IMPORTANT DATES!
TERM 4 2020
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Our Year 6 students are still smiling after their adventure to Funfields for their Big Day out last Monday. It was so lovely to be able to give them an opportunity to have a fun day together, especially this year. The transition/Step up day was a big success with our students enjoying having the time to work in a grade with their new classmates and teacher. As I walked around the school there was great excitement and many, many smiling faces. Everyone is looking forward to getting stuck into the New Year.
Term 4 Early Finish and Final Assembly
To celebrate the conclusion of our 2020 school year we will have a final assembly on Friday the 18th of December at 12:30pm. The assembly will be held on the basketball courts with parents welcome to attend. Please note social distancing norms are to be adhered to during this time. During the assembly we will farewell our departing staff, students and families and acknowledge our 2021 student leaders.
As it is the final day of the year, students will be dismissed at 1:30pm on Friday. Afterschool care will be available for all students.
Student Leadership Group 2021
Congratulations to our new 2021 House Captains.
Red House – Alba Nolan and James Moy
Red House Vice Captains – James Tarau and Poppy Penninger
Blue House Captains – Declan Keenan and Miranda Knell
Blue House Vice Captains – Darcy Brennan and Natalie Vlachou
Gold House Captains – Emma Brabender and Mitchell Tomic
Gold House Vice Captains – Alex Lee-Young and Riley Thompson
Green House Captains – Abbey Coates and Alexandra Cassidy
Green House Vice Captains – Malinthi K and April Bamford
Congratulations to all of the students who took the big step and put themselves out there to run for these positions. It is amazing to have such interest from our students and the experience of preparing and challenging yourself will give all students a great platform for future learning.
Staffing Changes 2021
As you may have noticed during our Step Up to 2021 transition day there were a few new teachers who will be working with our community in 2021. We welcome the following new staff members.
Prep Teacher – Jackson Dunstan
Year 2 Teacher – Olivia La Selva
Year 6 Teacher – Michelle Hildebrand
Meghan Kosmas will also be returning from her family leave.
We also farewell the following staff members and wish them the very best during their new educational journey.
Peter Healy – Peter will be commencing a new role at Princes Hill PS in 2021.
Natalie Woodgate – Next year Natalie will be a classroom teacher at Kangaroo Grounds PS
Nicole Finnegan – Nicole commences classroom teaching position at Heidelberg Primary School in 2021.
Meg Mahon – Meg will be commencing her maternity leave in 2021.
Lisa Pascal – We also say farewell to Lisa who is commencing family leave in 2021.
Easing of COVID Restrictions
There have been a few important changes this week with restrictions on musical instruments and singing in schools lifted. Our bands will have rehearsals next week and I have already recommenced singing the name song with our younger students. All signs are positive for 2021.
Tutor Learning Initiative
The 2020 school year has been an extraordinary and challenging one for every school community.
Many Victorian students spent much of Terms 2 and 3 this year learning remotely and Victorian schools and their communities have made an exceptional effort to provide continuity of teaching and learning to our students during this time.
During Term 4, schools across Victoria have been focused on supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing, in addition to assisting students to readjust to on-site learning. Teachers have also been focusing on assessing student learning, addressing individual learning gaps and identifying those students who need extra support for their learning, using classroom-based observation and assessments.
We know that the remote learning experience was different for every student. While some students thrived, some students may not have engaged as fully with remote learning. For most of our students, regular high-quality teaching in 2021 will be enough to help them progress to the expected level of learning. Some students will benefit from additional intensive learning support in 2021.
As you may be aware, in response to this, the Victorian Government is investing $250 million in the Tutor Learning Initiative to enable schools across Victoria to engage around 4,100 teachers as tutors in 2021 to support students who need extra assistance with their learning. Schools will determine how this initiative is best implemented for their students and will ensure that students will get this support in a way that minimises disruptions to other learning or school activities.
By engaging additional teachers to support children with intensive learning, classroom teachers will have greater capacity to ensure that all other students’ achievement, engagement and wellbeing needs are met, so that all students receive the support they need in 2021.
Further information about the Tutor Learning Initiative, and how it will be implemented for students who need individual learning support in our school, will be issued before students begin tutoring in 2021.
During Term 4, schools will be working with students to understand their experience of remote learning and their return to onsite schooling.
If you are concerned about your child’s engagement in their learning, while learning at home or following their return to school please contact myself or your classroom teacher.
Christmas Dress Up Day Thursday 17th December
With our big focus on wellbeing this term we did want to finish off the year with another fun dress up day. On Thursday students and teachers are welcome to dress up in their Christmas attire. If this is not a holiday that you celebrate we would still love to see you in a colourful outfit just to add a little fun to the end of the year.
Take care everyone,
Kirrily Lamers
Principal
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
This week we will include standards four and five of the child safe standards. Rosanna Golf Links Primary School is committed to ensuring the highest standards of safety for our students.
Child Safety Standards: Standard 3 - Human Resources Practices
Rosanna Golf Links Primary School has strong human resource practices that help reduce the risk of child abuse. We ensure that human resourcing is focused on protecting children. We:
- – Promote our commitment to child safety
- – Have clear statements
- – Ensure robust recruitment and assessment to engage only the most suitable people to work with our students
- – Provide high-quality supervision and staff and volunteer development.
Child Safe Standard 5: Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
Our staff at Rosanna Golf Links Primary School are committed to student safety. As part of the Department of Education, we are mandated reporters and undergo regular training about child safety. We are trained to recognise warning signs, and how to support and respond to these difficult situations. We have a strong leadership team with in-depth knowledge of processes and procedures to ensure student’s safety. At Rosanna Golf Links we provide a clear reporting process that includes:
- – what types of behaviour or concerns that need to be reported
- – who within an organisation should be notified of a child safety concern
- – what an organisation’s internal investigation process will involve, and how it will keep records.
The reporting process should also require people to:
- – report suspected criminal child abuse to the police or child protection as soon as possible
- – call triple zero (000) if a child is in immediate danger.
Rosanna Golf Links Primary School always takes bullying seriously. Should you feel that your child is being bullied please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or any member of leadership. This flyer will help us all to better understand and identify if bullying is occurring.
Luke Franklin
Assistant Principal
TEACHING AND LEARNING
ICAS 2020
RGLPS students who achieved a place in one of the 2020 ICAS were announced at school assembly on Monday 7th December 2020. Year 6 students were attending their Graduation excursion on Monday and were unable to attend this assembly. Year 6 students who achieved a place certificate in one of the five 2020 ICAS will be announced at the assembly on the last day of the school year.
Please note that only some of the certificates for this year’s ICAS have arrived in the mail thus far. Certificates will be distributed to students as soon as they are received.
A big congratulations to all students who participated in the ICAS this year.
High Impact Teaching Strategies
This week I am going to share more about the High Impact Teaching Strategy (HITS) of Feedback.
Research shows that effective feedback has a very positive impact on learning and is most effective when it focuses on the task and not the individual. Teachers provide feedback to students to redirect or refocus learning and provide clear tips about improvement linked to learning goals. Students can also provide feedback to their classmates and also to their teachers to improve and guide teacher practice. Research indicates that the most effective feedback is specific, accurate and clear. Feedback should specifically highlight what the learner needs to do to improve or what they have changed that has achieved better results. Vague feedback such as ‘good job’ or ‘well done’ has been proven to be less useful than specific feedback. An example of specific feedback is: ‘I can see you have started to reread your writing and build on your ideas. This helps your writing to flow and allows you to edit your work and choose better words.’
Feedback that is specific helps the learner know what to start or to keep doing and what to stop doing. It is also important that feedback is encouraging to support continued effort. Be aware that feedback that is overly critical can cause the learner to avoid taking challenging themselves for fear of failure.
Feedback can come in many forms – verbal, written, audio or video recordings, and it can be used at the end or during a learning task. The most important things to remember when giving feedback are to be specific, focus on the task not the learner and to be encouraging.
Here are some suggestions on how you can support your child’s learning through the High Impact Teaching Strategy of Feedback:
- Provide feedback using a a feedback sandwich – two positives pieces of feedback sandwiched around one suggestion for improvement. This highlights positives as well as providing tips for improvement.
- Give feedback that is linked to your child’s learning goals
- Have your child practise giving feedback to their brothers and sisters
- Try to avoid vague comments like ‘well done’ or ‘good job’ – be specific about what your child has done well or needs to improve
- Provide feedback while your child is completing a task so they have an opportunity to make adjustments and improvements in the moment.
Next week I will discuss the High Impact Teaching Strategy of Metacognition.
Semester Two Reporting
2020 Semester Two reports will be released to parents next week on the afternoon of Wednesday 16th December 2020.
Progression points (dots) will only be provided in English (Reading and Viewing, Writing, Speaking and Listening) and in Mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability) as per Department of Education and Training requirements.
Essential Learnings 2021
With the school moving to a straight grade structure in 2021, we have had to make some minor changes to the Essential Learnings for our Specialist subjects. Most of our specialist subject Essential learnings were covered over a two year cycle and these have been modified to reflect the new straight grade structure in 2021.
The modified 2021 Essential Learnings for English, Mathematics and our specialist subjects (Auslan, Visual Art, Music, Physical Education and Science) are all located on Compass under School Documentation.
See Compass -> Community Icon-> School Documentation -> 2021 Essential Learnings
Term Newsletters
2021 Team Newsletters will be released to parents in mid Feburary 2021. This allows new teams more time to plan for the straight grade structure at RGLPS in 2021.
Have a good last week of the school year everyone!
Kerron Worsdell
Teaching and Learning Coach
STUDENT OF THE WEEK
CHRISTMAS TREE DONATIONS
Dear Families of RGLPS
We understand that it has been a tough year for many, but often there are families out there who are struggling even more. Every year at RGLPS we ask families, who can, to donate to a charity. This year we will be donating NEW, unwrapped toys (no stuffed toys) and nonperishable foods stuffs (preferably Christmas themed nonperishable food for their Christmas hampers eg, boxed shortbread, plum puddings) to Diamond Valley Community Support.
This charity has supported many families from RGLPS in the past, so it is time to give back. We will take donations up to Thursday the 17th December. Just place them under the Christmas tree in the front office. Thank you for your generosity!!
TRAFFIC CHANGES
We have added this section to the Newsletter in an attempt to keep parents informed of the traffic changes which are occurring near RGLPS. We can only supply information that is provided to us by North East Link.
NO RIGHT TURN into Finlayson St and Newtown Rd from Greensborough Road, southbound.
SUSTAINABILITY
Thanks to everyone who participated in the RGLPS Sustainability Tips competition.
Over the coming weeks, we will publish the entries here and put them up around school to remind us all how to be sustainable no matter where we are.
If everyone keeps making small changes with sustainability, it’ll add up to a big difference!
Thank you!
Ms Wheeler
FACILITIES NEWS
CROSSING NEWS
Bronwyn and Liz would like to wish the Rosanna Golf Links Primary School Community a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a safe and happy holiday. They would like to thank all the students and their parents for crossing the road safely this year, for following the rules of safe road crossing and for setting an excellent example for younger children. In a special thank you for 2020 they would like to thank everyone for paying special attention when they have not been able to use whistles.
See you all next year!!!
SCIENCE NEWS
Students recently volunteered to help in a citizen science project in partnership with the One Giant Leap Foundation. The new ‘RGLPS Space Wattle Team’ will germinate and grow 12 Australian Golden Wattle plants. These will arrive in seed form mid-2021. Six of these seeds are currently on the International Space Station while six seeds from the same seed lot have remained on Earth.
The following students will be the Space Wattle Team in 2021 and beyond:
Ethan Joyner, Yori Kitayama, Charlotte Parker
Ellie Vukic, Kyle Shum, Allie Gleeson
Madeleine O’Rourke, Luke Every, Eva Lamovski
Miriam Clough, Lily Johnson.
As the plants grow, we will be observing their growth, identifying differences between plants that were in space or not and uploading data to an app, along with 150 other schools Australia wide. Thank you to the 60 students who volunteered for the Space Wattle Team. We look forward to the project and keeping the whole RGLPS community informed over the coming months and years.
Best regards,
Ms Wheeler
RGLPS ART GALLERY
3/4 Wayne Thiebaud and Andy Warhol Inspired Art
YOUNG AUSTRLIAN ART AWARD
Congratulations to Freya Wilson for being selected as a finalist in the 2020 Young Australian Art Awards in the Painting – Middle Section for her artwork titled ‘Inspiration in Isolation’. Entries have come from many students nationally and Freya’s work was chosen to receive the Gold Medal Award for being the runner-up in her section. Congratulation, Freya!
-Miss Scott
SCHOOL BANKING
From Term 1, 2021 the Victorian Government has ceased school banking programs in Victorian government schools. As a result, the CommBank School Banking program will no longer operate at our school after the end of this term. If you are unsure of other methods of depositing to your child’s account, please feel free to contact the Bank’s general enquiries hotline on 13 2221 or alternatively visit your local CommBank branch.
We would like to thank you for your participation and support throughout the School Banking program.
CANTEEN
Dear Parents,
You can order icy-poles and chips etc through Flexischools for recess and lunch. Ask your children to come down and collect recess orders form the canteen. Lunch orders will go to the classroom as normal. Unfortunately we cannot sell over the counter at the moment.
We are using the Summer Menu from Term 1 for the rest of the year. You will see items change on the Flexischools site as stock runs down. In addition, we have had some supply issues recently.
Thanks you.
Margaret Groves
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
OSHC NEWS
Dear OSHC Families
Just a Friendly reminder that the aftercare program will start at 1.30pm next Friday afternoon (last day of the year).
Please keep in mind the following dates
The upcoming holiday program is now available on the TheirCare website or from our OSHC room with bookings now open. The holiday program runs from Monday the 4th of January to Monday the 25th January 2021.
Please also note that Monday 21st December will be open as a holiday program day. Please book ASAP to ensure the program is staffed correctly.
2021 enrolments can now be made at https://theircare.fullybookedccms.com.au/family/login
2021 term booking will open in the next few weeks allowing you to make your bookings. Please note that all enrolments should be updated and reviewed before bookings are made to ensure that we have all the essential information needed, including updated medical management plans.
Many thanks,
OSHC team =)
OSHC mobile 0408 136 169
Email rosannagolflink@theircare.com.au
LUNCH TIME CLUBS
Unfortunately, we are unable to run lunch time clubs at this time.
COMMUNITY NEWS
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
