As we approach our last few weeks of this term, there is so much to be grateful for and to celebrate. The term has literally flown by and we wanted to acknowledge the hard work of our community in supporting our students. As you have heard before, it truly does take a village to raise a child and everyone’s contribution adds to this success.

We are so impressed with the manner in which our students have settled into a new year. There is a sense of calm and readiness for our students to embrace new learning opportunities, establish their learning goals and thrive in their new learning communities. Relationships are key amongst our students and staff and we hope families feel just as connected.

Our staff have worked extremely hard and collaborated to understand not only the needs of students in their own class, but each child across the year level. They have a deeper knowledge of evidence based practices that our school has worked hard to establish over the last few years and they have established the routines of learning that complement effective delivery of the curriculum.

We just love watching our students confidently walk through the school gates in the morning with giant smiles grinning from ear to ear. This is particularly heart-warming to see from our Foundation students who seem so confident and are already demonstrating independence as they officially begin full time attendance at Ripponlea.

We continue to monitor the wellbeing of students, especially those highly affected by last year. If you witness significant changes in your child’s sleep, mood or behaviour, please reach out for support before things get difficult to manage. Our teachers and leadership team are here to support you and your family.

WORLD’S GREATEST SHAVE

Congratulations to the Ripper Team, Noah and Lenny who together with Tarryn Holland our School Council president raised over $8,000 for the Leukemia Foundation. Last Friday our students arrived to school with whacky hair in support of the cause and raised an additional $244 through gold coin donations. This incredible effort made us, as a community, very proud to have such dedicated leadership in Noah and Lenny who not only bring positive role modelling to their peers, but also real contributions to help find a cure for Leukemia. Tremendous effort boys!

FOUNDATION VIRTUAL CURRICULUM INFORMATION EVENING

All Foundation families can now access the following video detailing information about our Curriculum Programs and practices in the Foundation year: https://youtu.be/0l-aXKorGw0

Please save the date: Wednesday the 24th 5:30-6:00pm via Webex (information will be sent via Compass)

Please post any question you have for our team on the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/hveM9wBEtU87vPN77

WHAT HAS THE SCHOOL BEEN WORKING ON OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS?

The school’s Strategic Plan was developed in 2017 following a review period. In 2018 and each year since the Annual Implementation Plan mapped the schools key improvement strategies and actions. https://www.ripponleaps.vic.edu.au/uploaded_files/media/1612501531ripponlea_primary_school_4087__2021__aip__overall.pdf

Over the last three years here are some things you might have noticed change at Ripponlea.

The school has adopted a distributive leadership model. The school’s leadership team is not just principal class officers, the team is representative of leaders across the school, each with specific roles and responsibility in driving school improvement. This diagram details our leadership structure and emphasises that leading school improvement is a responsibility of all staff at Ripponlea.
Over the course of the last three years, the school has increased professional learning opportunities for all staff, not just on an individual basis, but a focus on whole school evidence based (researched) practices. This has included high level consultants in their field. In particular the focus has been on improving the writing skills of our students by working with Professor Misty Adoniou https://theconversation.com/profiles/misty-adoniou-107235

The school has adopted the Gradual Release of Responsibility as the school’s instructional teaching model. Guiding students to become independent learners is a goal for all teachers at Ripponlea Primary School. A proven method of teaching for eventual student autonomy, higher levels of engagement and catering to individual needs is the GRR Model. The model is rich in utilising high impact teacher practices and strategies, explicit modelling, guided practice, prompting and cuing, listening to expert thinking, encouraging collaborative experiences, and lots of opportunity for review, meta-cognition, 'right now learning', in class and out of class learning. This has ensured wonderful learning experiences are afforded to our students.

In order to develop a positive, safe, supportive learning culture, Ripponlea PS is committed to implementing the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) approach to teaching expected behaviours from Foundation to Year 6. The SWPBS framework enables us to improve the social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for all our students. The goal of PBS (a shortened abbreviation we have chosen) at Ripponlea PS is to create and maintain a positive and safe learning environment that enhances our school culture and our community. Our approach aligns academic and behavioural systems to create an emphasis on explicitly teaching, monitoring, and acknowledging appropriate behaviour.

Over the course of next term we will share further school improvement initiatives with our community, as we work towards a school review process in Term 3. This will be a consultation process with all members of our school community in helping us celebrate the success and develop future goals of the school.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Many thanks again to the parents who nominated to be a part of our School Council this year. As mentioned in our earlier COMPASS correspondence, the number of nominations are equal to the number of positions, therefore an election will not be required.

Monday 29th March, marks the first official meeting of the 2021 Ripponlea School Council. This is referred to as the Annual General Meeting. This is when members will be appointed to positions of responsibility.

We welcome new Parent and DET members: Bridget Hast, Isabel Lasala and Julie Nield. Joining our existing members Tarryn Holland, Simone Kaplan, Jaclyn Paltos, Colin Smith, Braden Leech, Jess Grey and Natalie Rose.

What does our school council do?

In the performance of their role, school councils are able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students. Within guidelines provided by the Department of Education and Training, a school council has responsibilities for developing and overseeing such things as:

the school strategic plan which sets out the main goals and priorities of the school for three years
the annual implementation plan which puts into practice the strategic plan
the school’s budget which shares out the available resources to make sure that the goals/targets of the strategic plan are carried out
the general educational policy of the school
the physical appearance and maintenance of the school’s buildings and grounds
the educational opportunities of students at the school through community engagement and fundraising efforts

Ripponlea School Council meets eight times a year. Meetings dates are published on the school’s calendar on COMPASS and are open to all parents and staff to attend. If you want to attend a School Council meeting, have a matter to raise or want to find out more about the work of the School Council, please contact our President; Tarryn Holland, or Principal.

Subcommittees are advisory bodies to the school council; they assist council with performing their duties and functions, and are generally established to support school council in specific areas. The following committee structures exist at RPS.

Finance Committee

This committee oversees the management of school finances and ensures there is good governance and responsible administration of the financial resources of the school. This committee organises the operational budget of the school, monitors revenue and expenditure and manages the resources available via government funding, parent contributions, grants, fundraising and school operations.

Facilities & Environment

This committee of volunteers manages a “Master Plan” of works and projects aimed at maintaining a safe and enjoyable environment for our students. The organisation of working bees is a major function along with coordinating the assistance of volunteers to support a range of small and large scale projects. The school's current “Learning Deck project is an example of coordinated volunteers with particular skills coming together to bring this project to its completion. This includes architects, building advisors, grant writers, accessibility consultants, project managers and carpenters all lending their expertise.

Governance

This committee provides a forum for discussion of current educational policy and respond to requests from School Council as well as feedback from teachers, parents and students. They oversee the school’s policies and update and revise policies in line with DET policies and guidelines. They ensure all policies and guidelines are consistent with the Strategic Plan and support School Council and other committees. They seek feedback on proposed/draft policies from teachers and parents/school community as required, and present new or updated policies to School Council for ratification.

Sustainability

Our vision is to be a sustainable community within which children learn through play to care for and respect each other and the environment. We intend for children and families to gain knowledge, understanding and skills to foster a successful sustainable future. Sustainable practices should be seen as an everyday part of life. At RPS we will model these practices which are embedded in the curriculum and continue to be expanded to cover new initiatives. We aim for all children to develop real and meaningful connections with their environment in partnership with their families, the staff team and the school community, in order to become responsible and effective global citizens.

Ripper Families

Play an essential role in engaging our school community. The committee is responsible for fundraising within the school, as well as the coordination and oversight of school events. Some examples of our Ripper Events/fundraisers include: Mother's and Father's day stall, footy Day, Cake Stalls and Special Lunch Days just to name a few.

RPS TAKES ACTION & STAND TOGETHER - BULLYING, NO WAY!

We are reaching out to all members of our community to stand together on the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence this Friday 19 March. The NDA is a day of

national significance for all schools to Take Action Together and say Bullying. No Way!

All student's will participate in an incursion from Action Education – Backflips Against Bullying. The Backflips Against Bullying program features 3 entertainers who use their incredible acrobatic skills to captivate and engage students, earning their respect, and encouraging them to take control of their own lives and make changes on a social level within the school. We look forward to our students recognising their important role in all behaviours. We also recognise that many of our students use the term “bullying” inappropriately.

This website is a great support in having a conversation with your child about what is and what is not bullying:

Not liking someone
Being excluded
Accidentally bumping into someone
Making other kids play in a certain way
A single act of telling a joke about someone
Arguments
Expression of unpleasant thoughts or feelings regarding others
Isolated acts of harassment, aggressive behaviour, intimidation or mean behaviour

https://www.ronitbaras.com/emotional-intelligence/personal-development/what-is-not-bullying/

RIPPONLEA CELEBRATES - CUTURAL DIVERSITY WEEK – MARCH 21-28Th

Australia is a vibrant, multicultural country. We are home to the world’s oldest continuous cultures, as well as Australians who identify with more than 270 ancestries. Since 1945, almost seven million people have migrated to Australia. This rich, cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths. It is central to our national identity.

Let’s celebrate this week by sharing our rich cultural identities right here at RPS. We are looking for any parents/carers who can come and share their cultural knowledge with our students. Please see the classroom teacher if you are willing to share with your child’s class or another class.

Students are encouraged to bring artefacts to school that are representative of their family’s cultural backgrounds. Students can come dressed up wearing cultural dress on Friday. Our Year 1/2 students have already began exploring a unit of inquiry about their cultural backgrounds and identities. At Ripponlea we also teach the intercultural capabilities of the Victorian Curriculum.

Developing intercultural knowledge, skills and understandings is an essential part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. The Intercultural Capability curriculum assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped for living and working together in an interconnected world.

Intercultural capability enables students to learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. Students learn about diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

Cultural Dress Up Day will be held on Friday 26th March.

MEET OUR NEW STAFF

Danielle Merlino

Ciao a tutti! I’m Signora Merlino and very excited to be part of the Ripponlea Community in the role of LOTE Teacher during 2021. I’ve been teaching for several years as a class teacher and recently as an Italian teacher at Tucker Rd Primary School. My family comes from a beautiful island called Stromboli in Italy where I have been fortunate enough to visit many times. I love travelling and have lived in Italy, England, USA and Singapore. I’ve loved living and experiencing different cultures. I’ve been learning ballroom/Latin dancing over the years and LOVE it! I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, reading, swimming, going to the movies and exploring Melbourne cafes and restaurants. Please feel free to come and say hello. I’m looking forward to being part of the Ripponlea Community.

Kay Conser

Hi, My name is Kay Conser and I have joined Ripponlea this year as a learning tutor. I had a wonderful teaching career of nearly 30 years; teaching has been a large part of my life in many varied roles in state education. I'm excited to be joining the Ripponlea family and looking forward to meeting all the students and assisting them in any way possible. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, crafts and painting.

Andria Arendze

Hello everyone at Ripponlea School Community, my name is Miss Andria Arendze. It is wonderful to have commenced as your new Visual Arts Teacher. I have been enjoying meeting all the children and staff at Ripponlea Primary School recently. One of my favourite passions and interests has always been art, creating beautiful artworks and visiting lots of art galleries. These days, I enjoy creating large canvas paintings of cartoon and fairy-tale characters and have a brand called @bedtimefordollies. I also have another brand dedicated to digital seascape photography. When I am away from school I am often found taking 100s and 1000s of photographs near the sea, reading, spending time with my family and friends, doing lots of beach walks, travelling to places like Uluru and singing in church choirs and an Italianate Opera Company. I am really looking forward to making your art lessons fun and getting to know your artistic interests. See you soon and remember what Picasso said; ‘every child is an artist’.

NAPLAN IS COMING

Students in Years 3 and Year 5 will participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. Students at Ripponlea have been sitting this test online over the last three years. Only students in Year 3 complete their writing assessment on paper.

This assessment provides parents and our teachers with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

Over the last three years the school has used NAPLAN data to focus on areas of improvement, in particular supporting our students' developing writing skills.

In Writing, our NAPLAN results indicate that we have significantly reduced the low growth of our students from Year 3 to Year 5; this has been a reduction of 11 percentage points, down to only 15% of students showing low growth. 64% of students show medium growth and 24% show high growth. Diagnostically looking at our school's NAPLAN growth data, students who sat the NAPLAN testing in Year 3 and Year 5 at RPS had far better outcomes and growth when compared with students who enrolled at RPS after the Year 3 NAPLAN.

Here is video from Misty to explain NAPLAN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ3SPZQbIUk

LUCY’S BABY NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS MISS CLOVER!

And now for the most exciting news in this edition.

We are delighted to announce the arrival of the newest Ripper community member Oliver Ted Keane!

Lucy (Foundation teacher 2020) and Daniel are overwhelmed with joy and looking forward to visiting the school to show him off. We can't wait!

Until next fortnight!

Natalie Rose Jess Grey

Principal Assistant Principal

Sustainability Corner

Wiping Out Waste at RPS!