26 Grant St, PO Box 199, GOORNONG, VIC, 3557
Tel: 5432 2236 Fax. 5432 2425
Email: [email protected]
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 [email protected], 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