From the Principal

Welcome to Ivanhoe Primary School,

Ever wondered what we do when it's a curriculum day?

Our staff have had an intensive week of professional learning.  On Monday we participated in a shared curriculum day with Viewbank and Rosanna Primary Schools.  The focus of our learning was related to mental fitness.  The morning kicked off with expert presenter, Dale Sidebottom who instilled in us, the importance of daily play and enhanced mental health.   I know that some of our teachers are beginning to teach some of the techniques we learned that morning to our students.  Don't be surprised if you're asked to jump when your child says, "stop" and stop when you're you're asked to jump! I'm sure over time you'll also learn about being a paw partner too!  

Trust us, it is all about promoting good mental health, through play based mindfulness, empathy and gratitude to help foster postive connections.

This was followed by learning about positive psychology,  neuroscience and resilience with Maria Ruberto who is an expert speaker and psychologist. Maria is the founder and director of Salutegenics Psychology, a strengths-based practice that moves people in personal and professional coaching toward mental fitness and life- health. Maria Ruberto’s work is dynamic, interactive and spirited. Her application of psychology is anchored by research in neuroscience and brain function – and framed by the science of optimism. 

From Maria's presentation we learned about how the human brain has a tendency towards focussing on negative attention and how we need to recognise this and practice techniques such as gratitude through 12 week interventions. These should build new synapses and shift us to a more positive and resilient outlook, thus becoming more curious and ready to learn and develop cognitive flexiblity.

Staff Professional Learning: Digital Drama: Risks, Responses and Reporting

As our children spend increasingly more time online, it is crucial that we equip ourselves with the necessary knowledge and tools to keep them safe. 

On Wednesday night, our staff attended a 75-minute "Digital Drama - Risks, Responses & Reporting" workshop conducted by Bec and Steve from Evolve Education. As part of our ongoing commitment to child safety, our staff have extended their skills on how to respond to and prevent online harm.During the workshop, staff learned valuable skills, such as categorizing the severity of negative online behaviour and forming a consistent plan when responding to mild, moderate, serious, and severe incidents. Additionally, staff explored the impact of cyberbullying on children and young people and the threshold for reporting. By attending this workshop, our teachers have gained a better understanding of how to keep our children safe online and how to respond in case of any incidents. 

Evolve Education will be working with Ivanhoe parents and carers in the coming weeks, and all are encouraged to attend. 

Education Week Open Morning

We look forward to welcoming the whole community to our Open Morning on Wedneday 17th May from 9.30am to 11.30am

Our Junior School Councillors and House Captains will take you on a tour of the school on your arrival any time between 9.30am and 11.00am .  There will be lots of exciting activities going on in our classrooms such as; bridge building, a sausage sizzle investigation (no real sausages!), The 'Odd One Out' character creations, and a persuasive investigation linked to geography!

Our students are excited to share their learning with you!  

This will be followed by a Strings and Orchestra Concert in the Hall from 11.00am to 11.30am.

We can't wait to show you what we are learning!

Mother's Day Stall and Breakfast

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all our fabulous volunteers who have made these Mother's Day celebrations so successful this year!  

Gabby Elliott did an amazing job of getting the Mother's Day stall organised with the stall helpers;

• Andrea Thomas
• Cat Atkinson
• Collette Tobin
• Veron Teo
• Kelly Toghill
• Anna Womersley
• Prue Vermiglio
• Aneke Irvan
• Rebecca Grant
• Fiona Tang
• Tim Morris
• Kylie Crombie
• Danny Eschbach

The Mother's Day stall raised $900!  Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time and to families who supported the stall.

Mother's Day Breakfast

What an amazing turn out for the Mother's Day Breakfast this morning!  

The hall was full and buzzing and the air filled with the delicious smell of croissants, pancakes, and breakfast muffins.   Everyone I spoke to had a lovely morning and mums felt thoroughly spoiled.

Again, we can't do this without volunteers who so generously gave their time to organise and help.  Huge thanks to Annette for her wonderful catering as usual.  

On behalf of all the attendees this morning, I'd like to express sincere gratitude to Lance Greenwood for his dedication and expert organisation to make this event happen each year.  His daughter, Clare will be heading off to secondary school next year and so we will most likely be looking for another head honcho to keep this wonderful tradition going....

Without our equally dedicated dad volunteers, this event wouldn't be possible so again, thank you for so generously volunteering your time.  Thank you to:

• Lance Greenwood
• Anthony Mansfield  
• Hamish Talty 
• Matt Lancaster 
• Brek Mansfield 
• Darren Mason 
• Tristram Mathieson 
• Darren Nash

Parent Feedback on This Morning's Mother's Day Breakfast

This morning I received an email from a parent who attended the Mother's Day breakfast for the first time...

"I just wanted to say a huge thank you for making the Mother's Day breakfast so special. It was lovely to share delicious food in delightful company. As a prep parent, you don't really know what to expect however the experience met every expectation and more. It is no simple task to seat and feed so many people however from a parent's perspective it appeared effortless. 

Thank you for the time and effort of yourself, the father volunteers and all the staff including the canteen. The efforts are appreciated and I am very grateful to be part of such a lovely event. "

This is what makes Ivanhoe such a special community!

Parent/Carer Online Safety & Digital Wellbeing Sessions

Ivanhoe Primary School are hosting two free face-to-face Online Safety and Digital Wellbeing sessions* this month.

The sessions will be delivered by Evolve Education, who are a trusted e-safety.gov.au provider. The sessions will be full of practical strategies and resources to help improve online safety and promote digital wellbeing for your children.

Each evening will focus on a different age/stage, so it is recommended you book to attend both sessions if you have children in the lower and upper school.

Dates/Times:  

Foundation - Year 2 session: Thursday 18th May at 7pm

Year 3 - Year 6: Wednesday 31st May at 7pm

(Both sessions will take place in IPS Collaboration Space)

To book a place at either of the session please register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6lEOi3M2u8P8G_Ec-47N98JBayC3s0vNxqykxFKInERmnSw/viewform

Places are limited, so please book early to avoid missing out!

*Please note, these sessions are not suitable for children to participate in.

Join the PFA and / or the FAIR  - we need you!

It has been lovely to see a small group of volunteers make our special events happen but they can't do it alone.  

We really need volunteers to help with jobs for the the fair.   

We simply can't do it alone.  If you can volunteer even just a little of your time it would be very helpful.

We ask every class to run a stall at the Fair.  It’s a great way to get everyone involved and it also means that we don’t have to hire as many external vendors. 

We are kicking off this year’s Class Stalls with an information session on Tuesday 23rd May at 7pm in the Collaboration Space.  

As a Class Rep, your responsibility is simply to get the ball rolling by contacting parents in your class and asking for volunteers (you are NOT expected to do all this by  yourself).

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

This is going to be an exciting year for our community. Please join us by contacting our PFA Coordinator, Andrea Thomas on 0431 953 720.   

Please volunteer as your time to help us make it a fantastic fair! 

Many hands make light work!  

Celebrating Student Achievement

Congratulations to Thomas in year 6 who competed in the 

Tay Creggan marathon race on Sunday at Strathcona in Hawthorn.  

This was his first paddle partners competition representing Fairfield Canoe Club, competing against senior schools and they placed 7th out of 14.  

Despite the persistent rain, freezing cold and rough conditions in the Yarra he loved every minute of it!

What an achievement Thomas!  Well done!

Finally - IPS Recognised as excelling in Digital Citizenship

I'm proud to announce that our school has been awarded the Common sense education badge in recognition of the work we do around teaching and promoting digital citizenship. 

Under the digital leadership of Steven O'Callaghan we have developed a strong culture of digital citizenship.

Have a great week!

Pam Wright

Acting Principal