From the Principal Class

Dear Viewbank College community,

With our term nearly at an end, it is a time to reflect on what has been a challenging time.

I am very proud of our students and their resilience during remote learning and on their adjustment back to onsite learning.

I wrote an email to the College staff, also congratulating them on their resilience:

‘I feel an immense amount of gratitude to the entire staff for their professionalism and commitment during what has been a challenging term.

I feel a great deal of empathy for the long road you have all taken in this COVID-19 term. You have balanced online and back on site learning incredibly well but I understand it is not without its costs. You are almost there.”

Both staff and students deserve a restful break.  As a College, we have agreed that homework for students in Years 7-9 will be at a minimum.  Of course, our VCE students will need to keep their heads down and push on strongly!  

With the recent increase in Covid clusters, as a community we encourage families to still be mindful of the Health and Government advice around social distancing and hygiene.  It is not a time to let our guard down yet.

Reports and Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences

We will hold Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences across August 20 and 21.  These conferences will be held via conferencing platforms or phone call.  More information regarding booking interviews will be forwarded early Term 3.

IT Support over holidays

Please be aware that IT support will be available during the holidays Monday-Thursday between the hours of 10.00am - 2.00pm.

Please make an appointment through the help desk at helpdesk@viewbank.vic.edu.au

Retirements

At the end of this semester we will be farewelling two staff, both of whom have served the Education sector and Viewbank College with incredible commitment and professionalism.

Annette McHutchison started her teaching career in 1992 at Banyule High School, two years before the merge of Rosanna East and Banyule High.  She has been a mainstay of the Languages program over the past 27 years, with a highly unusual, but incredibly valuable ability to teach both German and Japanese!

Dianne Allan began her career in education, initially as a teacher assistant at Keon Park Technical School before moving to Merrilands College, where she spent 11 years.  Dianne moved to Viewbank College in 2000.  Since then she has taken on many roles in addition to her classroom role as a Mathematics and Psychology teacher.  Di has been passionate about supporting students and most recently has been a Leading Teacher – Senior School Level Leader and a mentor to senior students.

On behalf of the College Community, I thank both Annette and Di for their incredible contribution to Viewbank College and their commitment to the growth of all of the students they have supported and taught throughout the years.

We wish them all the best for whatever their retirement brings!

Uniform

Updated Student Dress Code: Be ready for Term 3

The College Council recently approved some updates to the Dress Code following significant consultation with the community and our uniform suppliers.

There is an extended timeline for changes as we realise that families have already invested in purchasing uniforms. Some new optional items including a soft shell jacket, beanie and scarf will become available from 2020 and the current College spray jacket will gradually, be phased out. The uniform items will now be represented as a list of items available to students with limited restrictions on combinations or seasonal options.

We would like to clarify a few issues raised in our recent consultation about the upcoming changes.

Phase out of the current spray jacket 

The uniform suppliers will stop selling the spray jackets in 2021 but the students will continue to be permitted to wear them until further notice. Therefore, if you purchase a spray jacket now or have recently purchased any current uniform items you will still be able to wear them.

Waterproof issues 

The spray jacket has never been waterproof and neither is the soft shell jacket, they are both equally water resistant only (as is the hood). The soft shell will not have a hood but we will have new beanies and scarves! 

The new jacket with have similar warmth to the spray jacket.

PE Uniform

The soft shell jacket will be suitable for use in PE classes. 

Formal events such as assemblies 

Students can either, wear a soft shell jacket or blazer for formal events from 2021. 

College Expectations

There are many benefits of having a practical and affordable Dress Code and the College is aware that we need to ensure that there is consistency in how this is enforced. We ask that all parents check and ensure that their child(ren) has access to and wears the correct items as listed. If there items that you need to update or purchase, can you please use the time over the holidays to get this done so that we can start term 4 in a positive way.

Images of proposed soft shell jacket (final designs of proposed beanie and scarf are still in progress). This style of jacket has similar properties to the spray jacket in water resistance and warmth but is more hard wearing and less likely to tear.  It has proven to be very popular at other schools.

The updated Dress Code can be found on Compass in the CommunityTab/School Documentation/Policies

We wish you all a restful holiday.

Stay well, stay safe.

Sharon Grimes, Principal

John Munro, Assistant Principal

Rachael Smith, Assistant Principal

Darren Murray, Assistant Principal