Principal's Message
WELCOME BACK
It’s lovely to see our students, staff and families looking so relaxed and energised, ready to embrace the very last term of the school year. Many holiday highlights have been shared and Melbourne was particularly kind by giving us a taste of summer so early in October. Some of us managed a trip to the beach would you believe! The holidays brought some other news, from across the globe and right here in our little community.
Ms Sarah Corron has officially married her partner Mark in Belgium and has now become Mrs Sarah Corron-Wrigley. We send Sarah & Mark our love and best wishes.
Ms Jo Ritson completed the Lausanne World Triathlon in Switzerland and placed 6th overall. No medal but a beautiful sparkling engagement ring surprise from her partner Ryan with her whole family on hand to celebrate this special occasion. We think this beats a medal any day!
Ms Abi Wright was absolutely exhausted by the end of Term 3 and we really thought the production had a lot to do with this. As it turns out she has been growing a bundle of joy in her belly and can no longer hide her excitement from anyone. Abi and her husband William are expecting their first baby in early February. We are all very happy and excited for her. A Ripper bubba for all of us to cuddle in 2020.
Also, we had a cheery welcome to a new family in Year 4.
COLOUR RUN – RIPPONLEA FUN
We hope you all agree with this, but collectively we feel that ending the term off with a colour fun run was fantastic!
It was fun for all judging by these great photos.
An enormous thank to our student leaders, House Captains and Ms Jo for her organisational talents.
Students have now selected their prizes online and the final amount raised will be announced shortly. Student leaders will be deciding on how these funds will be spent after consultation with all students, since they initiated this event to upgrade the sporting facilities of the school. Their wish list includes painting the basketball court, new soccer goals on the mini pitch, football goals on the oval and much more. Let’s see what they choose to upgrade first.
PLAYGROUND/AFTER SCHOOL YARD SUPERVISION
As most of you have witnessed, the senior playground after school is a very popular attraction for many students. This playground has an increased level of height and challenge, therefore during the school day only students in Year 3 to 6 are able to use it.
All junior school students and families are reminded that our staff are on duty after school from 3:30 to 3:45 pm. They are not just responsible for the supervision of children on the playground, but children awaiting their parents on the basketball court. Once children are collected from the basketball courts, it is very important that all students collected are supervised by their parent/carer whilst on the equipment at all times. Over the last week, we have been extremely worried about younger children and siblings under the age of five playing on the equipment with minimal supervision.
We also kindly remind all families that we have an obligation to our after-school care provider – Camp Australia. In our agreement and safety procedures, children from OSHC cannot come out until everyone has cleared the playground and left the grounds. Ms Meagan Brake will begin making an announcement just before the bell, to remind all children to start coming down from the equipment, meet their carer and start moving as soon as the bell sounds. We thank you for your understanding.
Please read our playground supervision policy for further clarification.
BEFORE SCHOOL SUPERVISION
We have noticed an increasing number of students arriving at school before 8:45am. Just a reminder that students are supervised from 8:45am; students arriving before this time must be in before-school care (Camp Australia) unless they are supervised by their parent/carer or being supervised as part of an organised activity.
Classrooms are supervised from 8:45am. We ask that students do not enter the school building before this time.
WALK TO SCHOOL - WALKTOBER
Every October, Walk to School encourages Victorian primary school kids to walk, ride or scoot to and from school. It’s a great way to help students learn healthy habits and achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Along with the health benefits, active travel options to and from school reduces traffic congestion, saves on parking and helps the environment. So it’s great for our entire school community.
We are joining Glen Eira Council’s Active Schools Competition for students enrolled in Participating Schools within the Glen Eira municipality.
Between Monday 7 October and Friday 1 November 2019, students will be encouraged to walk, ride or scoot to school, and record their walks on a Walking Ticket provided by Council. Once they have recorded ten (10) walks, they can submit the Walking Ticket to the school office. Ripponlea let’s get active today.
HOLIDAY WORKS – AIR CONDITIONERS ARE IN
Just in time for the summer months, we’ve had five brand new air conditioners installed, including servicing and cleaning to all other units. The classrooms that have been upgraded to large Daikin split systems, include 1/2 C Ms Stef and 1/2 D Ms Vicki, 3/4 B Mrs Nield and 3/4 C Ms Cook as well as 5/6 A Mr Leech.
This has been made possible through voluntary contributions (tax deductible) to the RPS Building Fund. Contributions to our building fund is invaluable and can be made any time throughout the year and in particular next year at tax time. We have been informed that several more air conditioners are on their last legs as they say, so with more contributions next year, we can continue to upgrade these. Thank you for your ongoing generosity and support.
STUDENT COUNCIL INITIATIVE
On the 31st of October we will be having a HALLOWEEN DRESS UP DAY. So come dressed up in a spooky, scary and utterly terrifying costume to celebrate Halloween! There will also be a parade at 9:10 in the morning. Parents are welcome to come and watch. NO GOLD COIN DONATIONS REQUIRED.
Happy Halloween - From Student Council
THINK YOU KNOW – PARENT CYBER SAFETY PRESENTATION
Thank you to all the parents who attended this presentation by the Federal Police. This will be scheduled again in 2020 for both parents and students. In the meantime we have a few copies of the booklets available, as well as these very valuable resources.
- Information about Snap Chat & Instagram
- Cyberbullying
- Parent Controls - https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/parents-portal
- Safety Contracts for the Family Home
PLANNING FOR 2020 – CLASS PLACEMENTS
We are currently in preparation and planning mode for the year ahead. This will include: developing the new Annual Implementation Plan; booking school activities; recruitment of new staff if required; planning school level budgets; securing final enrolment numbers; deciding on parent payments and fee structures; class placements; optimal class sizes and so much more.
This is a very busy time for everyone, in particular our school’s Leadership Team, staff and School Council who will continue to have rigorous discussions and input into some of these important decisions. But we also value your input into our class placement process. At Ripponlea we take this process seriously in order to create balanced and harmonious classrooms for our students. Please know this is a challenging process with many variables to consider. We must always try and consider gender balance, academic needs, social emotional needs, personality and learning styles of our students, peer relationships, class size, additional needs, teacher and student relationships, just to name a few.
The objective is to place all students with a teacher in a balanced class that will support their learning and growth as a whole individual. This is an important process that needs to be fair, consistent, and student focused. Our staff will work hard to ensure your child is placed appropriately. Requests for teachers will not be considered in this process. All information is detailed in a special letter sent via COMPASS this morning. Please read carefully and respond as soon as possible.
Until next fortnight ...
Natalie Rose Jess Grey
Principal Assistant Principal