PUPIL FREE DAYS (OSHClub will be available on these days)

• Monday 1st November

TERM DATES

• 2021 TERM 3: Monday 12th July - Friday 17th September (2:30pm finish)
• 2021 TERM 4: Monday 4th October - Friday 17th December (1:30pm finish)

2021 CAMP DATES

• Year 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp - Wednesday 4th August to Friday 6th August
• Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp - Tuesday 5th October to Friday 8th October

TERM 2 PARENT AND FRIENDS BAKERY LUNCH DAYS - All Term 3 dates are now open for ordering via Compass Canteen.

• Thursday 19th August (Orders closing on 16th August, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 2nd September (Orders closing on 30th August, 3:00pm)

GRADE 3 CAMP The Grade 3 camp at Arrabri Lodge, Warburton East commenced yesterday under somewhat grey skies. Nonetheless, we count ourselves fortunate that we have been able to manage this in between lockdowns and restrictions. Arrabri Lodge is an adventure camp, with the children participating in a range of activities including the giant swing, flying fox, orienteering and climbing wall. With Covid putting an end to the Grade 2 sleepover last year, it may be the first time for some of our students that they have slept away from home, so whilst daunting for some I’m sure it will be a highlight of the year. I thank the staff and volunteers for giving of their time to make this a memorable occasion for our students and we look forward to their safe arrival back at school tomorrow afternoon.

FAREWELL .. FOR NOW I would like to take this opportunity to wish Karli Mooy, our Grade 5 team leader, all the very best as she commences family leave tomorrow. Karli is an outstanding teacher and leader whose contributions will be greatly missed at our school, but it is an exciting time for her and her husband as they prepare for this next exciting chapter in their lives. I am happy to report that Lucas Prell, who is very well known to all of our students, will be taking over the teaching responsibilities in Karli’s grade for the remainder of 2021, and I am sure you will join with me in wishing him well and welcoming him ‘officially’ to our school.

DANCE PROGRAM After a forced hiatus of two weeks, our Dance program was due to recommence this week…. and then? Unfortunately, our instructor rang in sick! Whilst that can’t be helped, it has delayed our program a further week. Students participated in other physical education lessons this week and whilst they have thoroughly enjoyed the program to date, it has been just for a single week!. The repercussions of the postponement is that any grand finale in terms of the final performance (with potentially parent audiences) has been pushed back into mid Term 4. We will advise of these arrangements as the time draws closer, with one eye on restrictions and Covid-safe arrangements.

BASKETBALL SUCCESS You may or may not know that we have a school basketball team entered into an out of school hours competition and masterfully coached by Tracey Muir, one of our parents, during Tuesday lunchtimes during non-lockdown times. I am reliably informed (because I have the trophy in my office!!) that they recently took out the premiership in their division. Congratulations to all players.

CHESS SUCCESS On July 15 (the day just before the start of our recent lockdown), our school Chess team managed to compete in a Chess tournament at Rosanna – just in the nick of time! I am happy to report that our school managed to win the tournament with Tedric Li scoring 7/7 to take home the "Star of the Tournament" trophy. Along with notable efforts by Timothy Wong, Huy Ho and Nam Tran (grade 4), I am equally reliably informed that ‘the gang of four were dominant’. That must be chess parlance!

I wish to thank our school community for heeding the measures in place at the moment as we continue to manoeuvre our way around and out of the restrictions imposed due to Covid. We have been where Sydney currently is, and understand how quickly things can turn. If restrictions are further eased by our State Government, we will quickly follow suit, but also acting in accordance with the DET Operational Guidelines.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

FOUNDATION 100 DAYS OF SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS

It was certainly an exciting day on Tuesday for our Foundation students and their families as they celebrated their first 100 days of schooling. Congratulations to all the students and our wonderful Foundation Team of Kelsey, Colleen, Kirsten, Amanda and Kelli who put together a very special day. The students enjoyed making their 100 days crown, sharing a special picnic lunchbox and enjoying maths and literacy activities based around 100.

YEAR 3 ARRABRI CAMP A huge shout out to all our amazing Year 3 campers. Everyone is super excited to be at Arrabri enjoying the fun and challenges of the giant swing, low ropes course, flying fox, mini golf archery and orienteering. The weather has been kind to us and the food has received a big tick of approval.

A huge thank you to the Year 3 team – Blair, Rhys, Dana and Kylie for organising the camp, Viewbank staff Michael, Georgeina, Louise and Deanna and our brilliant parent helpers Jackie and Neil for supporting our camping program. We simply could not do it without your help.

See you on Friday

I’ll be looking forward to a quiet weekend,

Gill

Principals’ Day Thank you to the wonderful community of Viewbank who have shared beautiful messages of appreciation on Principals’ Day. Viewbank is an amazing school, and it is a delight to work with such enthusiastic students, parents and staff.

100 Days of School Congratulations to the Foundation students that recently celebrated 100 days of school, what an achievement! The students started the day coming through the beautifully decorated ‘party gate’. When I visited the Foundation students, they were eagerly discussing all the items they collected that contained the number 100. They even made a crown that proudly displayed that they had been at school for 100 days. My favourite part was when I asked the Foundation students how they were, to which they responded “100% great!” Thank you to our fabulous Foundation teachers and support staff for creating an amazing day for the students.

Professional Learning for Staff- English as an Additional Language Many students come from a home where the main language spoken is not English. English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners include students:

• beginning school in Australia at any year level
• born overseas or in Australia
• beginning school with little, some or no exposure to English

Our staff continue to support all learners to ensure they make progress and to achieve educational success. Staff recently participated in targeted professional learning to develop their understanding and skills related to the newly implemented English as an Additional Language (EAL) Victorian Curriculum. This course, run by Andrea Cleeve and myself, helped staff to learn about useful knowledge and skills that will help them meet the language-related needs of these learners.

The EAL curriculum supports learning in all areas of the Victorian Curriculum. Teachers of all subjects use the content descriptions in the EAL curriculum to support the language learning needs of EAL student in their classrooms, in relation to the language demands of their subjects. The curriculum supports teachers to recognise students’ existing language skills, and then leverage these skills for learning English, as well as new conceptual and cultural knowledge / skills.

2021 Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

We want our parents, caregivers and guardians to tell us what they think!

Viewbank Primary school is conducting a survey to find out what parents, caregivers and guardians think of our school. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst a sample of parents, caregivers and guardians (previously known as the Parent Opinion Survey). It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

All parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parent, Caregiver and Guardian Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 19th July to Sunday 22nd August.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. Please look out for the link that will be published on Compass and via email. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.

Please speak to the Acting Assistant Principal Karen Butler if you would like more information.

Have a great week!

Karen Butler

Principals’ Day

A school is only as strong as its leadership team and at Viewbank PS we are incredibly fortunate to have such a hardworking and talented Principal Class team in Bill, Gill, Karen and Patrick. Quality leaders are like the head coaches of a sporting team and I’ve made a non-exhaustive list of the attributes of a quality coach. These are people who:

• make their moral professional purpose known by the decisions they make and the way they go about their daily work
• have long term vision and look at the big picture
• develop each player by recognising individual strengths and challenges, then giving them the tools or direction to improve and grow
• create a healthy and collegiate culture where all players work together toward a common goal and successful outcomes

Coaches lead by example and don’t ask anything of their players that they wouldn’t do themselves. They face the public on behalf of the team when times are tough and have the players’ backs at all times while also giving private honest feedback when it’s needed. They recruit well and they trust their assistant and specialist coaches as well as the players themselves, to do their jobs without requiring micromanaging.

I think you would all agree that Bill, Gill, Karen and Patrick lead our fabulous team at Viewbank with all of those characteristics and we have so much to thank them for:

Bill for his approachability and knowing his door is always open for a chat and for some advice. He is still here for the children and enjoys his daily banter opportunities.

Gill for her unflappable nature and her ability to create a cohesive and functional timetable even in the craziest of terms. She looks at challenging situations with a ‘can-solve attitude’ and always has helpful advice.

Karen who has embraced her new community so quickly and has supported staff in all sorts of circumstances.

And though he is not with us at the moment, to Patrick who works so hard for the children and families at our school that need the most support. He has even been known to spend some time at the oval sandpit because a little person needed him there.

None of us knows the full extent to which our principals support us behind the scenes with the demands of the department, the region and our parent community but we are so grateful for your ongoing and genuine dedication to Viewbank Primary School and to public education.

So we thank you, Bill, Gill, Karen and Patrick and wish you all excellent physical and mental health with the hope you continue to find reward and satisfaction in the work that you do.

Three cheers for our principals!

Principals’ Day – Friday 06 August 2021 Happy Principals’ Day to our wonderful leaders Bill, Gill, Karen and Patrick. Thank you for all you do to make VPS a great place to be.

Remote Learning: Limited Access

Access to school grounds is limited to:

• school staff
• students attending on-site learning
• contractors, including cleaners and maintenance workers
• outside-school-hours-care (OHSC) staff, enrolled children and their families.

If you need to collect or drop off anything at the school please call the office and a staff member will meet you at the main gate (Gate 1) on Nevin Parade.

Term Expenses Term 3 Expenses are now overdue. Please ensure you have also provided consent for all upcoming events on Compass. If you have difficulty making payment please contact me on 9459 1512.

Kind regards,

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

As many of you are aware, this Friday 6 August is Australian Primary Principals Day; a day to acknowledge the dedication and contribution that Principals make to our school community.

Teachers have been busily organising their class to make cards/posters to convey their appreciation for the fantastic work of Bill Kersing, Gill Nicholls and Karen Butler. But I also wanted to share my thoughts on our amazing school leaders as a School Council President, a parent and a member of the Viewbank Primary School Community.

As part of my professional life, I have spent the last 10 years working closely with Victorian schools. I have met thousands of principals and assistant principals and, as a group, have found them to be some of the most caring and dedicated people I know. Even amongst this illustrious group of peers, Bill, Gill and Karen shine as consummate professionals that are passionate about the welfare of the children in their care and the staff they mentor.

Our children go to a school they love but they do not always appreciate the effort that goes into providing their learning, sport, specialist programs, emotional development and camaraderie. As a parent however, it is obvious to me how successful the VPS leadership team are at providing all of this and a thousand other things we are not even aware of.

I wish to particularly emphasise the amazing job that Bill, Gill and Karen have done in guiding us through the last 18 months of COVID roller coaster. The school has responded swiftly and with consideration for the needs of both the school and the individual student. It is comforting to know that even in times of trouble as significant as this has been, our leadership team will excel as always.

A child’s primary school years are some of the most formative, and hopefully happiest, they will experience. Bill, Gill and Karen have provided an environment that is full of smiling faces and inquisitive minds, a place where children look after each other and strive to live by the school values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and, Kindness.

For all of this, and so much more, I wish to express my heartfelt thankyou to Gill and Karen and especially Bill. I invite all member of the Viewbank Primary School community to do the same, not just on Principals Day, but throughout the year.

Jason Hemingway

School Council President

Bakery Lunch Orders - Every 2nd Thursday During Term

Lower Plenty Bakehouse will be to providing the school with fundraising Lunch Orders every second Thursday during Term. These lunches will be implemented via our Parents and Friends Committee and all money raised will be used towards our major school oval upgrade.

Our Term 3 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates are:

• Thursday 19th August (Orders closing on 16th August, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 2nd September (Orders closing on 30th August, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 16th September (Orders closing on 13th September, 3:00pm)

Orders need to be placed in advance via Compass Canteen. Ordering will close the Monday before the lunch date at 3pm. All of Term 3 Lunch dates are now open and ordering is able to be placed in advance for the whole term if you choose to do so.

Please see attached a Parent User Guide on how to order via Compass Canteen. Please note a 35 cents order fee will be charged at check out.

​​ICY POLE FRIDAY Students are able to purchase icy poles over the counter at lunchtime every Friday. All icy poles cost $1.00 each.

Olympics News Summer Vasic brought an Olympic torch into school this week for us to have a look at. Her Great Grandfather carried it in Balarat as part of the 2000 Olympics Torch relay.

Tutor Learning Initiative Update We have been so pleased with the wonderful progress students have been making in our reading and writing tutoring sessions.

As we are approaching the end of this cycle of the program, we will be identifying students who will be coming to work with us for Numeracy tutoring. This means the students who are currently attending Literacy tutoring will mostly be finishing up with us as they have worked on and completed their reading or writing goals. There will be a small number of students who will continue to keep working on their current goals and stay with us.

Parents will soon be notified if their child has been identified to possibly join us in our Numeracy tutoring sessions. Students are selected by examining assessment data and feedback from the reporting period.

Great job everyone! We are very proud of the effort all of our students have been putting in.

STORY LAND: Unfortunately, our first Transition event for students starting Foundation in 2022 has been cancelled. Instead of our traditional ‘face to face’ Story Land session we have moved this process online as we couldn’t wait for Transition Events to begin. Story Land is our first of three Transition ‘Lands'. It is always a favourite with the students. Mrs. Kelsey Mentiplay (Team leader) and Mrs. Amanda Elliott (Transition Co-ordinator) are reading one of our favourite stories 'Oi Frog' by Kes Gray + Jim Field.

CLASSROOM CUISINE provides lunch orders to our school on a MONDAY, WEDNESDAY and FRIDAYS.

Lunches must be ordered online using the CLASSROOM CUISINE website.

Extra Curricula Clubs We have a range of weekly extra curricula activities that students are invited to participate in. Some are free and others require parent payment. If your child wishes to join please encourage them to go along on the scheduled day or you may like to contact the school office or the classroom teacher to discuss participation.

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SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE - Every Friday 8:45am to 9:15am, 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.

Instrumental Music Enrolments Can all students who would like to join our school instrumental music programs please inform the relevant teacher below of your expression of interest.

SINGING WITH GABRIELLA - Gabriella

• Email: favrettogab@gmail.com
• Phone: 0413 676 733

STRINGS WITH MR CAI - Gabriella

• Email: favrettogab@gmail.com
• Phone: 0413 676 733

GUITAR/BASS GUITAR - Alec

• Email: alec.stalder@gmail.com
• Phone: 0422 690 842

PIANO/KEYBOARD - Ella

• Email: ellac.blackburn@gmail.com
• Phone: 0410 938 840

DRUMS - James

• Email: orangejimmy@gmail.com
• Phone: 0405 845 628

PHONE NUMBER: 0448 075 422

EMAIL: viewbank@oshclub.com.au

A PLUS SCHOOLWEAR Our uniform supplier is A Plus Schoolwear which is located at 41-43 Northern Road Heidelberg West. Open hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday’s from 9am to 4.30pm (closed on weekend and public holidays).

You can also purchase your uniform online at www.aplusschoolwear.com.au