Friday May 25 - Fundraising Children's Disco (evening event at Viewbank Primary School)
Saturday May 26 - Open Morning 9am to 12noon
Saturday May 26 - Working Bee 9am to 12 noon, Second Hand Uniform Sale 9am to 10:30am
Wednesday June 6 - A parent training workshop on entering absences will be held in the staff room, 3pm.
Monday June 11 - Queen's Birthday Public Holiday
Tuesday June 12 - Pupil Free Day
Wednesday June 27 - Variations to hours day, 3 Way Conferences 11am to 7pm
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 26 (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.
EDUCATION WEEK AT VIEWBANK We had a very busy Tuesday this week, as many current and prospective families took the opportunity to visit during school hours. Our student leaders conducted school tours, keen to proudly show our visitors all our school has to offer. This Saturday, the school is also open from 9am until midday for school tours.
SIBLING ENROLMENTS It would help us greatly for planning purposes if our current families would kindly complete enrolment forms for siblings attending our school in 2019. By the end of Term 2 we wish to offer places for families on our waiting list, so some certainty in our numbers for next year would be very beneficial.
WORKING BEE Our Term 2 Working Bee is being held on Saturday, May 26 from 9am until 12.30pm. Always plenty to do and we would love to see you there.
ANGLESEA CAMP The Grade 4s head down the coast to Anglesea next Wednesday, May 30 for three days of activities on the Bellarine Peninsula. We are hoping for good weather, but hail, rain or shine, the camp will be memorable for our Grade 4s. Plenty of updates will be posted via Compass whilst our 101 students enjoy the camp.
DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY Good luck to our competitors as they represent themselves and our school at the District event on Wednesday, May 30.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
STUDENT ASSESSMENTS Throughout the year teachers continually assess student learning using a range of assessment tasks such as pre and post tests, reading running records and sight word recognition to name a few. Twice a year we conduct whole school assessment tasks in order to collect school wide data. We are currently in our first assessment period. Between weeks 6 and 8, teachers will be assessing students in Literacy and Numeracy to collect data and write accurate mid year student reports. These assessments take different forms, some may be online assessments, others may be working one to one with the teacher or within a small group. Regardless of how the assessment is implemented all students will be assessed over the assessment period. More than one type of assessment is completed so that teachers can collect accurate data from several different sources. Assessments are also differentiated, in line with the differentiated curriculum we provide for our students, so if your child comes home and says that they did a different test to another child or read a different book this will be why. Assessing all students thoroughly takes time and teachers cannot hear every child read in a day as well as teach the class. Your child may tell you that others got to read with the teacher but not them. Rest assured, every child will be assessed. Teachers often complete reading running record assessments based on the guided reading groups so these assessments may take up to 2 weeks to complete. Following the assessment period, teachers will be writing mid year student reports. These will be available to parents on Monday 25th June. Three Way Conferences will be held on Wednesday 27th June between 11.00am and 7.00pm. Further information about Three Way Conferences as well as bookings will be available shortly. Individual Learning Plans will also be reviewed and written for students as required. If you have any further questions about student assessments please contact your child’s teacher or myself.
Have a great week
Gill Nicholls
PARENTS: TO EXPLAIN A STUDENT'S WHOLE DAY ABSENCE OR LATE ARRIVAL
Late Arrival to School If your child is sick, absent or late, you are required to notify the school before 9am on the day of absence, via Compass. Please do not telephone the school. It is a legal requirement that the school receives an explanation from a parent/carer for all absences, late arrivals and early departures via Compass.
If your child is late to school:
- All students who are late to school MUST report to the office before going to class.
- The office staff will enter the late arrival time and parent explanation.
- If students arrive late to school without a parent/caregiver, an unexplained absence note will be generated on Compass which then the parent/caregiver must provide an explanation.
Changes to ‘Early Leavers’ Procedures Parents are required to come to the office when collecting their child early from school and fill in the ‘Early Leavers’ book at the front desk. The Office Staff will ring the classroom and ask for your child to come to the office with their bag. Children are only to be collected by their parent from the front Office (not the classroom). This will minimise disruptions to the children's learning.
STUDENT ABSENCES If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify the school before 9am on the day of their absence via Compass. Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.
Why do I need to notify the school if my child is absent? Schools need to know when and why a child is absent and you need to know if your child isn’t at school. From the end of Term 2 2018, all Victorian government schools are required to contact parents/carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained student absence. If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained. This system also promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day – missing school puts them behind.
What is your responsibility? You are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day or you must provide an explanation for their absence. You should let the school know in advance of any upcoming absences or let them know in the morning if your child won’t be at school. In order for schools to implement the same day notification requirement, it’s essential that you provide the school with your most up-to-date contact details.
Please ask the office if you require any further assistance in entering your child's absences on Compass. A parent training workshop on entering absences will also be held in the staff room on Wednesday 6th June at 3pm.
Kind regards
Lucy Addati
SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE A sale of second hand school uniforms will be held at the school during the School Working Bee on Saturday 26th May between 9.00-10.30am. School jumpers with the logo, school dresses and Year 6 polo tops are $5.00 and all other items are $2.00. All items have been washed.
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.
COLES SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS Dear Parents, Students and the wider Viewbank PS community, Thank you for your huge effort and dedication to collecting Coles Sports for Schools vouchers. Together we have collected approximately 66,000 vouchers! What an amazing effort! The vouchers will go towards new and replacement sports equipment for PE lessons and inter school sports, ribbons and sporting awards, as well as equipment for use at recess and lunchtimes. Thankyou again for this outstanding team effort and valued contribution to our schools' sporting resources.
Blair Morton
PE Coordinator
BOOK CLUB Issue 4 catalogues have sent home this week. All orders are due by Wednesday 13th of June. Every dollar you spend earns points to buy more books for the Library. Thank you for your support.
YEAR 6 CAMP PARLIAMENT AND CIVICS EDUCATION REBATE Students from our school will soon be undertaking, an education tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $30 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the camp.
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.
Dear Parents & Guardians,
We know that students achieve their best in safe and supportive environments. We also know that with the rise of social media, Internet safety is an increasingly important issue. Internet safety used to be all about keeping children away from inappropriate content and websites. While that is still a concern, Internet safety has changed as the Internet has evolved. The communication explosion that has made the world closely connected has not necessarily made the world safer. Many real-world hazards have migrated to Cyberspace and parents need to be proactively involved in their children's Internet world more than ever before. Children are growing up with technology, it is part of their everyday lives. The Internet as a medium promotes communication and socialisation, but often without restraint. Cyberbullying is just as harmful as face-to-face bullying and online actions can have real life consequences. It doesn't occur to some children that what they post online can be copied, saved, and forwarded to others and remain long after the original has been deleted. They can feel anonymous when they create screen names and online personas that can be totally different than who they are in real life. They can communicate the wrong things, get to know the wrong people, endanger themselves and hurt those around them. The best way to tackle bullying, cyberbullying and Internet safety is for schools, students and parents to work together. We encourage you to learn more by visiting the following websites:
Games, Apps & Social Media - https://www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking
Cybersafety: Helpful advice regarding safe and appropriate behaviour online - http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/advicecybersafe.aspx
The Big Issues: Help your child have safe and enjoyable online experiences - https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/iparent
Hi Viewbank Primary, Tea and a toast – here’s to you! Fantastic news – we reached your fundraising goal for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea 2018. Thanks for all your hard work! Your efforts help Cancer Council continue to be there for Australians who need us. To date we have raised $501.