Voluntary Parent Payments

The 2024 voluntary payments have been listed on Compass. There are payment plans available through the app and the amounts can be changed if you prefer.

Compass Logins

In single household families, parent A & parent B will use the same login, this login is sent to parent A's email address.

In dual household families, each parent will have their own login in details.

If you are needing assistance with Compass please contact Kitty.

Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)

CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

 .The annual CSEF amount per student is:

• $150 for primary school students

• $250 for secondary school students

• New applicants should contact the school office to   obtain a CSEF application form or download from the website below.

• If you applied for CSEF at your child's school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. 

• You only need to complete an application form if any of the following changes have occurred:

• new student enrolments; your child has started or changed schools this year.

• changed family circumstances; such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number, or new siblings commencing this year.

Check with the school office if you are unsure.

Sushi Fridays

Sushi on Fridays

We are continuing Sushi once a month Fridays again this year. Dates are in the Compass calendar

Please ensure you update your child's class when you order next to assist with distribution.

Here is a reminder of the steps you need to do to order Sushi.

1. Go to www.schoollunchonline.com.au to register your family

2. Choose ‘My orders’ and select ‘Create order‘

3. Select the date of the Friday you wish to order for

4. Add items to order by clicking on the ‘tick’

5. Select ‘add to bag’

6. Review order and check it is all correct, then click ‘next’

7. Choose how you want to pay and then select ‘submit’

   *Update your billing details under the tab ‘my account’

*Pay as you go or top up your account regularly

*No minimum order or long term commitment

*Order ahead up to any time within the current term

Orders need to be made by 5pm on Thursday to ensure order is placed for Sushi at lunchtime on Friday.

Thanks to everyone who could come to the school picnic on Thursday. It was a lovely event, with Uncle Rick doing a Welcome To Country and Smoking. Uncle Rick went to Chewton Primary himself. Thanks Uncle Rick for your teachings about the leaves used in the Smoking and their significance for Djaara.

Our new School Captains Quincy Simpson-Purdon and Freda Amati were presented with their badges by our School Council President Marian Reid, along with our Vice Captain Eidi Graham.

Our House Captains were also presented to the school community and will be presented with their badges at Friday Assembly in coming weeks.

yarram yarram house: Edan and Bonnie (Yellow house)

baring house: Kai and Tyrone (Green house)

yaluk house: Jack and Aiden (Blue house)

wurru house: Emilia and Oscar (Red house)

We have been given permission by Djaara to use Dja Dja Wurrung words for our house names. This is what they mean:

wurru mouth of river                   

yaluk flowing creek           

baring bend in the river      

yarram yarram chain of waterholes

Swimming

We have had a great time at the Chewton pool improving our skills this week.

A big thank you to Patsy, Dushca & Kahu for teaching the children these important skills.

Don’t forget our Swimming Carnival next Friday: we need parent helpers on the day

SWPBS

SWPBS Value Cards – Community, Kindness, Respect

From day one this year all students have been engaged in learning about our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) program. In start-up students learnt about the systems of SWPBS that relate to the behaviour expected of them at specific locations within the school, such as at assembly or in the library. From next week students will be explicitly taught about the behaviours we would like to see them practice throughout the school and with each other. All the behaviours taught connect back to our three school values - Community, Kindness, and Respect.

To encourage these behaviours staff will be distributing Value Cards. Value Cards will be handed out both in the classroom and the playground when staff recognise students behaving in the expected way.

Each student will have a folder to collect their cards and once a student receives 20 cards they will be acknowledged with a certificate, badge, and photo at Friday assembly.

In the classroom student Value Cards will be tallied as a class and when the class reaches 100 cards a classroom celebration chosen by the class (think bike ride, dress up day) will take place the following week.

Value Cards will be tallied for the whole school. When the whole school reaches 1000 cards a whole school celebration will take place – again this celebration will be decided by the students.

A reminder that SWPBS encourages each student to do their best but more importantly it is about all students working together to make a healthier and happier classroom and school for all. It is evidence based and has been found to improve behaviour, relationships, and learning.

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) is a framework that helps schools to plan and imolement practices across the whole school, to improve educational and behaviour outcomes for all.

STEM 

During the first three weeks of term, we focused on cyber-safety using age-appropriate lessons from the Australian Government esafety.gov.au website. 

This included helping students:

- Understand key online safety concepts and risks.

- Develop skills to navigate the digital world responsibly.

- Feel confident identifying and reporting online issues.

- Become positive and respectful digital citizens.

Our Prep students were also introduced to their Chromebook computers and, along with students in Year One, had the chance to showcase their artistic skills using Silk and Paint in this slideshow.

School Council

Are you interested in joining School Council? We are looking for 3 new members this year. We meet on the last Thursday of each month at 6:30pm. The School council plays an extremely important role in the life of the school. Policies, values and the strategic direction of the school are all areas which School Council has a direct role in. A diverse and enthusiastic school council can really have a positive impact in the life of our school. Please consider whether you are able to be a School Councillor. It generally involves a 3-4  hours each month of your time. Have a chat to Maz or Bernadette if you have any queries. A big thanks to our outgoing members Ingrid, Jasja, Sashi and Nicole for their contributions to School Council.

The key functions of school council with regard to the school are:

• to establish the broad direction and vision of the school within the school's community

• to arrange for the supply of goods, services, facilities, materials, equipment, other things or matters required for the conduct of the school, including the provision of preschool programs

• to raise funds for school related purposes

• to regulate and facilitate the after-hours use of the school premises and grounds

• to exercise a general oversight of the school buildings and grounds and ensure they are kept in good order and condition

• to provide for the cleaning and sanitary services that are necessary for the school

• to ensure that all money coming into the hands of the council is expended for proper purposes relating to the school

• to provide meals and refreshments for the staff and students of the school and make charges for those meals or refreshments

• to inform itself and take into account any views of the school community for the purpose of making decisions in regard to the school and the students at the school

• to generally stimulate interest in the school in the wider community

• to prepare the School Strategic Plan and review the Annual Implementation Plan — to be signed by the president and the principal

• to report annually (the Annual Report) to the school community and to the department on the school’s financial activities, the School Strategic Plan, and any other matters that are determined by the Minister

• to manage the hire, licence and shared use of school facilities

• to determine the dates for the school’s student-free days:

  • in accordance with the number of student-free days each calendar year specified by the Secretary of the department

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/school-council-powers-and-functions/policy 

Volunteer Inductions

We love to have parents and carers in our classrooms and helping out around the schools. 

If you volunteer at school you need to have a current Working With Children Check. It is free for volunteers and you can apply online.  Please list Chewton Primary as an organisation on your application and be sure to show your WWCC card to the office for our records.

As part of our OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) and Child Safety requirements, we must do inductions for our volunteers each year. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it this week. Next week we are running some more

Parent Club

This year we are organising a parent group which will organise social gatherings, market stalls, fundraising and make us  more visible in the community. 

We already have a number of parents involved. If you are interested, please get in touch with us.

Community Notices

 First Peoples Connections and information

Djaara (Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation)  https://djadjawurrung.com.au/

DJAARA - Home | Facebook Nalderun Education Aboriginal Corporation https://nalderun.net.au/

Uluru Statement https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/ Voice https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/treaty/voice/ 

Treaty https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/treaty