Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families,

WELCOME AND WELCOME BACK

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everyone has had a great summer break with family and are looking forward to the year ahead especially with 2020 behind us. All the staff at Maramba would like to give a big welcome back our students and families for what is set to be a spectacular year at Maramba. Of course, we would also like to give a very special welcome to all of our new students and their families who have joined our amazing school community this year!

We are all very excited for the students, our community and ourselves about continuing to strengthen our school community and school improvement initiatives we have been developing over the past few years during 2021.

Our Maramba School Values

Our school values are an integral part of who we are as a people and as a community. They are the things that we believe are important. Values have a major influence on a person's behaviour and attitude. Every day and every moment, they serve as broad guidelines in all situations in the choices we make and the actions we take. They are not just for our students but parents, carers, staff and our whole community!

In Term 1, we will be focusing on our school value of Relationships.

Relationships: We nurture our connection with others.

Maramba Primary School is part of the community. We want to be central to it so that everyone will feel as much a part of us as we are of them.

Together we can do much more than we can individually and the strength of a school can be found in the connections and relationships we form as a community.

We strive to do this by:

working together to be at the heart of the community;
working cooperatively as a team;
sharing good practices with the local networks;
showing respect for differences and opinions;
be sensitive to your own and others emotions;
make a positive contribution to the local and global community.

Meet the Teacher Information Sessions

This year each year group will hold an online Meet The Teacher information session. This is an opportunity for parents and carers to meet your child’s teacher and find out about them and the work they will be covering during the term. It is still a great opportunity for families to connect with teachers.

While online, this is another chance to develop strong community relationships between our parents, your child’s 2021 class and teachers. This relationship is vital to ensure the year is a wonderful one for your child, so I encourage you to attend the session.

Year Group ONLINE Meet The Teacher Meetings – Week 3
Year Group	Day	Time
Year 2	Wednesday 10th Feb	4:30pm – 5:00pm
Year 5/ 6	Wednesday 10th Feb	5:00pm – 5:30pm
Foundation	Wednesday 10th Feb	5:30pm – 6:00pm
Year 3/ 4	Thursday 11th	4:30pm – 5:00pm
Year 1	Thursday 11th	5:00pm – 5:30pm

Safety in the Sun

As a SunSmart accredited school, we must ensure that the children continue to wear hats for a few weeks in term two until the beginning of June. The UV levels are still above three so please continue to Slip on sun protective clothing, Slop on SPF 30 or higher sunscreen, Slap on a wide brimmed hat, Seek shade and, if practical, Slide on wrap-around sunglasses until the UV levels go below 3 which is usually around the end of Term 2 but this is dependent on the UV levels.

Please check the daily sun protection times to be sure. These are available on the free SunSmart app and widget, in the weather section of the newspaper or at sunsmart.com.au even in the cooler autumn weather, that UV exposure all adds up.

SCHOOL UNIFORM EXPECTATIONS

We have high expectations of all our students and everything we do. As such, it is vitally important that all students come to school wearing the correct uniform every day.

After three years of transitioning to the new school uniform, this year the old school uniform is no longer able to be worn.

The school uniform expectations are:

new school uniform to be worn at all times
broad brimmed hats must be worn outside and have a school logo – no hat no play outside
shoes must be completely black only
plain black, white or navy blue socks
only studs or small sleepers are allowed
watches and fitbits can be worn
all other jewellery i.e. bracelets or necklaces of any kind are not permissible
all type of religious headdress in uniform colours – either black, navy blue or white

The summer school uniform is:

PLEASE NOTE: School shoes must be black.

STATE SCHOOLS’ RELIEF

State Schools’ Relief is a not for profit organisation that supports the needs of short- term crisis and long term chronic needs Victorian government school students by providing new school uniforms, shoes and educational resources. They work side by side with all Victorian Primary, Secondary, Special Developmental and Language schools to ensure that any students facing hardship have the necessary clothing and appropriate footwear for school.

Please speak to Mrs Morwood, Mrs Sweeney or Mr Wallace, they act as representatives of State Schools’ Relief and will be able to assist with your individual request for assistance.

WE ARE A PAPERLESS SCHOOL

Just a reminder that as a paperless school, All notices and notifications will be communicated to parents, carers and the school community only through the following means:

Konnective (Our main communication app for all letters, notices, payment notices, school events, reminders, updates and significantly in the event of a school emergency)
Class Dojo (general class updates and notifications)
QKR app (making online payments, providing permission for student participation in events)
School Website (school newsletter, events, school news)
Email (student progress reports)

Please ensure you are connected and have access to all of these applications to ensure you receive all relative information communicated by the school.

We are happy to help you get connected so please see a member of our administration team if you need any help.

Kind regards,

Darren Wallace

Principal

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the students and Staff who will celebrate their birthdays this week.