Newsletter – Friday 3rd February 2023

WELCOME BACK to all Bellaire Primary School students, staff, and families. It has been wonderful to have all the students back this week, enjoying catching up with their teachers and friends. The atmosphere across the school has been buzzing with energy and classes have all very quickly settled. I hope the transition back to school is a smooth one for your child/children.

Special welcome to all our new Prep students in their very first week of school and to all new students and families who have relocated to Bellaire Primary School in all other year levels.

Our Learning to Learn Program has been occurring this week and then we move into introducing our regular learning routines next week.

We also wish our year 6 students a wonderful last year of school! They have received their new Year 6 polo tops and have been proudly wearing them this week.

There is lots ahead in our school year, including this term. The calendar on Sentral will have the most up to date information regarding events, they are also available on our Website. Here are some important dates we have at this time –

TERM 1

• Friday 10^th Feb – School Photos
• Tuesday 14^th Feb – Life Education Van visit begins
• Friday 17^th Feb – Bellaire Parents – Welcome Picnic (please see information below)
• Tuesday 21^st Feb – Parent / Teacher Meet & Greet 2pm – 7pm
• Monday 27^th Feb – School Council meeting 6.30pm
• Wednesday 1^st March – Parent Helper Induction Session
• Wednesday 8^th March – Project Rockit
• Thursday 9^th March – Project Rockit
• Monday 13^th March – Labour Day Public Holiday
• Monday 20^th March – Wednesday 22^nd March – Year 4 Camp
• Monday 20^th March – Thursday 23^rd March – NAPLAN (Year 3 & Year 5)
• Friday 24^th March – Senior Lightning Premiership (Year 5 & 6)
• Monday 27^th March – School Council Meeting 6.30pm
• Thursday 30^th March – Bellaire Cross Country (Year 3 – Year 6)
• Thursday 6^th April – LAST DAY of TERM 1 2.30pm finish

TERM 2

• Monday 24^th April – CURRICULUM DAY
• Tuesday 25^th April – ANZAC Day Public Holiday
• Wednesday 26^th April – First day of term 2

Throughout our newsletters we will be updating you on information happening in the school and celebrating achievements of our students and community. Individual teams will provide you with information specifically targeted to your child / children’s year levels.

Join us at 5.00pm on Tuesday February 14 to discuss social media, cyberbullying, and tips for empowering young people to have positive experiences online.

PROJECT ROCKIT is Australia’s youth driven movement against bullying, hate and prejudice. Their Lead Team Coordinators will be hosting a live webinar to share insights from running workshops with students around the country, sharing PROJECT ROCKIT’s strengths-based approach that empowers students to take action when they see cyberbullying happen. You’ll be taken through an overview of key social media platforms, insight into the opportunities and risks of young people being online, proactive and reactive strategies to share with young people and promoting healthy online use. The webinar duration is one hour plus 15 minutes for Q&A, and we will send you a link ahead of the webinar that teachers and parents use to register.

Our students in Year 3 – Year 6 will be participating in sessions with Project Rockit to learn more about being safe online and social media. We are excited to be able to provide this learning opportunity for our students.

Our scheduled Parent/Carer meet and greet will be taking place on Tuesday 21^st February face to face.

We will be opening up bookings via Sentral next week and notification of this will go our via a broadcast on Sentral.

The Parent/Carer Meet and Greet is a terrific opportunity for you to make initial contact early in the year in communicating any important information with your child’s classroom teacher. In addition to the Meet and Greet, you will have a further opportunity to meet with your child/s classroom teacher again in Term 3 this year to review their progress, along with formal written reports in term 2 and 4.

Aside from these planned meetings, if at any stage, you would like to see your child’s classroom teacher or another member of staff please don’t hesitate to contact the school to arrange a convenient time.

We ask that everyone is kind and considerate during drop off and pick up times, particularly in the kiss and drop zone. Please note our neighbours have requested that cars do not stop and wait over driveways, including the staff car park driveway, as these driveways are still required for use during these times.

This information is for parents, carers, and guardians about the Tutor Learning Initiative, which will support students in their learning in 2023.

The 2021 school year was an extraordinary and challenging one for every school community with many Victorian students spending time in both 2020 and 2021 learning remotely. Victorian schools and their communities have made an exceptional effort to provide continuity of teaching and learning to our students during this time.

We are very fortunate that funding has been made available for schools again in 2023 to continue this terrific initiative.  School leadership have been working closely with teachers to use all available information to determine suitability for tutoring and we believe we have identified those students who will benefit most and are in the greatest need of the tutoring support.

We will be contacting the families of the students who are eligible to be involved shortly.

Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website and was also sent out with our start of year information.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/Schools-Privacy-Policy-information-for-parents.aspx

Just a reminder to all parents that students are required to have their hat at school each day. Please ensure that your child’s hat is clearly named to prevent it from going missing.

With the weather heating up and high-level UV, we encourage parents to support their child in applying sunscreen before arriving at school. Sunscreen is also available within learning areas.

A reminder to parents if your child has a medical condition (Asthma, Anaphylaxis, Diabetes etc.) Please ensure that their management plan is updated and endorsed by a GP and promptly returned to the school front office.

School Council elections will take place this term and I encourage parents to read the information below and consider expressing interest for School Council membership in 2023. We have an active and engaged School Council and welcome new members.

For existing members of School Council, if you are at the conclusion of your term of office and are keen to continue on School Council you are still required to self-nominate and complete a nomination form which will be available shortly. We will send information regarding the elections shortly.

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with their constituting Order and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a School Council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the School Council?

For most primary School Councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected Parent member category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. DET employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school
• A mandated elected DET employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of School Council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members
• An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the Council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

For all schools with a Year 7 and above cohort, there is a fourth category of membership:

• A mandated elected Student member category, 2 positions.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual School Council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help inform and shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of Conduct for School Councillors

School Councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004. School councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct – Employees issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

• act with honesty and integrity (be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty)
• act in good faith in the best interests of the school (work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds)
• act fairly and impartially (consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self interest)
• use information appropriately (respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available)
• exercise due care, diligence and skill (accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school)
• use the position appropriately (not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage)
• act in a financially responsible manner (observe all the above principles when making financial decisions)
• comply with relevant legislation and policies (know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law)
• demonstrate leadership and stewardship (set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable).

Indemnity for School Council members

School councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the Council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the councillor in good faith in:

• the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a councillor, or
• the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Council.

In other words, School Councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by Council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the School Council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider: standing for election as a member of the School Council or encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The Principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All School Council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual time line has been varied by the Minister. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent member category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the School Council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the Principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via post, email or by hand following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on Council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Information regarding our elections will be sent out in a separate post next week.

Each year we ask parents to complete a Google Form regarding permissions for your child/ren. This ensures we have the most up to date information for your child in regards to photo permissions, ICT and local excursions. If you could please complete the Google Form via the link below as soon as possible it would be greatly appreciated by our teaching staff.

https://forms.gle/RnFkvu1r367o3U9B6

Principal

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