Manna Gum – credit Mandy Nicholson
Dear Parents, Students and Friends,
Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey and is seeking your feedback. The survey, offered by the Department of Education, is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement.
We sent you an invitation to complete the survey via Compass on Monday 29th July and it is still available.
The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will remain open online until Friday 30 August 2024.
Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students.
The survey is being conducted online and only takes twenty minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet-enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers.
The survey is available in English and 10 other languages: Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
As of this morning we have had 20 families complete the survey, which is 4%. I am hoping to get to 50% in 2024.
NEXT OPEN SESSION – GRANDPARENTS ONLY
Thursday, 29th August 9.00 – 10.00 a.m.
We invite all grandparents of our students to attend. This will provide an opportunity for them to see what happens at school, to get to know their grandchild’s classroom teacher and they might even be asked to help with particular activities! No bookings are required – they just turn up on Thursday, 29th August.
2025 FOUNDATION ENROLMENTS
Placement offers for next year’s Foundation classes will be sent out next week. We currently have 78 applications that meet the enrolment requirements, so it will mean that most of those out-of-zone will, unfortunately, probably miss out as we only have the capacity to take 88. However, there is the option of being placed on a waiting list in case some of the eligible families decide to not take up the offer of a place.
EXITING STUDENTS
In order to accurately plan our class structure for 2025, it is essential that we have a pretty good idea of how many students we will have next year. Please inform the school as early as possible, in writing, if your child or children will not be returning to Reservoir West in 2025. Planning for 2025 is already underway, even at this early time of the year.
TRIVIA NIGHT
I am looking forward to the Trivia Night on Friday night. Please remember that it is a cashless bar and we will not be accepting cash for purchases. However, it would be handy to have a stash of gold coins in your pocket for the coin-toss competitions and other fun activities.
Regards,
Bruce
Principal
PARENT WORKSHOP: LITERACY BLOCKS AND GENRE WRITING AT RWPS - FOUNDATION – TWO PARENTS/CARERS
I am excited to announce a special workshop on Wednesday, August 14th (5pm – 6pm) aimed at Foundation – Year 2 parents/carers, dedicated to exploring what happens during a typical literacy block at RWPS. This is a great opportunity for you to gain insights into the literacy curriculum and understand how we foster reading and writing skills in our students using the John Fleming Effective Teaching Model.
The workshop will explain the components of a Literacy Block using classroom resources and some recordings – showing various components at different levels. In addition, our Genre Writing sessions will also be included. Genre Writing sits outside the Literacy Block.
In Term 4, a similar workshop will be offered targeted towards Year 3 – 6 students.
Please note this workshop is face-to-face only and for parents/carers only. We ask parents/carers to make alternative arrangements for care of their children.
Please complete this form to indicate your attendance for the workshop.
LANGUAGE CLUB AT RWPS YEAR 3 – 6 – STUDENT VOICE
We are pleased to announce that students in Year 3 – 6 are invited to participate in Italian language sessions during a few lunchtimes this term. This idea came about through student leadership sessions run by Vicky (parent of Hanna in Year 4) last year.
Our Italian Language Club will be facilitated by Sandro (parent of Lara in Prep) supported by RWPS staff. Sandro has lots of fun planned for participants.
PRIMA SESSIONE - geografia (geography)
SECONDA SESSIONE - cultura (culture)
TERZA SESSIONE - storia (story)
Sandro will be helping to expand students' knowledge of Italy in a fun and engaging way. There will be dancing, handouts, discussions, photos, maps and immersion in the Italian language.
Participant numbers will be capped.
Sessions will be in the STEAM Room at Lunch on:
Monday, 5th August
Monday, 19th August
Monday, 2nd September
Please complete the form with your parent email address, child's full name, year level and LA to sign your Year 3 – 6 child up.
ALWAYS STRIVING FOR IMPROVEMENT – OUR TEACHERS
Every Monday afternoon, after our students head home for the day, our teachers participate in professional learning aimed at building capacity, and student outcomes (academically, socially and emotionally). Have a look at our teachers in the photos reel, learning about Elastik (a data platform to help identify student learning gaps), in addition a few photos which I took during my visits to different classrooms so far this term.
Barbara Balliro
Assistant Principal- Teaching and Learning
Barbara.balliro@education.vic.gov.au
THANK YOU!!
We would like to say a huge thank you to the RWPS community for supporting our Cup of Noodle drive. We appreciative the collective effort!
This Friday Natasha from The Merri Outreach Support Service (MOSS) will attend our assembly to receive their half of the donation. Unfortunately, Lia from Reservoir Neighbourhood House is unable to attend, however we will share a message from them.
We know you are all excitedly waiting to hear how many lollies are in the jar!! We will announce the winner Friday…only 3 more sleeps.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
REBEKAH AND THE YEAR 6 WELLBEING LEADERS: LOLA, SERENA & AUDREY
School Nursing Program - Further Update
Last week’s newsletter discussed the School Nursing Program and provided a few resources to support families.
The school nurse also shared a common theme she found when talking to RWPS families:
The families are feeling very well supported by the school, the teachers and the work that RWPS are doing to support their children. There are a number of students that are Neurodiverse, and the families are feeling well connected to the school’s support network are very grateful.
It was so lovely to hear this. Positive feedback from parents can be incredibly encouraging for teachers and staff, showing that their efforts are making a real difference. We are very lucky to be a part of such an amazing school!
Aside from the resources provided last week, I am sharing a Podcast provided by the school nurse. Pop Culture Parenting is strongly researched based and informative for families and teachers. So, if you are super busy and prefer or enjoy listening rather than reading, this may be of interest to you.
Anxiety: Ep 29 & 30; Jaw & Understanding Anxiety
ADHD: 35 & 35: Just Keep Swimming and ADHD questions Answered Bad Habits: Ep 27& 28:
Wax on Wax Off and Bad Habits
Behaviour: Ep 81, 82 & 83; White Men Can’t jump & Changing behaviour
Courage: Ep 84 & 85: Jumanji and cultivating Courage
Co-Parenting: Ep 56 & 57; Mrs Doubtfire + co-parenting
Emotions: Ep 64 & 65 Jurasic Park & Coregulation
Focus: Episode 34 & 35 Finding Memao and Kids who can’t focus
Neurodiversity: Ep 58 & 59 Blade Runner and Neurodiversity
Self Esteem: Ep 49& 50: Pretty Woman & Self Esteem
Friendships: Ep 31 and 31: BFF 4Reral & Flying Somewhere, bestie?
Siblings and Single child: Ep 5 & 6: Twins (1988) andhow many kids should we have?
Toileting & Constipation: Ep 11 & 12: Billy Madison and toilet training
Sensitive Kids: Ep 13 & 14: Parenthood and Sensitive Kids | Self Esteem: Ep 49& 50: Pretty Woman & Self Esteem
Sleep: Ep 19 & 20; Big Daddy + Kids that wont sleep.
Fussy Eating: Ep 15 & 16: Hook + Fussy Eating
Screen Time: Ep 39 & 40 Iphones + Golden Ticket, Screens Screens Everywhere
School Attendance: Ep 9 & 10:
Ferris Bueller’s Day off + Kids struggling to attend school Ep 77 & 78: 10 Things I hate about you and school success
Social Skills: Ep 70 & 71; Greese & Social Skills
Tantrums: Ep 52 & 53; Rambo and Tantrums
Trauma: Ep 72 +73; Batman Begins & Developmental Trauma
Friendships: Ep 31 and 31: BFF 4Reral & Flying Somewhere, bestie? |
MENTAL HEALTH / EVENTS CALENDAR 2024
Event Date | Event |
7 - 14 July | |
15 - 21 July | |
30 July | |
12 August | |
16 August | |
30 August | |
2 - 6 September | |
10 September | |
12 September |
Congratulations to all of the students that are receiving a Student of the Week award!
NAME | VALUE | ||
LA1 | 5/6L | Ingrid Singleton | Success |
LA2 | 5/6M | Alana Favrin | Success |
LA3 | 5/6K | Sarah Assaad | Persistence |
LA4 | 5/6V | Xavier Butijn | Success |
LA 8 | 4W | Patrick Lawry | Success |
LA9 | Prep B | Freya Mullins | Success |
LA10 | Prep D | Raika Reedy | Success |
LA11 | Prep V | Olivia Petruccelli | Success |
LA12 | Prep H | Joshua Beals | Success |
LA17 | 1C | Amelia Streltschenko | Success |
LA18 | 1M | Rafferty Reynolds | Persistence |
LA19 | 1P | Sadie Grubb | Success |
LA20 | 1R | Navya Nair | Respect |
LA21 | 3W | Max Murray | Responsible |
LA22 | 3J | Floren Che | Success |
LA23 | 3M | Eva Regmi | Success |
LA24 | 3S | Oscar Miller | Success |
LA25 | 2C | Ali Demir | Success |
LA26 | 2G | Duke Towsey | Success |
LA27 | 2B | Ryder Duckworth-Myers | Success |
LA28 | 2M | Isla Kelly-Synott | Wisdom |
LA29 | 4T | Joey Singh | Success and Responsibility |
LA30 | 4H | Amir Kamareddin | Success |
ART | Lexie Pearce | Success | |
DIGITECH | Angelia Solomun | Success | |
LIBRARY | Albert Skinner | Success | |
MUSIC | Alfie Bamblett | Persistence & Success | |
SPANISH | Alexander Grammatos Marlow Spier | Success Success | |
SCIENCE | Mia Semaan | Responsibility | |
PE | Zayn Aboushamat | Persistence | |
TURBO | Jacob Foley | Success | |
PRINCIPAL | Evie Grammatos | Wisdom |
Group photo of last week's SOTW recipients!
Week 2 Golden Ticket winners!
This term in Global Studies, the Year 2 students have been exploring the concept of ‘sustainability’. During this unit, students will investigate how to sustain our environment by reducing, reusing and recycling. The Year 2’s are already excited about how they can make a difference and look after the environment. In week 2, students engaged in an activity about how rubbish decomposes. Students had to predict what would decompose first: a food scrap such as a banana peel, a plastic wrapper or a piece of paper. We then took the students outside to the garden to test their predictions. We buried the three different types of rubbish and we will be going back at the end of term to discover what has happened to them!
Library Open for Paris Olympics 2024 Activities
Dear School Community,
I am excited to announce that our school library will be open on Mondays and Thursdays for students to participate in activities related to the upcoming Olympics 2024!
I encourage all students to join us in the library on these days to enhance their knowledge and excitement about the upcoming Olympics in Paris. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn, have fun, and get into the Olympic spirit!
Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing our students participate in these exciting activities.
Best regards,
Flora Kossivas.
Look out for the new signage in your child’s classroom and in the common areas around the school. We are continuing to encourage all members of the school community to divert their food waste from landfill by taking their organic waste home. Once home the organic waste can be placed in either your green-lid council bin or into your home compost/worm farm. We have created signs as a prompt to remind everyone to ‘Carry in, carry out and compost’ their organic waste.
We know that food waste is a large contributor to landfill and greenhouse emissions. Adopting small behaviour change has big benefits for our environment. We can make the most of our organic scraps by diverting away from landfill and moving them into the correct recycling stream.
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are thrilled to announce that our annual Book Week Dress-Up Day will be held on Tuesday 20th August 2024! This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to celebrate their love of reading by dressing up as their favourite book characters.
The theme for Book Week 2024 is ‘Reading is Magic.’ The official dates for Book Week 2024 are the 17th of August to the 23rd of August 2024. We will be having a whole school parade to showcase our amazing costumes on August 20th at 2.30 pm. Parents/Carers are more than welcome to attend our parade and see all the wonderful costumes.
Students are encouraged to get creative and come to school dressed as a character from a book they love. Whether it’s a classic literary figure, a beloved hero from a modern tale, or a whimsical creature from a fantastical world, we can’t wait to see the wonderful array of costumes.
Some ideas for costumes include:
The possibilities and ideas are endless.
Please ensure that costumes are appropriate for school and comfortable enough for your child to wear throughout the day. We also encourage students to bring along a copy of the book their character is from to share with their classmates.
Book Week Dress-Up Day is always a highlight of our school year, promoting a love of reading and bringing stories to life in a fun and engaging way. We look forward to celebrating the magic of books with your children and seeing their imaginative costumes.
Thank you for your support in making this event a success.
Happy reading!
Warm regards,
Flora Kossivas
Hello School Community,
We hope you had a wonderful school holiday period and welcome to Term Three.
We have an action packed term, please save the following dates!
Trivia Night - Friday 2 August
Our famous Trivia night is on Friday 2 August. Tickets go on sale this Thursday 18 July at 7pm.
Tickets are $25 per person with a maxim of 10 people per table. Please note that this is an adult only event. You can bring your own food along and we will have drinks available to purchase at the bar. The bar purchases can be made by Eftpos only. NO CASH.
Bring along coins if you are competitive and enjoy winning prizes!
Please follow this link to purchase tickets. Tickets sell fast so get in quick.
Please volunteer for this event via this link https://signup.zone/rwps-pfa-events
We look forward to a sell out event!
Fathers and Special Persons Day Stall - Thursday 29 August
Please note that we usually hold the special stalls on a Friday. This time it is on a Thursday due to clashing timetables. We love seeing all the excited faces on this day. The eagerness our students show in selecting the perfect gift for their someone special is truly beautiful. If you would like to be there on the day to assist students in making their selections please volunteer using this link. https://signup.zone/rwps-pfa-events
Hang Around Friday - Friday 13th September
This has become a school community favourite. We will serve BBQ sausages and veggie burgers in the school yard from 330pm. Students will be able to play with their peers while parents/guardians are able to socialize. All sausages are beef and halal. This event is CASH ONLY. No card facilities will be available. If you would like to volunteer for this event please use this link https://signup.zone/rwps-pfa-events
Footy and Pizza Day - Tuesday 17th September
More information to come.
Thank you for following along and your ongoing support!
Warmest regards
Zayna and the PFA team.