Tuesday April 24 - ANZAC Day ceremony 10:30am
Thursday April 26 - Annual General Meeting of the Parents and Friends Committee 7pm
Thursday May 10 - School Finance Meeting 6:30pm, School Council Meeting 7:30pm
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 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.
WELCOME BACK A warm welcome back to all students, staff and parents as we commence a very busy Term 2. I trust that everyone had a restful break and a good Easter. The Tiger Turf project proceeded with due speed over the holiday break and at time of writing was almost ready to be played on by hundreds of excited students!!! Many thanks to everyone for making this project a reality, and I know you will appreciate how much better the school looks, and how much safer our playgrounds are with this enhancement. There is much to look forward to over this 11-week term. We have school camps for the Grade 6 and Grade 4 students – Canberra and Anglesea respectively. There are a range of excursions planned (Year 4 History Box, Year 2 Bundoora Park, Year 2 Wurundjeri Education), a student disco in May, 2019 Foundation Information Night, Education Week activities, School and District Cross Country, NAPLAN and more. Please ensure you keep up to date with the various forms of communication – Grade newsletters, this newsletter, COMPASS alerts etc – to ensure you don’t miss anything.
PARENTS AND FRIENDS The Annual General Meeting of the Parents and Friends Committee will be held at school on Thursday, April 26, commencing at 7.00pm in the staffroom. At this meeting I will conduct the election of office bearers, before handing over to the team to conduct our normal termly meeting.
CONGRATULATIONS I am happy to announce that Kori Lewis and her husband George Stuckey became proud parents of Alfie Lewis Stuckey on Saturday, April 14. Everyone is well!!
SCHOOL COUNCIL Due to the attendance of both Gill Nicholls and myself at the Canberra Camp from May 14 to May 18, the previously scheduled School Council meeting for that week has been shifted back to Thursday, May 10. Finance will meet at 6.30pm as per normal, with the May meeting of School Council commencing at 7.30pm.
FAREWELL TO SUZANNE At Suzanne’s request, there won’t be an afternoon tea in her honour as I previously announced at the final assembly of term. Suzanne was overwhelmed with everyone’s messages of thanks and support in her last week at Viewbank, and has indicated that was the perfect farewell. We wish her well in her new position.
ANZAC DAY We will be holding our ANZAC Day ceremony in the gym on Tuesday, April 24, from 10.30am. Our students will be singing ‘The Last Anzac’, as well as being involved in the playing of the Last Post, a minutes’s silence and Rouse. We are also involved in the Gallipoli Oaks Project, and have been allocated a Gallipoli Oak seedling, which will be planted (all things being equal with grounds works) shortly before 11am that day, otherwise in a separate ceremony to be advised.
SCHOOL HISTORY BOOK You will recall that with our 50th anniversary in February 2016, there was a promise of the production of a Viewbank PS History Book. I am happy to say that the book has finally been completed – a 256 page epic. Whilst there were various contributors, Louise Buissink did an amazing job putting together the bulk of it, and I would publicly like to congratulate her on her amazing efforts, along with Phillip Byrne. A copy is available at the General Office and in the waiting area for your perusal. If you would like to order a copy, they are $50, which just covers costs, but once you scan it, you will realise it is well worth every cent. Please put in an order at the General Office and we will fill these as quickly as possible.
I hope everyone has a great weekend as the weather starts to cool.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
PRINCIPAL
A warm welcome back to everyone and I hope you are all feeling energised and ready for a busy term.
FAMILY MATHS NIGHT Our 2018 Family Maths Night will be held on Wednesday 2nd May, 2018 from 6.00-7.30pm in the school gymnasium. If you have not yet booked for your family to attend then do so quickly so that you are not disappointed. With your children, you will be able to enjoy a fun filled evening of maths activities, games, puzzles and challenges suitable for the whole family. If you would like to attend, please book using the trybooking link below or email the school office. A gold coin donation per family also gives each child entry into the guessing competition on the night. Enjoy the fun of mathematics as the whole family learns together! See you there. During the evening, we shall also be unveiling our MATHS GAMES BORROWING LIBRARY which will be available for the school community. We look forward to seeing you on the night.
Have a great week
Gill Nicholls
Please note that Term 2 Expenses have been posted on Compass and are due to be paid by Friday 20 April. The preferred method of payment is via the Compass Parent Portal. Please refer to "Course Confirmation/Payment" under "My News" on your homepage and follow the prompts. You may also pay in person at the school office. Excursions require consent via "Events" also on your homepage highlighted in green. If you are experiencing any difficulty paying term expenses, please contact me.
Thank you
Lucy Addati
BUSINESS MANAGER
ENTERTAINMENT BOOK AND DIGITAL MEMBERSHIP 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.
DRUM AND STRING LESSONS A few places have become available for lessons in Drum Kit. These fill quickly! Forms can be collected from the school office, alternatively, you may contact Gabriella - 0413 676 733 There is also a place left for the Strings program (violin/cello).
SECOND BITE FRUIT We have been lucky enough to be offered fruit from Second Bite to give to our students. Every Wednesday, beginning week, we will have 4 boxes full of whole pieces of fruit dropped at our school. We would love some parent volunteers to help monitor the distribution of fruit. You would only be required to help students count out the number of pieces of fruit needed for their class. If you are able to assist drop by the middle courtyard on a Wednesday morning around 9:30 (this would be perfect if you are already here to help with the F-2 Reading mornings)!
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?
BOOK CLUB Issue 3 catalogues have sent home this week. All orders are due by Wednesday 2nd of May. 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.
Hi Viewbank Parents and Families,
Welcome to term 2, we hope the school holidays were jam packed with fun!! We had Vacation Care running during the school holidays and we had a great two weeks. We had two excursions where we went to Inflatable World in Bundoora and a Carnival Day at Kingswood College. We also had some incursions where the children participated in some activities based on the Commonwealth Games and a Petting Farm came to the school. We are starting to plan the June Vacation Care so please keep an eye out for information. This weeks goal is to be resourceful and use our materials that are under used. For example, we have a lot of scrap paper so we will be using this for many of our activities. Some of the activities that we have planned are pipe cleaner creations, cornflour paint, clothes peg dragonflies and straw planes. We look forward to term 2 and invite the new families in the school to come and see our OSHClub Space.
Thanks,
The Viewbank OSHClub Team
Taryn Fletcher
Viewbank OSHClub Coordinator
PH: 0448075422
E: viewbank@oshclub.com.au