Principal Team Message

WELCOME BACK - TERM 2 BEGINS

We hope everyone feels rejuvenated post the holidays and had a great first week back at school. Term 2 will be extremely busy, very short and will pass quickly before we all know it! 

The term is jam-packed with so many events including House Cross Country, Indigenous Cultural Day, Gymnastics, Incursions and Intensive Swimming just to name a few. We know families are getting excited as the Trivia Night with Stephen Curry (past RPS parent) sold out within half an hour. 

The academic monitoring, progress and achievement of each student will be a major focus as we head towards our mid-term assessments and reporting cycles. Teachers will identify what knowledge and skills students as learners will require within each unit of study, across all curriculum areas. 

Students will complete regular assessments that are built into daily tasks, which support teachers to identify a student’s point of need in learning and make adaptions/adjustments. Any account of a student’s learning and development needs to be rich, robust and comprehensive, which requires that multiple sources of data and evidence are collected and used.

There will be an opportunity for parents and carers to meet with their child's teacher to discuss learning goals, progress and achievement in scheduled meetings we refer to as 'Parent, Teacher and Student Conferences' - (Three-Way Conferences). 

Families will receive individual student reports via the COMPASS communication portal. Reports will outline students' academic and social development against the Victoria Curriculum standards. 

As advised earlier this year, all meetings of this nature will be held during the school day from 8:45 am and no later than 4:45 pm. 

These will be held on:

Tuesday 20 June - Foundation & Year 5/6

Wednesday 21 June - Year 1/2

Thursday 22 June - Year 3/4

COASTAL DREAM ESCAPE 

What a relief for our campers who were very fortunate with glorious weather conditions down at the lovely coastal town of Warrnambool. 

Although they were only there for two nights and three days, the lived experiences and activities were very different in comparison to past adventure-style camps. 

You could feel the camaraderie and connection and the fun was never-ending. As we have always said, we might be a small school but we do things on a big scale with experiential learning at the core. We wanted students to step outside their comfort zones and experience growth and development in their autonomy, independence and self-esteem. 

From surfing, zip lines, kayaking, beach games, swimming, the amazing race on Lake Pertobe, Light and Sound show at Flagstaff Hill for a bit of history, mini golf, night walks and we could go on and on. Our deepest thanks go out to our staff - Ms Cook, Sarah, Brenton, Natalie P, Mark, Dave and Miss D. Every staff member goes above and beyond their call of duty to make the camp experience special for our students. 

We would love to acknowledge Dave and Ben from Warra Gnan and the whole team for being so welcoming, accommodating and supportive of every student and staff member. It felt like we were one big happy family on holiday. We were so proud of our students who received such praise from local residents wherever they went due to their respectful interactions. 

WORKING BEE - SUNDAY 28th MAY

It’s a great opportunity for families and students to catch up socially, as well as contribute to the care of the school. There are always jobs to be done to help improve the school's grounds and facilities for the benefit of our students. They love returning to school to see all the cleaned-up spaces. 

Jobs can include weeding, painting, general sweeping, gardening and special projects. 

We will have a BBQ to thank our lovely volunteers and a special treat for our students. 

So please volunteer to help at our next Working Bee, whether it’s just one hour or more, RPS needs your help. Every bit counts!

Please contact Colin Smith if you can help at Colin.Smith3@woodplc.com

or just turn up.

HOUSE CROSS COUNTRY - THURSDAY 11th MAY

Our House Captains are preparing their teams to compete at the annual House Cross Country event. Families are welcome to join us at CGS on the day at 9:30 am. We will need many volunteers to help, so please email Jac in the office if you can assist. 

We have been very fortunate once again to secure the large oval at Caulfield Grammar School. The House Cross Country will involve all students from Foundation to Year 6. All families have already provided permission for this local excursion at the beginning of the school year. There is a small contribution of $7.00 in whole school events as advised in the 2023 Parents Payments. 

Students are able to wear the original House T-shirts for this event. School Council is extremely grateful to Dylan (graphic artist and parent of Obie) for designing the animals that will be represented on the new House T-shirts. These will go into production later this year and will be able to be purchased for the commencement of 2024. 

School Council have discussed the slow transition from the old House tops to the new House T-Shirts. In 2024, students will be able to wear either the old or new t-shirts and by the start of 2025, we hope families will fully transition and purchase the new tops from Eduthreads.  More information regarding the House Cross Country will be released on COMPASS closer to the event.

STUDENT VOICE - PIVOT LEARNING SURVEYS

At Ripponlea, we value our student's opinions and feedback so we have administered an online survey called PIVOT.  Who knows a teacher better than their students? Research shows that student perspectives are amongst the strongest indicators of teacher effectiveness. Pivot empowers teachers to engage in the needs of their students actively and continually through regular feedback, data analysis and targeted professional learning. 

To provide confidence in the feedback process, we ensured that student responses to the survey were anonymous and classroom results are confidential to the teacher. In this way, students are encouraged to be honest about the feedback they provide, and teachers feel safe receiving this feedback because they know it isn’t being scrutinised by anyone. When students and teachers feel safe to give and receive feedback in the classroom, the feedback process can be engaged in a robust and rigorous way. 

Students responded to questions on the type of classroom environment they valued and how their teacher created this. The way their teachers provided them with instructions, the relationships with their teachers and how feedback was acted on by their teachers.  

Students in Years 3-6 responded on a 6-point scale to questions.  

Students in Years 1/2 responded on a 3-point scale to questions. 

An area all students identified they wanted help from their teachers on is setting goals and receiving regular feedback. This was very affirming to receive as all teachers have identified this as an area for improvement across the school. The surveys will be re-administered next term to look for further feedback from our students.

 VOLUNTARY FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Ripponlea Primary School proudly delivers a rounded, comprehensive, and inclusive program that caters for the learning and well-being needs of all our students. This program relies on your ongoing voluntary financial support to provide for the standard curriculum and additional educational and physical resources.

We deeply thank all the families who made these contributions by the end of the last term and those who continue to make these contributions.

Did you know that each year level is allocated a curriculum budget to purchase resources that are new or depleted? These budgets are funded through curriculum contributions.

Last term due to the generosity of contributions we purchased the following items:

• Each student across the school has their very own mini whiteboard, markers and dusters. This valuable resource allows students to quickly demonstrate and practice skills in literacy and numeracy.  
• To support students with anxiety, self-regulation and sensory needs we purchased noise-blocking headphones, calming tactile strips for desks, chewable necklaces, squeezable fidget toys, wobbly cushions and weighted toys/blankets and desk timers. 
• Age-appropriate sports equipment for lunchtime borrowing. Sports kits include cricket, soccer, basketball, skipping ropes, tennis balls and more. Our House Captains will introduce these at the next assembly. Each Year level will have its own tub of equipment that can be borrowed.  
• Three new smart TV's to replace broken interactive whiteboards. Students in 5/6A, 3/4A & 3/4B no longer need to worry about moving to other classrooms to view teacher instructions, PowerPoint slides or any other technology-based online tools. 
• New safety padding for the goals posts on the oval and new soccer nets. Students are very excited to have these replaced as soon as possible. 
• Pinboards in 3/4D. Mr Wood is excited to display his student's work and all the anchor charts the class has developed. 

We are of course always trying to improve the learning and play environment for our students. 

As a result of voluntary contributions for supplementary projects, we are slowly building up monies to make these projects happen. Again our deepest thanks to families who have contributed to these special projects via QKR. 

Inclusive Learning Deck - $800.00

Junior Playground - $700.00

Classroom Furniture - $700.00

Until next fortnight.........

Natalie Rose             &                        Marta Campbell 

             Principal                                    Acting  Assistant Principal