Principal Team Message

AFFIRMATION TO HELP YOU HARNESS THE DAY & HOLIDAYS

Trust the wait.

Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. 

When nothing is certain, anything is possible.

-Mandy Hale 

Here are some affirmations you can try with your children at home. Hand them a card a day and see the difference this makes to their mental health and wellbeing. 

HAPPY END OF TERM!

It's been over two years since our students, staff and families managed to enjoy a full term of school onsite with no interruptions to curriculum delivery, assessments, learning, school-related activities and much-celebrated community events. 

Despite many of our community members being affected by periods of isolation, we hope you have all remained healthy and overcame the symptoms of COVID-19 with no long-term impact.  

We thank everyone for your persistence and vigilance in following through on COVIDsafe practices, getting vaccinated, completing rapid antigen screening, staying home when unwell and, of course, displaying utmost optimism throughout the last ten weeks.  

RIPPER SAUSAGE SIZZLE 

What a lovely way to start getting into the festive spirit of the upcoming holidays! Students and staff enjoyed the sizzling snags from the BBQ thanks to the marvellous organising and preparation efforts of Lee, Louisa and Mel with Alec, Brenton, Nat P and Mark keeping the hot plates cooking up a storm. Kids were giving their thumbs up for the delicious sausages.

IMPORTANT DATES & INFORMATION 

Please be mindful that we will dismiss all students at 2:30 pm this Friday. We will be holding a whole school assembly on Zoom at 2:00 pm.

Term 2 Key Dates 

Monday 25 April - Anzac Day public holiday 

Tuesday 26 April - Curriculum Day 

Wednesday 27 April - Term 3 starts 

WELCOME PICNIC

Our appreciation extends to Jaeden Williams, local Yalukit Wilam man of the Boon Wurrung people, who honoured our community with a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country. The herbal smoke of the native plant filled the air providing all of us a spiritual and physical cleansing after the last few years and hopefully warding off bad spirits in the coming year. 

The Welcome Picnic was a great success for our community. It reminded us how we care about each other and our environment, create opportunities such as these evenings and events to re-establish the Ripper spirit and connect by welcoming new families to our family. Thank you to Colin S and Bridget H, members of our parent band who entertained us, whilst the Bubups (children) were dancing and singing along to the music played on the decks by our very own resident DJ dads - Alec M and Matt S. 

Lee B, the cupcakes were delicious and so were the snags and the volunteers were there with endless support, we couldn't have done this without you all. We also thank TheirCare our OSHC provider for their generosity and donations towards this event. This was certainly a special day to capture in our memory banks. 

INQUIRY LEARNING - REAL AND AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES 

As part of the Year 1/2 inquiry unit this term, students have been exploring features, places and landmarks within the RPS school grounds, around the local community and within central Melbourne through the Flat Stanley Project.

Last week, students further explored this learning during a fun-filled and learning-rich experience in the city. During this excursion, students ventured all the way up to the Eureka Skydeck and enjoyed the 360 degree views of Melbourne. Students utilised view finders, interactive displays and the outdoor terrace to identify key landmarks around Melbourne. Afterwards, students went to Birraarung Marr, where they got the opportunity to further investigate key landmarks in the area such as the playground, the Federation Bells, local artworks, Federation Square and Flinders Street Station, just to name a few. It was such an amazing day of learning for all. 

INDIGO ART THERAPY SESSIONS 

Our students seem to be really enjoying these sessions with Simona & Natalie. Based on parent feedback so far we can see what areas parents are most concerned about. Parents have indicated that children lack emotional literacy, the ability to self- regulate and only 50% of parents agreed that their children have difficulty focusing on their learning. 

Simona and Natalie are keen to work on these areas to support our students. Below you will find an opportunity for children over the school holidays. 

CYBERSAFETY - EVERY STUDENT EVERY TERM 

Every Term, Every Student cyber safety program has commenced and we have some special materials to share with our families. Tip sheets for each year level will be posted on COMPASS for your reference and for discussions with your child/ren at home. 

NB: We kindly remind families to consent to these sessions on COMPASS and make payment on QKR. 

Included in this correspondence is a link to the following webinar, so please register as soon as possible. Even if you are unable to watch the presentation, they will send you a recording only if you have registered. 

DOGS AT THE SCHOOL GATE 

We all love our pets but there seems to be an increase in our families walking their dogs to school and sometimes tying them up on the railings outside the entrance. Unfortunately, this has caused some significant distress to students entering the school grounds. 

It can be extremely frightening when dogs jump at children as they walk past or if they bark continuously. Sometimes we see dogs growling and snapping at each other in quite confronting ways. Please be respectful and find somewhere a bit more discrete to tie your dogs to allow students to enter and exit safely through the school gates without fear. 

CURRICULUM DAY - MISTY ADONIOU

Our staff will once again engage with literary expert Prof. Misty Adoniou on Tuesday 26 April. Our staff are now ready to gain knowledge on word study and spelling skills using the scaffolding literacy approaches she taught us in previous years. 

We really need to re-conceptualise spelling and eliminate the three myths:

1. Spelling is an innate skill, so we leave it untaught.
2. Spelling is chaotic, so we don’t teach it as a system and leave it to rote learning.
3. Spelling is an aural and or visual skill and so we choose from a range of narrow spelling strategies. 

English is not a phonetic language

•  26 letters 
• 44- 48 phonemes
•  5 vowels
• 20 vowel sounds have over 218 ways to spell them (graphemes)

English is a morpho-phonemic language

Words are formed by their meanings as well as their sounds. English has a lengthy and continuing evolution. Words are a reflection of their origin and history

The linguistic resources that good spellers draw upon are:

• semantic knowledge (knowing what words mean)
• phonological knowledge (including phonemic awareness),
• orthographic knowledge (understanding what is possible in
• letter order)
• etymological knowledge (knowing where words come from)
• morphological knowledge (knowing the meaningful parts of
• the word)
• visual knowledge (recognising the correct look of a word)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 

Thank you to everyone on a most successful term! Together we have achieved a great start to the year. We would like to acknowledge our staff for all their hard work over the term, our parents for always supporting our students and working alongside our teachers. 

It has been exciting visiting our students in their learning spaces, witnessing first-hand their commitment to their learning, working alongside their peers, becoming self-directed and driven to achieve their personal and academic goals. 

Our aim is to get our students actively involved in their learning; not to simply do tasks as decided by our teachers, but to actively manage and understand their learning. This includes evaluating their own progress, being more responsible for their learning and being involved with peers in learning together. 

Wishing all families, staff and students a most relaxing holiday break. With Ramadan, Passover and Easter, we are sure to enjoy some lovely celebrations. 

Until next term!

Natalie Rose Principal

Jess Grey Assistant Principal