Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s so wonderful to feel spring in the air. The days are staying lighter for longer, the fruit trees are blossoming, and the smell of wattle is in the air. We extend a warm welcome to our newest Tarneit Rise community members:

Lauren Ireland – Grade 6F teacher
Emma Lockyer– Grade 6I teacher

Principal Award Winners

Congratulations to the principal award winners over the past two weeks. Each week a student is recognised from each year level and is invited to share breakfast with the principal Friday morning. The following children have been recognised this fortnight:

Prep; Akech– isn’t sure what he wants to do in his adult life yet. He has lots of time to figure that out! Akech loves school, especially visual arts.

Grade 1; Sumer wants to travel the world when he gets older and is super keen to visit New York City! Sumer loves learning and playing at school and his favourite subject is Physical Education.

Lennox loves working and leaning at school. When he grows up, he wants to get rich, travel the work and help the homeless.

Grade 2; Bani – loves everything about school. She loves learning and making those around her happy. When Bani grows up, she wants to be a teacher, then a principal.

Grade 4; Japjot

Grade 5; Tejas – loves learning, especially maths. Tejas loves sport and is not sure what he wants to do when he is older but thinks it might be something in business. Tejas really enjoyed the book that was studied in the grade 5 literature unit, Tuck Everlasting, particularly the symbolism.

Maanya – loves school, and thinks, she would like to be a teacher when she is older.

Grade 6; Nikshith really loves STEM, Maths, PE and French at school. He thinks he might like to be a pilot when he is older.

Bullying

At TRPS we have high expectations for learning and behaviour and are so proud of the school culture we have created. The term ‘bullying’ is often a misunderstood or misused word. Sometimes, people get confused about what is and isn’t bullying.

People can think that someone saying something they don’t like is bullying – but it’s not. Bullying is different from conflict or unkindness.

Bullying is being mean, but being mean doesn't always mean bullying.

Bullying behaviours:

Are aggressive, unkind or mean behaviours
Are repeated behaviours (it must happen multiple times, in an ongoing way to be defined as bullying)
Happen on purpose
Must have a power imbalance – which means that people bullying and the people being bullied aren’t seen as being ‘equal’, e.g. older, bigger people picking on smaller, younger people, or ‘popular’ people targeting someone who they see as being ‘unpopular’, or who is struggling to make friends.

Some other serious types of behaviours, like discrimination, harassment and abuse, can overlap with bullying and are actually against the law.

Bullying is not the same as

Being rude – saying or doing something hurtful that wasn’t planned or meant to hurt someone, e.g. someone pushing in front of you in the canteen line
Being mean – doing something hurtful to someone on purpose once or twice, e.g. a friend refusing to play with you one day
Conflict – having a disagreement with a friend, e.g. two friends getting into an argument and saying mean things to each other
Respectful feedback on behaviours you're doing that aren’t ok, e.g. “It’s not ok roll your eyes every time they talk about sport.”
A friend putting in a ‘boundary’ e.g. “I don't like it when you keep telling me what to do.”

Natural consequences in socialising, e.g. a friend not trusting you because you shared their secret

As parents, it can be tough knowing how to broach the topic of bullying.

Try to be open to hearing their point of view and listening rather than jumping straight to solutions.
Talk regularly about school, their friendships and anything that might be troubling them
Ask them directly if they're being bullied and let them know you want to work together to help stop it
Encourage your child/ren to call Kids Helpline and talk to a counsellor
For parenting support, call Parentline in your local State or Territory and they can advise you on what the next steps might be

Parent Opinion Survey

A special thank you to the families who have already completed the Department of Education’s Parent Opinion Survey. If you haven’t had the chance yet, please remember that the survey is open until August 30th. To access the survey please go tohttps://www.orima.com.au/parent and use this PIN 337740 These links and codes were sent via Compass to your email. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps us improve our school’s programs and services.

2025 Planning

We have started the early stages of planning for 2025. If you are leaving the area and your child will not be attending Tarneit Rise PS in 2025, or if you plan on transferring your child to one of our neighbouring schools, Wimba, Karwan or the new Riverdale PS (Interim name) you are zoned to, please let the office know so we can plan, using accurate student numbers. This will also support our neighbouring schools with their future planning. Please complete the student exit form by clicking the following link https://forms.gle/1c1YPewNVCG3R4UV9

Traffic and safety for our children

We are a large school, and as a result, there is a great deal of traffic at school drop off and pick up times. This is also the time our children are most vulnerable to traffic accidents. Our children are our most precious ‘cargo’, so it is imperative when dropping them off and picking them up from school we ensure we observe all traffic rules. As of late we have noticed many children crossing our busy roads not at a supervised crossing. We have seen parents standing on one side of the road and calling their young children to run across the road to meet them. This makes them VERY vulnerable to being hit by a vehicle or vehicles. When crossing the road, it is safest for children to hold an adult's hand. This means you will need to use the two- minute drop off and pick up zone or park the car and walk to collect your child/children or park a few blocks. We have a collective responsibility to ensure the safety of children, so when you drop off or pick up your child/ children make sure to model good traffic behaviour and do not encourage your child/children to cross unsupervised.

Extra-Curricular

Last week we celebrated Science Week and had a terrific time at our STEM night. It was wonderful to see our Junior School Councillors taking lead roles on the night, showing responsibility and facilitating student learning. We are so proud of our extra-curricular events at Tarneit Rise Primary School and of our Specialist Teaching team. Who provide some many opportunities to grow and extend student learning.

Our Grade 6 students won the SSV Tarneit Districts Athletics shield last week. A selected group pf children have now been selected to compete at SSV Divisional competition in September.

Today we celebrated Book Week, and the school was abuzz with excitement and joy! Thank you to all families who put the time and effort into organising Book Week costumes for their children, and to our staff who organised the Book Week activities. We opened up our classrooms to our Grandparents and special visitors to showcase our learning.

Thank you to all families who have engaged with our PLC Open Days. So far, we have had our prep families join us to celebrate 100 Day of school and our grade 5 families, who enjoyed the Readers Theatre.

I would like to inform our school community of some very sad news. Last week Awaroa Rapana, a former grade 6 teacher, passed away after a short illness. Awa was a valued member of our school community, and we send our condolences to her family at this very sad time. Please reach out if you feel your child/ren need any wellbeing support, or please reach out to Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Stay safe

Nadia,

Sarah, Missy, Stephen, Lauren, Adam, Gemma & Alana

The Fortnight Ahead

Below are events coming up over the next fortnight.