From the Principal Class

Dear Viewbank College Community,

It is the final day of term as I write this, and I want to thank all students, parents and carers and our staff for a positive term.

With learning at the centre of all we do, it has been great to see our students really engage with their learning.  As a school community, we have some key strategic goals to support our students to grow and thrive while at the College.

The introduction of the Learning Behaviours matrix (progressions) is a way to explicitly teach students metacognitive skills and strategies to improve in their learning. 

Asking students to reflect and having clear next steps for improvement will ultimately help build their self-efficacy.

Any change to the way we report will take some time to implement.

If you have not already accessed the video explaining the change, please do so.

The information is also on Compass News feed in a post about the Student Led Conferences.

It was great to see so many parents on site at our first day/night of conferences and engaging in meaningful conversations with teachers about learning. 

We look forward to seeing more of you next term at our second day/night of conferences which will be held on Thursday 27th April, 2023. 

Bookings are still open for these.

Resilience

Resiliencehas possibly been one of those overused words during and post-pandemic. However, it is incredibly important in the context of building happy and healthy young adults. 

During the next term, we will be offering a number of parent evenings to engage in conversation about how we can support our students to avoid the pitfalls of social media and phone addiction. 

We also need to talk about the importance of allowing your student to take risks and to fail. As adults, instinctively we want to solve our children’s problems and keep them safe.

But in doing so, are we stopping them from experiencing a normal level of stress, from solving their own problems and getting out of their comfort zones? Plenty to consider!

Forum

The College has not run a Community Forum since 2019. 

I have set a tentative date for Tuesday, May 23rd.

The Community Forum is a chance to bring parents/carers, students and teachers together to discuss important matters relating to the College future direction.

I am very keen to continue the discussion around our vision and values and the College motto. 

Keep an eye out for more details early next term if you are interested in taking part in the forum.

Facilities

I continue to keep an eye out for more opportunities to improve the facilities at the College. The parent survey data clearly indicated parent concern and the need for improvement. 

I have been in discussion with our cleaning company, ISS.  

I have also had further talks with the Schools Building Authority regarding the upgrade of our toilets, and thankfully this is progressing. 

We are hopeful that we may receive some funding for building upgrades in the next State budget. 

Some of our buildings are looking tired and the school will use some of our own money to freshen up our C and A block with some painting, as well as improve the lunch box as an indoor amenity for students. 

Communication

Another area of feedback from parents in the parent survey was about communication, specifically from teachers. 

Too much or too little communication is a difficult balance to achieve. 

We also have to provide some work/life balance for our teachers.

It is my intention to raise this at our forum and to come up with some policy guidelines for when and how communication happens.

It is important to me that as a collective, we are responsive to our community, but there needs to be clarity around what this means for everyone.

Farewells and Welcome

At the end of this term, we say farewell to the following staff:

• Moya Richardson – who has been a wonderful member of the English team and worked to establish Respectful Relationships in the College.
• Wendy Peck- who has led the VET in schools and Work Experience programs.
• Floria Zhou - has been working in our Humanities team and has now completed her contract.

We wish them all well in their future pursuits.

We welcome Bronwyn Haines to the College. 

Bronwyn will be our VET/Work Experience Coordinator replacing Wendy Peck. 

Staffing

Staffingin schools continues to be a major challenge.

 It is my aim to have the best possible teachers in front of classes every day.

As a College, we recognise that there has been disruption to classes and changing teachers. 

Whilst this is not ideal, it is a challenge across the education system.

We will attempt to minimise this where possible. 

I believe it is also important to honour the leave requests of staff, many who have not seen family overseas since pre-pandemic.

Easter holidays

Finally, I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Easter and a safe holiday period. We look forward to the break, but also seeing everyone return happy and healthy in term 2.

Grade 6 into Year 7 Information Evening

On Tuesday the 28th of March, the student leadership team along with many other student volunteers had the honour to represent Viewbank College as tour leaders. This involved helping guide guests around our school facilities. 

It was great to see so many students volunteer their time to help with the school tours, parents assisting with sausage sizzle, and teachers around classrooms passionately introducing their respective subjects. 

More importantly, it was amazing to see the huge crowd of interested and enthusiastic parents visiting our school! We received lots of positive feedback from those that attended. 

We would like to extend our thanks to every student, teacher, volunteers and visitor for making the event successful and enjoyable.

by Jules Nguyen

Diversity Day

On Friday 31st March, the leadership team and I held a Diversity Day, this was a gold coin fundraiser, with all proceeds going into aiding the people who are still currently affected by the horrific earthquakes that have ravaged Türkiye and Syria. Students were encouraged to come out of uniform, in either cultural clothing from their country/background or to wear orange to support the cause. Diversity Day was also followed with the Fashion Show during break 1 in the PAC. The fashion show enabled students to have an opportunity to represent their country on stage. Students who wanted to participate were asked to submit a country and song choice to represent their country.

I was really touched to see the massive turnout to the fashion show, and the reception each person or group got when going up on that stage whilst having the time of their lives, with the music blaring, loud roars of cheers from the crowd amongst the sea of flags and outfits. The Diversity Day was an incredible sight of the melting pot of cultures that Viewbank College has to offer, and I hope in future years to come, that Diversity Day will continually be utilised as a day where students have the opportunity to be seen and represented within our community, acknowledging the continuing cultures that have contributed to the beauty of this country.

A special thank you to the dedicated middle year’s leaders who demonstrated independence and initiative whilst making and presenting the Fashion Show. Another thank you to Miss Betts who dedicated her time in aiding with the direction of the Diversity Day. Lastly thank you to the incredible students who attended and participated in the Fashion Show, you were amazing!

Ronald Zhou

Diversity Captain

International Student Program - 2023 Virtual School Familiarization Tour Filming Day and finished product

On Thursday 2nd March, we had an agency here at the College filming for our International Student Program - 2023 Virtual School Familiarization Tour.

Below is the finished product.

Smile Squad is coming to this school

The Smile Squad team from Banyule Community Health are coming to our school soon.

Smile Squad is the Victorian Government free school dental program.

This means all students can get a free dental check-up, preventive services, and treatment at school.

How to access free dental care

We need your consent before we can provide services. Consent is usually provided by a parent or guardian.

Sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic 

OR use the below QR code:

Please complete and submit the consent form by the 14th of April, 2023.

The Banyule Community Health Smile Squad look forward to seeing you soon.

Also, please see below the new proposed dates for Smile Squad with the student clinical placement. 

Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund (CSEF)

CSEF (Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund) can be accessed by families with an eligible Pensioner Concession or Health Care Card.  It may also be available to Foster Parents and Veteran's Affairs Pensioners.  CSEF can be used towards Camps, Sports & Excursions. If you received CSEF in 2022, you do not need to do anything further.  If you are new to our College or may have recently become eligible, please complete the attached form and return it to the General Office. If you are unsure, please do not hesitate to contact Marnie on 8458 2811.

Sharon Grimes, Principal

Emma Ford, Assistant Principal

Rachael Smith, Assistant Principal

Anna Crosswhite, Assistant Principal

Penelope Cleghorn, Assistant Principal