Dear RMPS Parents and Carers,

Welcome back – Unfortunately our update didn’t make it for the first newsletters of the year – So Happy New Year and more recently – Happy New Lunar Year - we hope everyone had a great summer break.

The term is rocketing along. We are already halfway through – Yikes!

Don’t forget to send sunscreen to school with your children and have them use it at every recess, as the UV factor (even on cloudy days) climbs the scale.

News

Thank you to Kirsty and Kellie for volunteering to take on the class co-ordinator role.As there are still some class representatives needed for a few classes, please contact Mel:

Melissa Khoury Melissa.Khoury@education.vic.gov.au if you can take on one of these roles. It is very low effort but hugely helps to keep things running smoothly.

The PFA AGM was held on the 25th of Feb which saw a change of the PFA executive President and Secretary positions. Please give your support to Andre (President), Ebony (Secretary) and Beij (Treasurer) as they focus on our 2026 activities.

The colour run was able to be moved to a Friday and is now slated for 20th Mar. Materials will be coming out shortly to allow the children to begin seeking sponsors for this awesome annual event.

We will also be seeking assistance for running the day and will be seeking helpers soon. Thank you to Andrew Jeffrey for driving the event again this year and we ask for your support to help make this a successful event, as we are trying a new provider (the previous one closed down).

Our next PFA meeting will be the 25 Mar 2026, 7.30pm at the school and online. Please join us. We’d love to see you there!

Future notices and events

Our forward view of events is currently:

Date	Activity
20 Mar 2026	Colour fun run
Jun 2026	Movie night
Aug 2026	Disco
Nov 2026	Election BBQ

There is also a Parent/Carer social night in the works – details to be finalised.

Thank you for reading and we look forward to continually building our school community.

Lindsay Gamble (out-going President), David Wingate (out-going Secretary) and Beij Xu (continuing Treasurer) - PFA Exec Team

Appendices

Working with children check (FREE!)

All volunteers at events need to have a Working With Children Check (WWCC) registration.

These are available for free and only take about 15-20 minutes to complete.

You can apply online via Working with Children Check (service.vic.gov.au).

Once you have completed the online application you will receive an application receipt, followed by a card after the check is completed. (Note: We recommend you do this using your mobile phone because of the photo process etc.)

What you'll need to do

Prove your identity with documents using your phone. The online application shows you which ones.
Fill out the online application form
Consent to Service Victoria passing your info on to the Working with Children Check (WWCC) Unit Victoria (Department of Justice and Community Safety) to process your WWCC application. (Services Victoria does not keep your information, they just pass it on.)

Your Working with Children check

The Working with Children Check Victoria screening process looks at:

Your criminal record in all Australian states and territories, including any charges, regardless of the outcome
Your professional conduct as determined by these groups, and
Whether you're required to report under sex offender legislation

If you have applied for a WWCC but are unsure whether your card will arrive before you want to volunteer at an event, please speak to the school office. Sometimes a check may take between 3 to 12 weeks to be processed, although they are usually done quickly.

Copies of WWCC cards are kept on file by the school for compliance and a Working with Children Check is required for doing child-related work which includes volunteering at events with children attending or working on site during the school day (8.45am to 3.45pm). Please provide the school office with a copy of your card.

If you would like to get a WWCC card but are not confident doing this yourself, please contact the school office for assistance by calling 9890 2372.

For RMPS related volunteering, please also read the school’s:

Visitors Policy https://robmacps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Visitors-policy.docx
Volunteers Policy https://robmacps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Volunteers-policy.docx

Information: PFA – What is it? And why is it important?

The Parents & Friends Association (PFA) is a group of volunteer parents and carers who help organise events and fundraising activities for RMPS, welcome families and bring people together from within the community. This helps us all connect more closely with our school and each other while raising vital funds for school improvements. With every dollar raised, the opportunity for our children grows just that little bit more. Without volunteers, there would be no PFA, hence we encourage everyone to become a member and help us to kick some amazing goals this year!

It does not matter if you can spare 10 min or 10 hours, being involved will help you and your children to have the best environment we can achieve in our community.

Working in cooperation with the Principal and School Council, the PFA’s aims are to:

contribute to the wellbeing of the school community
encourage the participation of all parents and carers in the life of the school and the education of their children
provide opportunities for parents and carers to
- get to know each other,
- be informed about their child’s school
- extend their understanding of school operations
- build their knowledge of general education policy
contribute to proposals on school policy and other educational issues (as identified or discussed with the Principal or School Council)
raise funds for the benefit of the school

As a registered association, it is a requirement that the PFA has a minimum of three office bearers (executives) – President, Secretary and Treasurer. The current PFA executives are:

Lindsay Gamble (President) – father of Tahlia (2G)
David Wingate (Secretary) – father of Alister (FS)
Bård Sæter (Treasurer) – father of Madeleine (5G) and Aksel (1R)

About PFA Registered Members

All RMPS parents and carers of children attending the school, or any other interested individual of the immediate school community, are welcome to become Registered Members of the PFA. Registered Members can:

Receive copies of meeting minutes
Vote on items/actions at meetings
Vote to elect office bearers (executives)
Nominate to be elected to PFA executive roles
Be elected to PFA executive roles.

All members must sign and complete a Member Registration Form annually. After signing and submitting the form, a person becomes a Registered Member until the next AGM. If you would like to register or re-register as a member, please contact us via rmps.pfa@gmail.com for a copy of the registration form.

Note that you do not have to be a member to help on events or attend meetings.

What's Happening