26 Grant St, PO Box 199, GOORNONG, VIC, 3557

Tel: 5432 2236 Fax. 5432 2425

Email: goornong.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Friday February 5th, 2016

Issue 2

Dates to Remember *A reminder that Prep students do not attend school

on Wednesdays during February.

Next Week

Fri 12th Feb. First Friday Afternoon Assembly, 3.00pm

Fri 12th Feb. School Council Nomination Close, 4pm

Term One

Mon 15th Feb. School Captain Speeches, 9am

Mon 15th Feb. School Council Meeting

Tues 16th Feb. Swimming Program Session One

Thurs 18th Feb. Swimming Program Session Two

Fri 19th Feb. MARC Library

Mon 22nd Feb. Swimming Program Session Three

Tues 23rd Feb. Swimming Program Session Four

Thurs 25th Feb. Swimming Program Session Five

Fri 26th Feb. Cluster Swimming Sports @ Rochester

(Grades Three-Six)

Wed 2nd March Preps First Wednesday at school

Wed 2nd March Young Leaders Excursion to Melbourne

(Student Leadership Group)

Fri 4th March MARC Library

Mon 14th March Labour Day Public Holiday

Fri 18th March MARC Library

Mon 21st March School Council AGM

Thurs 24th March Last day of Term One, 2.15pm dismissal

Fri 25th March Good Friday

2016 Term Dates

Thurs 28th Jan. — Thurs 24th March Term One

Mon 11th Apr. — Fri 24th June Term Two

Mon 11th July — Fri 16th Sept. Term Three

Mon 3rd Oct. — Tues 20th Dec. Term Four

“Learning for the future in a caring rural setting.”

Food Allergy We wish to remind parents that we have a student

enrolled at our school with a nut allergy. Whilst

there is no specific ban on particular food items we

encourage all parents to be thoughtful about the

sandwich fillings and snack products packed in

lunchboxes.

Peanuts and peanut additives have the potential to

cause severe and life-threatening anaphylactic

reactions in allergic students. Even mild allergic

reactions can cause swelling of the face, vomiting

and hives.

Parents should be aware that allergic reactions can

be brought on through skin contact (such as leaning

in peanut butter that is on the table), not just

through ingestion.

We ask parents to be mindful of this when packing

their child’s lunchbox.

We also wish to make parents aware that the

sharing of food is not permitted at school and that

students should only eat food items provided from

their home—please do not send along food to be

shared with other students!

We thank parents for their support with this.

Thank you to all those who

supported the Money Can Grow

On Trees initiative during 2015.

Our school has received $1000

Scholastic Reward points to be

spent on books for our students.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

It has been wonderful to see all students proudly

wearing the Goornong PS uniform over the first few days

of the new school year. Thank you to all parents and

students who have supported our uniform policy.

A copy of our Uniform Policy is available on our website

or from the school office.

SWIMMING PROGRAM

Our Swimming Program begins on Tuesday 16th

February. As was announced at the end of 2015, there is

no cost for this year’s Swimming Program as we have

been successful in gaining a grant from the Australian

Sports Commission.

We ask that parents please find

accompanying today’s newsletter further

details regarding this year’s Swimming

Program and a permission note to cover

each day of the Program.

2016 SCHOOL CAMPS

School camps provide a wonderful opportunity for

students to gain new experiences, as well as building

resilience and teamwork. Our school combines with

schools from the Campaspe Cluster for all camps. This

gives our students the opportunity to meet and make

friends with students from other schools. The following

camps will be offered in 2016.

This year our Grade Three-Four camp is to Camp

Curumbene at Corop. The camp runs from Wednesday

17th—Friday 19th August. The cost will be

approximately $180.

The Grade Five-Six camp is to Anglesea, in the week

beginning Monday 28th November. We are still finalising

the details of the camp but it is expected the camp will

run for three or four nights. The cost of this camp will be

approximately $350-$400.

We will send home an Expression of Interest Form and

further details closer to the date of each camp.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP GROUP ELECTIONS

Each year our Grade Six students are able to nominate

for the position of School Captain. At Goornong PS we

have a boy School Captain and a girl School Captain who

are elected through a vote by the other students. Those

candidates not elected School Captain become members

of our Student Leadership Group.

Principal’s Report This year’s candidates will be presenting their speeches at

assembly at 9.00am on Monday 15th February. Parents

are welcome to attend!

SCHOOL COUNCIL—NOMINATIONS OPEN!

School Council Elections take place in Term One every

year. This year, we seek nominations for Parent

Representative positions.

If you would like to nominate yourself or another parent,

please see Jason at the school for a nomination form.

Nominations close at 4pm next Friday 12th February.

Nomination and Election Time Frame

Friday February 5th Call for nominations.

Friday February 12th Nominations close at 4pm.

If an election is needed:

Friday February 19th Ballot papers sent out.

Friday February 26th Election closes 4pm.

Tuesday March 1st Declaration of election results.

Monday March 21st School Council AGM & first

meeting of new school council.

We encourage parents to consider nominating for School

Council. It is a great way to make a contribution to the

development and direction of our school. We meet in the

evening on the third Monday of each month at the

school. Current School Councillors include Tim McCrohan,

Jamie Tuohey and Melinda Smith.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact Jason

or one of our current School Councillors.

The first meeting of our existing School Council is on

Monday 15th February at 7.00pm. Finance Committee

will meet at 6.30pm.

ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL—EVERY DAY COUNTS

Every Day Counts as there is strong link between

consistent attendance at school and a child’s social &

academic development.

We understand that there are times when students need

to miss school, such as when they’re ill.

Attendance patterns are established early—a child

regularly missing days in kindergarten or in the early

years of school creates habits which can be very difficult

to break.

At our school, we encourage parents to return an Absent

Note (these are attached to today’s newsletter) or

contact their child’s teacher when an absence occurs.

We also encourage parents to meet with their child’s

teacher if they are having attendance issues so we can

work together to get your child to school each day.

NOTES TO BE RETURNED

Thank you to those families who have already returned the ‘Beginning of Year’ forms to the school, which were sent home last Friday.

BIKES AT SCHOOL

It is wonderful to see so many students riding their bikes to and from school. For the safety of others, we do ask that students walk their bike when on school grounds.

SCHOOL PICK-UP

A big thank you to those parents, particularly of Prep

students, who have met their child at the front entrance

and walked with them if needing to cross the road at the

end of the school day. Grant Street is very busy at the

end of school and your vigilance ensures that everyone

gets home safely after school.

BUSHFIRE AT RISK REGISTER—CODE RED DAYS

Our school is included on the Bushfire At Risk Register, as

set by the Education Department, for the 2015-2016

Summer. This means that our school is required to close

on days declared as Code Red Fire Danger Rating in the

Northern Country Bureau of Meteorology district.

Code Red days are generally announced by 1.00pm on

the day preceding the Code Red day. Once a Code Red

day is announced, our school will endeavour to notify all

families that the school will be closed.

BUSHFIRE AT RISK REGISTER—EXTREME DAYS

A new policy developed by the Department of Education

and Emergency Management Victoria also gives schools

on the Bushfire At Risk Register (including Goornong PS)

the option to close or relocate on Extreme Fire Danger

Rating days.

A decision to close or relocate on an Extreme Fire Danger

Rating day would not be taken lightly and would be done

so in consultation between our school, the Department of

Education and Emergency Management Victoria.

If our school was planning to close or relocate on an

Extreme FDR day, the school would notify all families the

day prior to the scheduled closure or relocation.

Jason Cox

Principal

WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECKS

A reminder of our school’s policy regarding Working with

Children Checks.

All school staff such as teachers, relief teachers and support

staff are required to have a Working with Children Check as

part of their employment and our school maintains a register

to ensure that staff WWCCs are up to date.

There are also instances where volunteers such as parent and

community helpers are required to have a WWCC. These

include situations where volunteers have direct contact with

students from our school and where there may not be a

teacher present. As such, we require parents/volunteers

attending camps or excursions to have a WWCC. Please note

that parents helping with morning reading are not required to

have a WWCC.

Key considerations for School Council in establishing our

WWCC policy are to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the

students who attend our school; and to ensure that our

school’s procedures continue to meet the current legislation.

The process to obtain a Working with Children Check is quite

simple and there is no cost to applicants. It involves completing

an online form and then attending an Australia Post outlet to

lodge the form.

We encourage parents who may wish to help out with

excursions (such as the Prep-Two excursion later in the year) to

contact Tymika who will be happy to help with the application

process. Tymika is able to sit with parents at a school computer

and complete the process.

A copy of our WWCC policy is available on the school website

or from the office on request.

Please feel free to come and see Jason if you have any further

questions.

HIGH FIVES

A high five to all students, staff and

parents for their contribution to a

successful start to the school year at

Goornong PS.

It has been very pleasing to see our students

arriving at school each day with a smile on their

face and eager to learn.

Once again, the positive attitude of those in our

school community helps to make Goornong PS a

great place to teach and learn—well done all!

White Hills Junior Football Club Registration night

We welcome all current and new players for 2016 sea-son. Registration night will be held at the White Hills

Football ground (Scott Street) on Thursday, 18th Febru-ary, 4:00 pm to 6:00pm. We will be registering Teams in

Under 9, 10, 12 (2 teams), 14 (2 teams) & 16 grades. Also if enough interest Youth girls (13-18 yrs) and the

new Junior girls (8-12 yrs). All players are covered with upgraded platinum level insurance and for this season will receive our new personalised training shirt as part of the membership. Sizing, name & number for shirt

required on the night. For further information you can email the club whjfclub@gmail.com, visit our website www.whitehillsjfc.vcfl.com.au or call Nigel Lewis on

0409022275 or Damian O’Brien on 0418123454

Elmore Primary Netball is now

seeking interest for the 2016

season.

If your child/ren is interested in

playing Saturday netball and is in

Grades 4 through 6 we are now

taking names to prepare for the

upcoming HDFNL season

(Can take names for Grade 3 students but no guarantees to make

the team selection)

Please contact Ali Hayes 0408865244

Primary coach

I'm looking forward to spending the first term teaching our students

cooking skills and then back to Gardening Science for the rest of the

year. This week we revisited our successes from last year and talked about

what 2016 will look like. Last year the students formed a company called the

Goornong Dirt Factory and after creating a business plan grew and sold

$100 worth of produce from the garden. All funds will go towards the new

playground project. The students had a tour of the kitchen and we talked

about health and safety including hand washing procedures. We then headed

out to the food garden and visited the vegie and herb plots, hothouse,

chooks and the huge orchard. The students munched on plums, followed by

berries, from the Ruby Saltbush, an Aboriginal bushtucker. I would like to

thank Blueberry and Jonathon from Hyline Australia for donating five lovely

point of lay pullets as well as chook pellets. The cookbooks produced by the

Goornong Dirt Factory containing favourite recipes from the Grade 3 to 6

students are still for sale. They are available at the front desk for $5. A

great start to the year!

Felicity Johnson