Wednesday 26th June - Variation to School Hours Day, Student-led three-way conferences
Thursday 8th August - The Resilience Project (students)
Monday 2nd September - The Resilience Project (parents)
Thursday 5th September - School Production VMTV (matinee and evening)
Friday 6th September - School Production VMTV (matinee and evening)
TERM DATES
- 2019 TERM 2: Tuesday 23rd April - Friday 28th June (2:30pm finish)
- 2019 Term 3: Monday 15th July - Friday 20th September (2:30pm finish)
- 2019 Term 4: Monday 7th October - Thursday 20th December (1:30pm finish)
CAMP DATES
- Year 3: Arrabri Lodge Camp (Mon 05Aug to Wed 07Aug)
- Year 4: Anglesea Recreation Camp (Mon 03Jun to Wed 05Jun)
- Year 5: Lady Northcote Recreation Camp (Tue 08Oct to Fri 11Oct)
- Year 6: Canberra Camp (Mon 27May to Fri 31May)
GREAT NEWS On Monday, I was thrilled to receive a phone call from Anthony Carbines, Member for Ivanhoe, confirming that the election promise made to our school late last year had been honoured with a funding announcement in the State Budget, delivered on Monday. To this end, Viewbank Primary School has received $3.187 million for a modernisation of existing facilities. The Northern Buildings, which currently house 6 classrooms and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program room, will be demolished during 2020 and replaced with an upgrade of school facilities through the modular buildings program. For further info go to https://budget.vic.gov.au/budget-papers , Budget Paper 4, page 35. The estimated completion date is at the end of 2020 and the Victorian Schools Building Authority will make contact with us early in Term 3. Excellent news! I would especially like to thank one of our School Councillors, Cosimo Graps, who was pivotal in leading our school’s push to seek funding, and Anthony Carbines who worked with our school in advocating for this funding. Greatly appreciated.
SCHOOL CAMP On Monday, 82 Grade 6 students and 10 staff/volunteers commenced their adventures in our Nation’s Capital when they left school around 7.30am for the long drive north. The Grade 6 Canberra Camp is a highlight of a student’s time at Viewbank and this year’s agenda promises visits to both Parliament Houses, Questacon, the Australian War Memorial, a cruise on Lake Burley Griffin and more. Many thanks to the Grade 6 team and their helpers for planning and implementing a full and varied program of activities and making such a huge time commitment to ensure a successful camping experience. We will include a number of photo highlights later in this newsletter.
DOLLY’S DISCO BINGO By all accounts, Saturday night’s P & F disco bingo night was a roaring success. It was heaps of fun and lots of money was raised for our school’s oval refurbishment project. Many thanks to the loyal band of helpers who made the night such a success under the leadership of Fiona Mitsinikos. Greatly appreciated by all of us!!
WORKING BEE AND OPEN MORNING As I said at Assembly on Monday, it was a huge Viewbank day on Saturday, and a very rewarding, feel-good one at that. We had more than 50 volunteers at the working bee, with so much achieved (a mountain of mulch spread, a ton of tidying) and the flagpole erected in the Gallipoli Oak area. Whilst the industrious 50 were hard at work, the Foundation and Leadership teams were conducting a large number of tours throughout the morning. With 60+ students enrolled already for 2020, it was very positive to have so much interest not only on Saturday but also on the previous Tuesday’s Open Day when student leaders conducted many tours as well. A reminder that if you have a ‘sibling’ enrolment, we would love that you finalise this asap in order that we can offer a small (if any) number of waiting list enrolments by the end of term.
VIETNAM VISITORS You will read later in this newsletter details about the two-week visit of 14 students and 5 staff from Doan Thi Diem School in Hanoi. We are all very excited about their time with us from Monday, June 3 until Sunday, June 16. It will commence with a special assembly around 12.15pm next Monday (there will NOT be a ‘normal’ assembly at 9am) and we will keep you very informed of the activities they will be undertaking during their stay (including a home visit on Friday, June 7).
ANGLESEA CAMP The Grade 4s are very excited about their Anglesea Camp experience, which commences on Monday, June 10, concluding on Wednesday, June 12. Our Vietnam friends will be travelling down to visit on the Tuesday, which will also add to this excitement!
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
Greetings from Canberra We are having a fabulous week and the students are travelling very well. It’s been incredibly cold but we have ensured that the students are well rugged up when out and about and thankfully the bus as well as the venues are warm and cozy.
The drive to Canberra went relatively quickly and was free of any travel sickness (always a positive) but each time we stopped we definitely noticed a drop in the temperature.
Ray and Craig, our bus drivers, have kept us well informed as we drive around Canberra, sharing information and local knowledge. Tuesday night at Questacon was a definite highlight, as was visiting Parliament House and meeting the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove at Government House on Wednesday afternoon. The students have certainly expanded their understanding of Democracy and Australian Government with each destination visited and will definitely have many interesting pieces of information to share with you as well as stories to tell.
We look forward to seeing you Friday afternoon.
Mrs Nicholls
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) - Essential Feature 5 Essential Feature 5 (EF5) looks at what procedures we have acknowledging expected behaviours.
- Positive feedback statements linked to PBS e.g. Thank you for being respectful (expectation) and holding the door open for others (matrix behaviour/rule)
- Different types of reinforcement e.g. verbal and ‘tangible’ – linked specifically to PBS. There needs to be a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
- The importance of feedback for reinforcing behaviour – initially when desired behaviour occurs and immediately, frequently. As the skill becomes learned, intermittently to ensure student knows behaviour is still being monitored
Cyber Safety Recently, we have been made aware of a number of students who have social media / YouTube accounts. What is most concerning is that images and video of your children (our students) is being taken inside your homes by your child/ren and is being made public. Some information is personal enough that it could be used to identify where you live, your family members and what possessions you have. In the strongest possible terms, Viewbank Primary School does not condone the use of these platforms for our students. It puts your home at risk, you at risk and, most importantly, your child /ren at risk.
Please ensure you monitor your child’s internet use and that you abide by the terms and conditions put forth in Terms of Service.
If your child has an Android phone, a service that may be of use (please ensure you research this carefully) is Google Family Link https://families.google.com/familylink/
Some things that this service can help do is:
- Manage their apps (they cannot download anything without your consent/approval)
- View their activity (e.g. what apps they are using)
- Set screen time limits (e.g. 1.5 hours per day)
- Lock their device during certain hours (e.g. between 8pm and 8am)
More info Get the facts about creating a Google Account for your child (under 13 or applicable age in your country), and the tools Family Link provides in our disclosure for parents.
This is a great 3 minute read by Kaspersky Labs, a global cybersecurity company that has over 400 million users around the world https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/top-seven-dangers-children-face-online
It touches on:
- Cyber bullying
- Cyber predators
- Posting Private information
- Phishing
- Falling for scams
- Accidentally downloading malware
- Posts that come back to haunt your child later in life
The staff and students who will be visiting us next week from Doan Thi Diem School speak both English and Vietnamese. At their school the curriculum is delivered in both languages. Here are some common Vietnamese greetings and phrases that you may like to learn and try out to help make our visitors feel welcome when you see them at Viewbank.
- Hello = Xin Chao (Sin chow)
- Goodbye = Tam Biet (Tarm Byeet)
- Thank you = Cam on (kahm uhn)
- Sorry = Xin Loi (Sin Loy)
- How are you? = Ban Khoe Khong (Ban Kwe Khom)
Don't forget to come along to our Welcome Assembly on Monday 3rd June at 12.15pm in the gym.
Recess time at Doan Thi Diem School - Hanoi
VOLUNTEERS WANTED FOR THE VBPS UPCOMING PRODUCTION We are in the process of organising costumes for all Viewbank students to wear at our 2019 Production – VMTV. Some of these costumes are being made by our amazing and talented costume coordinator Kathryn Harvey, who is a mum of two of our students at VBPS.
Kathryn would love some help and assistance with many jobs such as cutting fabric, sewing, overlocking and sorting. You do not need to be a sewer or own any of the equipment needed. However, if you can provide help with any job big or small, we would sincerely appreciate your assistance.
If you are able to volunteer some time or help Kathryn with some of these jobs, please contact the production team.
Many thanks,
Renee Davey, Jenni Hall & Kathryn Harvey
Foundation — Tommy, Emmanuella, Daniel, Eloise, Patrick, Nadia & Alexander
Year 1 — Rex, Ryan, Mia & Abbie
Year 2 — Lucy, Ederson & Kylie
Year 3 & 4 — Ethan, Matilda, Andrea, William, Muhammad & Aidan
Year 5 & 6 — Connor, Will, Anthony & Umar
SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE (Every second 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.
DISCO BINGO What an awesome night Disco Bingo was on Saturday night. Thank you to all the parents (98) who attended the night & supported our school. We loved how everyone got into the spirit & dressed 80’s style, whether it was Madonna, wigs, bogan, acid wash jeans, mullets or exercise gear, everyone looked amazing & really got into the night & there were lots of funny moments.
Dolly ran the disco bingo show......until the parents took over with their spontaneous dancing to songs played, dance offs & fashion parades. We had auctions, gold stars, wine pull, hot pizza, coin toss & a random basketball playoff which in total helped us raise close to $4500.
Special thanks to all the amazing local businesses who donated goods or services to us to raise money, we couldn’t have done it without them.
Massive thanks go to the following people who gave up a lot of time & helped successfully pull off our 1st Parent fundraiser Jo Lewis, Jodi Cook, Amy McKellar, Kelli Walker, Brooke Williams, Brooke Baggot, Carol Seneca, Narelle Blampied, George Mitsinikos (for all his work backstage) & Georgeina for all her help on the night.
Everyone is asking what we are doing next year.......all I can say is stay tuned. Next year’s event will be bigger & better! 🕺🏼💃🏽
Cheers Fiona Mitsinikos
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.
BRIGHT STAR KIDS PERSONALISED NAME PRODUCTS We've teamed up with Bright Star Kids to help us raise funds and to decrease the amount of lost property. When you buy anything from their range of personalised name labels and school supplies (or anything else in their store) 20% of it will come back to our group.
Please remember to link up our group "VIEWBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL" in the Nominate a Fundraiser checkout section. Thanks for your support!
Visit their website: https://www.brightstarkids.com.au where you can buy directly from them and get it sent directly to your home.
STRINGS, DRUM KIT, GUITAR, UKULELE, FLUTE, SINGING, KEYBOARD AND PIANO
Information and “Expression of Interest” forms are available at the general office. Alternatively, you may contact Gabriella on 0413 676 733 or gabriella@the.inter.net.au
HATS ON From 1st September until 30th April school hats must be worn outside during all outside activities.
SCHOOL BANKING Don’t forget to hand your bankbooks into your class teacher every Tuesday for banking.
RUNNING GROUP Every Thursday from 8:15am on the oval, for any students in years 4-6. 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!
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 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.
Facility Hire Viewbank Primary School provides a venue for hire with kitchen facilities. Please submit a written application to the office, outlining the details of intended use via email at viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Please note that conditions do apply. At the discretion of the school, venue costs may also be waived in some instances. All applications will be considered on a case by case basis
It's BigFreeze5 beanie time! Just in time for Melbourne to turn on its chilly best, get your beanie today at www.fightmnd.org.au and support the fight against MND.
Also don't forget to tune in to watch the BigFreeze5 as part of the Collingwood v Melbourne game on Monday 10 June 2019 (Queens Birthday) at the MCG.