Dear families,

This week is National Reconciliation Week. It is a time to reflect on strengthening the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians. Where possible, teachers have integrated this theme throughout their daily learning this week.

Diamond Avenue Playground Upgrade

Over the last few months, we have been working with the Brimbank City Council to build a brand new playground and park facility sitting next to the Football Oval behind our school at Diamond Avenue Reserve. With consultation and feedback from the Junior School Improvement Team, they have selected play equipment which includes in-ground trampolines, a climbing tower, a rock climbing wall, and much more.

Works have already commenced on the new facilities which are expected to be open in July 2023.

The current playground located outside the big gates of our school will return back to school land once the new playground is open. This means it will no longer be open to the public outside of school hours and will give us the opportunity to develop the land to meet our growing school needs. More information about our plans will be shared with the community in the near future. Watch this space.

Student Illnesses

We have had several students and staff absent from school recently due to illness. It has been widely reported that confirmed cases of influenza and COVID. With this in mind, at school we continue to adhere to strict hygiene measures including limiting sharing of materials, compulsorily hand washing or sanitising when exiting/entering a building and maximising air ventilation through purifiers or naturally. We also offer free face masks. If your child is experiencing symptoms, we highly encourage you to administer a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and monitor their symptoms Free RATs are available at our front office.

School-Wide Positive Behaviour

At our school, we believe in reinforcing positive behaviours with students as the fundamental concept to foster a positive climate for learning. We achieve this by:

Defining our positive behaviours on a Matrix, displayed in every classroom around the school
Acknowledging when students demonstrate positive behaviour by awarding them a High 5 token which can be redeemed at the High 5 Shop; and
Explicitly teaching students the positive behaviours defined on our matrix through our weekly Values Hour program

If you are interested in finding out more or would like to contribute to how we support positive behaviours at school, talk to Mrs Burke or one of our teachers today.

E-Safety - https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Earlier this week, I was part of a meeting with the Victorian Police Proactive Support Unit and E-Safety Commissioner. They discuss the recent spike in cyberbullying and digital crimes being reported among Victorian School Students. Our school is committed to developing each student to be eSmart while online. This includes explicitly teaching them safe and appropriate ways to use digital technologies, explaining and mitigating the risk of engaging with online platforms and social media, and providing strategies for what to do when things go wrong online.

A major statistic that was shared with us at the meeting was from a recent student conducted with 10,000 students from around Australia which found 71% had engaged with or been exposed to inappropriate or unsafe material online. The researchers then interviews the parents of those students and found that less than half of them knew that their child has seen the inappropriate content. This terrifying statistic highlights that for some kids, they don't want to tell an adult about their experience which can have negative consequences. It was suggested that the best way to support our children is to regularly talk to them about what they are doing online, ask who they are communicating with and place reasonable restrictions on how long and where they use digital technologies while at home. More information and supports are available to families about this important topic, helping us all establish a child-safe environment each day and online. Check out the E-Safety Website today: https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Achievement Week

Next week we celebrate Term 2 Achievement Week where students will complete assessments, collect evidence of learning and reflect on their learning from the term so far. This is a fantastic opportunity for every student to see how much they have grown with their learning this year and set new goals for the upcoming term. Teachers will be sharing this with families through Seesaw and we highly encourage families to jump online and celebrate their child's success. Teachers will also use the information collected to finalise student reports which will be shared with families in the last week of term. Parent Teachers Interviews are scheduled for the first week of Term 3 with booking information to be released soon.

Smile Squad Update

We have moved to IPC Health St Albans!