Principal's Message

Well, here we all are at the end of first term 2021. Time has flown by so quickly for our students, staff and families and we would like to thank everyone for making this term such a positive experience for our students. 

As a community we have supported our students to re-engage positively with the routines of school life and provided them with events, activities and learning experiences so dearly missed last year. 

In a mere nine weeks we have come together for many celebrations, community and sporting events and provided our students with some strong messaging around the importance of their role in our school and in society as a whole. 

We have highlighted the importance of who we are as a community, the rich histories and cultures that permeate within, teaching the values of respect, inclusiveness, connection and belonging, rather than narrow mindedness. 

We continue to strengthen our relationships with each other and encourage our students to demonstrate the school values of Respect, Community, Open Mindedness, Integrity, Resilience and Creativity through their social, academic and physical pursuits. Most of all we remind them not to tolerate behaviours such as bullying and recognise the impact they can have on others through their words, actions and behaviours. 

Our students certainly understand the impact we can have on others in our broader community, especially through social service such as fundraising and building awareness of issues such as heart disease and blood cancers. We know that our student leaders are so passionate about supporting many more causes and making our school the best it can be for all its students.

This term in particular we have highlighted the importance of our students' wellbeing, their mental health, happiness and the need for everyone to remain healthy and active for both their minds and bodies. 

If you are all feeling exhausted after this term, just have a look at the calendar dates and recognise how many opportunities we have created and what we have achieved. 

CURRICULUM DAY – THURSDAY 1st APRIL – STUDENT FREE DAY

As we farewell our students today, our staff will return tomorrow to undertake professional learning with Associate Professor Misty Adoniou PhD, Principal Fellow MGSE, and Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Canberra. 

This will be our third year working with Misty on improving the writing skills of our students by building the capacity of our teachers to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills that explicitly teach language and literacy through the use of exemplary high quality mentor texts. 

Misty will be reviewing our learning on the teaching of narrative and non-narrative writing skills, delving further into language orientations in text and vocabulary studies. We are extremely privileged to be working with a consultant such as Misty. 

CLASSROOM HELPERS PROGRAM – SEEKING PARENT VOLUNTEERS

We were so excited and grateful to see our parent volunteers return onsite throughout this term. Our second hand uniform sales have returned as well as the much loved treats of Snack Shack. Parent volunteers have been incredible in supporting the school and its students across many events and activities. 

Now we reach out to have our wonderful volunteers back into our classrooms, supporting our literacy approaches and encouraging our students in Foundation and Year 1/2. If you have time to help out in classrooms or around the school in any way this year we would love to have you. The partnership between school and home can never be undervalued and we encourage parents/carers and grandparents to become active members of our RPS community in any way they can. 

We do have guidelines and expectations developed for Classroom Helpers which are important to be aware of. These will be discussed at all training sessions held with Mrs Rose next term.

STEP 1: All volunteers must have a WWC - Working with Children’s Check. 

Your WWC must be on record at Ripponlea Primary School. 

STEP 2: Register for training in the Classroom Helpers program at RPS. 

NB: Registration for only one session is required.

Term 2 Dates:

• Wednesday 21st @ 9:15am
• Monday 26th April @ 2:00pm or 
• Friday 30th April @ 9:15am.

Please register in the following google form: 

https://forms.gle/JdVKL2TBhzRWXtZp6

AFTERSCHOOL & IN SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AT RIPPONLEA 

Our School Council has approved a number of external providers to operate at the school and provide additional extracurricular services to our community. These providers hire facilities to run their programs. Please contact providers directly to arrange participation and associated costs. 

GREAT SPORTMANSHIP – YEAR 5/6 STUDENTS

Congratulations to our Year 5/6 students for competing at the Balaclava Districts -Round Robin Interschool competition. Our softball mixed team placed first and will be competing at the districts next term. Overall all students displayed outstanding sportsmanship and were commended by all schools and staff who witnessed their school pride and comradery. 

Similarly, great sporting behaviours were on show on Monday when our intrepid Year 6 students took on the staff in a friendly match of soccer. It was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the competition which saw our staff determined for a win. The Year 6s put up some fine defence yet the staff prevailed with a 5-3 victory. Thank you to Brenton for organising, Mrs Howell for umpiring and everyone who came along to play, spectate and cheer.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW VISUAL ARTS TEACHER

We welcome Ms Andria Arendze as our new Visual Arts teacher. Andria has worked across both the government and the private sector. Andria shared her passions and introduced herself to our community in the last newsletter.  We deeply thank Mrs Michelle Fernandez for supporting the school throughout the first six weeks of this school year. With our full specialist team in place, we will offer our families an opportunity to hear about their programs next term. 

TERM ONE IN REFLECTION

The school’s leadership team met with Senior Education Improvement Leader Stuart Andrews to discuss progress of the Tutor Learning Initiative, NAPLAN preparation and the progress of goals in our current Annual Implementation Plan. He praised the efforts of the school on the manner in which we have started to plan and progress some of these goals. Team members acknowledged the collaboration that exists between all staff and the supportive nature of these interactions. Collectively, we recognised the importance of relationships we have formed with our students, the successful preconditions to learning we have established and our students' general positivity towards school this year in comparison to last year. We deeply thank our teachers for working so hard despite their own fatigue overcoming the year that was. 

We also highlighted our desire to increase community engagement and connect further with families in supporting the learning and social development of their child. We are excited by the prospect of our parent volunteers returning to assist in our classroom programs, more community events as well as continuing to connect to families via the Seesaw online portal. 

This term has afforded our staff the opportunity to work with high level consultants such as Tracey Ezard, DET PLC Regional Managers and learn from our colleagues through a range of professional learning sessions. These have included our PMSS Mathematics Specialists – Stef and Braden alongside our Literacy Leader- Vicki and Learning Specialist – Julie. 

This has been a most successful term that lays the foundations for future success and positive outcomes for our students. 

Please encourage your child to celebrate their success through the following prompts: 

TERM ONE - STUDENT REFLECTIONS

• What have you learnt about yourself this term?
• What have you enjoyed about school this term?
• What have you learnt this term?
• What are you most proud of?

ENROLMENT 2022 & SCHOOL TOURS

We are reaching out to members of our school community to start the process of planning for 2022. Families with younger siblings are encouraged to download an enrolment form via the school’s website or collect a form from Meagan Brake our enrolment officer. Please pass on information about our wonderful school and encourage any neighbours or friends with young children living in the school zone to reach out and come on a school tour. Our School Captains, Marley and Teddy, would be delighted to meet them and relish the opportunity to promote our little school. 

RPS SCHOOL COUNCIL

On Monday, we all met as the official School Council of 2021. The following nominations occurred for office bearers. Thank you to the following members for nominating to these positions of responsibility. We also co-opted a member of our community with specific skills in Finance to take over the role of treasurer. We welcome Lee to this role. 

Tarryn Holland – School Council President 

Simone Kaplan – Vice President 

Lee Wallace – Treasurer

Robyn Cooney – Ripper Families 

Braden Leech – Governance

Colin Smith – Facilities & Environment 

Bridget Hast – Sustainability 

Other DET Members: Natalie Rose- Executive Officer, Julie Nield, Jess Grey

Other Parent Members: Isabel Lasala, Jaclyn Paltos

Once again we thank out going members Michael Kent & Julie Pearce. 

RPS READERS WE THANK YOU

One reason why we like the Scholastic Book Club is that it gives a great, convenient opportunity to bring some quality literature into the homes of our students. Yet another reason why we enjoy the Book Club is that our students benefit from Scholastic rewards. 

Because of your marvellous efforts buying from Scholastic Book Club, we have been able to purchase a new resource for all grades. The Short Reads resource will enhance our literacy program, enabling students to read, discuss and write about a variety of texts. Keep reading, Ripponlea!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS - PASSOVER, HOLI & EASTER 

Last Friday, families celebrated Passover the transition of the Israelites in Egypt from slavery to freedom. Through a festive meal called the Seder, which occurred over two nights, the retelling of the Exodus was made through stories, songs and consumption of ritual foods, especially unleavened bread called Matzah. 

On Saturday and Sunday families celebrated the most significant Hindu festival in India, known as the “festival of colours”. It signifies the beginning of spring as well as the triumph of good over evil. Delicious gujiyas and a serving of bhang is an integral part of these celebrations. 

We would like to wish our students, staff and families a very safe and relaxing holiday break, with many observing Easter which is just around the corner and hopefully more special family time, good foods and celebration. 

Happiness to all in whatever way you celebrate and see you all next term. 

Until next term!

                                                Natalie Rose                              Jess Grey

                                                   Principal                         Assistant Principal