WELCOME BACK

We all welcomed the start of the term with an outdoor assembly and it was lovely to see so many parents remain in the school yard, catch up with other families and our teachers. It was evident everyone had a lovely holiday break.

The students returned refreshed with bright smiles ready to form new relationships, experience new opportunities and continue to learn and grow. As Jess Grey - Assistant Principal and I visited each classroom, we were pleasantly surprised how the routines and expectations of school flooded back into our student’s demeanour and that their classrooms were filled with joyous chatter, lovely manners and such bright and welcoming learning spaces.

Friday came along relatively quickly and despite the extreme heat our new Foundation students had a lovely first half day at school with Ms Dom, Ms Rebecca and Ms Clover. They were all so very excited, showing off their uniforms, proud to be starting school and we congratulate each of them on how well they have settled into the school in such a short period of time.

We would like to officially welcome all our new families to the school. Please do not hesitate to contact Meagan Brake our administration officer, Jess or myself if you need any further assistance. We are certain there are also many families of the school that will assist you in settling into our community in no time at all.

Congratulations to everyone on such a smooth start to 2020.

CURRICULUM DAY – SCHOOL WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT (PBS)

Our staff started their own learning on day one of the school year, reflecting on how they will be developing positive relationships with students, identifying each students strengths and needs, building a common language of behavioural expectations and establishing a positive school culture that promotes a safe and supportive environment for everyone to learn and succeed socially, emotionally and academically.

Many of you would know that Ripponlea adopts holistic, evidence based well-being practices through the framework of the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support System. Ripponlea staff view their role as educators to develop students who are not just academically prepared for the future but have the pro-social skills to manage an ever changing global society.

We have developed across the school a common approach, a common language and tools to help support every child and hope to work in partnership with families for even better outcomes for our students. We continue to learn and build our own skills and hope that you can come along on this journey with us.

This parent handbook explains a lot about our approaches and in the coming months, you will hear your children speak about PBS, your teachers inform you about PBS at our Curriculum Information sessions and support will be provided in future parent information sessions with Anthony King our PBS Coach.

SAVE THE DATE: SWPBS - PARENT INFORMATION SESSION – BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT

PRESENTER:

Anthony King; School-wide Positive Behaviour Coach

Teaching (Primary/Secondary) – 22 Years

Assistant Principal (8 Years)
- Wellbeing/Curriculum
- SWPBS Mentor (Prim & Sec)
- SWPBS Coach (DET) - May 2018

DATE: Tuesday 17th March

TIME: 6:30 – 7:30 pm

VENUE: Barrbunin

HOLIDAY CHANGES

These holidays afforded us the opportunity to transition to our new OSHC provider TheirCare. Please take the opportunity to meet Donika Fazliu our OSHC coordinator. Families have already personally met Michael Abela the managing director and of course Fred Rubinstein who remains as a staff member in the service.

There is a wealth of information on their website and we have an evening information session for families who wish to find out more about their services. In the coming weeks the OSHC room will be repainted and further resources will be purchased guided by the children’s interest and needs.

Donika Fazliu

Hello Ripponlea Primary School! My name is Donika Fazliu and I am the coordinator at TheirCare. TheirCare is the before and after school care program in partnership with RPS. I am elated to be apart of the community and spend time with all the students, parents and teachers! At TheirCare we offer out of school care for students. We provide structured activities, leisure and free time for students within our care. We are passionate about kids and creating a safe, inclusive and fun space for growing people!

I am a qualified arts therapist, I am passionate about community, emotional and mental wellbeing, applying arts into self-awareness, learning and socialising. I have completed my Bachelor of Arts Psychotherapy and am currently completing my Master of Arts Therapy. I am extremely excited to begin the year in this role at RPS, as we can collectively create an awesome year together.

Fred Rubinstein

My names Fred Rubinstein and I work for Theircare as a before and afterschool (OSHC) educator at Ripponlea Primary School. I’ve worked in Outside school hours care (OSHC) for the past three years, two of them being at Ripponlea. On a personal and professional level, I love Ripponlea. The relationships that I’ve formed with the children, parents, school, teachers and co-workers during my tenure has been incredible and I’m extremely proud to be apart of the Ripponlea community. Ripponlea reminds me of my primary school, a small school with a close community, where everyone was friends with everyone. I think that’s a large part of why I love the school so much.

Outside of work, I’m currently studying a bachelor of primary and secondary inclusive education at Monash University. I’m aspiring to be a special needs teacher/work in special schools, as I’ve found that I have a soft spot and an empathy for special needs kids. Their genuine personality and unique appreciation of life is both humbling and inspiring.

I’m thoroughly motivated by the challenge of achievement in all my endeavours. In addition to my work as an OSHC educator, I’m also a soccer coach for late teenagers. I’ve found that my two key interests in life are people and sports, and my jobs combine them beautifully.

I look forward to continuing my work at Ripponlea in the years too come and getting to know you and your children even better!

INFORMATION SESSIONS - IN THE OSHC ROOM

NEW CLEANERS

Over the holiday period we transitioned to a new cleaning service completely funded by the Department of Education. The school council will no longer need to engage in a licencing arrangement or pay additional expenses for cleaning services across the school.

On behalf of the whole school community we would like to thank Len & Warren the wonderful duo from Viewhill Property Services who have cleaned the school for over the last 10 years. Len and Warren will be dearly missed by all staff of the school and although our community have never met Len and Warren as they cleaned the school from 5pm onwards, they were certainly part of the community and did so much for the school.

OUR STAFF

The staff have been incredible, coming over the holiday period setting up their classrooms and having everything prepared for their students to enjoy for the start of the school year. Their dedication and commitment is unwavering and we thank them for this. At the start of the school year we commence with an enrolment of 305 children and the following staffing arrangements across the school.

Principal: Natalie Rose

Assistant Principal: Jess Grey

Business Manager: Rachel Helyer

Administration Officer: Meagan Brake

School Leadership Team: Natalie Rose, Jess Grey, Vicki Smith, Braden Leech, Alicia Oliver-Cook, Lucy Clover, Julie Nield

School Wide Positive Behaviour Team: Rebecca Skinner, Dominique Wimpole, Natalie Rose & Tania Watts-Hall

Amongst the staff you will see some new faces around the school and we have some insider information on these lovely teachers.

Mr David Bremner

Hi Rippers! Thank you for the warm welcome I have received the past week! I am excited to become more involved in the Ripponlea PS community and getting to know you all. After growing up in Western Australia, I moved to Melbourne to pursue a career in the arts. I spent several years at The Australian Ballet working as both a Dancer and in the Education Team. Following this, I began working in the OHSC field with TeamKids – primarily based at Elwood PS. I live with my partner Emily and we enjoy cooking (currently exploring fermentation and curing), eating out, travelling and spending time with family and Whiskey, the beloved four legged fluff ball. I’m excited to continue to get to know my fantastic students and their families more over the year!

Ms Jane De Lorenzo

I feel extremely lucky to be welcomed into the Ripponlea community and I am really looking forward to a wonderful year of lots of fun and learning. I have moved from the quiet country town of Ballarat to the big bustling city this year and I am very excited to soak up all that city life has to offer. I have been teaching for 7 years in Ballarat and have taught lots of different year levels including specialist subject Art. I was also fortunate enough to spend a year as a Literacy Learning Specialist where I got to share my passion for literacy education and reading with my colleagues. When I am not at school you will often find me hitting the pavement, as I love running or curled up with a good book. Thank you for the warm welcome Rippers.

Ms Lucy Feben

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be involved in the Ripponlea school community and thank everyone for making me feel so welcome in my short time here. I grew up in Bayside and now live locally to Ripponlea. I am very much enjoying my morning walk to school everyday! Previously I taught at Ashburton PS where I taught Foundation and more recently Year 1. Before being a teacher I was a school support manager at World Challenge, where I was involved in planning month long expeditions for high school students to developing countries. I was lucky enough to go to Vietnam where I went on a 5 day trek and volunteered at an orphanage. I spend most of my weekends on the Mornington Peninsula at my family’s beach house; cooking, swimming, walking and reading. I am excited to get to know all of the RPS community and continue to grow as a teacher!

Ms Lydia Ioannidis

Hello, this is my first year officially teaching at Ripponlea Primary School, although you may have seen me around last year as an Emergency Teacher. I also completed my third year placement as a student teacher at RPS in 2016 and am so so excited to be back as part of such a beautiful community. I know you'll discover many things about me over the year but here are a few to begin. I am half Greek and enjoy learning how to cook traditional Greek food with my Yiayia (Grandmother). I spend much of my time on the weekend with family and friends eating at yummy restaurants or playing and watching sport. I love teaching so much that I also teach dance outside of school and have been doing this for 10 years. Thank you for the warm welcome to Ripponlea, I'm so excited to get to know, teach and support your children and meet you all in the upcoming months.

Ms Tamara Lee Thompson

My name is Tamara Thompson and I am the new Performing Arts teacher at Ripponlea Primary School. I have always loved to sing and write my own music, which led me to complete a Bachelor of Entertainment (Popular Music Performance) at JMC Academy. I began my journey as a teacher, working with Metro Music School as a vocal and keyboard teacher and so completed my Graduate Diploma in Education. I love teaching Performing Arts because I have the opportunity to witness the creativity of young minds. It amazes me to see what children can achieve in a safe environment. I am passionate about teaching from a range of cultural perspectives and endeavor to provide a range of performance opportunities. When not at school, I love spending time with my 5 year old daughter. I love baking and sharing a meal with family and friends, as well as a good Netflix binge. I also enjoy learning French and hope to be bilingual one day.

YOU TELL US INTERVIEW REMINDER

We hope this provides you with an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher and share information about your child’s character, strengths, interests, social and emotional needs, any family updates, aspirations and areas of concern.

The teachers have completed all handover meetings at the end of last year and will continue to touch base with you throughout this year. If you didn’t manage to make a time, please don’t hesitate to contact the teacher for another convenient time.

PARENT –TEACHER PARTNERSHIPS

Research shows that one of the most important factors affecting a child’s performance in school is how involved their parents are in their education. Developing a healthy parent-teacher relationship is a great way to improve your child’s performance in school.

Getting to know your child’s teachers will not only benefit you, it will greatly improve your child’s chance of success in school. Establishing a strong parent-teacher relationship can be difficult or even intimidating, but there are some great tips to make the process easier:

Parent-teacher communication should be focused on the best interests of the child. It is essential to your child’s success in school.
Establish a regular means of parent-teacher communication. Whether communicating by phone, email, or in person, be proactive and work with the teacher in order to solve any problems.
Another great tip is to send a note of appreciation to your child’s teacher for all that he or she does. Teachers often hear from parents only when there are complaints or conflicts. Acknowledge and inspire teachers with your recognition and support.
Finally, create a strong parent-teacher relationship by volunteering. Helping out in the classroom is a great way to support your child’s teacher.

WELCOME PICNIC & DANCE OFF

Over the next few weeks our students will be putting on their dancing shoes assisted by Footsteps Dance Company, who will be running our first community welcome picnic and dance off. We can’t wait to see the students strut their moves and perform for our community. Let’s hope the weather stays fine and puts on a great night for all. We look forward to a great night and getting to know our families. Please bring along some money for a sausage sizzle and some baked goodies.

SAVE THE DATE: 25th February

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS

At Ripponlea parent involvement and participation in a variety of school activities is a significant feature of our school that is actively encouraged and greatly valued. Parents represent and assist on School Council, a range of classroom programs, excursions, Snack Shack, fundraising and work around the school.

A strong partnership exists between school staff, parents, the school council, Ripper families and the wider community. The entire school community work closely together to ensure positive outcomes and help celebrate many successes in all areas. The school prides itself in being the "hub" of the community.

You are invited to help shape the vision and future of our school by joining our School Council. This group is a representative, school-based committee composed of the Principal as executive officer, parents and school staff. The council meets monthly, and plays a vital role in shaping the policies of the school, maintaining facilities and grounds, overseeing financial operations and ensuring quality education for all of our students.

The Ripponlea Primary School Council meets on eight occasions each year. There are twelve members being made up of eight parents and four Department of Education and Training (DET) representatives. Committees meet at other times and report back to Council.

We have the following subcommittees:

Facilities & Environment
Finance
Governance
School & Community Partnerships
Publicity & Marketing
Soon to be introduced - Sustainability

If you are interested in supporting the school, then nominate for a position on School Council. The following attachments will provide all the information you might require. Feel free to speak to any of our existing school councillors if you are interested.

Nomination forms may be obtained from the school Office from Thursday 6th February and must be lodged by 4:00 pm on Friday 14th February 2020. The ballot will close on Monday 2nd March, 2020.

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows:

Membership category - Parent member

Term of office: From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2020 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2022

Number of positions: 4

Membership category - DET employee member

Term of office: From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2020 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2022

Number of positions: 1

Schedule 4: Notice of election and call for nominations

An election is to be conducted for members of the School Council of Ripponlea Primary School.

Wishing everyone a very successful year at RPS in 2020. Imagine with all your mind, Believe with all your heart, Achieve with all your might!

Until next fortnight ...

Natalie Rose Jess Grey

Principal Assistant Principal

Community Classifieds

Community Classifieds