PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

THANK YOU...

Katie C, Tammy P, Kellie S, Amber O for counting our Coles Sports for School Vouchers. Katie R. and Kellie S.— whole-school head lice checks. NOW IS THE TIME TO RE-TREAT! YOU CAN DO IT - TERM ONE: ORGANISATION

WEEK 1-3 FOCUS = Managing my Time—Being Organised reduces Stress At Monday’s assembly, we discussed the idea of associating items to help remind us of things. Some students have been forgetting to bring their diaries to school and, as a result, their nightly reading isn’t being checked off. Suggestion—associate your diary with your lunchbox—when you think of one, think of the other. This simple trick can reduce stress. We’ve talked before about the impact of making your bed as soon as you get up. This is the first step to an organised, calm day, orderly day. Some quotes to ponder:

"People say modern life is stressful. Stress is not a characteristic of life or times, but of people. Stress does not come from the environment, it comes from the mind of the individual under stress." Brad Blanton, Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth "Stress is not what happens to us. It's our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose." Maureen Killoran SCHOOL COUNCIL REPORT

The 2017 Council met for the final time last Thursday evening. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the outgoing Councillors and to encourage those who still have students at the school, to considering returning to the 2018 Council. Sandra Griffin did a wonderful job as School Council President in 2017. Among various other duties, Sandra led Council’s involvement in planning the Capital Works Program that will commence this year to create our new STEM centre and provide extensive maintenance to the OSHC building and other areas of the school. Thank you Sandra. Shane Saunderson leaves Council after two years as Secretary. Council undertook extensive policy review in 2016 and Shane’s thoroughness in bringing our suite of policies into alignment, was very much appreciated. Angela Gaynor took on the new role of School Promotion, actively supporting our website development and media presence. Thanks for all your work, Angela. Caroline Grylls has been a member of the Council for many years and her calm wisdom in a range of areas was greatly valued. I take this opportunity to encourage members of the school community to join the 2018 Council . Meetings are for 90 minutes one evening per month. 2018 is a School Review year so Council will be involved in looking at how our school is performing and suggesting ideas for improvement and rejuvenation. NEW SCHOOL WEBSITE

Our website is now LIVE at www.lockwoodps.vic.edu.au Families are encouraged to bookmark and check it regularly for news, events, student activities and information. If you have any suggestions for additions to the website, please share your ideas with us. If you know of people who are thinking of enrolling in 2019, please encourage them to check out our website for information about Prep transition and school operations. Thanks to the 2017 School Council for their assistance in structuring the information on the site.

T E R M 1 I M P O R T A N T D A T E S

28th February

1st Instalment Parent Payments Due

4th March

Showgrounds Clean-up Fundraiser

TUESDAY 6th March

Energy Breakthrough Meeting for Gr.6 parents @ 4.30pm

5th-6th March

Gr.5/6 Peer Mediation Training

5th-7th March

Grade 3/4 Ballarat Camp

8th March

Book Club Orders Due

9th March

Sustainability Incursion

14th March

School Council Nominations Close

16th March

Uniform Orders Due Back at School

17th March

Bunnings Cake Stall—volunteers

21st March

School Council Meeting

22nd March:

PUPIL FREE DAY

29th March Last Day Term 1—2:30pm finish Easter Egg Hunt Colour Run Fundraiser

FRIDAY LUNCHES ROSTER:

Wednesday 7th March Katie Allan & Cath Jordan

Wednesday 14th March

Kylie Tatt & Roxanne Daldy

Wednesday 21st March Cassie Stephens & Carly Davis

28th February, 2018

Newsletter #5

FRIDAY LUNCHES PLEASE MARK ON YOUR CHILD’S LUNCH BAG “HOT CHICKEN WRAP $4.00” OR “COLD CHICKEN & SALAD WRAP $4.20” TO HELP WITH TALLYING ORDERS EACH WEEK. THANK YOU.

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DONATIONS FOR THE EASTER EGG HUNT

On the final day of Term One, it’s a tradition to hide bundles of small, chocolate Easter Eggs in classrooms for students to find. We ask that every family donates a packet of small, solid, plain chocolate eggs per student. Due to allergies, please do not donate filled eggs or eggs containing nuts. Please place your donations in the basket in the office. I’ve added a sign-up sheet for Easter Egg hunt helpers—we need a team of mums/dads/grandparents to bundle the eggs into small bags on Wednesday 28/3 and another small team to hide the eggs in classrooms on Thursday, 29th March.

SCHOOL COUNCIL 2018

We are still seeking nominations for the 2018 School Council. Elections will ONLY be held if we have more nominations than positions and at this stage, that is very unlikely. PLEASE CONSIDER NOMINATING FOR COUNCIL IN 2018. Nominations forms are available from the office and nominations will close on Wednesday 14th March at 4:00pm. You can self-nominate or nominate someone else. Our first meeting of the new school council will be on Wednesday 21st March. A MESSAGE FROM SANDRA GRIFFIN, S.C. PRESIDENT:

Are you interested in helping to shape your child ‘s school experience? We are looking for new members to join the LPS School Council. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED just an interest in making our school the best it can be. So what's involved? Council is a group of parents and staff who meet monthly during school terms. We review data from opinion surveys, NAPLAN and DET and discuss how we can improve both the learning and social outcomes for our students. We also hear presentations from our junior school councillors every month so we understand what our students want. Council reviews the school finances and policies, and guides developments such our fitness track and our exciting new STEM centre. If you can spare one evening a month to join us for some

serious discussion (and a lot of laughs), contact Fiona or Sally

and nominate now. If you want more information, feel free to

contact one of our existing Councillors for a chat.

GR.4-6 EXTENSION CHINESE LESSONS

The Chinese teacher has identified students who would be suitable to join the Extension Chinese Class. Parents will be notified tomorrow. The class will run for 40 minutes every Friday. The group will move through the curriculum more rapidly in order to learn Chinese language at an advanced pace. The course will include regular homework. The work will be quite intensive and we plan to retain the class at less than 15 students. If your grade 4-6 student would be interested please email me on rule.sally.s@edumail.vic.gov.au or call the office.

SUSTAINABILITY INCURSION—9TH MARCH

Regional Arts Victoria will be presenting a performance about sustainability and what we can do to protect the environment. We have received a substantial subsidy that enables the show to tour to Bendigo at an affordable price. The incursion costs $4.60 per students and notices were sent home last week with the newsletter. Please return permission form & money to office by Friday 2nd March.

FUNDRAISING IN 2018

This year, a major focus of our fundraising will be to purchase equipment for the STEM program with a particular focus on ROBOTICS equipment. As you can imagine, this is a costly exercise but we are absolutely committed to delivering a high quality STEM curriculum. Please keep in mind that every time you volunteer or contribute to fundraising, it directly supports the purchase of STEM equipment that benefits every student in the school.

PARENT PAYMENTS

A reminder to families that the first instalment of Parent Payments are due by today (28th February). Thank you to those families who have already made their payments to the school. If you would like to arrange a payment plan, please call into the office and see either Fiona or Sally. WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECKS

Our school has a Child Safe Policy that requires every person who volunteers at the school and has contact with the children, has a current Working with Children Check—including camps, excursions, gym and swimming and classroom helpers. WWCCs are FREE for volunteers and can be obtained online at: http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/home/applications/apply+for+a+check/apply+in+victoria Please make sure you add Lockwood Primary School as one of your organisations that you volunteer at.

SHOWGROUNDS CLEAN-UP 4/3

Clean-ups are a terrific fundraiser for our school. We’ve been asked to clean up the showgrounds on Sunday 4/3, following the Rodeo Event on Saturday 3/3. If you can help out, please sign up on the sheet on my office window. Please bring gloves and tongs and lots of helpers to the showgrounds at 8.00am on Sunday 4th March. Children welcome—the more the better!

Sally Rule, Principal PARENT VOLUNTEERS

We’ve had a fabulous response to our call for volunteers in 2018— almost every family has found at least one opportunity to volunteer in 2018. Emma Birch is coordinating the program and will contact team members via email, as events draw near. Showgrounds Clean Up—see above Bunnings Cake Stall: Saturday 17th March. Please add your name to the roster to help serve at the cake stall. The Sign Up sheet is on the noticeboard near the office entrance. Thanks! Easter Egg Hunt: Thursday 29th March. Donations needed NOW! Helpers needed to bundle eggs on 28/3 and hide eggs in classrooms on 29/3 @ 2.00pm

Emma Birch—Volunteers Coordinator

SENTRAL PARENT PORTAL

All new families should have received a “key” to register for the SENTRAL portal. Please note that after registering and creating your own username (email address) and password, you no longer need the code issued in the letter. You can simply log into: https://sentral.lockwoodps.vic.edu.au/portal/ GRADE 3/4 CAMP TO BALLARAT

Our students are all very excited to be heading off to camp next Monday morning. A reminder to families that the final payment for camp should be made prior to your child leaving for camp. If you need assistance in paying for this camp or would like to request an extension of time to pay, please call into the school office to discuss arrangements with Sally. PEER MEDIATION PROGRAM –GRADE 5 & 6

Our Grade 5 & 6 students will participate in the Peer Mediation program on Monday and Tuesday next week. The program will be conducted at school. A permission note with further information is being sent home with students today.

CAMPS, SPORTS & EXCURSIONS FUND (CSEF)

A reminder to families who have a health care card that you may be eligible for CSEF, a government allowance to help with the cost of camps, sporting activities & excursions. The annual CSEF amount per student is $125 for primary school students. If you are new to Lockwood PS and haven’t completed a form for this fund yet, and you believe you may be eligible, please call into the office and see Fiona for further details. Families who were eligible in 2017 have automatically been rolled over for 2018. UNIFORM ORDERS

More uniform orders from last term have arrived, they are in the school office for collection. We are still waiting on the track pants to come, we appreciate your patience with this item. Attached to the newsletter today is an order form for Term 1. Please complete the order form and return it to the school office with money enclosed by Friday 16th March. SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

Book Club is back for 2018! Going home with today’s newsletter is the Issue 2 Book Club catalogue. If you would like to order something from the catalogue, there are two ways you can order. The preferred ordering option is that parents can go on line to order and pay for their children’s purchases through the LOOP portal. If families choose this option then orders do not need to be returned to school. There are lots of great extra specials and bonuses available if your family orders through the LOOP portal. Please see the Book Club brochure for further details. The 2nd option is to send the order form, along with money back to school by Thursday 8th March. If you wish to pay by cheque, our school would prefer cheques to be written out to Lockwood Primary School, rather than Scholastic (as shown on the form). If you would like the books held at the school office (rather than given to your child), please let Fiona know at the time of ordering. Orders and payment should either be completed online or returned to school Thursday 9th March. Books will be delivered by to school usually within a week after orders close.

DIRECT DEPOSIT SCHOOL FEES PAYMENT

I am looking for some information regarding three direct deposits that have gone into the school bank account this month. Unfortunately, the reference given does not match any of our family names.

If you have made payments for school fees directly into the school’s account, please contact me with

details (date deposited, amount & name used) so I can resolve which family these payments belong to.

Thanks, Fiona

WANTED TO RENT One of our families is in need of a house to rent. 3-4 Bedroom house in Lockwood / Kangaroo Flat area. Please contact Amber Osborn on 0422 387 818 if you know of anything available. LOCKWOOD AND DISTRICT NETBALL

Thanks to all the parents who attended our AGM last week. At this stage we have a Grade 4 team and 3 Grade 3 children interested. We have appointed Kylie as our Grade 4 coach and have decided to start training on Tuesday 27th March on our netball courts. We are still looking for some Grade 3 players. If your child is interested can you please contact me ASAP. Helen Hosking

Lockwood Community Craft Group Our next craft group meeting will be on 28th February at 1:30pm. We meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday afternoon (including school holidays), at Lockwood Uniting Church, Calder Alternate Highway, Lockwood. Children are welcome to come along. It is a time to chat, laugh, relax, have a cuppa with others in supportive company, knit projects for the community, work on your own craft projects, learn craft skills from others, share ideas. Community projects - there are some very skilled knitters in the group. They knit trauma toys for hospitals and SES, clothing for infants overseas and items for local situations as requested.

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This Week: Alira T Isabella H Riley L Brayden L Jesse H

P/1B—Leah P for being very helpful in the classroom and for being organised with her work this week.

P/1H—Madison H for always being such an organised worker at her table and always trying her very best.

2/3M—Toby P for setting himself the goal of improving his handwriting and achieving it!

2/3W— Alyssa B for showing great organisation with her reading this week.

4/5H—Hayley H for always being organised and ready to learn.

5/6M—Koby F for getting organised reading at home.