Dear Karoo PS Community,

Welcome back to Term 4, our final term of 2024! I hope that you all had a wonderful break and that everyone has enjoyed coming back to school for an exciting term ahead.

Intergenerational Program

As part of our intergenerational program and forging strong connections in our local community, our Year 3 students visited Discovery Bay ELC to support their learning and connection with school.

Year 3 Discovery Bay ELC visit

We were thrilled to see our Year 3 students enjoy a special visit to Discovery Bay Early Learning Centre recently. Each Year 3 student was paired with a kindergarten ‘buddy,’ giving them the opportunity to read stories, share games, and build connections with the younger children. It was heart warming to see our Year 3s actively demonstrate the Karoo Values throughout the visit. Their positive attitudes and friendly interactions made us incredibly proud, as they created a welcoming atmosphere for the little ones. This visit not only brought joy to our students but also strengthened our community bond, reflecting the true spirit of our school!

Smile Squad

The Smile Squad team from EACH are coming to our school from Monday 18th November. Smile Squad is the Victorian Government free school dental program. This means all students can get a free dental check-up, preventive services, and treatment at school.

How to access free dental care

Smile Squad need your consent before they can provide services. Consent is usually provided by a parent or guardian. Please sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic OR use the QR code (attached). Please complete and submit the consent form, this will be sent directly to EACH. Paper copies of the consent form are available. Please contact the school office if you would like to request one. The electronic consent form can be translated into more than 100 languages, and the paper form is available in 13 languages.

Smile Squad dental packs

All children deserve a healthy smile, and the Smile Squad free school dental program is working hard to help make sure this happens. Your child(ren) will soon receive a free dental pack to bring home. The dental pack contains a toothbrush, full sized toothpaste, and an oral health brochure.

In the pack, please take the time to read the brochure. It’s full of helpful hints and tips to help your whole family eat well, drink well and clean well – for life. Smile Squad provides standard strength fluoride toothpaste that is generally used by ages six and over, unless recommended by a dental or trained health professional.

If your child is under six, please talk to a dental or trained health professional to find out if your child might benefit from using this toothpaste. You can also choose to put the toothpaste away until they turn six or give it to someone else in your family to use.

Do I need to attend my child’s appointment?

No, you do not need to attend your child’s appointment. You can attend if you would like to, and you can take your child to the community dental clinic if you prefer.

EACH Smile Squad look forward to seeing you soon.

We look forward to having Smile Squad back at Karoo PS for 2024!

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)

What Is SWPBS?

School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) is a whole-school framework which provides a research-based approach to promote positive behaviour at our school. The SWPBS approach has been developed from evidence and data, demonstrating the most effective ways to prevent and respond to problem behaviour, improve school culture and increase academic performance.

SWPBS provides a consistent approach and common language to engage, guide and support students to be the best they can be.

SWPBS runs along a continuum from Tier 1 for all students, Tier 2 for a small cohort of students to Tier 3 for individual students. Students may move up and down these tiers throughout their time at school.

SWPBS Philosophy at Karoo Primary School

At Karoo Primary School our SWPBS approach is underpinned by our school values. In everything they do, students are expected to demonstrate behaviours that reflect:

Kindness / Personal Excellence / Tenacity

Our teachers explicitly teach these values in line with the standards of our SWPBS Behaviour Response Matrix, Real School principals and the Victorian Curriculum. In the coming weeks you may notice more visual displays that relate to the SWPBS framework across our school. We encourage you to take a moment to read and learn more about this exciting new framework for Karoo.

Enjoy the next few weeks and I look forward to seeing you around our wonderful school!

Kind Regards,

Courtney Hoffmann

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