SKiPPS Newsletter

A message from the Principal

School Saving Bonus support

The Victorian Government is delivering the School Saving Bonus (SSB) – a one-off support of $400 for eligible government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.

 

The SSB helps families cover the cost of activities (camps and swimming), uniforms (including State School’s Relief Ltd), and textbooks. 

 

I encourage you to take advantage of this government support.

 

As SKIPPS does not have a uniform or require families to purchase textbooks, these two options do not apply. We have also been informed that, as per the guidelines of the SSB, the orange SKIPPS t-shirts and blue hats, etc cannot be purchased using the SSB funds as these items are not considered school uniform.

 

Families are not permitted to use their $400 to cover the 2025 SKiPPS Parent Payment as this is classed an an 'optional' payment and so not eligible.

 

Families may wish to use the full $400 bonus for school activities which can be used towards the cost of schoolcamps and/or the school swimming program later in the year. Note, any unused funds from the SSB will remain in the family account and will rollover to be used in future years - meaning they could pay for future school camps and swimming programs if not fully spent this year.

 

If you would like to use your bonus for this purpose (school activities), you will need to allocate the bonus using the School Saving Bonus online system. 

 

Most families have now received their SSB code(s) via email towards the end of 2024. 

 

Emails are from: Department of Education Victoria 

Email address: noreply@comms-mc.education.vic.gov.au

Subject: Your $400 School Saving Bonus

 

When you login using the code included in the email, you will reach the SSB homepage (see below)

To learn more about the SSB online system, download the step-by-step System guide for parents and carers (DOCX, 945KB) or watch this School Saving Bonus video. System guide translations are also available in 14 languages.

 

Need help?

The Department of Education has established a dedicated contact centre to support the SSB. The contact centre can be reached by:

 

Thank you,

Neil Scott

Principal