From the Principal

*With ANZAC Day being next Thursday, we will be having a Special Assembly this coming Monday. Some students will be sharing their work. Parents & carerwelcome.

Welcome to IPS 

Gratitude has an incredible power to shift our perspective towards abundance rather than scarcity. Gratitude allows us to recognise the richness of our lives, even in times of challenge and uncertainty. It is easy to read or watch the news and despair, but regardless of external circumstances, gratitude and happiness can thrive in our ability as a school community to find joy in the everyday, in learning, in friendships, in building relationships, and in the simple pleasures of everyday life. 

At IPS we focus on positive behaviours and good citizenship. We understand that everyone has the right to feel safe at school. Our School Values are Confidence, Independence, Persistence, Resilience, and Respect. 

It is up to all of us to bring these values to life and represent them in a way that makes our school a safe place, and a place we want to come to everyday.

Mobile Phone Use Out of School

It has been brought to my attention that a number of senior students have been engaging in text conversations outside of school hours using highly emotive language. While the school cannot take responsibility for monitoring this behaviour, Parents and carers should  be aware that the flow on effect may be felt in the school yard and or classrooms. Please speak to your child(ren) and give them strategies to enable them to leave, or de-escalate these conversations before they become confrontations. You may find some useful strategies in the "self-regulation pdf" below.

Self-regulation 

"Self-regulation is learning about your own feelings and emotions, understanding how and why they happen, recognising them (and those of others), and developing effective ways of managing them. 

When children and young people learn to self-manage their emotions, they feel more confident, capable and in control. They have stronger relationships, are more able to pay attention, learn new things and can cope better with the normal stresses and disappointments of daily life."

Want to know more?

Ivanhoe Primary Classroom Helpers Program

We are looking forward to having families and carers helping in our classrooms and programs. The main role of the classroom helper is to help the teacher and support the teaching program.

However, there are expectations around confidentiality and a few helpful rules that you will need to be across.

Below is a link that outlines some protocols and  expectations you will need to be prepared to follow to ensure the partnership is successful.

Once you have been through the slides and you are ready to help,  then approach your child’s teacher and let them know you are interested, and he or she will work out the best place to start.

2023 Annual Report

School Council will meet next Wednesday night to endorse the Ivanhoe Primary School 2023 Annual Report. This is a brief meeting to provide the community with information about the school's performance in the preceding year. The reports contain information regarding the school's context, performance highlights, financial information, and data that informs future goals and targets. All members are invited to the presentation either online or in person at 6pm on Wednesday the 24th of April.

You can join us at https://eduvic.webex.com/join/kent.mark.j 

*The 2023 Annual Report will be uploaded to the school website the following day.

Curriculum Day is Friday the 26th April

Our staff will be attending professional learning at Watsonia North Primary School with their staff and also staff from Viewbank PS and Rosanna PS. The focus of the day will be on Disability Inclusion. This will be a student-free day.   

The purpose of the day is to support the implementation of the Disability Inclusion Framework. We will be providing information about a variety of considerations that may affect how  children access the curriculum. This curriculum day aims to provide teachers with an introduction to a variety of conditions, how students may present in class, possible strategies and resources that can support the student and contacts for future support and professional development.

Our Key Note Speaker is Liam Twomey. Liam is an elite Australian Paratriathlete who will share his journey overcoming many life obstacles. He was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 7 and had his right leg amputated below the knee. He is currently aiming to qualify for the Paris Paralympics later this year!

Our Out of School Hours Care program will be able to offer all day care provided they have a minimum of 25 students booked for the day. Please contact our OSHC staff  on 9499 5226 or by email  iposhc@ivanhoeps.vic.edu.au to express your interest before Tuesday 23rd April so that they are able to inform the community if the program can run that day.

IPS has partnered with Nautilus Clinical Therapy 

In our continued pursuit of improving student outcomes, and in recognition of the crucial role played by strong wellbeing in maintaining student engagement and academic attainment, Ivanhoe PS is pleased to be able to offer direct referrals to a Mental Health Clinician.

We have partnered with Nautilus Clinical Therapy to offer out school community direct access to a variety of supports. This service can be accessed through contact with Nick King, Assistant Principal.

We can facilitate private client referrals or a subsidised referral with a Mental Health Plan via your GP. 

Services can be provided either on site during the hours of (8am – 5pm) or off site at a private practice.

For further information or to begin the referral process please contact me via email: Nicholas.king2@education.vic.gov.au . Alternatively through the school office during business hours: 9499 1880.

Introducing Julie-Anne McMahon

I would like to introduce myself to your community as a mental health practitioner.

I am a very experienced Clinical Family therapist and Mental health social worker who has worked in several community and private mental health settings over the past 25 years. I have recently moved my private practice from East Brunswick to Ivanhoe. 

Much of my work has been with children, adolescents, and their families. I have been in clinical private practice for 6 years and worked as a senior school counsellor for the past 14 years with students.

My work includes psychoeducation of parents and young people; parenting advice; family conflict; trauma; depression; anxiety; developmental delay; social emotional development; intrusive thoughts and feelings, and issues that detract from healthy mental wellbeing. I utilise a range of therapeutic techniques and strategies in response to the needs of clients.  These include Family Systems Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Solution Based Therapy, and Psychodynamic Approaches.

I am passionate about my work and committed to assisting clients to affect positive and sustainable change in their family and individual contexts. 

Kind regards

Julie-Anne McMahon

Mother’s Day breakfast is on Thursday 9th of May

Orders are now open for Mother's Day Breakfast.

Annette has included some new items to cater for everyone’s taste buds.

Please get your orders in ASAP through MY SCHOOL CONNECT to ensure that she orders enough stock for everyone.

Please contact Annette regarding special orders or dietary requirements do so as early as possible on 0413 047 049 or email Annette directly on  ferlaino@bigpond.net.au

*Do not call the office or email My School Connect.

A message from our Education Minister

The Hon. Ben Carroll MP Deputy Premier and Minister for Education

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Ivanhoe Primary School is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

• access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
• a modern user-friendly interface
• rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
• the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by the 6th of September 2024.

Children from Foundation to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. 

Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge .

With Thanks

Francine Stroud (IPS PRC Coordinator)

Encouraging writing

Because writing is fun, it is an excellent way to foster a love of learning. It also helps develop your child’s imagination, which has been proven to be important in critical thinking and problem solving. You can use a book you have recently read together as a source of inspiration, or create something new.

Some ideas for writing creatively include:

• Create a short story in cartoon form.
• Cut out pictures of people from magazines and create speech bubbles and dialogue.
• Create your own superhero and have them go on a short adventure.
• Use artworks found on the web, such as paintings and photographs, as inspiration for a story.
• Write a story or create a cartoon together by taking turns at writing sentences or cartoon cells.
• A simple story structure involves a character who has a goal (for example: to win the football match; to find a lost dog; to save the world) but faces problems in achieving that goal. This structure can be the basis for a short story you write together.

Ivanhoe Primary School Camp Fundraising

As you can imagine, the cost of sending children to camp continues to rise so we are always looking at ways to fundraise to keep these important programs affordable. 

Just by recycling your bottles, cans and juice boxes, you can help us raise much-needed funds to keep our Ivanhoe Primary School Camp Program going!! 

Ivanhoe Primary School is now a donor partner of the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme (CDS). 

WHAT IS THE CDS?

The CDS is a scheme which recycles glass and plastic bottles, juice boxes and aluminium cans that are labelled “10c Refund at a Collection Depot…”.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

1. Save your eligible containers. (You can ask your friends and neighbours to save them for you too!)

Look for the 10c refund label usually found near the bar code on the back, or top for juice boxes. Most aluminium, glass, plastic and liquid paperboard (carton) drink containers between 150mL and 3 litres are eligible. You can keep the lids on as they recycle them too. 

Milk, wine, pure spirit, syrup, and large juice and flavoured milk bottles are not usually eligible, but most beer, tonic water, mineral water and juice box containers have the 10c refund label.

2. Return you recyclables to a Donation CDS refund centre. 

Some refund centres have machines where you must feed each item in one at a time, however our local Southern Cellars in Southern Rd, Heidelberg accept bulk recyclables for donation, so the process is fast and easy. Simply count and write down the total number of items in each group of recyclables: Eg 20 glass bottles, 35 plastic bottles, 20 aluminium cans (don’t squash them), 10 juice boxes. If you have a large number of each, take them in separate containers by these 4 types, so they can just tip into their big bins. 

Other refund centres in the Northern Zone: https://cdsvic.org.au/locations

3. Nominate Ivanhoe Primary School to receive your donation.

Ask the collection centre to find our School name on their CDS app. They will email you a receipt like the one shown here below. Another plus is that the donation is tax-deductible for you!

4. Forward your email receipt to the school.

If you wish, you can forward your receipt to the school email Ivanhoe.ps@education.vic.gov.au so we can monitor the progress of our fundraising!

Further information on the CDS : https://cdsvic.org.au/

Thank you in advance for supporting our Ivanhoe Primary School Camp Program!

ICAS. What is ICAS?

ICAS is an online academic set of assessments that are designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. At IPS we are offering the following ICAS assessments for students in years 3-6…

English, Mathematics, Science, Digital Technologies.

Learn more about ICAS here. https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas

How to participate in ICAS.

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please:

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas/pricing/

2. Read the terms and conditions here: https://www.icasassessments.com/schools-terms-and-conditions/

3. Go to Parent Portal to purchase tests here: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

4. Enter our school’s access code - STL697

5. Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.

IPS ICAS registrations will close at 11:59pm on Friday, July 12th. 

No student will be able to register for ICAS at IPS beyond this date.

Finally

Just to reiterate my initial message, remember when times are tough , look for joy in the everyday, in learning, in friendships, in building relationships, and in the simple pleasures of life. If you're doing fine, but you suspect someone else is struggling, consider reaching  out and ask if they're okay.  What's the worst that can happen?  We're all part of the same community.

Thank you for your continued supprt.

Mark Kent

Principal

http://www.ivanhoeps.vic.edu.au/ 

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.