Principal Team Message

AFFIRMATIONS FOR THIS FORTNIGHT 

Your competition isn't other people. Your competition is your procrastination. Your ego. The unhealthy food you're consuming. The knowledge you neglect. The negative behaviour you're nurturing and your lack of creativity. 

Compete against that. 

Say to yourself - I will always perform at my best. 

-Anon

WE'RE OFF TO A GREAT START - WEEK 4

The weeks are simply flying by and before we know it we'll be halfway through the term. Our students are very settled and it's pleasing to wander through the school and witness all the rich learning, collaboration, perseverance and engagement taking place. 

It was also lovely to see our students come to school to mark National Pyjama Day, and International Friendship Day last Friday, all initiated by our wellbeing leaders. Please see their report on the student leadership page. 

Today our Foundation students celebrated 100 days of school. This is a huge achievement for our youngest Rippers who have settled so well in their first year at school. 

Students were invited to dress up and represent the theme '100' with many amazing costumes. Our Foundation families are truly creative!

A shoutout to our fill-in elderly staff from the local Regis Aged Care, what a remarkable effort teaching our Foundies for the day at 100 years of age !!!!

STUDENT VOICE & AGENCY

Last term through 'Three-Way Conferences', families had the opportunity to connect with the school and teachers whilst students were able to showcase their learning, reflect on their goals and set new targets to achieve. 

This is part of our strategic work to develop 'student voice and agency' at RPS. Young people who find their voice in a supportive school environment are more likely to develop a confident voice, a capacity to act in the world, and a willingness to lead others. 

By empowering our students we enhance student engagement and enrich their participation in the classroom, school and community. We help students to ‘own’ their learning and development and create a positive climate for learning.

Student voice, agency and leadership represent different aspects of student empowerment. Each is important, inter-related and mutually reinforcing. Students are empowered when they are supported to develop their knowledge, skills and dispositions in these three areas, and when we deliberately plan for and embed voice and agency in our classrooms and school.

A tool we use each year to measure and seek feedback from our students is the Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS). This annual survey was completed last term by students from Years 4-6. Preliminary results look promising and the targets we set in our Annual Implementation Plan and Strategic Plan seem achievable, but there is more work to be done. In the next newsletter, we will share some of these results with our community. 

BIG THANKS TO OUR WORKING BEE VOLUNTEERS

Wow!, students and staff returned to very clean grounds last Monday, all thanks to the incredible 'working bee' efforts of some amazing parent and student volunteers. The day was bathed in sunshine and was a perfect opportunity to finally get some maintenance, gardening and cleaning done. 

The school heavily relies on such days, which continues to ensure our students have the best and safest environment to enjoy and play in. Many families try and contribute to the school's voluntary maintenance fund but this simply runs dry within a few months, as we have a 100-year-old building to upkeep. 

The aim of this day is not just about ticking off jobs on our very large 'To Do List' but an opportunity for families and students to connect and support their school. This is in essence what the 'Ripper' community spirit is all about. We saw so many students playing, exploring the grounds, spending time with friends and helping their families. The pride in their little school was very evident. 

The volunteers, together with members of the school council committee 'Facilities & Environment' led the day and were grateful to the number of families who turned up and lent a hand. 

They were able to achieve the following:

• Tidied up and weeded the long jump pit to fill with sand, so that our students can practice in preparation for the Athletics Carnival.
• The junior sandpit was topped up with lovely soft, clean sand. 
• The bike shed has never looked better after the removal of rubbish and leaves that get trapped by the surging winds.
• The productive garden was weeded and tidied up.
• Gutters were cleared outside the Italian/French/OSHC room.
• The senior playground was weeded.
• The sports shed alongside the tool shed was cleared and tidied. Shelves were rebuilt and finally, Susie will be super pleased that there are no longer weeds growing in the shed making it easier to access all equipment. 
• The rear of the Barrbunin has a good tidy up and so did the front of the school. 
• The mini pitch is looking so clean after several green bins were filled with fallen leaves and branches 

Sarah and Ian (Miles)  

Brad (Finley)

Alec and Yuki (Luc & Frances)

Shane (Kai) 

Laurel (Clem & Iris)

Eli & Natasha (Bilijana)

Brianna and Robert (Hugh)

Natalie (Mateo) 

Peter, Lauren, Mark (Evie & Molly ), Emily (Daisy) Marie (Sam & Tom ) James (Harriet, Billy & Archie) Jason (Olive & Lachlan), Tasma (Finn & Archer) Matt (Levi & Axel), Camilo (Leti & Emilia) and of course loads of kids as Collin (Nate & Lenny) would attest!

CURRICULUM DAY - FRIDAY 12 AUGUST

Each year government schools are provided with four student-free days for professional development, school planning and administration, curriculum development, and student assessment and reporting purposes. 

The first day of Term 1 is a student-free day in all government schools to allow for appropriate planning to take place for the arrival of students. The remaining three student-free days are determined by each individual school.

Our final Curriculum Day will be on Friday 12th August. Some confusion may arise as our teachers recently had a Professional practice day, which under the new Victorian School's Agreement will continue to occur this term and next term. 

Professional practice days provide teachers with release from their scheduled duties (all duties which would have been otherwise scheduled, including teaching) to focus on the improved delivery of high-quality teaching and learning. Due to staffing shortages and on the advice of the Department, schools can seek School Council approval for a nominated pupil-free day or arrange Casual Relief Teachers (CRTs) to cover this day. 

ENROLMENTS FOR 2023 ARE DUE NOW

Planning for 2023 is crucial at this time of the year, so we urge existing families to swiftly deliver your child's enrolment form to the office by the end of this week. Your child's placement and those families wishing to come to Ripponlea depend on you. 

Initially, our school will ensure all siblings and in-zone families have a confirmation of enrolment over the next week. Based on these enrolments we will be able to confirm the number of Foundation classes in 2023 and whether we can offer placements for families of Ripponlea Kinder and others. 

If you know of a family in our school zone and they have no knowledge of how enrolments occur, please give them a little nudge and send them our way for a school tour and information.  

 FAMILIES NOT RETURNING IN 2023

For all planning purposes, we also urge families to notify the school or Mrs. Rose directly at natalie.rose@education.vic.gov.au if your child/children will not be continuing at Ripponlea in 2023. 

RAISING KIDS IN A DIGITAL WORLD 2022

Please don't forget to register for this free virtual presentation. Whilst students are being educated on all things cyber safety, parents and carers can meet Marty McGauran and psychologist Carley McGauran, as they discuss the complexities and strategies of managing your child's online environment. 

Included in this correspondence is a link to the following presentation, so please register as soon as possible. Even if you are unable to watch, they will send you a recording only if you have registered. 

CYBERBULLYING 

As you would all know, our students have been involved in termly interactive workshops presented by Marty McGuaran from Inform and Empower. Over the last few years, especially attributed to increased online activity, cyberbullying has become more prominent. 

We believe parents need the support to truly understand the impact of such behaviours in the online world, to best support your children. 

Below you will find a video from Carley & Martin who are joined by Niff Howard from Parentline. Together they discuss and unpack this challenging topic of cyberbullying, sharing practical advice and strategies to set your family up to minimise risk.

Carley and Martin highly recommend the following FREE resource for parents to find out more information about cyberbullying: what it is, how to report it, how to help prevent it and much more!

You can access the content as either A4 fact sheets or complete a short interactive online training.

SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT

Partnering with our families and working together to ensure the best possible outcomes for every child is core business here at Ripponlea Primary School. It's very important to us that we work together as a staff and as a community, to build a positive, safe and supportive learning environment. 

At RPS we undertake a School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (or PBS for short) approach to ensure we can develop, monitor and maintain a positive environment for learning and wellbeing. 

Underpinned by our school values of Community, Creativity, Integrity, Open Mindedness, Resilience and Respect, we use consistent practices and common language to engage, guide and support students to ‘Care’, 'Create' and 'Connect'. 

'WE TEACH POSITIVE BEHAVIOURS TOGETHER'

This statement challenges us to consider our response to inappropriate behaviour. Obviously, the ideas of justice and consequences are important considerations,  however, if the ultimate outcome we are seeking is modified and improved behaviour choices in the future, then we must empower and support our students in learning these positive behaviours and expectations which lead to the development of appropriate social skills. 

Our teachers explicitly teach behaviour expectations in line with our School Wide Behaviour Matrix, Respectful Relationships and the Victorian Curriculum. A key element of our SWPBS approach is to acknowledge and recognise students who are witnessed meeting the school expectations for each value of Respect, Pride & Safety.

As part of our school-wide acknowledgment system, students receive tickets which are collected and placed in jars adjacent to the school office. Each fortnight at our assemblies, our school leaders randomly select tickets and present the PBS Awards across each year level. 

Our teachers and support staff have received training in providing positive feedback.  Recognition and feedback reinforces the desired actions from students. When students are given positive feedback, it encourages their peers to notice such acts and also change their behaviours to positively meet our school values and expectations. 

Recently the student wellbeing team held a competition to create and name mascots for each PBS value. Congratulations to Dia in Year 3/4 who created the winning mascots. 

We are now seeking a talented graphic artist in our community to turn these mascots into digital form for printing and publication purposes. Please contact the school office if you can assist. 

Until next fortnight!

Natalie Rose             &                          Marta Campbell 

             Principal                                    Acting  Assistant Principal