Dear Viewbank College community,

Welcome back for the new school year.

We hope you had a lovely break and have come back refreshed.

Our students have made a really positive start, with classes buzzing and a focus on ‘starting strong and staying strong’.

I want to acknowledge and thank students and parents for responding to our requests to begin the year in full uniform.

By far the majority of our students are in full uniform and with that comes a sense of a connected and unified learning community.

Our newest members of the College, our Year 7 students, have had a very smooth transition.

This has been facilitated by our House Leaders, led by Ebonee Attard.

New parents with any questions or concerns should contact their student’s House Leader.

We look forward to meeting with families at the Instrumental Music Information Night on this coming Monday, 13th February and the Year 7 Parent Welcome Evening on Thursday 23rd February.

We look forward to forging a strong partnership with parents, who play a critical role in supporting student progress and achievement.

Our ‘Class of 23’ have also started strong.

This is a big year, but one that absolutely flies!

Our Senior Team have put in place a number of programs to support the Year 12 students to achieve success.

Keep an eye out on Teams for reminders about study sessions, revision lectures, catch up sessions and guest speakers.

We also look forward to welcoming our Year 12 families to a breakfast next Friday 17th of February. This is an opportunity to meet with our House Leader team and teachers.

The partnership between teachers and parents is critical in supporting Year 12’s through this important year.

Plenty of extracurricular activities coming up this term for all students.

Sign ups and auditions for the College production are underway.

Interschool sport begins and our full College Swimming Carnival takes place on Monday 20th February.

Our clubs and activities at lunchtimes cover an enormous range of interests and we encourage students to participate at least once a week.

A great place to meet other ‘like-minded’ students.

Parent Involvement:

We are extending an invitation to any parent who would like to be involved in the College. These groups support the experience of students in particular areas of the program and are an opportunity to connect with other parents.

The College has the following parent groups:

Friends of Music - support fundraising and organisation of events such as the Autumn Music Festival. Typically, the group will run sausage sizzles, raffles and other fundraising activities.

Friends of Performing and Visual Arts - support fundraising and organisation of events such as the whole College production and the Art/Technology Showcase.

Friends of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) - support fundraising and organisation of events such as the STEAM Conference, STEAM Club and activities.

Advocates of Sport and Physical Activity (ASPA) - support the expansion of programs and the development of facilities to promote physical activity.

If you are interested in joining one of the parent groups, please email the College for further information.

Welcome Penelope Cleghorn and Anna Crosswhite

We welcome our new Assistant Principal, Penelope Cleghorn to the College.

Penelope is an experienced leader from Kew High School and will be supporting the work of our Middle School.

We are very happy that Anna Crosswhite, Assistant Principal will be continuing her work supporting our Senior School students.

Welcome new and returning staff to the College:

New Staff:

Frances Fenech - English/Humanities
Kacey Chotanapanich - tutor/Maths/Science
Alex Betcher - Legal/Humanities
Khelsi Patman - PE/Health
Luke Mallamaci - Maths/Science
Tim Sheers - Chemistry/Maths
Winnie Hu - Maths/Physics
Sonya Schurmann - Food Technology/Technology Domain Leader
Paul Mullaney - English/Literature
Matt Dunn - Business Management/Accounting
Pas Bartalotta - Theatre Studies
Ashli Roberts - Systems/Technology
Martin Luo - Humanities
Brendan Pye - Art/Technology
Manpreet Kaur - Integration Aide
Jan Mayhead - Art/Textiles
David Lawn - Economics/Business Management
Antonella Tropea - First Aid (Fridays)
Matt Brown - Maths/Science
Jack Ellis - PE/Health
Bec Bastion - Mental Health Practitioner - Welfare - will be joining us in a couple of weeks

Weclome back to the College:

Stacey Konstantopoulos - Maths
Clare Feming - Languages
Caitlin Brown - Drama/Theatre Studies

Middle School - House Leaders

Please see attached document for Middle School House Leaders:

Senior School - House Leaders

Please see attached document for Senior School House Leaders:

Environmental Duty

Environmental Duty will be starting next Monday.

Each class in Years 7-9 will participate in 'clean up' for part of period 3 or 4.

Events (roster) for students will be published soon.

Change to Detention

Detention running Thursdays from 3.20pm - 4.00pm.

Students will be engaging in Environmental Duties. Please ensure students have a hat and sunscreen.

Viewbank College School Council - Call for parent and student nominations - applications close 4pm Thursday 23rd February, 2023

Dear Parent/Carer/Student,

At this time of the year, we are required to call for nominations for places on the Viewbank College School Council.

This is quite a commitment of time, but an invaluable experience and opportunity to contribute to all aspects of the educational program at the College as well as its governance.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) for College Council will take place on Wednesday March 8th at 6.30pm.

This is to celebrate the achievements of 2022 and to set our course for 2023.

However, before that date, the College needs to hold College Council elections as there are councillors who will be completing their elected two-year cycle.

I encourage any members of the community to nominate.

The College Councillors whose term is about to conclude are:

Parent Members:

Katrina Adams
Adam Bird

Student Members:

Piper Couldrey
Isabella Pearson

Call for Nominations:

The College Council Election process began last Friday, 3rd February, 2023 with the Notice of Election and Call for Nominations for the period of March 2023 - March 2025 for parents and the period March 2023 – March 2024 for students.

Attached below are the relevant documents.

If you are interested, please complete the relevant nomination form and prepare a simple candidate statement (no more than 150 words) and return to Deanne Ioannidis at the College, no later than 4pm, Thursday 23rd February, 2023

(Please note: late applications and applications without candidate statements will not be accepted).

Translations of these schedules in five community languages (Arabic, Dari, Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese) can be found in the School Policy and Advisory Guide at: elections: translated documents and support materials.

Also attached are:

Candidate Statement Information:

Candidates are to prepare a brief statement to be distributed with the ballot.

This allows each electorate to gain some background about the people standing for election.

It is suggested that it be no more than 150 words.

A statement from a candidate may include information about their:

work experience, including voluntary work
academic and professional qualifications, if applicable
skills and abilities including those that may be useful to the council (e.g. accounting, contract management, fundraising, organising events, etc.)
previous and current involvement with the school, and school council including subcommittees of school council
reasons for standing for election
interests and hobbies.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365 for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365 for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

This information is also available in ten community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese

Student accident insurance, ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to the College

The Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents/carers of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs.

It is the responsibility of parents or guardians to look into their preferred options in this regard. The Department cannot provide advice to parents or guardians on the purchase of individual student accident policy or ambulance cover.

Private property brought to school by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage.

This can include mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. As the Department does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property, students and staff should be discouraged from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school.

Please note:

Parents or guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs; and
Parents or guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers.

Raise Youth Mentoring Program

Viewbank College will be running the Raise Youth Mentoring program in 2023.

We are looking for volunteer mentors to join the program and support our young people. Run in a group setting and overseen by a qualified program counsellor full training and support is provided https://raise.org.au/volunteers/apply-to-become-a-youth-mentor/

School Photos

School photos will be taken on Friday 24th February, 2023 with a catch up morning on Tuesday 14th March.

As per College Policy, facial piercings and jewellery must not be worn for photos.

To view the full College Uniform Policy please see

COMPASS > Community > School Documentation > Dress Code.

To order school photos, please see below flyer.

Naming student's items - lost property

A reminder to please ensure student's items are labelled clearly with their name so that lost property items can be easily returned to students.

The General Office lost property cupboard is filled with items that do not have names on them and unfortunately we do not have the space to keep them.

Unclaimed and unnamed school items get donated to welfare and other non school items get donated to a charity bin after 2 weeks.

CSEF (Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund)

Dear Families,

CSEF (Camps, Sports & Excursion Fund) can be accessed by families with an eligible Pensioner Concession or Health Care Card.

It may also be available to Foster Parents and Veteran's Affairs Pensioners.

CSEF can be used towards Camps, Sports & Excursions.

If you received CSEF in 2022, you do not need to do anything further.

If you are new to our College or may have recently become eligible, please complete the attached form and return it to the General Office.

If you are unsure, please do not hesitate to contact Marnie on 9458 2811.

Sharon Grimes, Principal

Emma Ford, Assistant Principal

Rachael Smith, Assistant Principal

Anna Crosswhite, Assistant Principal

Penelope Cleghorn, Assistant Principal

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