SCHOOL WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT – PARENT WORKSHOP
On Monday evening Anthony King presented a special workshop for our families to gain a better understanding around the SWPBS framework, which the school has started to implement. We would like to thank all the parents who attended the session. This is just the start of a number of sessions we will be offering over the year, so please come along to the next one. Anthony was able to explain how our school had started the journey that led us to develop the behaviour expectations (School Wide Behaviour Matrix) and the rationale for this approach.
Over 345 schools in Victoria are engaging with professional learning and implementation support provided by the Department of Education and Training through SWPBS coaches like Anthony. We are very lucky to be one of these schools in the South Eastern Victorian Region.
SWPBS is a framework not a program; this is about developing our school culture and what we truly want each member of our community to be able to do as represented in our motto CARE, CREATE & CONNECT. This is the way in which we help our students connect to each other and their community. We want students to feel cared for, connected, nurtured, encounter positive interactions across the school, build successful relationship and effective pro-social skills.
We want to invest in something that is evidenced based, fits the needs of our school and our students and implement this with true fidelity. We want to build a common language across the school, create a sense of connection, implement high impact strategies that lead to strong health and wellbeing practices, use data to drive our interventions and empower our students to solve problems, build empathy, learn to be social beings that can self-regulate, have self-awareness and make good decisions that improve their mental health and wellbeing. We want to improve the learning environments for all of our students.
“We cannot change behaviour of children, but we can create an environment that can facilitate the change and create the likelihood of positive behaviours occurring more frequently.”
We have provided the following documents for you to look at, discuss with your child and use at home to establish similar approaches. Please speak to someone who attended the session to gain further information and come along to the next presentation.
Home Behaviour Matrix
Ripponlea Primary School Wide Positive Behaviour Matrix
Classroom and all other Learning Spaces – Expectations
Parent Workshop Presentation
Behaviour Response Continuum used by our teachers to create the common language
Samples of our Classroom Essential Agreements – collaboratively developed by students
Thank you so much for your warm tributes and beautiful gifts presented to me at Assembly on Friday 15 March.
I will cherish the memories of my time at Ripponlea with all past and present students, colleagues and parents I have had the privilege to work with and share my passion for learning through the Arts.
I hope we all keep the music in our soul and the dance in our feet!
Tanya Harms
CURRICULUM INFORMATION EVENINGS
We hope you found our sessions informative and that you have been provided with enough information to be keep on track with year level events and expectations, including enough information to have some rich discussions with your children. Please remember that we are no longer operating school blogs for Year’s 1 to Year’s 6, but will continue to send you alerts specific to your child’s class via the SeeSaw app. The Foundation teachers will continue to use the blogs located on our website along with ourspecialist teachers.
Our appreciation extends specifically to our teachers, who worked together to prepare these presentations for you. If you still have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact your classroom teacher. We did notice that not all sessions were well attended and we would like to improve the delivery of these sessions in the year to come. The staff will be reviewing the delivery and content of these sessions. We really value parental feedback and input, so if there is something you would like to hear about in these presentations or have any further suggestions, please don’t hesitate to email the school.
Thank you once again to number of parents who attended the Curriculum Information sessions across most year levels.
E-SAFETY ALERT – MOMO IMAGES
In recent weeks across the state you might have heard about the distress caused by “Momo” virus sending an image of a very scary character, which can appear on kids youtube videos and other social media platforms. These images have not appeared at our school, as this is filtered by the Department of Education & Training systems. The “Momo” virus attempts to engage children in risky behaviour (eg: self-harm, taking tablets, cutting hair) and uses quite coercive and threatening techniques, claiming parents might be in danger if the child doesn’t follow through with the demands. It is very important to monitor your child’s screen time and explain that if they see this image, to please alert you and not trust what has been said. Here is a brief statement from the E-Safety Commissioner and a tip sheet to help you navigate settings to support your child’s screen time activities:
By all accounts, we heard that the Student Council, School Captains, Vice Captains and House Captains all had a very special experience at the GRIP Student Leadership Conference at the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre. GRIP specifically trains student leaders to become school leaders and act now.
GRIP Leadership managing director Ronan McGinnis said the purpose of the conference was to show the students they all had leadership qualities. "Every student has the opportunity to be a school leader, whether they have a leadership position or not,” he said. "Leadership is about people, not position or power.”
The students learnt about the four core characteristic traits of being a leader which are, confidence with humility, others focused, reliability and empathy. "We call them the core traits because that is where they come from, inside ourselves,” Mr McGinnis said.
The students are encouraged to get loud and enjoy themselves as part of the day-long conference.
”We encourage loud noises because it allows the students to be engaged,” he said.
"Leadership is something that can be fun.”
Throughout the day, the students fill out a personalised booklet with various activities and questions.
"Students take in all the information and by the end of the day they have their own leadership action plan to go away with,” Mr McGinniss said.
We thank Ms Zoe Keystone and Ms Jo Ritson for taking the students to the conference and our students for representing the school and learning so much about their roles and the impact they can make on our community now and into the future.
HARMONY DAY
Yesterday we celebrated Harmony Day at Ripponlea. Our Student Council organised the activities. Students had the opportunity to share their cultural backgrounds, their rich knowledge of celebrations and introduce certain favourite foods that relate to their cultural backgrounds.
Harmony Day is a time to celebrate multiculturalism at Ripponlea Primary School.
SCHOOL COUNCIL UPDATE
Last night we held our Annual General Meeting and elected office bearers. We congratulate and thank the following members of council for their unwavering support and for volunteering their time to work with the school’s leadership team, staff and community. This assists with the efficient governance of the school and makes sure decisions are made in the best interest of our students.
School Council President:
Jeremy Aarons
Vice President:
Colin Smith
Treasurer:
Michael Kent
Minute Secretary:
Lucy Clover
Convenors of Committees & Members
School Community & Partnerships:
Kylie Jeffares & Alicia Oliver-Cook
Facilities & Environment:
Colin Smith & George Keon-Cohen, Lucy Clover
Governance:
Jaclyn Paltos & Jess Grey
Marketing & Publicity:
Jess Grey & Martyn Rose
Finance:
Michael Kent, Natalie Rose & Jeremy Aarons
Council meets on Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm in the staffroom, everyone is welcome to attend. The following dates have been set for 2019. Please save the date for our special presentation to all members of the school community. This will outline how the school performed over the 2018 school year in all survey results, academic achievements and much more.
March 19
May 21 - Annual Report to School Community Presentation
June 18
July 30
August 27
October 29
November 19
December 10
SURPRISE VISIT FROM ELWOOD COLLEGE
Our 5/6 students were greeted with a surprise visit from some familiar faces last Thursday – although they did look quite different (and grown up!) in their new uniforms. Former Ripponlea students, Billie, Ella, Jovan and Lexi, dropped in for a Q&A session to share how well they have transitioned to secondary school. They talked about the subjects they are learning at Elwood College, how they are managing homework demands, and how they have made many new friends. Our students asked lots of probing questions such as, “Do you have houses like Loch, Orrong, etc?”, “How do you use your diary?”, “Is there really detention in high school?” and “What’s better – primary or secondary school?” The discussion provided many insights for our students who are not too far from taking the step into secondary schooling and, importantly, helped to put minds at ease that the experience is overwhelmingly positive. By the way, the answer to what’s better: they love high school but miss Ripponlea!
WORKING BEE - THIS SUNDAY WE NEED YOUR HELP! 10am-2pm
Calling all enthusiastic volunteers for our first Working Bee this Sunday 24th March (10-2pm).
It’s a great opportunity for families and children to meet in a different social setting, as well as contributing to improvements and care of the school. We will have a BBQ to thank our lovely volunteers and a special treat for our student volunteers!
So pack your gloves, brooms and tools and volunteer to help at our Working Bee! Whether it’s just one hour or more, RPS needs your help. Every bit counts! Please contact Colin Smith if you can help on colin_abroad@hotmail.com, or just turn up.
FAREWELL & BEST WISHES TO NATALIE, RPS BUSINESS MANAGER
On behalf of the whole school community, we would like to express our deepest appreciation to Natalie Galati - our Business Manager - for the significant contributions she has made to the school in her role. Natalie started at Ripponlea two years ago and had the most difficult task of establishing financial systems and controls to support the financial operations of the school. Our council knows the direct impact Natalie has made in all areas of financial management and can attest to her outstanding skills.
In the time we have known Natalie, she has been the most supportive, knowledgeable, efficient and commited Business Manager. We know that many of you would have had direct dealings with Natalie on a daily basis and have experienced her caring and accommodating nature. Our staff and students will certainly miss the smiley face that often runs around the school doing so many things for everyone with such a positive attitude. Unfortunately we are saying goodbye to Natalie as she is moving back to the Mornington Peninsula to work, live and be close to her family and friends. We are deeply saddened by Natalie’s departure, but at the same time are very excited and congratulate her on her new position as Business Manager at Ballam Park Primary School.
WOOLWORTHS LETTERS TILES
We are hoping to use the Woolworths letters tiles as a learning resource. If you shop at Woolworths and aren’t collecting the tiles, we would be very grateful if you would consider donating them to our school. There is a box set up in the office for donations. Thank you so much.
SUNSMART
Families are reminded that students will continue to wear their school hats until the 30th April due to high levels of UV radiation.
UV radiation:
cannot be seen or felt
can be reflected off surfaces such as buildings, asphalt, concrete, water, sand and snow
can pass through light clouds
varies in intensity across the year (highest in Victoria from mid-August to the end of April)
peaks during school hours.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE – LATE ARRIVALS
It’s very important for our students to attend school each and every day and be on time at school to commence their learning sessions. Students who arrive late to school often feel embarrassed, missing important instructions and learning time. Every day this can add up and stress your child. We appreciate that there are many different circumstances for some families. If you require any support in this area, please do not hesitate to contact Jess Grey our Assistant Principal.
NB: Families are also reminded that students need to be signed in at the office if late to school or leaving early for specified reasons. We have introduced PASSTAB which is an electronic method to sign in/sign out your children.
We would love to see you all this Friday at our fabulous Trivia Night - no excuses!
