• Friday 28th February - Special Lunch Day
• Monday 2nd March - Education Sub Committee meeting, 7pm
• Tuesday 3rd March - Parents and Friends Association AGM, 7pm
• Tuesday 3rd March - Engagement Subcommittee meeting, 7pm
• Wednesday 4th March - Cadbury fundraising orders due by today
• Sunday 15th March - Term 1 Working Bee, 9am to 12pm

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)

DISTRICT SWIMMING Good luck to the Viewbank PS Swimming team who have journeyed today to Northcote Pool today for the District event. Please look out for a report in next week’s newsletter.

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY Thank you to Paige Deery and her team for organising our school’s Clean Up Australia day tomorrow (Friday). Our Schools Clean Up is a great way to inspire our students to learn about the impact of rubbish on their local environment while playing an active role in their community – in this case our school. You are welcome to come along and help tidy up, too!

BADGE PRESENTATIONS Monday, March 2 will be an important day for badge presentations at Viewbank PS. The day starts with our ‘normal’ school assembly at 9am, where Semester 1 Junior School Captain badges and Green Team badges will be presented to school leaders from across the school. The Performing Arts/Music School Captains will also receive their badges from ex-student, Jack Carter. Jack is forging a considerable career in the Performing Arts, at the ‘tender’ age of 14. In 2020 he will participate for the 5th consecutive year in the Victorian State Schools Spectacular as a Principal singer/dancer.

In a special assembly at 11.30am on the same day, local Mayor Alison Champion will visit us to present the Sustainability and Japanese Captains badges. Alison will speak about her own education which took her to studying Japanese at both High School and University. She will also speak on the current environmental and Sustainability initiatives of Banyule Council. Hopefully, all of the messages delivered on the day will resonate with all students as well as our newly appointed leaders.

SCHOOL ATHLETICS Keep the date – Tuesday, March 3 is the date scheduled for our annual Athletics carnival at Willinda Park, Greensborough. We would very much like to see you there, either as a spectator or volunteer helper.

VIETNAM VISIT 2020 An Information Night will be held in upcoming weeks to provide details about a proposed tour of Hanoi from October 11 to 18 as part of our sister school relationship with Doan Thi Diem School. Once costings have been finalised we will advertise this event. At this stage, preliminary plans are to take 15 Grade 5 and 6 students accompanied by 5 teaching staff, where we will take part in a week’s instruction at Doan Thi Diem, including a range of afternoon and evening activities. More will be advised in upcoming newsletters, so watch this space.

Enjoy your weekend.

Kind regards,

Bill Kersing

Principal

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Where do the weeks go? This week sees us half way through term 1 and it is safe to say that Viewbank is a hive of activity. Our students have settled happily into their new routines and a comprehensive ‘Fresh Start’ program across the school has ensured that students are feeling comfortable in their new learning environments and have a strong sense of engagement. The Year 1 and 2 home reading program is underway and we are lucky to have a large number of volunteers assisting. Our Year 3-6 sporting program has seen students participate at both school and district swimming events recently and next Tuesday all Year 3-6 students will participate in the school athletics carnival at Willinda Park. Our Foundation students are settling into the school routine, taking on new experiences and learning with the support of the whole school. This week, I was lucky enough to venture out with them on their first excursion to the nearby school crossings to practise crossing the road safely under the guidance of our wonderful school crossing supervisors Wally, Steve and Mark.

Have a great week

Gill Nicholls

Department of Education and Training Student Support Services Available At Viewbank Primary School

As a Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) school, we have a number of DET services available to us to help support your child with their learning. The two most commonly used are a psychologist and a speech therapist. Their roles are broad and varied, however, they primarily provide advice to teachers and other staff, conduct education or speech assessments (strict criteria about what and how often this may occur), and write reports which may lead to some students gaining extra support funding through the Program for Students with Disabilities (PSD). In extremely limited cases (and this is occurring less often), they may work with a student for a short amount of time – somewhere from 3-6 sessions, but this is dependent though on the Banyule and Nillumbik school’s regions priorities.

To decide whether or not a student is seen, the teacher (after discussion with you), then brings as much information to me as possible and I then discuss this at my meeting which happens approximately 3 times per term (if not enough information, I ask the teacher to liaise with you, or for the teacher to provide me with more information). I then present what I know. In many cases the student will be referred to an outside organisation (e.g. paediatrician, psychologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist etc) as it is not something that fits within the scope of what they can offer. If the student’s case meets the criteria, they take what they know to their meeting and then a priority list is made across the network (about 40 schools). As you could imagine, their list is long and they need to prioritise the most urgent cases first. This may mean that although your child meets the criteria, there could be a 6-9 month wait before anything happens. We know that this is not ideal, however, with limited resources and more complex cases arising, there is not much we can do.

There is more information available about the Student Support Services here: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/Pages/sss.aspx

As an example of something that we are working with our speech therapist on currently is supporting students in Foundation and Grade 1 with less urgent speech issues that are related to reading. On Wednesday 26th February, the Foundation and Grade 1 teachers spent the afternoon with our speech therapist completing the first part of synthetic phonics training. By ‘upskilling’ our staff and addressing some concerns as early as possible, we are hoping that it will decrease the need for more intensive intervention at a later date – particularly as there are long waitlists and strict criteria.

Parentline Victoria is a confidential telephone helpline that offers information and counselling about parenting issues. You can talk to qualified counsellors about a wide range of matters such as avoiding and resolving conflict in your family or improving relationships with your children and other family members.

Services provided:

• Telephone helpline
• Advice or counselling
• Family support
• Referrals
• Parenting advice

8.00 am to 12.00 am (midnight), 7 days a week.

13 22 89

Have a great weekend everyone,

Patrick

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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

Engagement Subcommittee The School Council has a priority on increasing Engagement. Any parent or carer who has an interest in contributing towards creating a more engaged school please come along to the meeting. Meeting location has been updated to be held in Assistant Principal Gillian Nicholls office which is just down the hall from the Staff Room. Tuesday 3rd March at 7:00pm for up to 90 minutes. Or ask at the staff room for directions. All welcome!

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.

Dear Viewbank Primary School Families,

As part of our plan to upgrade our school oval Viewbank Primary School will be running a fantastic Cadbury® Fundraiser Drive in Term 1.

We are pleased to announce that for this drive we will have a choice of two different chocolate boxes.

• Cadbury Fundraiser Easter Eggs - $80 per box ($4 per bag)
• FREDDO & CARAMELLO Fun Pack Carry Box - $60 per box ($1 per Item)

FREDDO & CARAMELLO Fun Pack Carry Box contains a mix of:

• 30 x 35g Freddo
• 30 x 35g Caramello Koala

Selling for $1 per item ($60 per box).

Cadbury Fundraiser Easter Eggs Box contains a mix of 20 assorted Bags:

• 125g Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Eggs
• 125g Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate with Caramello Eggs
• 125g Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate with Crunchie Eggs

Selling for $4 per bag ($80 per box).

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.

If you wish to participate please place your order before Wednesday 4th March, 2020. Only families that have pre-purchased chocolates will receive a box to sell.

Payment can be paid via Compass under the Course Confirmation tab.

Donations can also be made via Compass under the Course Confirmation tab if you wish to participate in this drive but not receive any chocolates.

Viewbank Primary School Parents and Friends

https://www.fundraising.com.au/

The Annual General Meeting of the Parents and Friends Association will be held at school on Tuesday, March 3, commencing at 7.00pm in the staffroom. At this meeting we will conduct the election of office bearers (a President, Secretary and Treasurer), before handing over to the team to conduct our normal meeting.

New members are always welcome!!

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.

INQUIRY PARTNERSHIP WITH DR JENI WILSON Active citizenship at Viewbank Primary School is not just encouraged but expected, thanks to the inquiry approach to learning. Our school has become a hive of action, with student-driven decision making and problem solving. In recent times we have seen students across the school write letters to politicians, lobby governments about key policies, create meaningful play spaces in our playground and improve the environmental footprint of our school, to name just a few initiatives.

Staff began working with Education Consultant, Dr Jeni Wilson, in the second half of 2017. We began by implementing the Stages of Inquiry (see below). Dr Wilson has worked with each team annually since then, supporting the development of our school’s Curriculum Framework. This Framework ensures each year level includes necessary teaching and learning from the Victorian Curriculum, and responds to student questions and wonderings. The Framework is also designed to have a developmental continua from Foundation to Year 6, so that each year level is building upon the learning of the previous years’ work. The Framework also has a ‘lenses’ component, which means specific concepts are taught and developed. Our four lenses are:

• Sustainability, Systems and Cycles
• Wellbeing, Community and Personal Identity
• Design, Creativity, Enterprise and Innovation
• Social Responsibility

Our working relationship with Dr Wilson has continued into 2020, with each team planning an inquiry unit during a half-day session. We are proud of the work we are doing with inquiry and are well and truly embedding this approach in teaching and learning at Viewbank Primary. Dr Wilson has supported some teams to develop understandings about personal inquiries, where students conduct their own research based on topics or concepts of personal interest. This is done with teacher guidance and using the Stages of Inquiry. We have also developed a ‘Learning to Learn document’ so that students, together with their teachers, can set learning goals and reflect on their achievements.

The following table represents the stages of Inquiry:

A significant element of the inquiry approach is using primary sources as learning tools. This means having a direct experience, such as an excursion, or meeting with someone who has knowledge and experience in a specific field. All year levels ask our parent community to volunteer as guest speakers at various times throughout the year. The students are so appreciative to hear from and meet people who have knowledge and experience in areas they are learning about. Some examples of parent guest speakers we have had include a bee keeper, gardeners, parents willing to talk about their migration experience, parents who work in finance, and parents who work for various charities, to name a few. So keep your eyes peeled to the newsletter and Compass for requests. You can help any year level, not just the year level(s) your child(ren) are in. We’d love to have you!

Jane McLeod

Curriculum Manager

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