Principal Team's Message

Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families

Book Week

The Book Week parade last week was magical and representative of the theme, 'Reading is Magic' with a celebration of reading stories and their amazing power to transport minds. Congratulations to all the students who received prizes on the day. A huge thank you to all of the parents for helping the children participate in our Book Week Character Parade. Everyone looked fantastic! Please enjoy some photo highlights from the day.

Fathers and Special Others Stall and Afternoon Extravaganza

We had our Father's Day stall yesterday which was a great opportunity for students to buy something for their special male figure. I would like to thank the Maramba community for their generous donations and FOM for organising it for the students.

Our Sports Extravaganza afternoon was a fantastic success, with a great turnout of fathers, special male figures, and families! The event featured a variety of engaging and enjoyable activities, along with a coffee cart sponsored by our Out of School Hours Care provider, Theircare. The enthusiastic participation of our families made the afternoon truly memorable for our young people. A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful community for your involvement and to our dedicated staff for organising such a special event!

Shrek the Production- Things to know

• Please ensure you have given permission via QKR for your child to attend the whole school rehearsal and matinee performance on September 5th. All staff will be at the River Gum Performing Arts Centre on 5th September. For more information, please contact your child's classroom teacher.
• Throughout the evening performance there will be photography and filming which will be available for purchase afterwards. Please refrain from filming or taking your own photos in the interest of our student’s safety and wellbeing. This is the link to purchase the video recording:

Maramba Primary School - Stagefright Concert Productions (stagefrightcp.com.au)

Evening performance

• Students are to be dropped off between 5:30pm-6:15pm on September 5th at the River Gum Performing Arts Centre.
• Students are to be dropped off wearing their costume.
• Students are not allowed to bring food or drink into the River Gum Performing Arts Centre. However, families attending the performance may buy food and drinks from the canteen. Although, this cannot be bought in for students. NO FOOD OR DRINKS ARE ALLOWED IN THE THEATRE.
• Students are to be picked up once the production is finished at approximately 8pm, not before. Parents will be required to sign the child out from their classroom teacher. Below are the areas within the River Gum Performing Arts Centre where you can collect your child from once the performance is complete. 

Student Wellbeing - School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)

At Maramba Primary School, we work hard to promote our school values and positive behaviours. School-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) is a framework that we will follow to maintain a positive, safe and supportive learning environment. This approach is well-researched and has been proven to be effective.

Through the implementation of SWPBS, teachers and students experience many benefits. Some of these include:

• Consistent and clear behavioural expectations throughout the school
• Improved social-emotional wellbeing
• Improved student behaviour; allowing for more time focused on teaching and learning
• Positive and respectful relationships among students and staff
• A predictable learning environment with clear perceptions of safety
• Increased student attendance

We have begun our work in developing our whole school Behaviour Matrix to clearly describe the behaviours expected of our students, which are correlated with our school values of being resilient, responsible, respectful and developing positive relationships.This will clarify what our behaviours should look, sound and feel like, and will also allow for expected behaviours to be explicitly taught in every classroom. It is envisioned that it will also create consistency in the school values badge system across the school. 

Where to next?

As we work to develop our framework, we would love parent input so that the behaviour expectations are developed through a collaborative effort that includes input from students, parents, and our educational team. A session is planned for parents on Wednesday, 9th October from 2:30-3:15pm. The purpose of this session is to go through what has been developed so far and seek input from our community. Please join us in the staffroom.   

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to build a stronger, more positive school community at Maramba Primary School. 

Compass - Student Learning Management System

Wouldn’t it be great if all of your child’s information was available in one place? If communication was as simple as the click of a few buttons? If payment and consent for events could be made from your phone? We thought so, too.

Next term, our school will transition from using XUNO to Compass!

The benefits of Compass include:

• It is available anytime, anywhere via the app.
• You will never worry about missing a thing with the SMS, email or push notifcation process.
• Everything is online so no need to worry about misplacing a note, report or permission slip again. 

Please refer to the parent guide for more information regarding logging in, Semester Reports, Attendance and updating your personal details.

Assemblies and Newsletters

Please see the schedule below for our assemblies and newsletters:

School Saving Bonus  

In Term 4, 2024, families with a child enrolled in a government school from Prep to Year 12 in 2025 will receive the one off $400 School Saving Bonus.

The $400 School Saving Bonus provides families with support for education related costs, such as school activities and/or school uniforms and textbooks.

The School Saving Bonus is not available for full-fee international students, home schooled students, TAFE students and students attending kindergarten in 2025.   

Actions for parents and carers

Before 18 October 2024, the Department of Education is asking parents and carers to:

• Complete enrolment: If your child, or children are changing government school for Term 1 2025, or starting Prep or Year 7 in 2025. For more information, read about Enrolling in School. 
• Check your contact information: Ensure your email address and phone number is up to date with us. You can check this information by contacting us directly.

We need to ensure your contact information is up to date as the Department of Education will email you twice:

• in October, to verify your email address
• in November, with your $400 School Saving Bonus.

Please check your junk mail regularly to make sure you do not miss an important email.

To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, download the School Saving Bonus Information sheet for government school parents and carers or visit vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus. 

Why is this important for families?

• It gives families one less thing to worry about because it helps with the cost of uniforms, textbooks and extracurricular activities.
• This will make a big difference for families because it will help with cost-of-living pressures.
• For more information, visitSchool Saving Bonus: Policy | education.vic.gov.au

I would like to congratulate Matt Saulys, our Maintenance person, who has picked up a supervisor role and will ensure that all the electrical works along newly constructed roads as part of the ‘Big Build Roads’ project are done to an excellent standard. There is no doubt that we will miss Matt and his numerous talents, but wish him all the best for a successful future. 

Finally, we wish all the amazing dads, father figures, and special men in our school community, a wonderful Father’s Day filled with joy, love, and celebration. Your support, guidance, and presence make a remarkable difference in the lives of our students and their families. We hope your day is as special as you are! 

Kind regards,

Moniba Ehsan and Stephanie Sharp

Principal and Assistant Principal