It is once again my privilege to extend a very warm welcome to our new and returning Ben Venue families this year. It brought me great joy last Thursday to reconnect with many of our students at the front gate, in classrooms and on the playground - particularly as so many were genuinely happy to be returning to school at Ben Venue.

Stage newsletters will continue to be a feature of this publication, commencing in Week 4.

Please click the button below to access the Ben Venue Information Booklet.

School Bytes

Please be aware of the importance of School Bytes to your awareness of activities and information for your child. All permission notes, forms and payment for activities now occur via School Bytes. This year, we will be adding functionality to the School Bytes Parent Portal. You can now view your child's attendance record, including any unexplained absences. Later this week, you will receive a request to complete a form to confirm we have up-to-date information. This form will also seek permission for your child to access a number of online services, allowing them to access learning content and interact with their teacher and peers online. In addition to being emailed, this form and others like it are located in the 'Forms' tab beside 'Attendance' on the School Bytes Parent Portal.

School Stream will continue to be used for urgent messages this year, but may be replaced by School Bytes in 2025. Parents/carers can log in to School Bytes by clicking here. I suggest bookmarking the link. The link is also available on our school website.

Parent-student-teacher interviews

Shortly, families will receive a request to book an interview slot with their child's class teacher. We will again be using the School Interviews system to coordinate these meetings. While these interviews are a great opportunity to introduce families and teachers, the meeting is designed to be student-led, with the primary purpose of students identifying meaningful goals and supports that can be established to achieve these goals.

Interviews will be conducted in Weeks 5 and 6 of this term (26 February - 8 March). Parents/carers are reminded that outside of these interviews, meetings can be arranged at any time throughout the year by contacting the school office.

2024 staffing

Senior Executive

Principal - Cam Pryce

Deputy Principal - Lana Howlett

Office Staff

School Administrative Manager - Stephanie Murdock (Relieving)

Admin officers - Melissa Walsh, Rachel Brown, Sacha Jarman, Sally Macdougall

Assistant Principals

Curriculum & Instruction - Elizabeth Wassman

Kindergarten - Sonya Rogers (Heidi Gray - Semester 1 & Eliza Tanner - Semester 2 share relieving on Wednesdays)

Stage 1 - Chantelle Lawrence (Acting)

Stage 2 - Amanda Swain (Acting)

Stage 3 - Zane Osborn

Class Teachers

Kindergarten - Sonya Rogers, Heidi Gray, Kate Frizell, Eliza Tanner

Stage 1 - Chantelle Lawrence, Nicole Frost, Claudia Campbell, Kathy McMillan, Rebecca Bourke, Shelli Morse

Stage 2 - Amanda Swain, Sue Lye, Elliot Chapman, Ben Laurie, Lyn Burgess, Lauren Corby

Stage 3 - Zane Osborn, Karen Watson, Richard Cotter, Rebecca Hunt, Anne-Maree Pattison, Sarah Farmer

Part-time class teachers

KR - Fiona Clayton (Wednesdays), S1S - Andrea Boyce (Fridays), S2E - Anna-Marie Paul (Wednesdays), S3W - Rhiannon Hoad (Fridays)

Release from Face-to-Face teachers

Library - Tabatha Wain, Jennine Wilson

Physical Education - Mebby Walker

Computing & Technology - Rebecca O'Hara

Music - Michelle Porter

RFF - Anna-Marie Paul (Mondays)

RFF - Andrea Boyce (Thursdays)

Learning support teachers

School Counsellor - Julia Ramsay

English as an Additional Language/Dialect - Kellie Divall

Learning Support Teacher (Individual Student Support & Transition) - Fiona Clayton

Learning Support Teacher (Small Group Intervention Delivery) - Sarah Pryce

School Learning Support Officers

Renee Russell, Tania Sciffer, Taylor Shing-Kelly, Sacha Jarman, Callum Davies, Star Shing-Kelly

General Assistant

Jamie Bryant

Cam Pryce

Principal

Ben Venews

Kind, safe learners

Week 2 Term 1 · 05 Feb 2024

In this issue