Foundation Enrolment process for 2024 continues

It is very pleasing that high interest is regularly shown in our school. Prospective parents have, since our information night, walked the school visiting classes as part of our Foundation tours. The tour begins in the main foyer with a member of leadership explain the history of the school, before making a stop at the large map on wall that paints an amazing picture of the diverse cultures and backgrounds of our school community. A visit to our well-resourced library, then into the yard, is always an unexpected insight into the resources and spaces available for the children. There is often surprise on the faces of these visitors when they see the many passive and active spaces within our large grounds. A drop in visit to a Foundation class, this week while the students were participating in PMP in the hall is a demonstration of how well the current students have settled into the routines and expectations of school life. The tour finishes with a visit to a year 6 classroom, and an opportunity to engage with the wondeful students that journeys through 7 years at KPS.

Through these encounters, we gain feedback about Kingsville and information, which clearly indicates that our learning environment and practices are held in high regard.

Reminder to current families

Parents / carers who have younger children / siblings of current students to enrol for 2024 should have or be planning to make contact with the school. If you are in this category and have not let us know please do so as soon as possible by visiting the office and collecting an enrolment form. The enrolment form must be submitted to the Kingsville Primary School office by Friday 28 July 2023.

Staffing Update

The school has recruited an additional ES Staff member to the administration area. Louise Nguyen was the successful candidate for the position and will commence work at the school, beginning Friday 2^nd June.

Louise will be supporting Betty each Friday. This new arrangement has been set in place as Erica has reduced her work time fraction to 4 days a week.  I know that you will make Louise feel very welcome at KPS.

Kingsville Primary School is committed to continuous improvement and a key feature of this is ongoing professional learning. Staff professional learning is driven through a range of means, and takes place on a personal, cohort, and whole school level. Student free days offer schools the opportunity to collaboratively engage in targeted professional learning at a whole school level. 

At Kingsville Primary School, we have four scheduled student free days. These are: 

• Friday 27th January (first day of term 1 – completed) 
• Tuesday 13th June  
• Friday 4th August 
• Monday 20th November 

There has been a change from previous years to the Term 4 student-free day, which had previously been scheduled around the Melbourne Cup weekend. The 2023 date, Monday 20th November, is the nominated day for assessment and reporting for KPS staff as it aligns with the assessment and reporting schedule, in line with the changed requirements and expectations for this. 

The upcoming student-free day, on Tuesday 13th of June, will see staff collaboratively inquire as a whole group and in teams with a focus on the Restorative Practice framework and approach. Restorative Justice is a philosophical framework that centres on relationships in our setting, and calls attention to issues of justice and issues of equity, and includes specific processes to address harm and to transform conflict. The Restorative Practice framework and approach has been part of Kingsville’s wellbeing approach for many years. Having the opportunity to engage in targeted professional learning as a staff allows for us to re-align and extend on our current practice, and expand on what is currently in place at KPS. The Restorative Practice approach supports all students in understanding how our actions and interactions impact those around us, and the natural and logical consequences of this by allowing students safe spaces to discuss how they are feeling, their experiences and their perspectives. This understanding and approach aligns well with the IB philosophy and the idea that we are educating children who will go into the world and make it a better place. 

Student voice acknowledges that students have unique perspectives on learning, teaching, and schooling, and should have the opportunity to actively shape their own education. Student voice involves students actively participating in their schools, communities and the education system, contributing to decision making processes and collectively influencing outcomes by putting forward their views, concerns and ideas. Student voice allows students to engage, participate, lead and learn.

At Kingsville, student voice can be heard in a variety of ways, including through the Student Representative Council (SRC). The form that the SRC takes can be different from year to year depending on the goals and priorities of the school. 

Classes have over the last few weeks finalized their representative for the Student Representative Council (SRC).  They have also elected a ‘second’ or back up so that if their rep is away the voice of their classroom is still heard in the Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting. A full list of reps and their second can be found below. The SRC group is working to redesign the representative badge, and these will be presented at assembly to the class SRC representatives once the design is approved and they have been produced.

Congratulations to those students who have put themselves forward to represent their peers in 2023.

Student-led conferences offer an opportunity for staff and students to invite families into our classrooms, and for students to share their learning and growth. The conferences are a chance to celebrate what each child has achieved over the semester through conversation and the sharing of chosen pieces of work. 

At KPS, the student-led conferences are an important part of our reporting and assessment program, working alongside other components such as semester reports, learning tasks, parent-teacher meetings and share and connects. These all have the potential to provide parents and the students themselves with additional information regarding achievement, effort and involvement. 

For those unfamiliar with the student-led conferences, they are a student-led conversation the child and their parents/carers, with the teacher supporting the process as required. 

Student led conferences will be held for: 

• Level 1/2 and Level 3/4  students from 3.45pm to 7.00pm on Tuesday 20th June 

• Foundation, Level 5 and Level 6 students from 3.45pm to 7.00pm on Wednesday 21st June 

We’ll share more information about booking times for student-led conferences, and the format of the conferences, in the next newsletter. 

At Kingsville Primary School, we highly value the learning experiences that our camping program provides to our students. Such cherished extra-curricular activities enable students to further their learning and develop their social-emotional skills. The varied camping program supports students in developing their confidence, self-esteem, sense of community, resilience and self-management.  

As you are aware, Covid impacted the KPS camping program and, like many other schools, we’ve worked hard to rebuild this valued extra-curricular component of our teaching and learning program.   

Following extensive research and consideration – and building on the learnings from previous years – we’re pleased to offer a revamped camping program for Grades 3-6 this year at Camp Wilkin (Anglesea), which will: 

• reinforce and extend classroom learning 
• provide shared experiences for students and develop a strong sense of belonging 
• challenge students in a safe setting, undertaking unfamiliar tasks with their peers 

We apologise for the short notice in providing you with information regarding the 2023 camping program. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we’ve worked through the process of organising venues, dates and engaging programs.  

KPS, along with other Victorian Public Schools, continues to adjust and reflect on the provision of extra-curricular activities within the current environment. We remain committed to ensuring KPS students are provided with enriching school and camping experiences.     

Venue   

Camp Wilkin (Anglesea, Victoria) 

https://baptistcamping.com.au/venues/camp-wilkin/  

Dates and cost  

Payment and consent 

More detailed information will be shared via Compass separately for each event. Payment and consent can both be given via Compass. Please note that payment and consent are required two weeks prior to the event.  

However, for any families experiencing financial hardship, please do not hesitate to reach out to Blagma or Erica for a confidential discussion. Information for families about the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) can be found by clicking the link.  

Questions and Answers  

How does the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 impact school camps and other out-of-hours activities?  

Many of you may have seen in the media the recent changes that all Victorian Public Schools are navigating, in line with the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 (VGSA 2022).  

Under this industrial agreement, teaching and ES staff are entitled to time in lieu for any directed work occurring outside of the 38-hour work week. This change recognises the significant contribution and workload of teachers. It also affects the planning and delivery of all out-of-hours activities including camps, as the school needs to carefully consider and balance the: 

• available School Budget  
• mandatory acquittal of time in lieu for staff attending camp 
• availability of casual relief teachers (CRTs), which is increasingly scarce  

• disruption to the teaching and learning program  

What type of activities will be Grade 3-6 kids be undertaking? Will they be doing joint activities?  

We have worked hard to provide a tailored program for each cohort attending camp. For example, the Grade 5 students will have the opportunity to participate in canoeing in the waterways around Anglesea whilst the Grade 6 students will also enjoy the activities available at Live Wire Park in Lorne. 

Once we finalise student numbers and staffing levels, we will be in a position to confirm the full range of activities for each cohort.  

You can take a look at the venue and type of activities available on site here: https://baptistcamping.com.au/venues/camp-wilkin/  

Why have there been changes to the camping program this year? Why are families being provided with limited notice?  

Over the past 6+ months, we have been working closely with Department of Education to understand the impacts of the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 and how best to facilitate a camping program for our students within this new landscape.  

We’ve work diligently to identify the best off-site camping experience for Grade 3-6 students in 2023 – exploring a range of available venue options that: 

• effectively supports the curriculum being explored at each level 
• offers the best value-for-money  
• minimises disruption to the teaching and learning program due to time in lieu acquittal for staff  

We had hoped to provide families with more notice, however, with limited dates available at Camp Wilkin we wanted to ensure that the students did not miss out on this valuable experience.  

For your child, arriving late to school occasionally won’t cause major disruption and will, on rare occasions, be completely unavoidable. Inevitably, children feel sick or tired some mornings, or the alarm clock dies during the night, or the car just won’t start. However, chronic lateness takes its toll on a child’s overall educational experience. For a student to miss “only” 10 minutes of school, 3 times a week is the equivalent of an extra 28 days absence over the course of their time as a Kingsville student. 

As mentioned above, a day at Kingsville is organised, scheduled and predictable. Students know and trust the structure of their day. They know where they must be and when. They know the main purpose of being at school is to learn, and that the routines are in place to allow them the best chance of succeeding.  

For children who are often or repeatedly late, these routines are disrupted. Children who are often late can have trouble settling in and mastering these routines. Tardiness can throw off the whole morning, particularly if the late commute to school was stressful. We know that this has a significant impact on the students, who can feel anxious and upset as often important key instructions and early morning class bonding opportunities are missed. This can also disrupt other students in the classroom. 

To support students entering the school yard on time, all major school gates are opened in the morning by 8.45am, and the Somerville Road gate is opened at 8.30am (students who enter prior to 8.45am need to wait in the Quiet Play Area until the other gates are open). Students can enter through any of these gates and make their way to their designated line up area. The morning bell rings at 8.55am, signalling for students to line up and wait for their teacher. By 9am, all classes are in their room, ready to learn.  

In highlighting this issue, we hope to improve and support students arriving on time and, subsequently, improve student learning outcomes. 

The number of parents and carers parking around the school for drop-offs and pick-ups has its issues due to the road systems around the school. The major road and two cul-de-sacs cause car congestion and other traffic problems and concerns.

While it may be hard at times to find a park close to the school, parking inappropriately, obscurring pedestrian crossings, across neighbour's driveways or using school driveways to perform 3-point turns creates an unsafe environment not just for the students at the school, but for all visitors to the school and local community.

Recently, we have had reports and have witnessed several examples of driving parents/carers dropping off and picking up studnets in unsafe ways. This includes dropping off and picking up in the entrances and exits to staff carparks, turining outside the school and reversing from obscure places, and parking in no parking/stopping areas. All these actions pose a danger to the safety of students, parents/carers and other members of the community.

We implore parents/carers to think and drive in a manner which protects our students and considers other members of both the school and local community.

Further information from Vic Roads around dropping off and picking up students safely can be found here.

The school, and particularly the staff regularly receive important communications from parents and carers seeking the school and staff to action requests, of varying degrees, from their child’s external allied health professional. 

The request for a specialist from outside the Department of Education to enter the school does need to be agreed to by the School Principal or delegate. The school will endeavour to support these requests; however, they will be managed on a case-by-case consideration by the principal or delegate. Additionally request for staff to complete assessments are regularly sought. Once again, teachers are able to complete these forms, however staff should be given significant time to do these so that they complete an accurate point in time reflection.

At Kingsville such requests, assessments and visits, should be communicated to Jeff McDonald  jeff.mcdonald@education.vic.gov.au  as doing so will ensure a coordination of requests, an oversight of student’s needs, and ensure the demands and workload for teachers in accommodating requests are reasonable and actioned in a timely manner.

Please see below the list of children who will be presented with their award at assembly on Friday 2^nd June

Please see below the list of children who were presented with their award at assembly today, Friday 26th May

School Council would like to thank the wonderful KPS community for their involvement and generosity in support of the FOKPS subcommittee’s planned social and fundraising events. The School Council has set the FOKPS an ambitious target of $40,000 to raise over the year – and to date, $9,525 has been raised through:

• Hot March Night
• Easter Holiday Stall
• Second-hand Uniform shop
• Casual clothes day
• Mothers and Others Day stall

This is a great start to our fundraising efforts! Upcoming events planned by the FOKPS include a casual clothes day on the last day of each term, Fathers and Loved Ones’ Day stall, Trivia Night (save the date Saturday 26 August), Christmas Holiday stall and the much-anticipated End-of-Year Raffle. 

As outlined by School Council previously, the funds raised by the FOKPS and school community through planned social and fundraising events will be allocated to projects nominated by the school community, students (through the junior school council), KPS staff and subcommittees of School Council.

Information around the criteria and processes for the KPS community to contribute project ideas will be shared in the next school newsletter.

Kingsville Primary School School Council

Dear Parents/guardians,

Last week, we had a visit from one of our parents to talk about her career in the Health Care Sector. Samantha Lundberg, the parent of Hunter, is a theatre nurse and has a wealth of knowledge to impart. The children were engaged and took the opportunity to ask some interesting questions, which Samantha answered with relish. To thank her, the children made and signed a special poster to give her.

In the next few weeks, we will be focusing on sports activities in the afternoons and “National Reconciliation Week” celebrations, where we take the opportunity to visit & use our indigenous resources. A four-week AFL incursion is planned every Friday starting next week with no extra cost.  

An exciting two-week national event to look forward to is in weeks 8 & 9, where we will be having “The Big Art Weeks.” Activities filled with great arts & crafts and an “art or writing” competition for the children. These weeks will focus on everyone’s inner creativity encouraging all children to try something new or develop existing talent.

See you soon in OSHC!

Upcoming Incursion

4-week AFL clinic

Every Friday commencing Friday June 2^nd 2023, and concluding on Friday 23^rd 2023

Come along and join us for a fun, engaging, and skill-building 4-week AFL clinic in After School Care at Kingsville Primary School. Joining us every Friday from 02/06/2023 until 23/06/2023 will be Cube Sports bringing their awesome AFL clinic for all children to enjoy!

To enrol your child into the incursion at no extra charge other than their regular session fee, make sure you book the After School Care program on every Friday from 02/06/2023 until 23/06/2023.

Book now through your Parent Portal

Activities coming up.

• AFL incursion
• In house Handball activities.
• Red Light, Green Light
• Indigenous Recognition experiences
• Basketball
• Chess Championship
• Big arts week

Make a booking!

Join in the fun of Outside School Hours Care activities and experiences with Your OSHC and Rocketeers.

Smile Squad is on the way to our school!

All children deserve a healthy smile, and the Smile Squad is coming to Kingsville Primary School to help make sure this happens.

Smile Squad is a Victorian Government program that provides free dental care to all Victorian government primary and secondary school students.

The friendly Smile Squad dental team will visit Kingsville Primary School soon to conduct a free annual dental health examination for every student and provide free follow up treatment as needed.

What do you need to do?

We need your consent before we can provide services. Consent is usually provided by a parent or guardian.

Sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic  

Although the engagement of parents/guardians is encouraged, in Victoria, students who are considered ‘mature minors’ may provide consent for their own dental care. To be considered a mature minor, the Smile Squad clinician must be satisfied that the student has sufficient understanding of the risks, benefits, and possible complications of their condition and proposed treatment to give informed consent.

The Smile Squad team will check the student’s teeth and mouth and show them how to keep their teeth healthy and strong. They will also provide any preventive services you have consented for. If the student needs more treatment, the Smile Squad will discuss this and seek consent.

Please complete and submit the consent form ASAP if you haven’t already.

Paper copies of the consent form are available. Please contact the school office if you would like to request one.

The electronic consent form can be translated into more than 100 languages, and the paper form is available in 13 languages.

Do I need to attend my child’s appointment?

No, you do not need to attend your child’s appointment. You can attend if you would like to, and you can take your child to the community dental clinic if you prefer.

Who is Smile Squad?

The bright orange Smile Squad vans are staffed by experienced oral health therapists, dental therapists, dental assistants and dentists. They all have lots of experience treating children and a passion for improving their oral health – for life.

Learn more about the Smile Squad by visiting www.smilesquad.vic.gov.au or contact the team at smilesquad@dhsv.org.au.

Contact

Thank you for supporting Smile Squad and sharing the messages in this toolkit. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see in this toolkit in the future.

Email: smilesquad@dhsv.org.au