• Saturday 29th May, 9:00am to 12noon - Education Week Open morning and Working Bee - POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

TERM DATES

• 2021 TERM 1: Wednesday 27th January Teachers start (All students start Thursday 28th January) - Thursday 1st April (2:30pm finish)
• 2021 TERM 2: Monday 19th April - Friday 25th June (2:30pm finish)
• 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 4: Anglesea Recreation Camp - Wednesday 19th May to Friday 21st May
• Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp - Tuesday 5th October to Friday 8th October
• Year 6: Coonawarra Farm Resort Camp - Monday 17th May to Friday 21th May

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

• Thursday 27th May (Orders closing on 24th May, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 10th June (Orders closing on 7th June, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 24th June (Orders closing on 21st June, 3:00pm)

UPDATED COVID- 19 RESTRICTIONS Details about arrangements for school closure during the lockdown will be sent shortly via Compass

CANCELLATION OF OPEN DAY AND WORKING BEE - SATURDAY MAY 29 As a result of the Victorian Government's announcement of a 7 day circuit breaker lockdown to commence at 11.59pm tonight, Thursday, May 27, we need to cancel the Open Day and working bee scheduled for this Saturday morning, May 29.

FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT As I indicated last Thursday via a Compass alert, we were very excited to hear of the State Government’s announcement of $6.954 million funding for our school to demolish the Southern classrooms and modernise these in the rebuild! Along with the recently completed Grade 5 and 6 classrooms, this new funding will mean significantly improved facilities to compliment the educational programs already in place and the beautiful grounds that we are lucky to have. I attended on Wednesday the first of (presumably) a number of meetings required to set the project in action, with hopefully a completion date in the next 12- 18 months. Exciting times. I will keep everyone informed of all matters relating to the project as I receive further information and whilst there will naturally be some disruption to operations ( car parking, traffic flow, transfer of the administration and classrooms to other places across the school), we will endeavour to keep these disruptions to a minimum as far as humanly possible. It will be a good problem to deal with, and the prize at the end will be first class facilities for our school community.

DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY Congratulations to all students who took part in yesterday’s cross country at Banyule flats. I know that everyone gave their all. Results should appear later in this newsletter.

NATIONAL YOUNG LEADERS’ DAY Jane McLeod and I had the privilege of escorting 31 Grade 6 school leaders to the National Young Leaders Day at the Melbourne Convention Centre last Monday to hear from some inspirational speakers.

SCHOOL CAMP THANK YOU Grateful thanks to all who ensured that the Grade 6 and Grade 4 camps were a success. This includes our teaching and non teaching staff who put in ‘over and above’, our volunteer parent helpers (without whom we couldn’t run the camps) and our students for their have a go attitude, and for working collectively for the best outcomes. Undoubtedly there were many tired bodies last weekend!!

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) What is SWPBS?

School-wide positive behaviour support is an evidence-based framework for Victorian government schools for preventing and responding to student behaviour. It aims to create a positive school climate, a culture of student competence and an open, responsive management system for all school community members.

Instead of using many different behaviour management strategies, a consistent system of expectations for all students within the school is implemented in all areas including classrooms and other settings such as the playgrounds, toilets, walkways and when lining up.

Our students will come to know these expectations through our school values:

• Respect, Responsibility, Resilience & Kindness

The implementation of SWPBS requires commitment by the whole school community and takes several years to fully implement. At Viewbank, we began the SWPBS journey in 2019. We revised our school values, we identified problem behaviours we were witnessing and the areas within the school where they were occurring, we began to develop a Behaviour Matrix and number of staff attended SWPBS training.

This week, I am including the DRAFT Positive Behaviour Matrix that we have developed for parental feedback.

This matrix sets out the positive behaviours that we will be reinforcing across the school. Students displaying these behaviours will be acknowledged for their positive actions and together the students will work towards a whole school reward.

If you have any suggestions for the matrix please email me via the school account Attn: Mrs Nicholls SWPBS by the end of May.

In term 3, we will begin to explicitly teach these behaviours across the school. Posters will be developed and placed around the school to remind the students of the expected behaviours and the matrix will be displayed in teaching spaces throughout the school.

We believe that by helping students practise good behaviour, we will build a school community where all students have an environment where they can succeed and grow.

The notion of family in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is closely tied to themes of connectedness and kinship.

In this setting, family structures are pivotal to identity formation, understanding one’s own spiritual and cultural belonging, and assists in establishing strong links with community.

Ultimately, family and kinship are a cohesive force that bind Aboriginal people together.

Check out this video to find out more about the kinship system for Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To facilitate more positive conversations as a family, the below questions have been developed to help families practise the GEM principles daily within conversation.

They are a great way to build deeper connections as your family shares a meal either in the morning, afternoon or evening or at a time that works best.

Here are some great GEM CHAT questions and ideas to get you started;

• Remember someone who has done something kind for you recently. What did they do for you? How did this make you feel?
• What is your perspective? Can you put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand their point of view?
• Who is someone you know who may be experiencing some difficulty currently? What could we do for them as a family?
• What is something kind you are going to do for someone today?

Have a lovely week

Gill

Attitude to School Survey Every year, students in Year 4, 5 and 6 complete the Department’s Attitude to School Survey. The purpose of the survey is to collect data about how students feel about themselves as learners. The Attitude to School Survey also helps schools to identify a students’ perceptions and experiences of school. Viewbank students will participate in this survey over Week 6 and 7, which will be conducted during class time. Student Engagement and Wellbeing are at the forefront of our students’ success at school, so the feedback provided will lead to positive outcomes for the children. The survey will help us to determine improvements that we can make to Viewbank Primary School.

Student Assessment and Reporting Currently staff are assessing student progress to be able to determine future learning opportunities and also to be able to report progress to parents. Students participate in a variety of differentiated assessment tasks to provide a clear picture of their understandings.

The 3 main uses for assessment are;

• Assessment For Learning – to inform learning and teaching in the classroom and to find out where student needs are.
• Assessment Of Learning – to measure how much a student has learnt in a given unit, topic, term or semester.
• Assessment As learning – to empower students in their learning by teaching them skills to enable them to assess their learning and set goals about their future learning.

Data from assessments are used to assist teachers in identifying student progress. Further to this, the data will be utilised to inform teaching and learning programs, as well as the future directions for the school.

Student reports are currently being written by teachers and they will be available to download in the last week of Term 2. Parents will have an opportunity to discuss student learning goals and reports in Term 3 during our 3 Way Conferences. More details to come about the times and booking process.

Have a great week!

Karen Butler

Attendance – Late Arrivals / Early Leavers Just a reminder that if your child is late for school they are required to firstly come to the office for a ‘Late Pass’ before going to class.

If you wish to collect your child early from school you are required to come to the office first and your child will be called to meet you at the office.

School Tours School Tours have recommenced every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings at 9.30am. Please call the office on 9459 1512 or email viewbank.ps@education.vic.gov.au to make a booking.

Enrolments We are currently accepting enrolments for 2022 and are happy to assist with any queries.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) The Government assisted Fund provides payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports, incursions and excursions ($125 per child). Applications for the Governments ‘CSEF Fund’ can be accessed by filling in the application form and returning it to the office with a copy of your current Health Care Card. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply i.e. a Centrelink Health Care Card or Pension Concession Card or Veteran Affairs Gold Card.

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.

Thank you

Lucy Addati

Business Manager

VBPS - CADBURY® FREDDO & FRIENDS BOX FUNDRAISER As part of our plan to improve Viewbank Primary School we will be running a fantastic Cadbury® Fundraiser Drive in June.

We are pleased to announce that for this drive we have CADBURY® FREDDO & FRIENDS BOX for sale. Selling for 50 cents an item ($60 per box), this represents excellent value to the buyer and our profits will go towards making improvements around our school.

Fundraising activities such as this make a vital contribution towards improving our facilities for the benefit of our children. In anticipation of a successful fundraising drive, we thank you for your support.

Chocolates can be purchased or donations made via the Course Confirmation and Payments section on Compass. If you wish to participate in this fundraising activity please place your order before Friday 11th June, 2021.

Chocolate boxes will only be provided to families who have paid before the due date.

Purchased chocolates will be sent home with the children during the last week of Term 2.

Bakery Lunch Orders - Every 2nd Thursday during Term 2, 2021

Lower Plenty Bakehouse will be to providing the school with fundraising Lunch Orders every second Thursday during Term 2. 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 2 Fundraising Lunch Order Dates are:

• Thursday 10th June (Orders closing on 7th June, 3:00pm)
• Thursday 24th June (Orders closing on 21st June, 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 2 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.

Tutor Learning Update It has been wonderful to welcome students to our tutoring room this term!

We spent Term 1 organising data, identifying eligible students to work with and planning our lessons, ready to start group work in Term 2. Individual Learning Plans have been sent home to all students on the program.

The students in Year 1 and 2 have been working on their writing, while Year 3 to 6 have been focussing on their reading. Each group has a different focus, some are support and others are targeted extension sessions. We have been enjoying playing games, reading books and other texts, completing book reviews and writing recounts and creative pieces. Over the next two weeks we will be completing assessments to see how our students have progressed and how we will proceed in the future.

It has been great working with such fantastic students and we are looking forward to the rest of the year.

Marina Gourzales & Sally Ruddock

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 in 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