IMPORTANT DATES!
PRINCIPALS’ REPORT
Unbelievably, we are very quickly approaching the end of the Year. Our successes continue to mount up with our Boys softball team finishing 2nd at the State Championships and our Girls softball team finishing 5th. We also had lots of success with the Hoop Time competition on Wednesday. Our girls won through to the end as an undefeated team and our boys gave great effort to narrowly miss the final.
Student Leadership Group 2023
Congratulations to our 2023 student leaders.
Parent Payments 2023
While the return to school has been amazing this year, we are still very aware of the pressures brought upon our families with rising interest rates, exorbitant fuel prices and sky rocketing cost of living expenses. As a school we have been very conscious of the financial impact that these things have had on families and as a result we continue to approach our parent payments with a view to ease the financial burden. Our number 1 priority is to continue to reduce the cost of curriculum contributions to a manageable sum. On Monday the 2023 parent payment arrangements will be uploaded to Compass. On the 30th of January 2023 all families are asked to come into the school to pick up their book bags for 2023. Families can then label their items and return them to school on the 31st of January when school commences for students.
Opportunities for payment will be available on the 30th of January.
If you are in a position to support the school with a voluntary contribution, these have been itemised within the parent payment form for your convenience. As a government funded school there are limits to the extracurricular programs that we can provide for our students and these additional supports really strengthen those extracurricular opportunities. Every donation is welcomed.
Please note the following timeline for collection.
We are very flexible about these times and will have sibling items available at all times.
Statewide Orientation Day
A reminder that Tuesday the 13th of December is our whole school transition day. Many Year 6 students will be transitioning to their Secondary School on this day. Those who are not scheduled to attend a Secondary School will be given the opportunity to support the younger students to access their new classroom. An alternative program will be provided for students who will not be attending RGLPS in 2023.
On Tuesday our 2023 students will spend the day with their new teacher, in a classroom with their new classmates. We welcome the opportunity to support our students to feel safe and comfortable in their new spaces so that 2023 can start positively for them. This is especially important taking the context of our last few years into consideration.
Celebrate International Day of People with Disability with RGLPS
International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) is a United Nations day celebrated on 3 December each year to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability.
Don’t forget that we will be hosting a special assembly on the 5th of December at 9:00am to celebrate this important day.
We would love to see parents and families in attendance to help us celebrate.
Christmas Bushwazee
Don’t forget to keep the calendar clear and get your bush dance shoes ready for our first ever Bushwazee on the 12th of December from 5:30pm on the triangle. Parents can bring a picnic dinner and we can’t wait to have another whole community event to celebrate our wonderful year.
Take care,
Kirrily Lamers
Principal
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Visiting School Nursing Program
The Primary School Nursing Program is a free service offered by the Department of Education and Training (DET). It is available to all children attending government primary schools in Victoria. It is part of a range of health and support services for school students and their families. The aim of the program is to promote child health and wellbeing and to assist in the early identification of children with potential health related difficulties.
Melissa, our school nurse has now completed her work with our students and would like to provide advice via tip sheets with strategies to some families where it was indicated by the parent to be a concern. As always this information might be useful to others and I would like to draw your attention to these (see attached sheets).
Specific health promotion areas have also been identified in the School Entrant Health Questionnaire and include Reading, Screen time and Physical activity. Some families have identified:
- – reading to their child no days, or only 1-2 days of the week
- – screen time >5hrs weekdays and / or weekends
- – students who have not done physically activity for 60 minutes more than 4 days in a week
For behaviour concerns:
- – the free Triple P, Positive Parenting Program website: https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/vic-uken/triple-p/
For anxiety concerns:
- – look at The Brave Program website (Login | BRAVE Self-Help Program (uq.edu.au)) for information with practical strategies for anxiety
This year parents expressed concerns regarding social and emotional learning and difficulty with concentration and behaviour. These are common themes that are emerging and require ongoing support.
I would also like to remind families of these websites:
Additional information regarding support for children’s health and development can be found at:
Better Health Channel – Better Health Channel
Family violence support and extra help for children and families (orangedoor.vic.gov.au)
To access the gallery please click on the image to expand.
School -Age Screen Time: Tips for Balance
School-Age and Pre-Teen Sleep: What to Expect
Physical Activity for School Age Children
Reading and Storytelling with Babies and Children
Concentration and Attention
Behavioural Sleep Problems in School Aged Children
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Providing Feedback with an 'Admiring Lens'
Many people, although very well intentioned, can be excessively critical when giving feedback to others. It is important to remember that the purpose of feedback is to help a person identify what they can do to improve and how? The problem is that if we give too much critical feedback and don’t temper this with positive acknowledgements that celebrates what the person has done well, we can damage self-esteem and confidence. Sometimes, this can make a learner cease trying at all for fear of making a mistake or thinking that they will never measure up to expectations.
To encourage progress and effort, I encourage parents to use an ‘Admiring Lens’ (Goldberg, 2016) when giving feedback. You can do this by firstly noticing and celebrating what the person has done well. This achieves a number of purposes:
- Makes the person aware of WHAT they’re have been successful at (so they can do more of it!)
- Models the positive language we want them to use when they give feedback to others AND to themselves.
- Builds self-efficacy and confidence – essentially it communicates to the learner that they are making progress and that their effort is worthwhile!
When children (or anyone!), is unaware of their strengths, criticism can feel quite overwhelming and damage confidence. However, it is important to stress that an admiring lens is not simply praise. Positive feedback should be highly specific in communicating the skills that the person has successfully used. For example: “Wow! I love how you used action verbs like ‘crept’ and ‘tiptoed’ in your writing. This really helped me understand that your character feeling nervous and scared.” OR “That was great how you went back and reread the sentence when your reading didn’t make sense to you. That shows me that you are monitoring your comprehension and using strategies to fix it up when you don’t understand!”
When providing a criticism, focus on one carefully chosen thing for your child to work on. Cognitive Load research (Sweller, 1998) shows that people can only process a finite amount of new information at once so it’s important to be very strategic in what you address. One carefully selected piece of advice allows the person to work towards improvement whilst also preserving their confidence and self-efficacy. It can be difficult to choose just one thing for them to work on, however, it is important to remember that our ultimate aim is for kids to keep trying and having a go.
To read more, here is the link to a blog post about using an admiring lens in the teaching of writing: https://www.ozlitteacher.com.au/2021/11/07/admiring-your-students-writing-the-what-why-and-how/
As always, feel free to reach out to me or your child’s teacher if you have any additional questions.
ICAS Mathematics
Higher award ICAS Mathematics certificates were presented at assembly this week.
Congratulations to the following students:
All other students registered for the ICAS Mathematics received a participation certificate from their classroom teacher.
Parents can obtain more detailed results at the ICAS results portal : www.icasassessments.com
See top left corner under ‘Portal’. Scroll down the page to ‘Student Results’ and use the TAP-ID and PIN on the bottom of the rear of your child’s certificate to login. Use the side bar menu to access the various ICAS results for your child and see how they answered each question.
I hope everyone has a lovely week. Just over two weeks of school remaining now until the summer holidays!
Kerron Worsdell
Learning Specialist
MATHS NEWS
Maths Riddle
Well done to those who attempted the ‘Anagrams’ challenge from last week’s newsletter. The answers to the problem are:
Here is this week’s Maths Riddle. I’ll share the answer in the newsletter next week.
‘Counter Flip’ Challenge
Can you change the collection of counters on the left to match the collection on the right, only moving three counters?
Hint: Use a collection of counters, coins or objects to help you solve the challenge.
If you’d like to share your response or have your working out featured in our newsletter, please send your solutions to sarah.mclellan@education.vic.gov.au
SPORTS NEWS
State Softball Finals
On Monday 28-11-22, both the boys and girls softball teams ventured to Waverley Softball Diamonds to compete for the State Champions Pennant. We were dealt an early blow with three students unwell over the weekend and unable to come along, but they were replaced by three eager Year 6s willing to give it their best.
The girls played very well all day in 3 close tough matches in the harder of the two pools, losing to Bass Valley PS, winning against Mount View PS and just getting pipped in the last game by Woodlands PS. I was exceptionally proud of their efforts, especially in the first game where the umpire really favoured the other team – in instances like those it can be easy to give up, but our girls kept on fighting for each other and closed out the game as strongly as they began. Congratulations girls, you did a superb job all season and you can always remember that you were RGLPS’s first ever team to win a Girls Softball Region Final in our history.
The boys played exceptionally well, led by Brian Sinfield, the President of Preston Baseball Club, who donated his time over recent weeks to help the boys whilst I was with the girls team. The boys won their first three matches against Cowes PS, Ripponlea PS and Mt Evelyn PS to win their pool and book a place in the State Final against the winner of the other pool, Strathmore North PS. In the first innings, we were up by two runs; in the second innings it was a draw meaning it all came down to the third and final innings. Unfortunately for us, we were pipped by the barest of margins, with the final score 20-21 but it is without a shadow of a doubt that I can say that our boys gave it everything they had and never gave up once – I am just so proud of the way you represented the school, and yourselves at the highest level and I encourage you to bounce back in Year 7 and see if you can go one step higher!
2022 Wrap Up
It has been an exceptional year for Inter School Sport at RGLPS. This year EVERY Grade 6 student played in the District Finals and over 50% of the students had the excitement of winning a District Grand Final. In all, our teams won a total of 8 District Premierships out of a possible 19 opportunities, 3 Division Championships, 3 Region Championships and 1 State Runners Up Pennant. With that said, RGLPS was the most successful school in Heidelberg District this year, so Grade 6s, we take our hats off to you and the effort you put in throughout 2022. This would not have been possible without the generous assistance of teachers and parents who have donated their time throughout the year to help our students learn new skills and to perform at their best. Thanks to Mr Butler, Ms Winter, Ms Lamers, Ms McLellan, Mr Godfrey and Mr Dunstan for coaching the AFL, Soccer, Netball, Bat Tennis and Basketball Teams. I’d also like to acknowledge Renato Barra (Soccer), Brian Sinfield and Sinead Byrne-Connell (Teeball and Softball), Marr Olegario and Noelle Darcy (Basketball) for giving up your time to coach our teams, as well as the countless parents who drove our students all over Melbourne to enable our students to have ‘the best day ever’. I also want to pass on a special thanks to Kate New (Lacrosse) who volunteered her time throughout the entire three-week Lacrosse unit at the start of the year and then trained the students for the State Lacrosse tournament for the last two months, only for our school to be forced to pull out at the last moment as I contracted Covid… I am just as devastated as you as this was almost two years of planning, learning and teaching for us in the process for what was going to be an amazing day for our students – you have just been just amazing teaching a sport that is almost unknown to our students to such a level that they were impressing everyone who saw them; thank you so much and I promise I’ll wear a mask for two months in the lead up to the competition next year!
Have a great holidays everyone,
Darren Peters
PE and Sports Coordinator
Victorian Softball Team
Last week, Audrey T and Alia C competed in the Victorian Softball Team at the National Championships, held at Waverley Softball Centre in Melbourne. Over the course of the week, they competed against Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia three times, with a special day at Puffing Billy for all of the competitors to enjoy. Our girls did Victoria proud and played to the very best of their ability, learning new skills and making lifelong friends along the way. Their parents and I are so very proud of them and all they have achieved, and the memories of this special week wearing our State’s famous Big V will never leave them. Congratulations, you both represented our school and state with honour!
A special mention must additionally go to Audrey T who received Sportsmanship Award from School Sport Australia for her displays of ‘Outstanding’ acts of sportsmanship during the competition – amazing job Audrey!
If you have a child in Grade 6 in 2023 who is exceptionally talented at a sport, I can nominate them for the Victorian Team Trials. RGLPS is allowed to send a maximum of three boys and three girls to sports such as AFL, Netball, Basketball, Hockey, Softball, Cricket, Soccer, Rugby and Volleyball each year; if more than three children nominate, then they will all sit an interview with Kirrily and I to determine the final three as per School Sport Victoria Rules. When the nomination process opens in 2023, I will notify parents via Compass and the Newsletter.
Kind Regards,
Darren Peters
PE and Sports Coordinator
Please Return Inter School Sport Uniforms and Equipment
Dear Year 6 Parents,
With the final events for sport now completed for 2022, can you please send all RGLPS Sports Uniforms back to school along with any equipment that may have been borrowed by your children.
Soccer Tops: Please return to Mr Butler to be ticked off.
Softball/Teeball/Lacrosse Tops: Please return to Mr Peters to be ticked off.
AFL Tops: Return to Mr Butler to be ticked off.
Basketball Singlets: Return to Mr Godfrey to be ticked off.
Equipment: Return to the front of the sports shed at recess or lunch time. Equipment may include lacrosse sticks, red and green tennis balls, baseball bats, softball/teeball gloves, softballs, teeballs, rounders bats, regular tennis balls, soccer shin pads.
Thanks!
2023 RGLPS Swimming Team - Expression of Interest for the District Carnival
Dear Parents of 2023 Year 3, 4, 5, 6 Students,
Early in 2023, we will begin the selection process for the District Swimming Team. On two Wednesday mornings before school on a Wednesday, we will practice swimming the four strokes – the third Wednesday we will run a timed trial for a place in the squad. For the District Swimming Carnival, I can send four students per gender and age group for Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke and two students for Butterfly (however a student can only participate in a maximum of two individual events – this is a School Sport Victoria rule). The fastest 8 freestylers will make up the A and B Freestyle Relay Teams. The fastest child in each discipline will make up the Medley Relay Team.
If you are interested in your child trying out for the swimming team, please email me back at darren.peters@education.vic.gov.au with the full name, DOB and the strokes they would like to try out for (Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly) by the end of the term.
Kind Regards,
Darren Peters
PE and Sports Coordinator
Year 3 and 4 Hoop Time
On Wednesday 30th of December a group of Year 3 and 4 students travelled to Latrobe University Sports Complex to compete in the Hoop Time competition. Led by their coaches Ben, Marr, and Jackson our students put their skills on show and worked together as a team to achieve some excellent results. The Rookies displayed persistence all day and came out undefeated with one tense draw against Charles Latrobe. Our Boys All Stars battled out some close games and narrowly missed the final. They should be very proud, winning 3 of their 5 games for the day and representing RGLPS with passion. The highlight of the competition belonged to the Girls All Stars!!! They won all 5 of their round robin matches in convincing fasion, which set them up for a showdown with St Martins in the final. Our girls were determined and ready for a tough game. They did us all very proud and came away with the win!!! Mr Peters is very excited to have another Premiers flag in the hallway.
A huge thank you to all the parents that came to cheer on our students in what was a very exciting day.
Jackson and Ben
SUTAINABILITY
Well done to 5RC who have won the final Nude Food Award for 2022. Thanks to those students and parents for reducing packaging wherever possible and reducing waste at our school.
Thanks also to Lucy S and Milla N for their work as Environment Captains this year and facilitating the Nude Food program. The Nude Food fortnightly award will back in 2023 but until then, please keep as much single use plastic at home and our school litter-free.
GARDENING NEWS
RGLPS CHRISTMAS TREE APPEAL
CANTEEN
Dear Parents
Over the Counter Sales
Please send your children with at least $1 to buy over the counter items, as they get disappointed when they cannot buy something. Please be aware that prices range from $0.80 for Quelch Tubes & frozen pineapple up to $2.80.
Most items are $1.50, $2.00, $2.20, $2.50
Menu
You will notice that the menu is changing all the time. This is due to supply issues and sadly, this week, one of our major suppliers has gone into liquidation – we have been dealing with them for 22 years! ASCA is arranging new suppliers but in the meantime it is getting ehat we can.
Thank you for your understanding.
Regards
Margaret Groves
Canteen Manager
THEIRCARE
SRI NEWS
Many thanks to the families who have participated in Special Religious Instruction – Christianity sessions this year. Though small in number, we have enjoyed our time together at lunchtime on a Thursday and are very appreciative of the school staff who give up their time to supervise us (an Education Department requirement). Our last session for the year will be next week, Dec 8th, when we will be celebrating the wonder of the Christmas story.
A very Happy Christmas to everyone, and I hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday break.
Cathie Clarke
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Disclaimer: Rosanna Golf Links Primary School (RGLPS) does not endorse any product or service advertised in this newsletter. RGLPS takes no responsibility for the content of advertisements or the quality and reliability of products or services offered in the advertisements
