Principal's Report 

Welcome to the 2023 School Year

Welcome to the 2023 school year. We hope you and your family enjoyed a restful and relaxing break over the school holiday period and have had a positive start to the year.

The school year has started well, with our students and staff settling in quickly, and focusing on building strong, positive relationships within and across classroom communities. Our students have started the new school year with enthusiasm and the determination to work hard and enjoy their time at school. Walking around our classrooms over the past two weeks, it has been very pleasing to see how quickly and easily everyone has settled into their new class and adapted to new routines. We are now full steam ahead into what promises to be a fantastic year of learning, fun and growth.

Student Leadership Team

At our first assembly on Friday afternoon last week, we were very fortunate to have Bridget Vallence, MP, Member for Evelyn, present the badges to our 2023 Student Leadership Team. Ms Vallence spoke of the role of a leader and how all students are leaders through their words and actions.

 We look forward to working with our School Captains and House Captains this year, and we are looking forward to working with them to continually improve our school for all members of the community.

Welcome to our Foundation students 

It is fabulous to see how quickly our 93 new Foundation students have settled into school life. This reflects the effectiveness of the pre-school and Kindergarten programs run by our Early Childhood colleagues, our comprehensive school transition program, the efforts put in by parents and carers to ensure school readiness, and the warm and welcoming classroom environments created by our wonderful Foundation teaching team. Our Founders students are quickly becoming familiar with routines, expectations and how to be a school kid.

Welcome to our new families

This year we have welcomed several new families to the Bimbadeen community. Many of our new families are first-time Founders parents and others are new families who have moved into the area. Making the move to a new school can sometimes be daunting, however, our new students are settling in well and have already formed some great friendships. A warm welcome all new families to our school. We look forward to working with you and your children this year and into the future.

Welcome to our new members of staff

At the end of the 2022 school year, we introduced you to many of our new staff members for 2023. Below are further introductions to three new staff members who have joined the Bimbadeen community this year. If you see Gerry, Shannen or Ben around the school, please say hi and introduce yourself. 

Gerry Ladiges (Education Support/Integration Aide) - Hello Bimbadeen Heights Primary School community, my name is Gerard (Gerry) Ladiges and I am thrilled to be joining you this year. I will be a member of the School Support Staff as an Integration Aide and I am looking forward to assisting the students at BHPS in achieving their goals.

In 2022, I began working as an aide at Marlborough Primary School in Heathmont where I was very fortunate to be able to cultivate strong relationships with students, staff and families and contribute to the positive culture. I am very excited about contributing my positive energy to the BHPS community this year and building strong relationships.

My wife has worked as a teacher for eight years and helped inspire me into pursuing a career in education and I have never found any work more rewarding than assisting students with additional needs. I am very passionate about supporting students in achieving their goals and I am always excited by celebrating their success.

During my free time I enjoy spending time with my wife, cooking, practicing yoga, cycling, walking, and playing boardgames – I have a fairly large and interesting collection, feel free to ask me about it. My other main interest is learning foreign languages and I can currently speak about seven in some capacity. We also have two beautiful cats named Tabby and Lenny.

This year I am going to be taking on the challenge of ditching my car and using my bike as my main vehicle, so keep an eye out for me cycling to school. I am excited about getting involved with the community this year and look forward to meeting you all.

Shannen Rankin (Education Support/Integration Aide) – 

I am very excited to be joining the Bimbadeen Heights Primary School community as an Education Support Staff. Whilst studying my Diploma in 2015, I was lucky enough to be offered a position as an ESS at a local primary school, and this is where I developed a passion for supporting students throughout their learning journey. Since then, I have worked within the Early Childhood Industry for 6 years and have gained a wealth of knowledge of how children may learn, and the importance of building positive and trusting relationships. I believe the most important factor for a child to achieve their goals, is for them to be within a safe and nurturing environment. I will always have the students’ best interest at heart, and will work in collaboration with the classroom teacher, families and of course the students to support them in succeeding. 

When I am not at work, you will find me doing things around the house with my fiancé, Jake, including walking our dog Louie (1 ½ yr Groodle), watering all our indoor plants, and completing small renovations. I also love going camping, spending time with friends and family, venturing out to the Yarra Valley, and working alongside my sister on our small candle and essential oil business.

Ben Liang (Chinese – Mandarin) - 

Having received such a warm welcome from the staff and students at Bimbadeen Heights Primary School, I feel so happy and excited about joining the Bimbadeen community. 

Working with such lovely kids and colleagues is a blessing. I cannot wait to see the children having fun singing Chinese songs and learning about Chinese language and culture. Outside of school, I enjoy swimming and reading novels.

Arrival Times at School

The official on duty time at school is 8:45am. We understand that traffic flow and other challenges sometimes means an earlier arrival, however, we ask that parents and carers avoid dropping off their children any earlier than 8:45am. 

Whilst staff are on site, there is no formal supervision of students until this time, and we are obviously conscious of student safety. If you require care for your children before school begins, please access the Theircare before school care service. Information about Theircare is available on our school website.

Breakfast Club and Active Club to begin in Week 4

Our weekly Breakfast Club and Active club program will begin in Week 4 this term. Breakfast Club will generally operate on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:15am to 8:45am, and Active Club will generally operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 8:30am to 8:45am. The aim of Breakfast Club and Active Club is to support our students to develop healthy habits that support their wellbeing and connect with each other and our staff members. Our families are welcome to attend these morning activities before school.

With the new Victorian Government Schools Agreement and the impact of time in lieu on staff working hours, there will be weeks throughout each term where Breakfast Club and Active Club will reduce the number of days they operate, or not operate at all, to ensure our staff are working within their designated working hours. 

We will endeavour to provide families with advance notice of these changes. To ensure our students are appropriately supervised before school, we ask that parents and carers please do not rely on these activities for the purpose of before school care for your child/ren. 

School staff are not on duty to provide supervision in the yard before 8:45am. It is the responsibility of parents and carers to ensure their children are supervised prior to 8:45am, if they are on school grounds. If you require care for your child/ren before school, please contact Theircare who provide a before and after school service for our community.  

Get to Know You Interviews

This week was the first week of Get to Know You Interviews, with the second week of interviews being held next week. These parent/teacher interviews are a privileged time for parents and carers to meet with their child’s classroom teacher to ensure we know everything we can about each student and develop a strong, collaborative relationship between each teacher and their students, and their parents and carers. Information about our Get to Know you Interviews has been sent home to families via Sentral. Please ensure you make a time to meet with your child’s teacher to help set your child up for success at school this year. If you are experiencing difficulties with using Sentral, please see Emma or Shelley in office for assistance.

Hats and Sunscreen

In line with our SunSmart policy students are required to wear school hats during terms 1 and 4. School hats provide protection from the harsh sun and are available at Spartan’s (Uniform Shop) or can be purchased online via the link on our school website. Students without a hat will be required to play in a designated undercover area outside their classrooms. 

It is also recommended that your child wears sunscreen to school and suggest that this is applied prior to the start of the school day. You are also encouraged to send sunscreen to school with your child to independently apply, prior to recess and lunch breaks when they will be given the opportunity to do so. Sunscreen is always available for our students, staff, and community members at the office.

Helping Out Around the School

We encourage all families to become involved in their child’s schooling and are always in need of adults to assist in classrooms and on excursions, in the library or with fundraising activities throughout the year. Our families are also able to contribute to our working bees or join our school council or contribute through one of its many sub-committees. 

If you are interested in being involved in some or all the many opportunities to contribute to the Bimbadeen community, please see you child’s teacher or keep an eye out for information that will be publicised in our School Newsletters or our Sentral newsfeed.

Please note that we do require that if you are volunteering within the school that you have a current Working With Children check and that you provide a copy of this to the school office. Information about and applications for Working With Children checks are available online at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

Information about our school’s Visitor and Volunteer policies is available on our school website in the School Policies section. 

Hot Weather Processes 

During days of extreme heat where the temperature exceeds 35 degrees, we will use our judgement to determine whether students should spend all or part of their recess and lunch breaks outside. Students are reminded to stay hydrated, to regularly re-apply sunscreen, to play in shady areas and to refrain from playing running games. On particularly hot days we will keep students inside in air-conditioned classrooms. 

We have also been asked to remind our community about the dangers of leaving children in cars on very hot days, this includes at school drop off and pick-up times. 

Accident Insurance and Personal items brought to school 

The Department of Education (DE) does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents and carers are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs. 

The Department of Education states that reasonable low-cost accident insurance policies are available from the commercial insurance sector. For those parents and carers who seek personal cover, details of an insurer who offers low-cost individual accident insurance is EBM Insurance Brokers and their website is www.studentcover.com.au  

Similarly, DE (which includes the school) does not offer replacement of personal items which are brought to school and are lost, broken, or stolen. Sentimental or expensive belongings and toys, including sports equipment and electronic devices, are normally best left at home. 

Annual Privacy Reminder 

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website in the Policies & Documents section https://www.bimbadeenheightsps.vic.edu.au/policies-documents/

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese.

Communication

There are many forms of communication used between school and home to ensure that parents are kept informed about what is happening both in the classroom and at a whole school level. 

Our main form of communication is through the Sentral platform. Messages and reminders will be sent out via Sentral. Teachers will also use Sentral as a primary way to communicate to parents and carers. Please contact the office if you require further information about Sentral. Our school newsletter will be sent out fortnightly via email link so please ensure that the office has an updated email address for your family. 

The link to the electronic version of the newsletter is sent to parents and it is also available on the website.

Staff Car Park and School Pick Up / Drop Off Zone

We would like to remind all members of our school community that the Staff Carpark is not a drop off or pick up zone. The safety of our students, staff and community members is paramount.

We request that parents/carers use the strip of parking parallel to the yellow curb marking at the front of the school as a kiss and go zone. This means parents should remain in their car, with the car running and once their children have safely entered their car, to move on, allowing space for the next parent to park. If we all use the yellow zone area as a drop off zone, it will help improvement flow of traffic immensely along Hayrick Lane and surrounding streets. 

When parking at the front of the school, please reverse into car spots with care and be courteous to other drivers. As per Victorian road rules, when driving out of a car park indicate, check mirrors and blind spots and give way to all vehicles and pedestrians on the road. This includes giving way to drivers who are reversing into car spots and waiting for them to park before you drive out of your car spot. Please be mindful of your speed on the road and please do not block driveways while parking or queueing on Hayrick Lane. Please ensure you adhere to parking limits as there have been numerous reports to local council already this year of parents/carers who have been parking in spaces for longer times than permitted.

The Department of Education and Training (DET) is now known as the Department of Education (DE)

Due to several changes across government, the Department of Education and Training (DET) has now become the Department of Education (DE).

National Student Wellbeing Program

On 1 January this year, the National Student Wellbeing Program (NSWP) replaced the National Schools Chaplain Program. The change in this program has meant we are able to appoint a student wellbeing officer to support the general wellbeing of students, and the broader community. 

We are very pleased to share that Liam Bransgrove, our Student Counsellor, will be taking on the role of Student Wellbeing Coordinator. While Liam will continue to provide support to students in his counselling role, he will also coordinate school-wide strategies to support the general wellbeing of students and the broader community. As a key member of our School Wellbeing team, we are thrilled that Liam has taken on this role. As with our previous Chaplain program, students who work with Liam in his role as our Student Wellbeing Coordinator, and/or Student Counsellor, must have an NSWP Consent Form competed by their parent/carer. 

The role of the Student Wellbeing Coordinator and Student Counsellor is not to provide clinical therapy, it is to support school-based intervention and wellbeing across the community. For further information, or to discuss your child’s needs, please contact Marty Gill.

Starting School Resources for Families

As we welcome students back for the start of the 2023 school year, we would like to share the following information about department services and resources with our families -

Transition tips 

Back to school is an exciting time for students and families. It can be a big step – particularly for those starting prep or moving to secondary school. For advice in multiple languages on how parents and carers can help their child have a positive start to school, refer to Tips for starting school.

Help with school costs

Please contact Adele Gates, Business Manager, or Sabrina George our Assistant  Principal, if you are having difficulty with school costs. Programs like Affordable School Uniforms and the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund can help with the cost of school uniforms and other essential school items as well as school activities for eligible students. For more information, please see Help with school costs and fees.

Health and wellbeing

The department’s mental and wellbeing health toolkit, offers guidance to help you support your child’s mental health and wellbeing at home, and advice on working with your school and seeking help if you have concerns.

What to expect at school

A range of information for parents and carers is available on the department’s website that explain school policies, requirements, and expectations, as well as available support services. For more information, please see Attending school and Building a positive relationship with your child's school.

Staying safe from mosquitoes

Recent wet and warm weather has increased mosquito breeding. Mosquitoes can carry diseases that may be passed on to people through mosquito bites. A range of mosquito-borne diseases have recently been detected in mosquitoes in northern Victoria.  

Mosquito-borne diseases can cause serious illness, including infections of the brain, with children particularly at risk.

The best way to prevent mosquito-borne diseases is to avoid mosquito bites. 

In line with community health advice, families can protect against mosquito bites by:

• using insect repellent that contains picaridin or DEET on all exposed skin if outdoors when mosquitoes are observed, from October to March
• wearing long, loose-fitting clothing outdoors if possible if mosquitoes are around and covering exposed skin as much as possible. Summer school uniforms, including polos and shorts, can continue to be worn, but students should use insect repellent on exposed skin if mosquitoes are active
• limiting outdoor activity when mosquitoes are active.

Further information:

• A handy guide to help protect you and your family from mosquito-borne disease
• Better Health Channel information about preventing mosquito-borne diseases.

We hope you have a wonderful week everyone, feel free to pop in for a chat with either of us or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open! 

Kind regards, 

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George