Thursday 8th August

• Girls Soccer Team playing at the Loddon Regional Soccer Tournament - Have the BEST time!!! Good luck!

Tuesday 20th August

• Bookweek Dress up day - Parade at 9:00am - Theme: Reading is Magic!
• Trace Balla & Louise Cooper Activity 11:30am - 12:30pm - see XUNO

Monday 26th August

• Curriculum Day - no students at school

Friday 6th September

• Goldfields Division Tennis & Cricket - more info to come

Wednesday 11th September

• Mount Alexander Chess Tournament - select students

Friday 13th September

• Trivia Night - 7pm to 10pm

Friday 20th September

• Last day of Term 3 - 2:30pm finish

NEW SWPBS AWARD SYSTEM

We have introduced a new system for specific positive behaviour feedback that is linked to the school-wide expectations, reinforces our values (care for self, care for others, care for the Environment and being an upstander) and is used across settings, including the playground during breaks and within class and specialist sessions.

Up until this term we used the online class dojo app. to acknowledge students. Feedback from our SWPBS coach indicated that the lack of face-to-face interaction and no ongoing record of the positive behaviour lacked fidelity.

Chewton PS and Harcourt Valley PS have had the same physical acknowledgements in place for some time and we now have our own card system.

When staff see students actively showing our values by following the expectations from the Behaviour Matrix and the Big 3 Matrix (which are displayed in every classroom), they will hand out a card which might be:

• Caring for Self = 1,
• Caring for Others =1
• Caring for the Environment =1

Or for being an Upstander

An upstander is someone who:

• stands up or looks out for someone else who needs help
• reminds other people about our school expectations

An Upstander card is worth double = 2

When students get a card, they put it in the corresponding jar at the office. Cards will be counted every week by a group of student leaders. Cards are then handed back to students be kept safe in their card pocket folder.

When they have collected 10 cards from staff, they are eligible to collect a reward (similar to Dojo rewards)

When they have collected 20 cards from staff they are eligible to collect another reward and will receive a certificate at Assembly, celebrating upholding our school values. They then take home the certificate and the 20 cards they have collected.

• When a class has reached 100 cards, they are eligible for a class reward
• When the school has reached 500 cards, we are all eligible for a whole school reward and celebration.

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DOGS CONNECT – SUNNY

Sunny continues to do well at school. He is still very much a puppy at 22 weeks, but everyone is noticing he is becoming calmer. Challenges for Sunny are fast moving children and balls so we continue practicing the 3 Expectations:

1. We say hello to the person, not the dog
2. We give lots of space when we pass the dog
3. We keep moving (we don’t stand around and stare)

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SOCCER

Our best wishes go with the girls’ Soccer team tomorrow. A very early start as they head off to Swan Hill. Go Winters Flat!

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VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are welcome in every classroom as well as the Kitchen/Garden and specialist areas.

If you have the time and inclination, please let us know. Volunteers at school must have a Working with Children Check.

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BIRTHDAYS

Ava M– turns 12 this week

Edith – turns 6 this week

Persephone – turns 12 this week

Leo – turns 9 at the weekend

Peg – turns 11 next week

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Hip Hip: Hooray

Hip Hip: Hooray

Hooray: Hip Hip

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COVID SCHOOL PROCEDURES

Schools will make sure your child is as safe as possible and will focus on:

• washing hands
• physical distancing
• rapid antigen testing
• Outdoors when practical
• Air purifiers indoors
• mask wearing – recommended but not mandatory

Free rapid antigen tests

Free rapid antigen tests are still available from the office.

Testing is strongly recommended for students and staff who are symptomatic.

After doing the tests at home, if it is positive, you are advised to:

• let the school know
• keep your child at home for 7 days
• contact the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form or call centre on 1800 675 398.

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Suzanne Kinnersly
Principal.

Parent Survey Reminder

Parent survey links have been emailed out to families. 

The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online until Friday 30 August 2024.

All families are invited to participate in the survey.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

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New Uniform Item - Hoodies!

Our new hoodies have arrived and can be purchased from the Beleza Uniform Shop.

Karen Mahoney & Kitty Ward 

Office

Fathers and Parents Day stall

Our parent craft group will be hosting a Fathers and Parents Day stall on Thursday August 29th and Friday August 30th for students to buy a small gift to celebrate their special person/people that weekend.  To prepare for this, we are seeking donations for the stall! If you have any suitable knick-knacks, books, cook books, preserves, plants, bric-a-brac, or anything else that would make a nice gift, please drop them into the office!

The parent craft group meets to create items to sell at stalls. They would love it if some new parents came along! If you are interested, please contact the office - everyone is very friendly and it's a fun way to contribute to the school.

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Trivia Night

The night of diving into the dark inside cupboards of your mind to retrieve useless trivial facts is almost upon us! Clear your social calendars, book the sitters & get your A team together! Don't forget a team name!

The Great Quizzards of Winters Flat, Jasper & Sam, will guide you along the yellow brick road of historical, academical, musical, geographical, biographical, ecological, etymological, political, zoological, cosmical, diabolical, whimsical, eccentrical, commonsensical & nonsensical FACTS.

This week in the Kitchen and Garden..........

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What we're cooking in the kitchen this fortnight...

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Kitchen volunteers:

We would love some kitchen helpers in our cooking classes!

They are held fortnightly on Mondays (even weeks - 4/5/6C), and every Wednesday (even weeks - 4/5/6B; odd weeks - 2/3H), between 11:25am & 1:25pm.

The Prep/1 classes will have a special cooking class each term.

Kitchen helpers for these classes would be particularly helpful - please let the office know if you'd like to volunteer!

What you can expect from a class:

Students work in groups to make seasonal dishes, using produce from our garden. Once a group finishes preparing their dish, they clean up their bench, do dishes, and set the tables. Around 1:00pm, we all sit down together and share the meal.

Volunteers will need to sign in via the visitors log in the office and show their WWCC. Please contact the office if you have any questions or would like to volunteer! 

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Cath & Terry
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden