Dear Robbie Mac Families,

We hope that the children are all settling in to the new school year smoothly and enjoying being back at RMPS.

Thank you!

Thank you to Noel Jones for providing the School Welcome Morning Tea coffee van and special thanks to Peter Watson, Stephen Roche, and Luciana Sanelli for assisting with setting and packing up at the event. We extend our gratitude to all those who joined us for the morning tea on Friday, 9 Feb 2024. Your presence truly made the event special, and it was wonderful to see familiar faces mingling with new ones, fostering a sense of community that we cherish here at Roberts McCubbin Primary School.

Parents/Carers Trivia Night

The Robbie Mac PFA Trivia Night is being held on Saturday, 24 February 2024 at 7pm and tickets have sold out!

This promises to be an evening filled with friendly competition and laughter. Get ready to exercise your brains and unleash your creativity! In addition to answering trivia questions, each table will have the opportunity to showcase their imagination and style by choosing their own theme for dress-up. Compete with other tables for the Best Dressed title!

This is an adult only event for us to enjoy unwinding and catching up with other parents/carers. Please bring your own food and drinks.

Class Reps Still Needed

Thank you to those who have already put their hand up to be a 2024 Class Rep. We are still looking though for a second Class Rep for: FC, 1F, 1R, 4S, 5B and 6T.

As a Class Rep, your key responsibilities will be to:

Be a point of contact for families in your class. It’s up to you how you choose to communicate with families; i.e., email, Facebook and/or WhatsApp
Arrange a couple of social occasions for class families. These can be specifically your class, or you can organise an event with the other classes in your year group (e.g., Foundation, 1/2, etc). Popular choices include “a play at the park” or a “parent evening”.
Communicate information regarding school events as sent through from the PFA or other Class Reps

It is a very rewarding role and a great way to get to know your class. Each class requires two Class Reps, and no prior experience is needed. If you are interested in becoming a class rep, please sign up here: https://signup.com/go/BByGhfW

If you have any questions, please contact Kim Jones on rmps.classreps@gmail.com or reach out to the PFA via rmps.pfa@gmail.com.

2024 PFA Events and Fundraisers

The following 2024 events are currently scheduled:

Parents/Carers Trivia Night (Term 1, Saturday 24 February)
Family Event (Tentatively Term 2, Date TBC)
Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser (Tentatively Term 2, Date TBC)
Student Disco (Tentatively Term 3, Date TBC)
World Teachers Day Morning Tea (Term 4, Friday 25 October – event TBC)
School Colour Fun Run (Term 4, Friday 15 November)

Other events and fundraisers may also be run throughout the 2024 school year.

PFA

The 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 to raise vital funds for school improvements. Without volunteers, there would be no PFA.

All RMPS parents and carers are welcome to register as PFA members, enabling them to receive copies of meeting minutes, vote on items/actions and the office bearer (executive) roles as applicable, and be elected to PFA office bearer roles. If you would like to register as a member, please contact us for a copy of the registration form. Note that you do not have to be a member to help on events or attend meetings.

The first meeting of the year will be held on Monday 19 February 2023 at 2:15pm – 3:15pm. This meeting will be held in the Art Room at school. Please join us if you would like to share ideas or find out more about other PFA events.

Save the date – PFA Annual General Meeting (AGM): Tuesday 19 March. Details to come.

Thank you for your ongoing dedication and involvement. We look forward to seeing you at the Trivia Night and the PFA meeting!

Warm regards,

Wen Li (President), Elizabeth (Secretary) and Bård (Treasurer)

The PFA Committee

FREE Working with Children Check (WWCC)

Ever thought about volunteering at a school (e.g., excursion, swimming, classroom) or PFA (e.g., disco, colour run) activity or event, or even at your child’s sports or dance club, but haven’t been able to because you don’t have a Working with Children Check (WWCC)? Well, you can get a volunteer WWCC for FREE! Applying for one takes about 15-20 minutes and you can do it 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 about possible options. A check may take between 3-12 weeks to be processed.

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. 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

Art Show