Dear Timbarra families,

We have a jam-packed few weeks coming up with a number of events taking place. It never ceases to amaze me how involved and supportive our parents/carer community is and I am most appreciative of this.

NAPLAN

You may have seen some discussion in the media about Victoria’s NAPLAN results. Dr. David Howes, Deputy Secretary, has produced a letter for parents/carers outlining Victoria’s performance in NAPLAN this year. This letter will be included in this newsletter for your reference.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is continuing to prove a huge success with a large number of students across the college attending each week. It is held every Thursday morning at 8.30am in the secondary school café area. We offer toast (jam, butter or vegemite), milk, fruit and an additional treat such as pancakes, banana bread and muffins. I would like to thank Coles Parkhill who generously donate loaves of bread, spreads and fresh fruit each week. It is wonderful that we are able to work closely with the community to benefit our students.

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey (previously known as the Parent Opinion Survey)

Thank you to the parents who have already completed the survey. We would like to hear from as many people as possible and encourage everyone to complete the survey. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

All Timbarra Parent/Caregiver/Guardians are invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey must be completed by Friday 8th September. The survey is conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete. It can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.

Father’s Day Stall

On Thursday 31st of August, the Fundraising Committee will be running a Father’s Day stall for all students. Students are encouraged to bring coins and a bag to place gifts in.

Attendance

If your child is absent from school, please ensure that you record the attendance on Compass. If you are having any difficulties doing this, please do not hesitate to contact the school by calling 9704 2744 or emailing timbarrap9@education.vic.gov.au.

Appointments

If you wish to speak with a member of staff, it is important that you schedule an appointment. Often, we have parents visit the school requesting to meet with a member of staff who are unavailable as they are teaching a class or involved in a meeting. To avoid disappointment, please contact the college to arrange a suitable time.

Cassandra Marinopoulos

On Wednesday 9^th August, the Year 5s headed off on their Sovereign Hill adventure. Over the three days of camp, students explored what life was like on the goldfields for the different groups that lived there and how the living conditions changed over time.

Highlights included the Red Hill Mine tour, candle dipping demonstration, horse and carriage ride, gold panning, bowling and the spectacular Aura Sound and Light Show. Oh, and let’s not forget the sweet shop!

“I really liked the Red Hill mine tour. It was very interactive. I liked that we went down into a mine and was told the story of the miners who found a 69kg gold nugget.” Jack N

“The food on camp was delicious and I loved having the freedom to walk around on my own. It felt like we were walking through a 1850’s town, not a park that had been created.” Mason R

“It was fun climbing up on top of the Poppet Head and exploring Sovereign Hill with my mates.” David H

“I found the gold pour demonstration very interesting. I even got to hold the 3kg ingot worth $290,000” Jay N

“We got to spend some time with friends in our cabins, although I didn’t get much sleep.” Lillian T

“The Aura show was amazing. I loved how it was in 3 parts. The 3D movie on how gold formed on earth, then the dreamtime story about Bunjil the creator and then a Ballarat goldfields story.” Chloe C

It's time for an update on all the wonderful things happening in Prep B’s classroom lately. From counting our way to 100 days of school to exploring new words, we've had a blast!

Celebrating 100 Days of School

Can you believe it? We've reached the impressive milestone of 100 days of learning together! Our classroom was filled with plenty of excitement as we celebrated this special day. We made 100 cookies, had a dance party, and even imagined what we'll be like when we're 100 years old. Thank you for joining us in making this day memorable!

“It was the bestest day ever!”- Kayden

“I liked winning the guess the lollies in the jar competition”- Elizabeth

Word of the Week: "Vet"

Last week, our word of the week was "vet." We learned that a vet is a very important person who takes care of animals when they are sick or need help. We had so much fun pretending to be vets during imaginative play, taking care of stuffed animals and making them feel better. Our little vets also made some animals crafts and shared stories about their furry, feathered, and scaly friends.

“I really really really really liked checking up on the animals”- Oliver

“It was interesting pretending to be a vet”- Cam

“My favourite part was filling in the pet information form” – Beau

Upcoming Adventures:

Get ready for more exciting adventures in the upcoming weeks! We have a responsible pet ownership incursion, book week parade, swimming lessons, and are off to Chesterfield Farm on our first excursion! Stay tuned for more details as we continue to learn and grow together.

This term in STEAM has been busy! The year 8’s have been applying their understanding of Physics to design the perfect theatre room for optimal movie enjoyment. The students are showing off their creativity through designs with aquariums, seats with built in speakers, and multilevel rooms.

The year 7’s are exploring ecosystems and food webs, and the pressures they face from our ever-changing world. The year 7 STEAM Academy are in the testing stage of the STEAM Design Cycle for their sustainability project, where they were asked to design a way to heat or cool an item, irrigate a garden, or improve plant growth – There are plenty of innovative ideas appearing!

Year 9 Science students are developing their understanding of Chemistry and applying their knowledge in practical experiments.

The year 9 Forensics Elective is exploring the different types of evidence that can be found at a crime scene and how this can tell us what happened. We had a visit from Mick who works with the Major Crime Scene Unit to explain his role in examining a crime scene. He talked us through the process when he attends the crime scene including how to search for evidence and how each type of evidence is analysed. The students enjoyed using this opportunity to develop their understanding of forensics at a crime scene, and to ask a variety of ‘what-if’ questions.

This week in 6H we have been covering many different concepts across all areas of the curriculum. Below is a summary of the fun things we have been up to!

Reading Workshops

This week we have been learning about cause and effect. I really enjoyed the earth activity that related to world population.

-Hayden

Homework

We had to create a food truck from a country of our choice. We needed to create products to sell and come up with a name.

-Ben

Camp front covers

There has been a competition between all students to see who can create the best camp front cover. This will go on the official camp booklet.

-Vesa

Inquiry Based Learning

In Term 3 we have been working on our stalls for our spring carnival. We have been making menu lists, banners and flyers to hang around the school.

-Abbey B

Writing

During our writing lesson this week we wrote letters of gratitude to students and staff. When writing, you had to think what the person has done for you.

-Mikayla

Year 8 Basketball

The Year 8’s headed to Pakenham Stadium to compete in the Interschool Basketball Tournament. 3 challenging games played across the day for each team, with our girls team taking out the Division 2 flag and finishing 2^nd overall.

Basketball is always a popular sport, and the students always love getting out there and playing against other schools.

Primary Netball Academy

Our Primary Netball Academy students participated in the annual Casey Netball Association Primary Schools Tournament.

Team 1 came away with 4 wins out of 5 games, placing them in second place for their pool. Team 1 finished the grand final in runner up position and were awarded their medals.

Team 2 came away with 3 wins out of 5 games, placing them third overall in their pool.

A fantastic effort by our girls, it was a great day of netball. And a special thanks to our helpers, Senior Academy member Chloe Meddis and Junior Academy member Abbey Orr for their efforts in coaching.

Year 9 Health Excursion

The year 9 cohort have been learning about Road Safety in health this term. They were lucky enough to visit the Melbourne Museum and check out the Road to Zero Exhibition. The purpose of this exhibition in to help create awareness and reduce the road toll number to zero by the year 2050.

Our students were able to experience several interactive, visual, and technological activities. This included the task of creating their very own TV Ad campaign around being safe on the roads as a pedestrian and cyclist.

It was a great day exploring all things Road Safety, the students really enjoyed this day out.

On Wednesday 16th August the Primary students of Timbarra celebrated their creativity with Framed. Students from Prep- Year 6 showcased their visual art creations throughout the primary learning areas. It was great to have so much community support come to view the amazing artworks.

The Year 1-6 Art Ambassadors throughly enjoyed talking about the artworks created and guiding our guests through the gallery.

At first we were nervous, but then we got more confident with saying the words on the script over and over to tell people about our Mona Lisa portraits.

Year 1- Jay, Televeina, Prisha and Hudson

It was fun being an Art Ambassador. We liked reading the script to people about our Van Gogh portraits and bedroom dioramas. It took using our persistence and confidence keys!

Year 2- Edward, Zahra, Leo, Amity, Polly, Savanah, Hadiya, Declan, Yamaya, Paisley and Ariane

We were nervous at first! We put a lot of effort into our Modigliani styled portraits with elongation. It was really fun talking to all the parents as guides.

Year 3- Xavier, Emraan, Khanjoor, Ava, Erin, Sam and Milli.

We enjoyed showing and telling people about how hard we tried to create our imaginative and creative Picasso portraits and Monet’s garden dioramas.

Year 4- Zarli, Chloe, Oliver, James, Azra, Mackenzie, Elija ,Elle, Ayush, Ashiyana, Ellie, Madi, Cooper and Parsa

It was a challenge because we were a bit nervous at the start and we had to stay on duty for so long! But we enjoyed it anyway. The parents were very interested in our Andy Warhol styled Pop Art!

Year 5- David, Mason and Zainab

We were glad to be able to take on the extra responsibility of being Art Ambassadors. The medallions were very colourful and the photos really stood out.

Aikya, Gemma, Brody and Wes

Attached below is a letter written by David Howes (Deputy Secretary) about Victoria's NAPLAN performance this year.

Letter from Dr David Howes about NAPLAN

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that 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 all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

All families are invited to participate in the survey.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Please check Compass for access to the survey.

OSHC Phone Number: 9705 7400

OSHC Hours: Before: 7am – 8:45am After: 3:10pm – 6:30pm

Vacation Care Hours: 7am – 6pm Curriculum Day: 7am – 6pm

*If our phone is unattended, please leave your booking or cancellation on the answering machine.

NOTE: We will only call you back if we are unable to take your child’s booking due to ratios, otherwise if you do not hear from us, your child’s booking in confirmed.

INVOICES

INVOICES ARE NOW SENT OUT WEEKLY!

As our ‘Payment of Fees Policy’ states;

A child’s position will be suspended if payment has not been received within three weeks of receiving their invoice. The suspended place will be re-activated once the invoice has been paid in full.

Please make sure you are checking your Emails. Also, if you have not received an invoice, please first check your ‘Junk Mail’ box. If it is not there, please contact us to make sure we have the correct Email address for you.

You can check all your details on your ‘Parent Portal’ at any time.

To check your Invoices, update any personal details and make sure we have the correct information at all times, this is the site you will need;

Parent Portal site: https://www.smartcentral.net/v2/home

Username: is your Email

Password: is your Mobile Number

SEPTEMBER VACATION CARE PROGRAM

The September Vacation Care Program will be out on; Monday, 28^th August 2023

You will have 2 weeks to book or cancel and no bookings or cancellations will be taken after; Friday, 8^th September 2023

POLICIES UP FOR REVIEW IN AUGUST

Adventurous (Risky) Play Policy, Child Protection Policy (VIC), Furniture & Equipment Safety Policy, Snake Awareness Policy, Bullying, Discrimination & Harassment Policy, Dealing with Complaints Policy (Families), Dealing with Complaints Policy (General) & Social Media Policy

NOTE: All Policies are available at the OSHC Service for parents to view and add input before the end of the review month.

EVENT DAYS COMING UP FOR SEPTEMBER

21^st – World Gratitude & International World Peace Day

22^nd – World Rhino Day

*IF ANY OSHC FAMILIES WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE OR CONTRIBUTE TO ANY OF THESE DAYS, PLEASE SPEAK TO AN EDUCATOR AT THE OSHC PROGRAM

Lisa, Ashlee, Hailey, Chloe & Shalonda - (OSHC Staff)