Inside this issue:

Principal’s Report Curriculum news Media Arts Important Dates, regular

information & community notices

February 2020

Tue 11 Police in school

visit

Thu 13 Meet and

Greet—

3.30 —6.30 pm

Fri 28 Whole School

Colour Run

Together we learn

Rowellyn Park Primary School

NEWSLETTER—VOLUME 1

Website: www.rowellynpark.vic.edu.au E-mail: rowellyn.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

7 February 2020

IMPORTANT DATES

From the Principal...

Now due… Grade 6 Camp

W E L C O M E B A C K TO SCHOOL Welcome back to the 2020 school year! A special welcome to our 126 Foundation students.

We are excited to share that over the holidays Mr Robinson popped the question and is now engaged to his lovely fiancé Ash.

In other news:

Mr. Macaulay is expecting his first any day now!

Mr. Brown is also expecting his first any hour now!

After getting hitched at the end of last year, Miss Edwards of Grade 1 is now Mrs. O’Sullivan.

Other than the extreme heat on the first two days back, we have enjoyed a relatively smooth start to the year, possible in no small part to the dedication of staff who spent part of the holiday periods planning and preparing the wonderful year ahead.

Some of the big ticket items that will shape some of our work and culture:

- Capital Works. The Science, Technology, Engineer ing, Ar ts and Math (STEAM) Centre and gym building project is progressing well. The bulk of the demolition and clearing has been completed with screw piles to go in next week. After that things will start to go up quite quickly. We hope to have our first whole school assembly in the new gym before the end of the year.

o Time for Well-being

o Embedding Reading

o Our PLC culture

o Our Past, Our Review, Our Future

- Our Past, Our Review, Our Future. Every four years schools go through a

review process to determine progress against previous school goals, celebrate successes and set new goals to guide school’s direction over the next four years. I am keen to consult with all stakeholders and get as many people involved in the process as possible.

- Time for Well-being. Many will be aware of the asset we have in Karen White,

our Well-being Officer. This year we are taking a very proactive approach to our well-

being program. Mrs. White has been timetabled to take a well-being class once a

fortnight across the school. Mindfulness, empathy and gratitude will be promoted to help

students develop resilience. During this time, teachers will either join in so they can refer

to the session throughout the week, or if they note that a student has not been themselves,

they can take the opportunity to grab a hot chocolate and catch up with them in the

courtyard.

Now enrolling for 2021

TOUR DATES

Tuesday 3rd March, 9:15 am—10:15 am

Thursday 12th March, 9:15 am—10:15 am

Wednesday 18th March, 6:00 pm—7:00 pm

Monday 20th April, 9:15 am—10:15 am

Wednesday 6th May, 9:15 am—10:15 am

Thursday 21st May, 6:00 pm—7:00 pm

Tuesday 16th June 9:15 am—10:15 am

Students enrolled by 1st August will fully benefit from our six session transition program. Building relationships is essential preparation for their first year.

Please contact the school office to book a school tour on (03) 9782 0953.

- Our Professional Learning Community (PLC) Culture. In 2019, member s of our leadership team attend inten-sive workshops on developing PLCs. This year they will be applying that learning with their teams; working through im-provement cycles and drilling down to areas of student need and using an evidence base to improve student outcomes.

- Embedding Reading. We already have wonder ful results in ter ms of the gains that students make in reading when they attend Rowellyn Park but this year we are keen to look at teaching and learning practices that will help our stu-dent get into and maintain the top two bands of achievement.

Whilst those mentioned are some of our priorities, there are still the million and one other aspects going on that make our school great. Rowellyn Park is an exciting school to be a part of in 2020 and I feel privileged to be leading our community.

Caleb Peterson

Principal

PRIMARY SCHOOL

PRIVACY INFORMATION

FOR PARENTS, GUARDIANS AND CARERS

During the ordinary course of your child’s attendance at our school, school staff will collect your child’s personal and health information when necessary to educate your child, or to support your child’s social and emotional

wellbeing or health in the school context. Such information will also be collected when required to fulfil a legal obligation, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law. If that infor-

mation is not collected, the school may be unable to provide optimal education or support to your child, or fulfil those legal obligations.

For example, health information may be collected through the school nurse, primary welfare officer or wellbeing

staff member. If your child is referred to a specific health service at school, such as a Student Support Services officer, the required consent will be obtained. Our school also collects information provided by parents, guardi-ans and carers through the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and the Early Childhood Intervention

Service (ECIS) Transition Form.

Our school may use online tools, such as apps and other software, to collect and manage information about your child. When our school uses these online tools, we take steps to ensure that your child’s information is secure.

These online tools enable our school to efficiently and effectively manage important information about your child and also to communicate with you. If you have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please

contact us.

School staff will only share your child’s personal or health information with other staff who need to know to ena-ble the school to educate or support your child, or fulfil a legal obligation.

When our students transfer to another Victorian government school, personal and health information about

that student will be transferred to that next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of our students and assists that next school to provide optimal education and support to students.

In some limited circumstances, information may be disclosed outside of the school (and outside of the Depart-ment of Education and Training). The school will seek your consent for such disclosures unless the disclosure is

allowed or mandated by law.

Our school values the privacy of every person. When collecting and managing personal and health information, all school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law. For more information about privacy including about how

to access personal and health information held by the school about you or your child, see our school’s privacy policy: http://www.rowellynpark.vic.edu.au/index.php/about-us/policies-and-documents/

Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, Student Support Service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners and all other staff at our school. This includes employees, agents and service providers (contractors) of the Department, whether paid or unpaid.

During these first few days of school, Grade One classes have been working on ‘Getting to Know You’ and Student Wellbeing activities across all classrooms. These activities help students make new friends, settle into classroom routines and become reaccustomed to school life after the summer holidays. It’s an enjoyable time of year for both students and teachers and these activities set students up for a great year ahead! One activity completed by Grade 1 Savva was “Kindness Donuts”. The children sprinkled kind words on top of the donuts and wrote a sentence about the ways they show kindness.

Curriculum Information

From Kylie Tonizzo

(Assistant Principal)

Did you know…?

The Grade 1 Team

The Grade 1 Team

Welcome to Grade 2, 2020!

2020 is already off to an exciting start. The grade 2 teachers and students alike have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other and establishing supportive and engaging learning environments. In Mathematics we have been looking at place value and measuring length. Our English lessons are currently focussed on exploring recounts and diary writing.

We have met so many of our students’ families already and are looking forward to meeting more at our ‘Meet and Greet’ evening next Thursday 13th February. There will be lots of information provided about our year level including policies, classroom routines, specialists, assemblies and a chance to sign up to help within our school community. Just a reminder, our ‘Meet and Greet’ night will be held in student’s classrooms, except for 2 Tai; which will be held in Room 9 and 10.

Looking forward to a productive and fun year of learning,

Jarrod Sanders, Tina Tai, Bev Wilson, Hugh Hunt, Jess Pearce and Micaelie Stewart

Grade 3 and 4 – 2020

Welcome to all middle school students!

This year is looking like it is going to be sensational and inspiring with many challenges and

successes ahead.

Students have begun the year with excitement and enthusiasm! Teachers are looking forward

to many new learning adventures with their new grades!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

From STEM

by Ms Sieira

iCybersafe week 2020

Next week is our school’s annual iCyberSafe Week, which corresponds with ‘Safer Internet Day’ on 11th February. Each class in the school will focus on Digital Citizenship in some way. Planned activities in grades will be age appropriate and promote safe and responsible use of digital technologies. Students learn ways to be responsible users of the internet, and devices in general, while referring to our 4Rs. Teachers will be looking at the role of technology in the students’ lives, how they are using devices (in particular the internet and gaming) and learning strategies to staying safe. We will be defining and discussing aspects of Digital Citizenship.

Our school is an eSmart school, so we place a high priority on fostering safe, considerate and respectful use of digital technologies. We aim to teach our students ways they can all do their bit to build a better digital environment.

We also have Constable Deneen Ritchie from Victoria Police coming to talk to grades 4, 5 and 6 about the potential of online risks.

This year’s theme for Internet Safe Day is ‘Together for a better internet’ and Australia’s eSafety Commission is encouraging parents to mark the day by starting family conversations about online safety. I encourage parents to check out eSafety’s great range of advice and resources. Get started by visiting their parents and carers pages and reading the practical tips for kicking off an online safety conversation. You can also download the ‘Parents guide to online safety’ booklet (available in 5 languages), look through eSafety Kids with your family or get familiar with the step by step advice for repor ting different types of online abuse. Find out more at esafety.gov.au

Carol Sieira STEM Learning Specialist

Join the eSafety Commissioner’s

free parent webinar

The session will cover how to start the chat about harmful content, contact with strangers and cyber-bullying.

Helping Kids Thrive Online12th February 2020 at 8:00 PM (AEDT) 14th February at 2020 12:00 PM (AEDT)

Register now at esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

March April

Mon 2 - Life Education Van Fri 6

Fri 6 Parliament Incursion—Grades 5 & 6

Mon 9 Labour Day Holiday

Tue 10 District Swimming Carnival

Tue 10—Fri 13 Life Education Van

Fri 13 Parliament Incursion—Grades 5 & 6

Mon 16 Division Swimming Carnival

School Council—6.30 pm

Mon 16 & Tue 17 Life Education Van

Tue 17

Fri 20 Prep & Staff Photos Citizen of the Term Mon 23—Fri 27 Woorabinda Camp—Grade 6 Fri 27 Last Day of Term

Tue 14 Term 2 commences

Fri 17 Summer Lightning Premership

Mon 20 Parliament incursion—Grades 5 & 6

Tue 21 Parliament incursion—Grades 5 & 6

Fri 24 School Cross Country

Mon 27 Anzac Day

EVENTS CALENDAR

May June

Mon 11 School Council—6.30 pm

Wed 13—Fri 15 Mt Evelyn Camp—Grade 4

Thu 21 District Cross Country

Wed 3 Division Cross Country

Mon 8 Queen’s Birthday

Mon 15 School Council

Fri 26 Last Day of Term

Music lessons are now available at

Rowellyn Park

Before Care: 6.30am—8.45am

After Care: 3.15pm—6.30 pm

Pupil Free Day: 6.30am—6.30pm

Vacation Care: 6.30am—6.30pm

For further information please contact the Co-ordinator, Leanne Groenendyk on 9782 0080 or 0409 965 998

Student Accident Insurance Arrangements

Main Points

Parents are reminded that the Department does not provide personal accident insurance for

students. Parents and guardians are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for in-

jured students, including any transport costs.

Student accident insurance policies are available from some commercial insurers. These cover a range of medical expens-

es not covered by Medicare or private health insurance.

Ambulance

Each year we find there are a number of occasions when we are required to call an ambulance. The decision to call an ambu-

lance is made under the advice of qualified and experienced first aid staff and after making every effort, generally with suc-

cess, to inform the parents or guardians. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development requires schools to

call an ambulance when it is deemed one is required, as the priority must always be the wellbeing of the sick or injured per-

son.

The full cost of ambulance treatment and/or transport applies to people who are not insured against the cost of ambulance

services. The fees do not apply to Victorian Pensioner Concession Card or Health Care Card holders.

Some health insurance policies may include ambulance cover, however some policies may not cover more than one emer-

gency ambulance trip per year, or the full costs of air transport or non-emergency transport fees.

Additional Information

It is not compulsory for schools to purchase whole-of-school policies.

The Department cannot advise parents/guardians on whether to purchase a student accident policy or which policy to pur-

chase. It is recommended that they seek assistance in this matter with their insurance broker or find a suitable personal acci-

dent insurer in the Yellow Pages or online.

Personal Goods Brought to School at Owner's Risk

Personal property is often brought to school by students, staff and visitors. This can include mobile phones, electronic

games, calculators, toys, musical instruments, sporting equipment, and cars parked on school premises.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development does not hold insurance for personal property brought to

schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.

Please refrain from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school.

Every Tuesday

Interested in opening a Dollarmite Account? Then visit commbank.com.au/

schoolbanking and click on the link to open a Youthsaver account.

Students if you have 10 or more tokens please redeem these for a reward at the office.