Dear Parents, Carers, and Students,

GRANDPARENTS’ OPEN SESSION – THURSDAY 29^th AUGUST          9.00 – 10.00 am

On Thursday of next week, the Open Session is reserved for Grandparents only (sorry about that parents). 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 that day. Tell the students’ grandparents that they need not worry about where the classrooms are, as we will have our Year 6 Student Leaders to show them the way.

2025 FOUNDATION ENROLMENTS

2025 Foundation offers of placement were sent out to prospective families recently. Because of the number of applications that came from families that met the eligibility criteria, we were not able to offer any places to those outside our zone. However, we have already received a number of notifications that some families that meet the enrolment criteria have decided to enrol elsewhere, which is their right.

We sent out 86 offers and, so far, we have had 72 families accept and five decline. As we are hoping to take in 88, there is the possibility that we may be able to offer some families who are outside our zone a place, as quite a few have indicated that they would like to be placed on a waiting list. As acceptances/declines are due to be back to the school by this Friday, we may be able to offer more places as early as next week.

2025 CLASS STRUCTURE

The class structure for 2025 has been decided and is set out below. We have had to introduce one Year 3/4 composite class to balance the numbers in that area. We would have liked to be able to keep straight Year 3s and straight Year 4s, but student numbers prevented this. They Year 3/4 class will work as part of the Year 4 team.

The decision to keep Year 5/6 classes as composites is because such a structure has worked very well in previous years.

The Consultative Committee, which has the responsibility of deciding the class structure, though long and hard about the best structure for our school. A number of different class combinations were considered:

• All composite classes in the senior school – 3/4s and 5/6s
• One Year 1/2 composite, meaning only seven classes in the 1/2 area which would allow four straight Year 3 and four straight Year 4 classes
• Three straight Year 5s and three straight 6s
• More than one 3/4 composite
• More than one 1/2 composite

However, each one of these options created negatives and there was a consensus that the above structure was the best fit for us.

The Indicative School Resource Package is released to schools in the last week of Term 3. The SRP provides a planning tool which schools are able to use to predict the funding it shall receive the following year to pay staff wages. This will enable us to confirm how many teaching and non-teaching staff we can afford and plan accordingly.

Placing teachers into classes and specialist/support roles will begin very early in Term 4 and will be released to the school community towards the end of November.

WELCOME FIONA

Sonia, one of our wonderful office staff is taking Long Service Leave until the end of term. We welcome Fiona Drayton to our school who will be replacing Sonia for that time.

CONGRATULATIONS JO

Jo Toman, who teachers 3M on Wednesdays in LA23 has recently announced that she is expecting her third bub early next year. Congratulations to Jo from the whole school community. Jo will be finishing up late November and we are currently working on her replacement.

CONGRATULATIONS KELLY

Kelly Mitchell and her husband Jake (a former RWPS employee) are proud to announce the arrival of their second bub Etta Mela Mitchell. Etta was born on 7^th August at 8.14 am and Enzo is loving having a baby sister.

UNIFORM

I have noticed that recently there are quite a few students who are regularly attending school in items of clothing that are not in our student Dress Code. This is particularly so in Years 5/6 where many of the student have taken to wearing black shorts/pants or a light grey, which is not acceptable. I have asked that all teachers, especially the teachers of the senior school, to continually remind their students about the correct uniform and I am asking that parent also support us in our endeavours.

YEAR 3 CAMP

The Year 3 camp to Cave Hill Creek is currently taking place on Wednesday to Friday this week.

Staff Attending Year 3 Camp
James Weaving, Sharif Slamet, Caitlyn Jeffress, Kellie McQuestin, Caity Birch, James Plunkett, Jemma Glover, Bruce Kearney.   

Caity will be replaced by Teresa Maiorano in LA27
James Plunkett will be replaced by Sam Nicholson in LA5
Jemma will be replaced by Helen Angelopoulos in LA26

The Year 3 students remaining at school will be taken by Jo Toman on the Wednesday and Ivona Lonac on Thursday and Friday.

I hope its not too cold!                 

BOOK WEEK DRESS UP

Thank you to all of the students and parents who put so much into the Bookweek costumes that we saw on Tuesday. Their were a few strange-looking staff members spotted during the day.

The turn-out to the Bookweek Parade was also outstanding. Thanks to all those who helped with outfits and/or attended the parade. The kids had a fantastic day!

PARENT OPINION SURVEY – PLEASE COMPLETE BY 30^th AUGUST

We currently have 162 out of 456 families complete the survey, which is 36%. I’m getting excited! It’s open until Friday 30^th August. 50% is not out of the question!

We recently had the Staff Opinion Survey to complete and, amazingly, we had 97% of staff members complete it! I wonder if it had anything to do with the free potato-cake lunch I promised them if we achieved over 92%. Hmmmmmm.

However, I am not financially able to offer that to 456 families, so I will have to rely on your goodwill. ?

To complete the survey:

Click on the link below, or copy and paste the text into your browser. This link will take you directly to the survey.

https://www.orima.com.au/parent

Select the School and Campus name below.
School Name: Reservoir West Primary School
Campus Name: Reservoir West Primary School

Enter the School PIN: 357331

2025 DEVICE PURCHASING PORTAL - NOW OPEN
From Years 3 to 6, students have the opportunity to participate in a 1:1 Smart Classrooms program using Chromebooks running Google’s ChromeOS. We have had great success with this program, with over 90% of families opting in.

Reservoir West has chosen to create technologically-inclusive learning environments to inspire hands-on learning, promote creativity, provide personalised learning and education in a variety of subject areas, and develop students 21st Century learning skills. Through increased access to digital technologies, students can benefit from enhanced learning that is interactive, collaborative, personalised and engaging.

Attached below is further information from both RWPS and our supplier, EduNet for those who would like some more information around the program.

The portal for purchasing Chromebooks for 2025 is now open.

Visit the Edunet Parent Portal at: http://reservoirwestps.technologyportal.com.au 

Please note the following cut off dates: 

• To receive order prior to Christmas, order must be placed and paid for by 28th November 2024*.
• To receive order for Week 1 Term 1, order must be placed and paid for by 5th January 2025*. 
• All orders will be sent to the school and then distributed to families

* Cut off dates are only for devices listed on the portal as in stock. If a device is out of stock we can’t promise a Christmas or Week 1, Term 1 delivery.

In addition, some families have asked if other devices from home can be used at school. Unfortunately, this is not an option at RWPS. Chromebooks are exclusively used from Years 3-6 and they must be purchased via EduNet to be configured to our network. If you believe you have a device from an older sibling that may be able to be used, please see the criteria in the attached handout or email Jen Barnes.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email:
Jen (Digital Technologies Co-ordinator) Jen.Barnes@education.vic.gov.au
Bruce (Principal) Bruce.Kearney@education.vic.gov.au
Edunet (Supplier) portal@edunet.com.au

2025_RWPS_Smart_Classroom_Presentation
RWPS BYOD 2025 Parent Doc

Regards,

Bruce

Principal

• 3.15pm: 5MoF for both Week 5 and Week 6 recipients 
  • Golden Ticket Draw – Week 5 - Milburn Wing and Week 6 - Morton Wing
• 3.25: SOTW and Golden Ticket Draw photos at the stage area

Congratulations to all of the students that are receiving a Student of the Week award!

As both Week 5 and Week 6 SOTW recipients and Golden Ticket winners will be held this coming Friday, photos will be available in next week's newsletter. 

“The other kids are being mean to me. I don’t want to go to school.”

“He isn’t my friend anymore.”

“What if the kids laugh at me again?”

“She said I am a weirdo.”

Hearing your child say this can be difficult for parents. Often, we quickly want to step in to protect them from feelings of rejection and hurt. Instead of rushing in to fix it, help them manage these difficult feelings, cope with the friendship complexities and grow from these challenging experiences.

Common friendships fires like exclusion, bossiness and disagreements can teach children valuable lifelong skills that include empathy, assertiveness and conflict resolution.

Bossiness is a frequent issue in childhood friendships, especially with younger children. This is partly because children are still learning to express their wants and needs.

If your child is being bossy…

• Remind them to ask what they want respectfully instead of demanding it. Explain that although they can ask people for something, people have the right to say no. In the same way, they has the right to say no to others.
• Model the words they can use instead. Simply saying, “Be nice” is not specific enough to be helpful to young children. For instance, if your child says, “I want the blue toy! You play with the red toy!” tell them, “Instead, say, ‘I would like to play with the blue toy. Will you play with the red toy?’” The more you can provide children with respectful phrasing in context, the more they’ll learn important social-emotional skills.
• Provide them with choices. Sometimes children who are bossy are simply trying to have some degree of control over their lives. For younger children, offer only two choices to keep it simple. For older children, you may offer 3-5 choices. For instance, you might ask your child whether they would like to wear the shorts or pants to school. Would they like toast or cereal? Even if the choices are small, giving your child more autonomy may reduce the urge to boss others around.
• Encourage and recognise the improvement. As your child begins using manners and making requests more politely (e.g., “You did it! You were kind and respectful.”).  

If your child is being bossed around…

• Role-play the situation. Practice scenarios in which a child is behaving bossily, then have your child practice responding politely, but assertively.
• Give and model the words they can say to be assertiveness and respectful. For instance, you might practice saying, “I don’t want to play with the blocks right now. Maybe I will play with the blocks later.”
• If the bossy child responds by insulting your child, have your child practice saying, “I don’t like it when you call me names. Please call me by name instead.” Assertiveness is a difficult skill even for adults, so children often need lots of practice.

2. Exclusion

Talk to your child about the importance of including others. Teach kindness and empathy. Encourage your child to talk to others who may not have many friends. Model kindness and acceptance of others in your daily life.

If your child is being excluded…

• Listen to your child explaining being excluded. Don’t rush in with solutions or anger toward the other children, and do not overreact. Simply listen and help your child process the emotions they are feeling.
• Use examples and analogies. With students, I sometimes use the example of playing a game. If a group of people plays a game together, anygame, some will love it, and some will hate it. Some will think it’s OK. Yet everyone played the same game.
• Discuss what others think of them does not make them who they are.
• Encourage your child to celebrate who they are.
• Ask them to list their positive qualities.
• Discuss ways to cope with situations that make your child feel hurt or left out. Different children may cope in different ways, so discuss and experiment with different strategies. It may help your child to take deep breaths, to write or draw, to silently recite positive affirmations, or to remember that they will spend time with their soccer friends after school. For some children, “coping cards”that list helpful strategies are a useful portable tool.

Unfortunately, exclusion and rejection are part of life. Although you can’t eliminate them from your child’s life entirely, you can provide them with strategies to navigate these experiences.

3. Arguments

It is so important to teach children how to handle disagreements in a healthy manner.

• Model peaceful conflict resolution. Demonstrate taking deep breaths to remain calm, using “I feel” statements rather than attacking statements, listening to both sides of an issue, and then trying to solve the problem and/or come to a compromise.
• Set clear rules and healthy behaviours like door slamming, sarcasm, ridicule, and physical harm.
• When your child has a disagreement, remind them of the peaceful conflict resolution strategies practised at home. It’s okay to walk away and take a few deep breaths to collect yourself. When you’re ready, share your point of view using respectful language, such as, “I felt hurt when you laughed at me.”

Next, listen to the other person’s point of view without interrupting. Assume that the person is doing their best and did not do anything intentionally malicious. If necessary, make amends with a hug or a handshake and come up with a mutual resolution.

• Explain to your child that in a friendship, they shouldn’t be trying to “win” the argument.  Instead, they should work together to find a solution that satisfies both people. And although it’s okay to feel sad or mad, and it’s okay to disagree, it is notokay to be disrespectful or cruel to others, and it is not okay for others to be disrespectful or cruel to them.

SOURCE: Big Life Journal

How old should my child be to talk about sexuality? What should I say and how do I answer their questions? These are common questions parents ask when it comes to talking about sexuality to their children.

In this blog, Vanessa Hamilton suggests how to react to your children’s curly, examples of healthy sexuality conversations and outlines typically expected development. I have pasted a few examples from Vanessa’s checklist below:

Table adapted from:

• https://www.ncsby.org/content/childhood-sexual-development
• VarianceApplicationGeneric_2023https://raisingchildren.net.au/search?query=sexuality%20sexual%20development
• True Relationships and Reproductive Health (2019) Traffic Lights Sexual behaviours in children and young people: A guide to identify, understand and respond to sexual behaviours, (v4) True, Brisbane, Queensland

 
CAN'T FACE SCHOOL
Richard Crawshaw is the Re-engagement Specialist from Can't Face School who has worked with a couple of RWPS families a few years ago. Can't Face School is a growing organisation that assists parents, schools, and young people navigate school avoidance and get kids back into learning again. 
 
Their staff currently work with individual families, provide Reversing School Avoidance Training workshops for parents/carers, and have more recently been presenting at forums and conferences about the impact of kids not attending school as well as practical strategies to change this.
 
Their collaborative model of operation, as well as their evidence-based individualised resources, are having a positive impact in helping young people engage back into school, and they are keen to provide the community with as much of this knowledge as possible.
 
If you are interested in learning more about our work, receiving tips and advice to help you navigate school avoidance with your child/client, or how to improve attendance at your school, then you are welcome to sign up for their free CFS newsletter and join their network.
 
They will be hosting a FREE webinar for their network in the coming months for parents and schools on 'School Can't: Steps Forward'.
 
You can sign up here to join their network, this will also ensure you receive an invite to their upcoming FREE webinar! 

MENTAL HEALTH / EVENTS CALENDAR 2024

Dear RWPS community,

Dear Parents and Carers,

From Years 3 to 6, students have the opportunity to participate in a 1:1 Smart Classrooms program using Chromebooks running Google’s ChromeOS. We have had great success with this program, with over 90% of families opting in.

Reservoir West has chosen to create technologically inclusive learning environments to inspire hands-on learning, promote creativity, provide personalised learning and education in a variety of subject areas, and develop students 21st Century learning skills. Through increased access to digital technologies, students can benefit from enhanced learning that is interactive, collaborative, personalised and engaging.

Attached below is further information from both RWPS and our supplier, EduNet for those who would like some more information around the program.

The portal for purchasing Chromebooks for 2025 is now open.

Visit the Edunet Parent Portal at: http://reservoirwestps.technologyportal.com.au 

Please note the following cut off dates: 

1. To receive order prior to Christmas, order must be placed and paid for by 28th November 2024*.

1. To receive order for Week 1 Term 1, order must be placed and paid for by 5th January 2025*. 

1. All orders will be sent to the school and then distributed to families

* Cut off dates are only for devices listed on the portal as in stock. If a device is out of stock we can’t promise a Christmas or Week 1, Term 1 delivery.

In addition, some families have asked if other devices from home can be used at school. Unfortunately, this is not an option at RWPS. Chromebooks are exclusively used from Years 3-6 and they must be purchased via EduNet to be configured to our network. If you believe you have a device from an older sibling that may be able to be used, please see the criteria in the attached handout or email Jen Barnes.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email:
Jen (Digital Technologies Co-ordinator) Jen.Barnes@education.vic.gov.au
Bruce (Principal) Bruce.Kearney@education.vic.gov.au
Edunet (Supplier) portal@edunet.com.au

Kind regards,

Jen Barnes
Digital Technologies Co-ordinator

2025_RWPS_Smart_Classroom_Presentation
RWPS BYOD 2025 Parent Doc

Dear Parent/Carers,

You child will participate in a free dance session run by STOMP Dance Co. The session will include a fun and exciting lesson where they will learn dance moves and have lots of fun in this exciting, high-energy event!

How does it work?
Each year level will participate in a 30-minute dance session.

When?

Tuesday 3^rd September – Week 8, Term 3.

Workshop Schedule

This is an opt-out event. If you do not wish you child to participate, please contact your child's teacher.

Thank you,
Julia Nour.
Assistant Principal - Administration.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I am thrilled to share that our Book Week showcase once again was a success! The enthusiasm and creativity displayed by all the students were truly remarkable. It was a joy to see everyone dressed up as their favourite book characters, bringing stories to life in such a vibrant and fun way.

The effort put into each costume was incredible, and it was clear that the students had a fantastic time celebrating their love of reading. From classic characters to modern heroes, the variety and imagination were simply fantastic.

Thank you to all the parents/carers for your support in making this event so special. Whether it was helping to create a costume, encouraging your child’s participation, or simply sharing in the excitement, your involvement played a big part in the success of Book Week.

We look forward to many more celebrations of reading and learning in the future!

The students have been reading and voting for their favourite shortlisted books in our Library sessions. The Children’s Book Council of Australia have today announced the winners. Below are the results.

2024 CBCA Winners and Honours Announced

Book of the Year: Early Childhood Category

Winner - 2024 Early Childhood


Shadow Judging Winner - 2024 Early Childhood

Honour Book - 2024 Early Childhood  


Honour Book - 2024 Early Childhood
                                       

Book of the Year: Picture Book Category

Winner - 2024 Picture Book  


Shadow Judging Winner - 2024 Picture   

Honour Book - 2024 Picture Book   


Honour Book - 2024 Picture Book

Winner - 2024 New Illustrator Award

Kind Regards,

Flora Kossivas

Librarian

Book Week T3 W5

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On Monday the 19th of August our school participated in the Darebin District Athletics Day at the Coburg Athletics track. We took a team of 47 talented RWPS students who competed in a range of track and field events. The sun was shining, it was a fabulous day and as per usual our students represented our school in a positive way. We are so very proud of all the students who participated for their positive attitude and sportsmanship. We have a few lucky students who will be competing in the Division Athletic finals next month and we will notify these students in the upcoming weeks.

Well done to everyone on an awesome effort!

Thank you to our parent volunteer Chaminda for assisting us on the day we really appreciate it as well as all the parents who came along to support their children.

Here are a few happy snaps of our fabulous day.

Enjoy,

Mulynda Blease and Amanda Solakidis

Athletics Day T3 W5

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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 

We are proud to announce that this Hang Around Friday is being sponsored by the wonderful team at TheirCare - thank you for your sponsorship!

Thank you for following along and your ongoing support! 

Warmest regards

Zayna and the PFA team