Term 2 Week 7, 2022

Dear Valentine families,

This week I had the absolute pleasure of attending the VPS Band Camp at Glenrock scout camp. It was fantastic to see the band students come together on this precious site. The benefits of this experience were on show at the concert performed to close the event. Musicianship is honoured in this space and the growth of skill and knowledge is evident. It was delightful to also see the collegiality amongst the students, staff and tutors and the social connections strengthened through the experience.

We are grateful for the expertise and passion of our Band Teachers, Mrs Vale and Mrs Lawrence and thank them for their energy and effort in organising the Band Camp. It was great to see these two passionate musicians performing with the band. We also thank Mr Morris who graced the camp with his passion and expertise in music as well. We are also grateful for the dedication, passion and expertise of our treasured conductor, Mr Rostas, who gives his time, his heart, and his skill to the role. It was wonderful to see our Band Captains lead so eloquently at the camp, giving a voice to the students as they demonstrated their performance skills.

It was exciting to see the inclusion of past Valentine students as tutors at the camp providing inspiration to our current students. Of course, wonderful opportunities like this cannot happen without the behind the scenes work of our Band Committee, led by Kylie O’Brien. Their work ensured that all the details were covered, ensuring our students were safe, fed well and catered for in every way.

When teachers, parents and students come together magic happens! 

Valuable Activity

The past two years have obviously been disrupted in many ways, but it is just so heartening to see how our band has just continued to rehearse and build throughout these tricky times. In Semester Two we will be working towards offering opportunities for our students to consider learning an instrument and joining the band as we build for the future.

Some evidence of the valuable activity within our school:

·         Starstruck - final rehearsals - cannot wait to see the show and excited that some of our students will get to see the show this year. A big shout out to our talented teachers, Miss Childs, and Miss Cavill

·         Athletics Carnivals - thank you to Stage 2 for your organisation. Looking forward to seeing our students in action

·         School Concert is in the planning stage led by Ms Fischer. Planned for performances at NEX during Week 9 Term 3

·         Spelling Bee - competitions being held right now - brings attention to the importance of Spelling in our learning journey

·         Public Speaking - all students have participated in the school-based competition and finalists are about to compete to be selected for zone representation

·         Kindergarten Community excursion - how delightful that our students are now able to leave the school to explore and learn

·         Stage 3 - major excursions - Great Aussie Bush Camp and Canberra expressions of interest have been released - looking forward to seeing all our students experience these valued milestone events

·         P&C Commercial Team and Uniform Shop work on finalising our refreshed design of the school jacket and matching track pants. We are about to take delivery of our new Soccer strips and Netball dresses and we have ordered 50 new Athletics singlets - all the same design. We are also happy with the Year 6 shirts and new staff jackets.

eSafety Pt 3

 Some more information from the eSafety website. I encourage you to use this information to connect with your child/ren if appropriate

  • What is cyberbullying?

    Cyberbullying is when someone uses the internet to be mean to a child or young person, so they feel bad or upset. It can happen on a social media site, game, app, or any other online or electronic service or platform. It can include posts, comments, texts, messages, chats, livestreams, memes, images, videos and emails.

    ·         These are some examples of ways the internet can be used to make someone feel bad or upset:

    ·         Sending hurtful messages about them.

    ·         Sharing embarrassing photos or videos of them.

    ·         Spreading nasty online gossip about them.

    ·         Leaving them out online.

    ·         Creating fake accounts in their name.

    ·         Tricking them into believing you are someone else.

    Sadly, cyberbullying happens a lot in Australia and around the world.

    44% of Australian young people report having a negative online experience in the last 6 months, this includes 15% who received threats or abuse online.

    Source: The digital lives of Aussie teens, eSafety Commissioner (2021).

    What you can do

    If someone is really mean online, first of all it is a good idea to:

    ·         tell a trusted adult and ask them to help you – you could show them this page about cyberbullying

    ·         change the settings on your device or online account so you do not see so many messages, posts or comments from the person who was mean – find out how in the eSafety Guide.

    If you need cyberbullying material removed:

    ·         report it to the social media site, gaming site or other app that was used to send, post or share the harmful content (this can be the fastest way to get it removed) – find reporting links for most sites, games and apps in the eSafety Guide

    ·         check our tips about how to take care of yourself if you are cyberbullied.

    ·         If the site, game, or app does not help you within 48 hours, and the cyberbullying is serious enough, eSafety can ask them to remove the harmful content.

    For eSafety to investigate, you must live in Australia. Also, the type of cyberbullying must be against Australia’s online safety laws.

    This means the content sent to you, or posted or shared about you, must be likely to harm your physical or mental health because it is seriously:

    ·         threatening (for example, when someone says they are going to harm you, or tells others to harm you) or

    ·         intimidating (for example, when you stop doing something because someone makes you feel scared or bad about it) or

    ·         harassing (for example, when someone keeps sending messages to you or keeps sharing posts or comments about you even though you do not want them to) or

    ·         humiliating (for example, when someone teases or embarrasses you very badly).

    If someone is cyberbullying you in one of these ways you can report it to eSafety, or you can ask a trusted adult to do it for you. The adult can be a parent or guardian, or someone like a carer, teacher, or police officer.

    If you are a parent or guardian, you can report serious cyberbullying to eSafety yourself – if you know your child has been targeted by harmful content, and the site, game or app has not helped within 48 hours.

     

     

Wonder White Recycling Rewards

Help us turn bread bags into school play equipment!

We've teamed up with 1500 Aussie schools to help us collect bread bags in exchange for points they can redeem on new sports equipment, and all registered schools go in the draw to win an exercise circuit made from the recycled plastic we all collect! 

While our box hasn't arrived yet, we are still accepting empty bags. These will go towards sporting equipment for our school. 

Valentine Public School