Thursday March 9th

• Welcome to Country and welcome back family picnic - 4.00 pm onwards

Monday March 13th

• Labour Day public holiday - no students at school

 Tuesday March 14th

• Prep Nurse visit

Wednesday March 15th

• Prep Nurse visit

Thursday March 16th

• Year 3-6 Melbourne Vixens Netball excursion - see XUNO

Friday 17th March 

• Bulb Fundraiser orders due back

Sunday March 19th

• Working Bee - 9:30am – 11:30am

Monday March 20th - Friday March 24th

• Whole school swimming lesson week - see XUNO

Friday March 24th - Sunday 9th April

• Castlemaine State Festival

Friday 31st March

• School photo day 

Thursday 6th April

• Last day of Term 1 - Students to be picked up at 2.30

TOMORROW WELCOME TO COUNTRY SCHOOL LEADERS CEREMONY AND PICNIC

Our Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony is this Thursday 9^th March at 4:00pm. Uncle Rick will perform the Welcome and Smoking Ceremony at Creekview followed by a speech and presentation of Leader badges with our mayor Rosie Annear. We will then host the back-to-school welcome picnic. We will set up tables in home groups. PJ, 1/2W, 3/4H, 4/5C AND 5/6B on the upper asphalt.  Families are encouraged to b.y.o. afternoon tea picnic and drinks. Children attending this event must be accompanied by family members or a responsible adult.

.

VISIT FROM LIAM TWOMEY

Liam Twomey spoke to students from Year 3 – Year 6 about his journey.

Students were impressed by Liam’s resilience and perseverance following his cancer diagnosis and amputation aged 7. 

According to Jimmy: “We were all inspired by his attitude to life and having a go at so many sports. He’s a triathlete who is hoping to be a Paralympian in Paris 2024.”

.

NEW INITIATIVE: THE HUMAN LIBRARY

Recently we invited parents and carers to sign up to our Human Library – a resource where you get to share your skills, knowledge or expertise with students here at school. Today we had a visit from Fhon and Jason Williams coinciding with International Women’s Day. 

Eisa reported: “Today we had a visit from Fhon and Jason Williams coinciding with International Women’s Day. They spoke about women’s equality and rights. One of the things they mentioned was how different jobs have different proportions of men and women. At the entrance level of most jobs the numbers are even but there are just fourteen female Chief Executives among Australia’s top 200 companies!”

.

STUDENT TAKE OVER OF COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Four students representing Winters Flat PS attended the Student Ideas Pitch with other Castlemaine primary and secondary students joining Mayor Rosie in the Council Chambers.

They were invited to take over the Council Chambers and pitch their ideas for projects to Rosie as mayor, Youth Development Officer Shannon Lacy and the assembled groups.  Students were encouraged to develop ideas under the Middle Years Plan priority area categories and the Winters Flat crew unanimously chose the Environment as their key focus.

Riva Everyone was working together.

Aurora It was fun working together on the activities as a school group.

Pippa I loved writing about what we could do to make our community better and getting to share our ideas.

Ava I was proud of what we got done today.

.

SAFER INTERNET PARENT FORUM – ARE YOU INTERNET SAFE AT HOME?

Recently we celebrated Safer Internet Day and I invited parents to contact me directly Suzanne.Kinnersly@education.vic.gov.au if you would like us to organise an online or face to face information session for parents to assist in internet safety for our children. Thanks to those who have already been in touch. Please let me know if you are interested and we will organise a presenter.

 .

SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS

If you would like to nominate yourself or know someone who is keen to be part of the governance process at Winters Flat PS, nominations are now open and will close on Wednesday 15^th March. Nomination forms attached to this Newsletter and available at the school office.

.

BIRTHDAYS

Heidi - 8 in the second week of March

Brody – 11 in the second week of March

Ivy – 6 in the second week of March

Sam - 12 in the second week of March

Zoë – 6 in the second week of March

Roza – 9 in the third week of March

Hip Hip: Hooray

Hip Hip: Hooray

Hooray: Hip Hip

 .

FREE RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS

Free rapid antigen tests are 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.

.

Suzanne Kinnersly
Principal.

Notes & Permissions

Notes have been sent home for E-Learning & Local Excursion permission. Please return these to the office asap. Spare notes can be collected from the office.

Netball & Swimming excursions have been added to XUNO and paper notes have been sent home, please approve these excursions asap. Payments can be made through XUNO or by cash or eftpos at the office.

Paper copies are available at the office.

.

Winters Flat OSH Club is open!

Enrolments and bookings are open. We encourage all families to enrol even if they think they might not use the service. There might be times when you are stuck or the car breaks down and if you are enrolled your child could go into after school care. It costs nothing to enrol. Childcare is heavily rebated by the government so you may not have to pay as much as you think. Please see below for more information regarding rebates.

All families earning up to $351,248 a year are eligible to the Child Care Subsidy which covers up to 85% of the cost of care, with parents only charged the gap fee. Many families believe that you must be a healthcare card holder (or similar) to be eligible, but this is far from the case, with the majority of out of pocket costs covered by the CCS rebate.

Here is the link for eligibility to CCS:

https://www.education.gov.au/child-care-package/child-care-subsidy/family-eligibility-and-entitlement

 To enrol please go to www.oshclub.com.au/vic/winters-flat-primary-school/

Swimming Program - 20th - 24th March

Our whole school swimming program will commence from the 20th March. Your child will need their bathers, towel, snacks, hat and water bottle every day of that week. Also to gauge your child's swimming abilities the Gurri Wanyarra pool need parents/carers to complete a short survey designed to place your child in the right swimming level for their ability. Please complete this survey ASAP no later than Monday the 13th of March.

Winters Flat Primary School Swimming Assessment

.

School Photo Day

Photos are happening on the 31st of March. Order envelopes have been sent home, please return these by Thursday the 30th of March. Replacement envelopes will be available from the office if required. There will be various packages available.  We are using the same photographers that we used last year “The School Photographer”. 

.

Help Needed

We would like some help reorganising the second hand uniform cupboard into sizes, rather than item types. Please let us know if you could spare some time to help.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

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 read our school’s collection notice, found on our website.

We ask parents to also review the guidance that was sent home in the e-safety aggreements regarding how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

.

Karen Mahoney & Kitty Ward

Office

PJ

Rupert - Care for Others

Archie - Care for Self

1/2W

Isobel - Care for Others

Hunter - Care for Self

3/4H

Annabelle - Care for Self

Kaelyn - Care for Self, Care for Others & Care for the Environment

4/5C

Eisa - Care for Self 

Bonnie - Care for Self & Care for Others

5/6 B

Levi - Care for Self

Chase - Care for Self

There was a great turnout of Winters Flat students at the Castlemaine Gift on the 27th of February. The following students all put in fantastic effort in their heats: Aurora, Ava G, Sam G, Ava M, Arlo, Sid, Atti, Annabelle, Jimmy, Ginger and Luca. Special mention to Atti for winning his heat and racing in the finals. 

Thanks to Bronwyn for the the great photos.

Students in Grades 5 and 6 have designed posters to help promote the benefits of Keep Cups. These posters will hang in the cafe at Arcare Aged Care to encourage residents to bring reusable cups. Their efforts will earn the school funds for art room supplies.

Our colour wheels are also making our Art room look cheery and bright.

THIS WEEK IN THE KITCHEN & GARDEN...

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

• Asian Coleslaw 

• Noodle salad

• Rice paper rolls

• Fried rice

• Okonomiyaki - Japanese pancakes

• Chocolate pear pudding

Chefs of the week:

3/4H: Kaelyn, Ella, Fran

4/5C: Athene, Pippa, Angus 

5/6B: Evie M, Frankie, Saskia, Georgie, River

Remember the recipes are available on our school website, so you can try them at home.

Kitchen volunteers

We would love some kitchen helpers in our cooking classes. They are held fortnightly on Mondays (even weeks), and every Wednesday, between 11:25am & 1:25pm.

What you can expect from a class: Students work in six groups to make six different dishes. Once a group finishes 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 and Vaccination Certificate. Please contact the Karen or Kitty in the office if you would like to volunteer. 

Gardeners of the week:

3/4H: Raph

4/5C: Bonnie, Finchley, Ava M, Brody, Leto, Persephone, Lily & Peggy

5/6B: Evie M

Cath & Terry
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

AT SCHOOL

Winters Flat Youth Mentoring Opportunity!

Dhelkaya Community Health is recruiting volunteers to join our Youth Mentoring Program. Volunteers who would like to work with Winters Flat students can apply. If you care about the wellbeing of young people in our local community, and empathise with the challenges they face, perhaps you could consider becoming a mentor?

The impact of having a kind and skilled mentor in one’s younger years can be profound and long-lasting and it is our connections with others that keep us grounded in difficult and uncertain times. Mentoring is such a rewarding volunteer role.

The role requires an hour or two of your time each week or fortnight. Ongoing support is provided.

To learn more please call 5479 1000 or visit Dhelkaya Community Health’s website 

.

IN THE COMMUNITY

March is the month in which the fundraiser, Laps for Life, takes place. And guess what!? This year I am taking part by attempting to swim 15km over the course of the month.

More than 1 in 3 young people in Australia is currently experiencing a mental health difficulty. But there’s an even bigger problem: more than 1 million of them are not accessing professional support. And, suicide remains the leading cause of death for 16-24 year olds in Australia.

After friends and family, the internet is the first place young people turn to for information and support. That’s where ReachOut Australia comes in. ReachOut Australia helps you feel better about today and the future, no matter what challenge you're facing. It's a safe place where you can openly express yourself, explore what’s happening in your life, connect with people who understand your situation, and find the resources to help you manage challenges now and in the future. Anonymous, free and 100% online, ReachOut has been designed specifically for – and with – young people.

From one-to-one support from experienced peer workers, to online forums, as well as tips, stories and resources, ReachOut offers a wide range of support options that allow you to engage in the ways you want to, when you want to.

DONATE HERE if you can: https://www.lapsforlife.com.au/fundraisers/hannahokeefe

.

RESOURCES

Please find a list of Wellbeing helplines and support services on the Winters Flat website.

https://www.winters-flat-ps.vic.edu.au/resources

Hannah O’Keefe

My work hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:30-2:30 and Thursdays from 8:30-4:30. Write me an email (hannah.okeefe@education.vic.gov.au) or give me a call via the school office or on 0475 800 377.