Friday 2nd November - Day for Daniel - Free dress day (gold coin donation)
Thursday 8th November - Special Lunch Day (Orders have now closed)
Saturday 24th November - State Election Day Fundraising BBQ & Bake Sale
Tuesday 4th December - Viewbank Primary Parents & Friends end of year social parents dinner - Everyone welcome!! 7:30pm
Thursday 6th December - Special Lunch Day
Tuesday 18th December - Year 6 Graduation at Viewbank College
ANNUAL WORKING BEES — Saturday November 10 (Term 4) 9am to 5pm
PUPIL FREE DAYS — Monday December 17
TERM DATES — TERM 4: Monday 8 October - Friday 21 December
GRADE 2 SLEEPOVER Congratulations to everyone involved in last Friday night’s sleepover held at school which went very smoothly. Many thanks to Karli Burns, our Grade 2 Team Leader, who coordinated a wonderful evening of activities supported by all Grade 2 teachers, other Grade teachers, specialist teachers and Principal Class members. Another example of our staff giving up their own time to provide opportunities for our students. The children especially loved the disco, the pizza dinner, sleeping in the Grade 6 classrooms and the movie (I think Paddington Bear is a much under-rated movie!!). All in all, a great night!
GRADE 3 CAMP Students arrived back last night from three days of camping adventures at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton East. It is an excellent camp with a wide variety of activities, good food, excellent accommodation and a lovely setting. Thank you to the team, led by Bonnie Boness, for all of your planning, organisation and enthusiasm. It was really appreciated!!
STATE CHESS FINALS Congratulations to our chess team which competed at Kingswood College on Tuesday. Overall we came twelfth out of the thirty two schools that competed. A wonderful effort from a small team.
STATE ATHLETICS Congratulations to Athanasia Patroungas from Grade 4C who competed at the State Athletics on Monday. Competing in the 10 years age group she placed 7th in Victoria in the long jump. A fantastic effort and one we are all proud of!
DANIEL MORCOMBE ‘WEAR RED’ DAY Whilst grades participated in on-line lessons last Friday, this Friday is the ‘wear red’ day in lieu of a gold coin donation to support the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
BEST WISHES KARLI I would like to take this opportunity to wish Karli Burns and her fiancé Adam all the best for their wedding on Friday, November 9. Karli commences leave next Wednesday, and marries at a Yarra Valley venue on the Friday afternoon. We wish her and her soon-to-be husband a happy, happy life together.
INTENTION TO LEAVE Each year, we have a number of families moving into the area and enrolling students at Grade levels other than Foundation, and this seems to ‘ramp up’ around this time of the year. Similarly, and often because of circumstances relating to job transfers, moving house, defence force postings and the like we have families leaving us with students attending other primary schools in the following year. PLEASE, if you are one of these families and you know for certain, or are fairly sure, that you won’t be returning in 2019, could you let us know at your earliest convenience? Some fairly important decisions are made based on enrolment information, and the more reliable the information, the better the decisions! An email to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au or a hand written note presented at the General Office will suffice. Thank you.
PARENTAL REQUESTS This is the final call for parents to provide in writing grade placement requests for 2019. At this stage, we have not assigned teachers to grade levels for next year. There are no guarantees that teachers currently teaching at certain grade levels will be teaching there next year, as leadership needs to take into consideration a range of factors including the development of our teaching staff and teacher preferences before this allocation is completed. Having said that, we do invite your input into grade selection if there are special circumstances that we need to know about. Occasionally we may not be aware of these special circumstances which might include but are not limited to health, emotional or learning matters, peer or sibling relationships or changes in the home situation.
There is no place to request a particular teacher by name, NOR to request your child does not have a particular teacher. Selecting a particular teacher does not fit within the realm of special circumstances.
Information requiring our consideration needs to be addressed to ‘The Principal’ and handed to the office by Monday, November 5. Please note that letters received after this date will NOT be accepted. All letters will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. Whilst each request will be given consideration, no guarantees can be given. We are planning to announce class placements by December 12 and these will be provided with your child’s 2019 reports. Finally, if you consider you have special circumstances, please make the request in writing EVEN if it has been made before –as much as we would like to think so, we can’t remember everything from years gone by!!
Have a great weekend everybody.
Kind regards,
Bill Kersing
Principal
YEAR 2 SLEEP OVER Congratulations to all the Year 2 students who attended the sleepover last Friday night. It was a wonderful evening! A big thank you to the Year 2 teachers and extra Viewbank staff for assisting.
The children had lots of fun at the disco and thoroughly enjoyed the yummy pizza. The movie was a great way to finish the evening before settling down for the night. There was great excitement the next morning with most children up by 6.30am, bags packed, bedding rolled away and eagerly waiting for their parents to pick them up. Thanks to all parents for arriving promptly. I know there were many staff who went to bed early on Saturday.
YEAR 3 CAMP Well done to all our Year 3 campers who arrived home tired but happy on Wednesday.
It sounds like everyone had a fabulous time at Arrabri Lodge Camp. A huge thank you to our wonderful Viewbank staff and parent helpers for both planning the camp and attending for the three days.
We certainly could not have such a rich school camping program without the support and dedication shown by all.
Have a great week
Gill Nicholls
DANIEL MORCOMBE FOUNDATION On Friday, 26th October, the students in Foundation to Year 3 at Viewbank PS were involved in Australia’s largest personal safety lesson. This is an initiative of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Over 100,000 students between the ages of 3 and 8 tuned in at the same time to watch an interactive lesson streamed on their website.
We are having a ‘Wear Red Day’ on Friday, 2nd November, collecting a gold coin donation that will be sent to the foundation.
On Friday 26th October it was Day for Daniel Day. At 10.30am we watched an awesome live stream video lesson about feelings and how to stay safe, we also learnt about people we can trust in our safety network and wrote them down on our own safety hand. We think this is very important for all children to know so that we can always be safe. (Sam, Maddie & Kevin - 3G)
As a follow up to last week’s newsletter item regarding the SAFEMinds training the staff participated in, we have a number of websites that may be useful. Please note, these are only a snapshot and are not meant to replace the guidance and support of experts in mental health. Banyule and Nillumbik
Dear Parents/Guardians
Please note the following changes attached in regards to the ordering procedure of school uniforms. My Uniforms has been taken over by A Plus Schoolwear therefore the new website is https://www.aplusschoolwear.com.au/Default.aspx
Thank you
Lucy
Special Lunch Day (Pizza, Cookie & Juice) - Orders have now closed. Parent assistance is required on this day. If you are available to assist in any way can you please email your details to viewbank.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Your help is needed...
ELECTION DAY SAUSAGE SIZZLE & BAKE SALE Viewbank Primary School are doing a fundraiser sausage sizzle and bake sale on Saturday November 24 in conjunction with the Election polling day. All money raised at this event event will go towards future school improvements such as the oval area renovation.
We are looking for some bakers that can help fill the bake stall with some delicious homebaked goods.
Homebaked goods can be any type of home baked goods, such as cakes, muffins, slices, biscuits etc. that are ready (paper plates, boxes, plastic bags) for sale either whole plates or smaller/individually packaged goods. Goods cannot contain ingredients that require refrigeration (ie. fresh cream), as these facilities are not available. All items will need to be labeled with ingredients.
We are also seeking volunteers to help with the organising of the goods on Friday 23 and people to man the cake stall and sausage sizzle on Saturday 24.
If you are able to help in any way even an hour or two of your time or the donation of baked goods we would be very grateful for your support.
For any queries please contact (bake sale) Brooke - brooke@smoiled.com or (BBQ) Kim - kgraps@gmail.com or see the school office.
Thank you
P&F Committee
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.
This October Viewbank Primary is excited to take part in the state-wide Walk to School program.
About Walk to School VicHealth’s Walk to School encourages Victorian primary school kids and their families to walk, ride or scoot to and from school everyday. Along with the health benefits it also reduces traffic congestion and parking, helps us connect with the community and saves the environment!
Part way is okay! If you can’t walk the whole way, why not try parking at your nearest meeting place and walk, ride or scoot the rest.
Safe Routes to School Map Banyule Council has provided a Safe Routes to School Map. Viewbank Primary’s has convenient meeting places highlighted where families could meet in the mornings before they start their walk. The maps are available at the front office so you can familiarise yourself with the safest way to walk to school.
For more information go to walktoschool.vic.gov.au
HATS ON From 1st September until 30th April school hats must be worn outside during all outside activities.
TRANSITION DATES Please download the below timeline for your future reference.
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!
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
All Big Group Hug donations can be left in the Grade 3/4F classroom.