Principal's Report 

What a fabulous start to Term 1 we have had at Rangeview! It has been lovely to see students settling into their new grades, making new friends and starting to engage with their learning. We have had a number of wonderful activities take place across the school, including District Swimming, Level 3 Hockey Clinics, the GRIP Student Leadership Conference, Parent / Teacher Get to Know You Interviews, a School Council meeting and a Parents & Friends Welcome Mixer at the Heatherdale Cricket Pavilion. 

Rangeview School Council 2024

We have completed the election process for our School Council 2024. I am pleased to declare the poll and announce the members of Rangeview School Council for 2024. 

Parent Members

Simon Davies

Sartaj Singh

Lauren Harbeck

Michelle Cook

Cass Morris

Paul Wong

Ambrin Ali

Jess McKay

Maxi Bennett

Leigh Newton 

Rangeview School Employee Members

Marika Ferguson

Jo Davidson

Kate McLeod

Liam Sommers

Mitchell Clark

I would like to thank all of the members for their support and willingness to contribute to the school in this way. I look forward to working with this group over the coming terms and I encourage the community to approach your School Council members with any feedback or queries you may have. 

The school we have is the one we build together. 

Pupil Free Days

We commenced the term with our first Pupil Free Day on Monday 29th January. Staff participated in professional learning around Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), The Resilience Project (TRP), Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships (RRRR), eSmart and Anaphylaxis and Asthma training. There was also time for start-up processes including team meetings and classroom preparation for the start of the new term. It was an invaluable learning time together and also allowed a smooth transition for new and returning students on Tuesday. 

We have a second Pupil Free Day planned for Term 1 on Friday 1st March. The staff will be working on this day with instructors from The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM). This evidence-based classroom support approach equips schools with practical, classroom-based strategies to increase the engagement of all students, including those with complex, unmet learning needs. The BSEM enables schools to support students’ self-regulation, relationships and wellbeing to increase student engagement and significantly improve academic achievement. 

We will have 2 more Curriculum Pupil Free Days over Terms 2 – 4 and one Professional Practice Day (PPD) which is Pupil Free. These dates are yet to be determined. 

Our Their Care program will be operating on Friday 1st March for any families who require care on this day. 

Harmony Day 28th March

Once each term we have a whole school celebration day. This term we will be celebrating Harmony Day on Thursday 28th March. There will be a focus on cultural diversity and students will be working in buddy grades on activities and lessons that educate and celebrate our community’s cultural diversity. 

We will encourage our students to come to school in a costume that represents their cultural heritage and we will have a whole school assembly to begin the day. We welcome all families to this assembly. 

Art Installation

Our fabulous Art team - Deidree Geilings and Melissa O'Brien - have worked with our students to create a beautiful Art Piece which is displayed in our school foyer. 

'Wilum' is a Birrarung Story that explores the wildlife that exists along the Yarra River. 

Foundation Families Twilight Picnic

We are holding a Twilight Foundation Family Picnic next Thursday 29th February from 5pm on our School Oval. In the past we have held whole school sports events at this time, however with the huge sporting program that Rangeview now offers - including both a Junior and Senior School Athletics Carnival - we are moving to a smaller and more intimate Twilight Picnic to support our new families to make connections. 

We encourage all of our Foundation Families - and any families new to the school - to come and have a picnic dinner on our oval. There will be some novelty events held for our students and parents to join in the fun. Thank you to our Their Care Program for running a free BBQ on the night and also to our schools official sponsor Noel Jones, for running a Coffee Cart from 5pm. 

Rangeview Parents & Friends Committee

We have a wonderful P&F Committee at RPS and they truly make the school what it is - through events that they run, fundraising that they organise, community connections that they facilitate, and childhood memories that they instil. 

I would encourage any parent who has a little time to give, even if it is only on occasion, to sign up to our wonderful P & F committee and help us build our school. 

The link to sign up is https://volunteersignup.org/4FH8E 

Facilities Update

Playgrounds

Combined funding from Parents & Friends Committee and the new Before and After School Care – Their Care, enabled the construction of the new Foundation Playground in December and January. The new playground was completed in late January and has been in use by our littlest learners since the first day of Term. We are very pleased with this new space – designed and constructed by Rocket Box. 

Our next playground space for re-development will be the Yellows and the Biggies. We have begun to look at plans for a Ninja Warrior style course to take the whole space of these two playgrounds. It would have simpler and more challenging routes to cater for a wide range of age and ability groups. We will look to fundraise for this over 2024 and 2025. 

Cricket Pitch

We have been able to secure a Cricket Victoria grant to co-contribute with Heatherdale Cricket Club in the construction of a new synthetic Cricket Pitch for our school oval. This would be used by the school during school hours and by HCC on weekends for Junior teams. 

We hope to complete this project in Term 1 & 2. 

Outdoor Kitchen

Last week we saw the installation of our new Outdoor Kitchen space on the Library deck. This space includes an industrial grade BBQ and Pizza Oven – both connected to the gas line – and a large built in kitchen space with moveable tables to create a servery. 

We hope to use this Kitchen on Thursday 29th for our Twilight Picnic event. Their Care will be running a BBQ for the community and sausages will be a gold coin donation which will go to charity. 

 

Marika Ferguson

Principal