Celebrate Mooroolbark Festival Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Saturday 27th March, Bimbadeen Heights PS will be represented at the Celebrate Mooroolbark Festival. Our school participates at this event each year with children entering the various competitions and/or participating in the parade. Many of our students have been busily preparing for their Chinese Dragon and Fan Dancing performance to open the Festival, led by Mrs Sarah Cherry, our Chinese (Mandarin) teacher.

We also have two teams of 8 students who are competing in the Billy Kart Challenge. Good luck to all students who will be performing and representing our school at the event and thank you to our community members and staff who are volunteering their time to support the event as well.

Keep an eye out in our next newsletter for photos of our performance!

School Council Update

The first meeting of the new School Council was held last week. The meeting included the election of office bearers and the following members were duly elected to specific roles on our council: President – Troy Hovey, Vice President – Kate Hession, Treasurer – Andrew Lanigan, and Minutes Secretary – Bree King. The membership of your School Council this

year is as follows:

Parent Members

Troy Hovey (Until March 2023)
Matthew Genever (Until March 2023)
Matthew Richardson (Until March 2023)
Angela Moody (Until March 2023)
Kate Hession (Until March 2022)
Janet Hatvani (Until March 2022)
Morgan Gardiner (Until March 2022)
Paul Canning (Until March 2022)
Lauren Elliott (Until March 2022)

School Employee Members

Adele Gregson (Executive Officer)
Catherine Buckland (Until March 2022)
Sabrina George (Until March 2022)
Bree King (Until March 2023)
Melinda Ruscitti (Until March 2023)

Community Member

Andrew Lanigan (Until March 2022)

We were pleased with the interest from our parent/carer community, in both nominating for council, and the number votes made by members of our school community in the election. We are also very pleased calibre of the people on our School Council who are all great supporters of our school and we look forward to working with them as we continue our journey with a focus on improving student learning outcomes.

School Council Sub-committees

Our School Council sub-committees provide an excellent opportunity for our parents/carers to contribute to our school community. Members of our community, including parents/carers, do not need to be on School Council in order to be a member of a sub-committee, and we warmly invited you to consider joining one or more committees to help lead the work of our council this year. In 2021, we have five sub-committees of School Council:

Finance – oversee and monitor the school’s finances and budgets.
Fundraising – help raise funds to support the school’s annual goals and key projects.
Buildings and Grounds – focus on school maintenance and improvement to buildings and grounds.
Student Learning – develop school policies, contribute to the school’s curriculum plans, and help prepare for our next school review (due in 2022).
Student Wellbeing – support the school’s work around student wellbeing, and our wellbeing programs of Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships and School Wide Positive Behaviour Support.

Each sub-committee meets once a month (approximately 8 times per year), in the week prior to each School Council meeting. Meetings are usually held in the early evening and to ensure accessibility and inclusion, all sub-committee meetings include a Webex option for members of our school community to attend meetings virtually, when they are unable to attend in person.

If you are interested in joining one or more of our sub-committees for this year, please contact the relevant convenor via email:

Finance – Andrew Lanigan. Coordinated by Adele Gates, please contact Adele via email to bimbadeen.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Fundraising – Bree King Bree.King@education.vic.gov.au
Buildings and Grounds – Sabrina George Sabrina.George@education.vic.gov.au
Student Learning – Morgan Gardner, coordinated by Annie Rountree, please contact Annie via email to Anne.Rountree@education.vic.gov.au
Student Wellbeing – Catherine Buckland Catherine.Buckland@education.vic.gov.au

Easter Raffle

A highlight each year for our children is the annual Junior School Council Easter Raffle. Each family is asked to donate an Easter egg or Easter treat of some sort that is will be put with others and packaged for the raffle prizes. Each year we have around 30 prizes, so excitement levels are very high during the last week of school before Easter when we announce the winners.

Thank you for your support in sending along Easter treats for the raffle and for buying raffle tickets to support our school. We hope that your family is a recipient of a prize!

Parking, Traffic Management & Active Travel

Please continue to be ultra-cautious and safe around our school at drop-off and pick-up times. Also remember to be courteous and respectful. We have continued to receive reports from neighbours and members of our school community who report dangerous driving and illegal parking. The Traffic Control unit was seen outside our school this week, along with parking inspectors from the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Please remember, if you want to avoid traffic congestion in the mornings and afternoons, active travel is a great option! Walk with your children, get them to walk with friends, or park a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way to school. The children will be exercised, socialised and much more ready to learn when they get to school, and you won’t have to deal with potential traffic infringement notices, or other hazards related to trying to drop your child off at the front gate.

ANZAC Service

Our annual ANZAC service will be held on Friday afternoon of the first week back at school next term, April 22, at 2:30pm. The service will be held on the netball court in front of our Gallipoli mural, weather permitting. We love to have parents/carers and other visitors attend the ceremony. On this day each year, many children also like to bring along medals or photos of relatives who have been servicemen or women. Teachers will give their students the opportunity to show these cherished items to classmates and talk about their significance. It is always pleasing to see how Bimbadeen students show great respect and honour the past in this way each year by participating in our school and other local ANZAC services.

Help Prevent Gastroenteritis (gastro)

In 2021, cases of viral gastroenteritis (gastro) outbreaks in Victoria are more than double the five-year rolling average in Victoria. Symptoms of viral gastroenteritis include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches. They can take up

to three days to develop and usually last between one or two days, sometimes longer. Gastroenteritis is highly infectious and may spread rapidly. The virus can spread either: from close contact with infected persons; contact with contaminated surfaces; or consuming contaminated food or drink. Viruses are often spread from person-to-person, and to objects and food via unwashed hands.

We are continuing to be vigilant in identifying and taking steps to prevent the spread of gastro and we ask our Bimbadeen community members to do the same. While alcohol-based hand sanitisers are recommended to prevent transmission of COVID-19, they are not effective for dealing with many of the viruses that cause gastro. We are ensuring that our soap dispensers are full and located in high-use areas.

The most effective ways to prevent gastro are:

wash hands thoroughly with soap and running water for 20 seconds, especially before preparing or eating meals and after using the toilet.
anyone who develops vomiting or diarrhoea should stay home for 48 hours after their symptoms have passed, as they may still be infectious during this period.
clean and sanitise facilities following Department of Health guidelines
see a GP for advice and testing if symptoms are severe or persist.

If your child is displaying any signs of Gastroenteritis, please ensure you keep them home and see your local GP for advice. Please also enter their absence on Sentral to we know why they are absent from school.

Happy Holi to our Community

Holi (/ˈhoʊliː/) is a popular ancient Hindu festival, also known as the "festival of colours". Holi, is the second biggest festival on the Hindu calendar after Diwali. The festival is all about new beginnings - it welcomes the spring season and celebrates the end of winter. This year Holi falls is on March 29 (Monday) with Holika Dahan on March 28 (Sunday).

We hope our Hindu families enjoy a wonderful Holi on Sunday and Monday.

Breakfast Club

Our Breakfast Club, held on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:20am in the Art Room, have been well attended with over 40 students regularly enjoying a healthy breakfast before school.

Thank you to Harvey Norman and The Good Guys in Chirnside Park who have each donated a 4 slice toaster to our Breakfast Club. Thank you also to Bakers Delight, Croydon, who continue to provide donations of bread, each week.

If you child is interested in attending our Breakfast Club, come along on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

End of Term Arrangements

Next Thursday 1st April is the final day of Term 1.

A final assembly will be held with students and staff only (so we can comply with COVID-19 restrictions and density quotients in our hall) at the end of the day, with students being dismissed at 2:30pm. Please make appropriate arrangements for your children to be collected. OSHClub will be running an afterschool care program on Thursday 1st April, beginning at 2:30pm. They also have a comprehensive holiday program planned for the school holiday break. Please contact OSHClub directly for bookings.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and a great final week of term. Feel free to pop in for a chat with either of us or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open!

Kind regards,

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George

Year 6

Year 7 transition visits....