Principal's Report 

WHAT A YEAR!

2020 Carols – Filmed 

 Our 2020 Carols have been filmed on Wednesday and are being edited in readiness for families and students to access on Wednesday 16 December. So gather up your family for this event and may I even suggest sitting outside with a picnic under the stars to watch the performances from all levels plus the Rangettes. We can’t come together physically for the Carols on the Oval but we have learnt to do things differently in 2020.

Thank you to Megan Campbell for her organisation of this event. I also wish to acknowledge the work behind the performances in such a unique year. A big shout out to our teachers and students to make the time to rehearse and take up the ‘we can do this’ spirit. You may be able to hear and see your own child in this very different format.

Grade 6 Graduation and Final Weeks

How to make 2020 finish a special one? Our grade 6 teachers have been busy preparing for the last 2 weeks of the year for our exiting students. Some things we want to be a surprise, so we are not letting everyone know.

Our graduation ceremony will be without parents attending but it will be live streamed and professionally filmed. There are assemblies to finish the year that families can join through WebEx events. So keep a look out for the emails with links.

Teaching Staff for 2021 Classes

Foundation

·         Carol Wilson

·         Amber Somerville

·         Jennifer Bonte

·         Kirilee Bell

Level 1 & 2

·         Danielle Anderson

·         Melissa Dann and Megan Taylor

·         Linda Giardino and Natalie Bellis

·         Rebecca Gordon and Kate Wallis

·         Nicole Robertson and Jackie Moran

·         Samuel Anderson

·         Marianne Kehoe

·         Marita Horvath

·         Josh Godwin

Grade 3 & 4

·         Chloe Tomkins

·         Steve Atkinson

·         Vicki Tzimos

·         James Roche and Kyla Petrilli

·         Khay Le

·         Karen Hastie

·         Anju Mehta

·         Belinda Vickers

Grade 5 & 6

·         Meg Hubbard and Helga Shaw

·         Ryan Evans and Melissa O’Brien

·         April Warfield and Romy Magdis

·         Lee Giddings

·         Mitch Clark

·         Lisa O’Connor

Specialists

Art: Deirdree Geilings and Carmel Brown

PE: Michael Sacchetta and James Roche

Music: Megan Campbell

German: Ulrike Lindner and Kyla Petrilli

Digitech: Ryan Evans

SIT – School Improvement Team

Teacher Tutors: Tania Balderston, Helga Shaw and Lisa O’Connor

Learning Specialists: Marita Horvath, April Warfield

Leading Teacher: Meg Hubbard (ICT and Wellbeing)

Assistant Principals: Marika Ferguson (Wellbeing) Kate McLeod (Teaching and Learning Excellence)

Please understand there may still be some changes to teachers as the announcement for the Primary Mathematics and Science Specialist program will not be until the end of the term. If successful and there are any changes, families will be notified before school begins in January.

Farewell to Staff

Thank you to staff leaving us at the end of the year:

Samantha Potter- Sam has been the grade 5/6 teacher in her graduate year. We wish Sam well in the future. It has been challenging for all teachers regardless of your experience.

Angela Dimattina: Angela has been the cooking element in our Flora and Fauna program for grade 3 students in 2020. Thank you to Angela for your engaging videos during lock down. Edward Scissorhand is evident in some content.

 Whitehorse City Council Sustainability Grants 

This grant will be used for trialling compost bins in 5 classrooms in 2021. Congratulations to Ella in 3L who with help from her dad, sourced the suitable bins for classrooms. We will report on the trial during term 1 next year.

Minor Capital Works Grants

Earlier in the year, we applied for funding through Minor Capital works funding for the overhaul of the senior toilets. A bit of paint has helped but does not address the issues of an ageing building. We had the very pleasant surprise last week that Rangeview has been allocated $469,000 for the senior toilets. I will keep you all informed of what this entitles us to, as yet I still don’t have any more information to share.

The Great Wall of Rangeview 

There has been temporary fencing surrounding the steps and retaining wall near the library since before lock down. I approved the scope of works to rebuild the wall. We will loose some trees with the rebuild of the substantive retaining walls and steps in this area. The substantive works is funded under Emergency Maintenance Funding by the VSBA.

Foundation Information Session and Foundation Tours 

A principal’s office provided the backdrop for our 2021 Foundation Information Session on Thursday. Many families don’t often get to see the inside of my office so this was a rare treat and not the library or the hall. This information session has been recorded and will be made available to our foundation families shortly through email and on our website.

There are 4 classes of foundation next year and we have decided to keep our school below the 700 student enrolments by accepting only within the zone.

The team for 2021 was introduced:

·         Carol Wilson

·         Amber Somerville

·         Jennifer Bonte

·         Kirilee Bell

I would like to acknowledge the foundation team led by Carol Wilson as Transition Coordinator to film off site transition sessions, coordinate kinder visits and welcome our new students into school in small groups. We have budding Play School performers in transition videos– the equivalent of kinder rock stars!

Pick Up and Drop Offs

Reminder that families can enter and leave from any entrance or gate they wish for the remainder of this year. Please do not go into classrooms or corridors, if your child arrives late or you need to pick up your child early, please enter at the foyer of the administration area and sign them in/out.

Party Food Options- End of Year Celebrations

There are different options for the levels to be COVID safe to celebrate such a unique year. Levels have agreed to choose an option and let the families know ASAP.

Options are:

1. Food is served in individual portions and commercially prepared (for e.g. fish and chips, Subway)

2. Teachers ask students to bring in packaged food, not home-made and teachers serve out the food onto individual plates with tongs

3. Teachers control and buy the food, asking families to bring $2- again commercially prepared and they serve the food.

4. Each child brings their own plate of party food or special lunch.

Final Farewell

A fond farewell to any students and families leaving Rangeview at the end of the year- thank you for your contribution to our school. We wish you well in your new schools, wherever you travel to. So keep in touch. 

Thank you to our families, staff and students- together we have weathered this storm like no other. May this new year be less eventful and be it a wonderful time of recovery, reflection and resilience. I hope you all have safe and restful holidays, and see you in 2021.