An Update from Mr Vines

Welcome to 2020

Welcome back to all our existing families and a big welcome to all our new families joining us in 2020! What an exciting year we have a head of us! I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready to go after such a long break.

Timetable Changes

At the end of last year we asked for your feedback. Two pieces of feedback that we heard often from families was students would benefit more from longer eating time and more frequent, but shorter, breaks during the day. As a result you will notice some changes to the structure of the day. We now have three breaks in the day instead of only two, ‘snack’ is 15 minutes from 10:40 to 10:55, ‘lunch’ is a half an hour from 12:50 to 1:20 and our ‘break’ time is a half hour from 2:10 to 2:40. Furthermore, we now have a 15 minute dedicated eating time from 12:35 to 12:50 to allow the students to settle and really focus on eating before running out to play. We believe that this is going to be the best set up for our students learning, and we will be reviewing the effectiveness of the timetable change at the end of term 1.

Website

Now that we are in our second year of operation we wish to further refine and update our website. Our amazing website is made using Wordpress, and we would love if anyone who has some experience in web development would be happy to give an hour or two to provide some advice concerning the current structure of the back end of our website. Please either get in touch with myself or the office if you can spare a small amount of time.

Friendship Tree

Anna Barden has outdone herself again in the decoration of our amazing Friendship Tree. For those of our families that are unaware, the Friendship Tree is a place for our students to go if they do not have anyone to play with or are feeling a bit down. Our students all know to invite any students sitting at the tree to a game and to check in on them, and our teachers keep a particularly watchful eye on the tree as well. Please encourage your child to not only use the tree, but to check in on anyone who is there as well.

Mobile Phone Policy

As you may be aware, the Victorian government has announced a new mobile phone policy that will require students to switch their phones off and securely store them away during the school day from the start of 2020. The policy is designed to support teaching and learning in an environment that is free from unnecessary distractions, disruptions and student inattention caused by the urge to check their phones. At recess and lunch times, students will be better-placed to communicate with each other face to face and/or be involved in activities rather than being focused on a device or on social media.

Our Engagement and Wellbeing subcommittee of School Council has looked at the policy and has explored how it will look for our school. We will be asking if a student is required to bring a device that can send or receive messages to school (phones, smart watches, message enabled iPads etc.) that you complete and return a consent form. The device will then need to be handed in to the students’ teacher to be stored securely each morning and will then be returned at the end of the day. Additional information regarding the policy is available on the Department of Education and Training’s website and our school policy can be found on our website here.

If you have any concerns or would like to discuss these Departmental changes further please come and book a time to see me.

Board Games

As we grow we wish to add more clubs and opportunities for our students to explore during break time. One such club that we would like to add is a board games club. If you have any spare board games that you would be happy to donate then please drop them in at the office. Furthermore, if you would be interested in supporting the running of a board games club and volunteering some time, please get in touch through the office.

Bike Hospital

We are still looking for some interested parents who would like to run our bike hospital. This is a rather small time commitment for parents and is a fantastic way to meet other families and make friends. This requires a parental volunteer commitment of about two hours either a week or a fortnight. The toolkit is provided and there is no cost to anyone involved. It is a fantastic way to connect with the community and to meet people you may not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. The day that we run this is entirely dependent upon the availability of parental volunteers.

Please click this link if you are able to donate some time to help run this initiative or contact the office to find out more.

Privacy Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website. For more information about privacy, see: Schools’ Privacy Policy – information for parents. This information also available in nine community languages.

Bushfires

Finally we wish to pass on our thoughts and condolences to all the families that have been affected by the fires. It is an absolute tragedy that has struck our country and it is important that everyone looks after themselves. The Department’s bushfire information for parents and carers page includes a list of counselling services to which you can refer students and their families.

For help with concerns about mental health, students or family members can also call:

NURSE-ON-CALL: 1300 606 024
Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 or kidshelp.com.au
Headspace: 1800 650 890 or eheadspace.org.au
Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36 or beyondblue.org.au

Headspace also provides this advice for students on how to cope with the stress of natural disasters

More information

Along with the resources listed above, external organisations such as Headspace and Be You also provide a range of resources to help schools understand how they can support students:

See be you’s Grief, trauma and critical incidents fact sheets
See headspace’s mental health support for Australian students, teachers, and schools following large scale incidents

Furthermore, The Victorian Bushfire Appeal continues to seek donations to help Victorians impacted by bushfires. The Victorian Bushfire Appeal has been established in partnership with the Bendigo Bank Community Enterprise Foundation and the Salvation Army to provide practical support as impacted people begin to rebuild their lives. Money raised will be used to help meet the most urgent needs of local families and also help address the most immediate priorities of communities, including the rescue and rehabilitation of local wildlife. Now that the immediate need has passed, donations of goods are no longer preferred. Financial donations provide more flexibility and are more effective than the donation of material items or pre-loved goods. Relief centres have been overwhelmed by the donation of goods and resources have been diverted away from critical tasks to the logistics of storing donated goods.

How to donate Donations to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal can be made online at Community Enterprise Foundation or at any Bendigo Bank branch. All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. Donors will be provided with a tax receipt by the Community Enterprise Foundation.

Visit the Victorian Bushfire Appeal website for more information.

Photo Album

If there is anyone who would like to volunteer a little bit of time, about two hours, to assist in the putting together of a photo album to go in the school library please contact the office.

First Day of School

An exciting start to our school year.....