Greensborough Primary School—2062

130 Grimshaw Street Greensborough 3088

Phone: 9435 1496 Fax: 9432 0598 OSHC: 8564 9000 Email: greensborough.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Website: www.greensborough.vic.edu.au

Borough Bulletin November 9th 2017

Thursday 23rd November Volunteer’s Morning Tea

Friday 24th November Swimming, Prep 2018 Transition, Sausage Sizzle

Monday 27th November to 1st December

School Council Sub Committee Meeting, Wellbeing Leaders Training

Friday 1st December Swimming

Monday 4th December Wellbeing Leaders Training, School Captains’ Speeches

Wednesday 6th December Senior School Concert Panton Hill Hotel 7PM

Friday 8th December Swimming

Monday 11th December House Captains’ Speeches

Tuesday 12th December Grade 6 Students to 2018 Secondary Schools

Thursday 14th December Grade 6 Graduation

Friday 15th December Junior School Concert in Hall 2:30 – 3:30, Bakers Delight, Reports sent home

Monday 18th December Christmas Picnic

Wednesday 20th December Grade 6 Big Day Out

Friday 22nd December Last Day Term 4

Tuesday 30th January 2018 First Day of school for students

Principal’s Report We welcomed several new families to our school in the last fortnight and it was lovely to hear their praise for our students, class programs and general environment. We can tend to take what we have for granted, however listening to their comments it’s obvious that the friendly, inclusive culture and excellent academic and wellbeing programs are not common in all schools. Our staff and parent community work very hard to provide the best for our students and it’s clearly evident to newcomers and much appreciated by our students.

Once again, we have reason to celebrate the fantastic achievements of our students. Sarah C., our School Captain, had her excellent leadership qualities recognised by Greensborough Secondary College and was awarded the 2018 Citizenship and Leadership Scholarship. This is a fantastic achievement for Sarah and certainly well deserved. Sarah and Hudson were also awarded scholarships from Watsonia RSL for being outstanding role models for our community. We are sure Sarah and Hudson will continue their leadership journey in secondary school and we wish them all the best. I’d also like to congratulate our students who completed the Premiers’ Reading Challenge and thank the

family members who supported them by setting aside time at home to read and enjoy the books. Reading develops oral language skills, analytical thinking and is vital to functioning effectively in our literate society. Thanks also to Claire Storey for coordinating the Challenge

and completing all the necessary administration tasks and Jen Farley for assisting children with selecting books from our extensive Library collection. Over 30% more students completed the Reading Challenge this year and we’re hoping to increase this amount even further next year. We’re looking forward to next Monday’s assembly when Colin Brookes will present the students with their certificates. Extracurricular Events There have been several extracurricular events in the last fortnight. Yesterday the Greensborough Secondary School band performed for our students in the hall and it was great to see one of ex-students Zac P., playing the drums. Remed Natural Health gave a presentation to Grades 3/4 as part of their Inquiry unit on Health. Students investigated the benefits of a healthy diet and the effects of different foods on our bodies. On Tuesday, Maria Grima took our Junior School Councillors and Grade 5 students to Kalparrin Gardens and developed ideas for a new playspace and activity area. Banyule Council has engaged Chatterbox Projects to conduct workshops to gather ideas and thoughts for a new activity area and this was a great opportunity for our future leaders to have input into our local community. We look forward to seeing the final plan. Thankyou Volunteers As we reflect on the year’s achievements it is obvious we could not have achieved so much without the help of our terrific volunteers. It was lovely that so many could attend our ‘Thankyou morning tea’ so we could show our appreciation. I’d like to thank our talented musical quartet, Stuart, Angus, Adrian and Liam who played the guitar and did an excellent job entertaining us. Diamond Valley Community Support Financial Assistance Diamond Valley Community support (DVCS) is an independent not-for-profit organisation that provides direct aid, assistance, support and information for people who live in the Banyule City Council area. DVCS services currently include a Back to School Program, that provides eligible families a cheque for $100 per child (up to $500 per family). The cheque will be made out to the school, and is to be used for educational purposes, i.e. Subject Contributions, camps, excursions, and so on. The program will close on 15th December 2017 and will recommence from Tuesday 9th January. DVCS is located at Shop 378a Level 3, Greensborough Plaza. Ph: 03 9435 8282 / 03 9435 5440.

Student Support Groups Notes were sent home this week to parents of children who have Student Support Group (SSG) meetings to arrange an appointment for this term. We ask all families who would like a meeting to return their notes by Monday 27th November so we can finalise our SSG schedule. Vacation Care OSHClub will begin Vacation Care on the 8th January next year. If any families would like to use this service and haven’t already registered they can go to oshclub.com.au to register. For queries please contact OSHClub directly or speak to our coordinator, Jacqui before or after school.

Ed Pratt Families may remember Ed Pratt, the unicyclist who visited our school last term. Ed included Greensborough Primary in his journey to become the first person to unicycle around the world. Ed is also raising funds for the School in a Bag program which is an initiative run by the Piers Simon Appeal. School in a Bag provides aid, in the form of SchoolBags, to poor, orphan, vulnerable and disaster affected children throughout the world. Each SchoolBag is filled with stationery equipment and resources that will enable a child to write, draw, colour, calculate, express themselves and, above all, learn.

If you would like to learn more about Ed’s adventures or donate to School in a Bag you can log onto the website http://www.worldunicycletour.com/ or Youtube

Have a great fortnight everyone!

Angela Morritt Principal Grounds Maintenance Greensborough Primary is extremely fortunate to have such extensive outdoor grounds and play areas for our students but the maintenance of these grounds certainly has its challenges. The school receives annual funding of $3,648 from the Education Department to maintain the school grounds which has to cover the cost of softfall mulch, garden mulch, plants, seating and fencing. We have also used these funds to pay a handyman to intermittently blow the steps and pathways clear of leaf litter. Keeping the paths and walkways clear of leaf litter is a constant battle and, up until now, we have been assisted with this task with the Corrections Crews attending the school on a Sunday on a regular roster. Unfortunately the Corrections program has been suspended for the foreseeable future and we have noticed the increasing issue of leaf debris build up in the school grounds. The school has two leaf blowers and we are asking for volunteers who are prepared to go on a roster (ideally twice a year) to spend an hour using the blowers to clear the steps and pathways. This could be at any time or day of the week convenient to the volunteer. If you feel that you could assist us with this task we would be extremely grateful and, if you could please let the office know, we will start to put together a volunteer schedule. Premier’s Reading Challenge At next Monday morning’s assembly Colin Brookes will present the certificates to the students who have participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge and will also officially open our $196,000 building upgrades. The promised fish and chip lunch for the students who successfully completed the reading challenge will be provided next Tuesday. 2018 Subject Contributions Tomorrow the student statements which include the $220, Subject Contributions for 2018 will be sent home. This charge covers all items, which, by the Government’s Parent Payment Policy, are the parents’ responsibility for payment. The items covered by the Subject Contribution charge include: Beginning of the year student booklist items Mid-year student booklist items Specific student workbooks for various programs such as Spelling Mastery Some of the incursions and special events held at school To offset the costs of some excursions Mathletics Subscription Ziptales subscription

Friday Fruit Cooking /Craft supplies A swimming /excursion bag (distributed next year) For all families, payment plans, direct debit or any other options are available to assist families to meet these commitments. Payment for the 2018 Subject Contribution charge can be paid this year or, ideally, by the end of Term One 2018. 2018 Buildings and Grounds Development Plans In the next newsletter an outline of the plans School Council has approved for works to be conducted at the school in 2018 will be published. In the absence of any more grant funding, we will be using the Buildings Maintenance funding from the Student Resource Package and locally raised funds to achieve as much as we possibly can. With this in mind, we hope, that by publishing the list of our plans and the contractors required, that someone in the community may be able to assist us with contacts and suggestions to achieve as much as we possibly can with the available funds.

Margaret Hirth Assistant Principal

Save the Date

Community Working Bee

Saturday 27th January 2018

9am -12 midday

We are hoping as many people from the

community as possible will be able to come

along on the Saturday before school starts to

assist with:

Clearing steps and paths of leaf litter

Whipper snipping along the fence line

Weeding garden beds

Spreading mulch

Topping up the sandpits

Spreading soft fall mulch under the playgrounds

This is a wonderful opportunity to have our grounds safe and inviting

for the first day of the 2018 school year. A sausage sizzle lunch and

refreshments will be provided to thank everyone for their hard work

on the day.

Band Visit

Thank you to the Year 7/8 Greensborough College Band for visiting us and displaying their fantastic musical talents. It was great to see one of our past students, Zac P, playing drums. We look forward to future performances.

Dental Education Visit

Banyule Health Services visited the Prep-two students providing them with an educational session about keeping their teeth healthy. This enriching session aligned with our health inquiry unit. Students learned that we should brush our teeth for two minutes, twice a day and we should floss

our teeth once a day. Happy smiles 😀

Erin Donldson

Camp 2018 Between the 18th and 20th of April 2018, students from Grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be given the opportunity to attend Camp Weekaway in Benloch, Victoria. Nestled in the quiet Benloch Valley, 82km (1 hour) North of Melbourne (15km from Lancefield), Weekaway aims to provide an experience not only for the time of our stay, but an experience for life. Opportunities exist to explore the local environment and bush setting, while making the most of onsite activities such as the Flying Fox and Low Ropes Course. Other activities students may be participating in are Red Faces, Camp Disco and a night walk. Students will have the chance to become more independent, improve teamwork and communication skills and work with students from all four year levels.

The cost of next year’s camp will be approximately $300. Final costs will be confirmed when all expressions of interest have been collected. This includes coach transport, accommodation, food and camp activities. A $50 deposit is required to ensure a place on the camp. This $50 deposit will be due early in the New Year, but the opportunity to make payment instalments for the camp is available from now on. Please see the school office if you would like to start making payments.

Gemma Pearce

Library News

Book Club 2017 An enormous thank you to Abby McKee who has organised the school Book Club for 2017. Our final Book Club order was delivered last week. There were lots of happy faces as the children collected their latest orders. Thank you to all those families who have supported either the Book Club or the Book Fair. Through your generous support we receive reward points which we have spent on new literature sets for the classrooms, support materials for literacy and books for the library. We will continue to run one Book Club per term in 2018 except Term Three when we will have our annual Book Fair. End of Year procedures Just a reminder that as the year draws to a near we would like all library books returned to the library by December 8th. Borrowing will cease the week ending Friday 1st. If a child is reading a fiction book and requires more time to finish the book they can have a chat to me and we can work something out. I will send home notes to remind you of any overdue books that your child has and I would appreciate it if you could help them to have a search for them. If books have been lost a note will be sent home as per school policy that requests 50% of the cost of the book. You are most welcome to pay the full amount if you so desire. I am very sorry but lost books are very expensive to replace – a hard cover picture story book is between $25 and $30, whilst fiction books can range from $10-$20. Some of the non-fiction books are even more costly. Thank you to those people who have contacted me regarding lost books. I understand that books can be misplaced or left at other relative’s homes. Please feel free to contact me if you have any concerns regarding your child’s lost books. If your child or family is leaving Greensborough Primary at the end of the year can you please return all of their books. If you have an outstanding account for lost or damaged books we would appreciate settlement of the account.

Happy Reading

Jen Farley Librarian

Kalparrin Gardens Visit

On Tuesday the 21st November, all of the Junior School Councillors, School and Vice-Captains and Grade Five students attended a workshop at the Kalparrin Gardens run by Chatterbox Projects. ChatterBox Projects has been engaged by Banyule City Council to undertake a range of community engagement activities to gather ideas and thoughts for a new playspace and activity area being developed at Kalparrin Gardens, and 40 Greensborough Primary School students were invited to help.

It was a successful session and our students contributed many great ideas, such as flying foxes, rock walls, BBQ areas, toilets and drinking taps, trampolines, slides and swings. The project will begin early 2018 and we look forward to see which of our ideas will be used in the final design.

Maria Grima

Parents & Friends Food Day Friday 24th of November Thank you to those who have supported our upcoming food day this Friday. Candle Fundraiser Thank you to those who purchased candles. We are anticipating that we will receive them by the end of next week. Uplift Project – ends December 1st

Uplift Project A huge thank you to those who have donated items already. For those who haven’t got around to it yet, there is a box available up at the office for any bra. Friday December 1st will be the last day for those who wish to donate. The Uplift Project is an Australian Charity that collects donated bras to over 10 Asia Pacific areas. In many regions second hand bras are cheap enough, but rarely available. A new bra (if available at all) can cost 10-30 hour’s wages. Often a bra from the Uplift project will be the only one a woman owns.

What do they want? Size 8-16, A-DD cup (30-40 / 80-100) in good condition, including crop top styles. Size 18+, A-DD cup (42+ / 105+) Nursing bras including crop tops, ANY condition will do. If it will catch a leak it is better than nothing, which is the alternative. Reusable nursing pads are also appreciated. E cup plus, ANY size likely to be the only properly fitting bras that a woman gets in her life.

Mastectomy Bras and Breast Forms (prostheses) like gold. If possible please send the box with the breast form/prosthesis, and put the relevant bras under the plastic mould, in the bottom of the box. These will be given to hospitals for distribution. If sending bras only, without breast forms/prostheses, please put a note in the bag/post pack so we don't miss-sort them.

Swimwear, any size. Swimwear is great for keeping warm if you are standing in the water fishing with a hand line for a couple of hours. It is also handy for coastal women who dive for cash crops. Underpants, new. In some places a girl without underpants does not go to school during her period.

Fabric Nappies, second hand or new. In some areas, fabric nappies are expensive to buy so mums often buy one disposable at a time. That money is better spent on food for Mum. (Nappies at drop off points in Victoria and NSW only please). For more information go to http://www.upliftbras.org/

Thank you

Kim Hill On behalf of P&F

Term 4 ~ Week 3 Week Ending November 3rd 2017

Prep ~ Jaxon ~ For his continuous encouragement to other students. You are so kind!

Grade 1/2 A ~ Aiden ~ For his outstanding exposition text about why summer is better than winter.

Grade 1/2 B ~ Chayse ~ For working hard to improve his handwriting. Grade 3/4 A ~ Abbey ~ For working really hard in class and for the amazing

improvement to her writing. You are a Star! Grade 3/4B ~ Oliver ~ For amazing work in spelling, maths and drawing. Grade 5/6 A ~ Liam ~ For his excellent results during our Magic Maths testing. Grade 5/6B ~ Bailey ~ For showing his expertise on algebra during Magic Maths.

So clever! Art~ Shanon~ For always being an excellent role model and showing

respect. Chinese ~ Liam ~ For always being polite and approaching tasks with a

positive attitude. Music~ Sienna~ For excellent listening skills during our library sessions.

Term 4 ~ Week 4 Week Ending November 10th 2017

Prep ~ Olivia ~ For her beautiful narrative writing. Well done! Grade 1/2 A ~ Mason ~ For his great teamwork during our Coding session this

week. Keep it up! Grade 1/2 B ~ Amarni & Holly ~ For bravely attempting a pin drop in the deep end of the

pool. Well done. Grade 3/4 A ~ Xander ~ For his focus and effort during writing this week. Keep it up

Xander. Grade 5/6 A ~ Teague ~ For his excellent work during writing and working hard to

achieve his writing goal. Grade 5/6B ~ Dan ~ For his excellent work during Magic Maths testing. You are

a Star! Art~ Ella~ For showing excellent shape and pattern in her work with

clay. Chinese ~ Lachlan.H ~ For being a good student and an enthusiastic learner.

Term 4 ~ Week 5 Week Ending November 17th 2017

Prep ~ Tyler ~ For his focus and determination during class time. Grade 1/2 A ~ Darcy ~ For his fantastic effort during swimming. Keep it up! Grade 1/2 B ~ Starr ~ For her insightful arguments in her exposition piece

‘Swimming is better than Football!’ Grade 3/4 A ~ Ben ~ For his positive and kind interaction with our 3 year old

kinder buddies. Grade 3/4B ~ Holly ~ For always staying focussed in class and for her wonderful

care of the school’s rabbits Grade 5/6 A ~ Mehshad ~ For a wonderful start at Greensborough Primary School. Grade 5/6B ~ Sarah ~ For her calm, caring nature that ensures she is a wonderful

role model to others. Art~ Tyler.L~ For fantastic work in clay modelling. Well done Tyler! Chinese ~ Precious ~ For always listening carefully and working conscientiously

in class. Library~ Armani~ For putting in a great effort with all our non-fiction work.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------