help you, your family and your child stay safe online over the holidays, please go t https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/parents-portal. You can find information on:

• Family online safety contracts
• Parental controls
• Factsheets for parents and carers
• Guides
• Research and other information

They also have a ‘Report Abuse’ button on their homepage. We encourage you to make use of this feature to report anything that may be inappropriate, harmful or potentially criminal.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Patrick

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2020 School Charges/Fees - $320 per Student School Charges are paid through Compass. Payments can only be made online from Saturday 21 December 2019 and are due by Monday 27 January 2020. If you are having issues with Compass, have forgotten your password or have no access please contact the school office as soon as possible.

Alternate Payment Arrangements and Assistance: Please be advised there are alternative payment options for families who may be experiencing financial hardship or who would prefer a regular payment plan. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card are eligible for the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) that provides payments for eligible students to attend activities. The CSEF is an annual payment to the school to be used towards camps and term expenses for the benefit of the eligible student (2020 primary school student rate is $125).

Please contact me if you wish to arrange a payment plan prior to the end of the school year.

OSHClub (Before/After School and Vacation Care provider) is open all day on the pupil free day Monday 16th December, as well as on the first 2 pupil free days at the start of the school year Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th January, 2020.

Kind regards

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

Foundation — Harry, Cosmo, Whole Class FM & Whole Class FY

Year 1 & 2 — Vivienne, Elijah, April, Lola, Topaz, Lucas Livie, Whole Class 1D, Whole Class 1G & Whole Class 2K

Year 3 & 4 — Evie, Jonathan & Levi

Year 5 & 6 — Charlotte, Tahlia, Chelsea, Jovina & whole Class 5T

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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.

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.

COLGATE COMMUNITY GARDEN CHALLENGE A huge congratulations to all of the students and families of VPS. Of the 1100+ pre, primary and secondary schools, VPS placed 18th in the Colgate Community Garden Challenge. Together, we have diverted close to 200,000 pieces of oral care waste from Australian landfi lls. Although the competition is over for this year, we will continue to do our part in recycling toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps and floss containers! Please drop any empty oral care waste (any brand is accepted) into our recycling monster located at the office. We will ship to Terracycle to be recycled.

ENVISION HANDS This term, VPS will begin to collect bottle caps for Envision Hands. The Envision Hands project recycles plastic bottle lids bound for landfill, and turns them into colourful, superhero hands for children in need, in Australia and around the world.

What sort of bottle caps are accepted?

Currently, Envision Hands use all flat soft drink, water and milk bottle tops, including those from long life containers. The tops should be numbered either No 2 or No 4 in the recycled triangle but not all are marker. Please ensure all caps are cleaned before they are donated and no extra plastic, metal or other material is attached.

You can find more information about the project here: https://envision.org.au

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.

RUNNING GROUP Every Tuesday and 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!

We are currently looking for a family to take home and care for our chicken over the end of year break. If you are able to help us can you please email the school at viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Spring has definitely hit and our vegetable garden is overloaded with produce. Every Wednesday, we will be selling produce at 3pm in the vegetable garden. All money raised will go back into our Stephanie Alexander program.

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.

PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422

EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au