Character Strengths

There have been many complexities in these first weeks of the new school year as we transition to onsite schooling and a ‘new normal’. This week students across the school have investigated the ‘learning pit’. Students succeed when they know how they feel when learning: connected through a sense of belonging and supported to take one step at a time to accomplish their learning goals.

A strengths-based focus on what’s right or going well underpins our school philosophy.  At Yarra, Character Strengths provide a vocabulary and reference to help us communicate, understand and bring our ‘best selves’ to school. This is by no means easy, and we are so inspired when we see students show courage and identify their strengths, spot strengths in others, and set new goals using their character strengths. Here’s a helpful reminder of some of our strengths we will nurture this year:

Persistence: We hold deep respect for students who experience many daily speedbumps; yet still they persist, seek support when challenged and keep trying in class. 

Self-regulation: When students are fidgeting, tapping, and moving their bodies, they are doing their best to self-regulate. We routinely provide brain breaks to ensure we are well supported to focus on our academic learning

Perspective: When students empathise and practice compassion for one another, they are developing the perspective of being in another’s shoes.

Love: Students shine when they are given opportunities to experience love of community, love of learning, and healthy attachment in relationships with trusted adults.

Fairness: Students’ character strength of fairness can be channelled into social action towards equity for all members in the school community and beyond.

Gratitude: Remind students that gratitude is an action—and we must provide many opportunities to action gratitude each day.

(Reference: Berry Street Education Model)

We look forward to inviting families to learn more about our wellbeing and instructional models so you can support your child’s learning at home. Watch this space!

Staffing Update

At the beginning of the year, we welcomed Natasha Lamport to the 5/6 team. Natasha’s positive disposition and high energy levels are inspiring, and she has made a smooth transition to the team. This week we also welcomed Sean Blythe to the Education Support team. Sean has previously worked at South Yarra Primary School in an education support role.

Thank you Smile Squad
We would like to thank Emily and her team from Smile Squad for showing such great care to our students over the last 3 weeks. They helped the children feel relaxed and confident when having their teeth checked and treatments done!

Whole School Production Dates for your Diary

We are all very excited for our whole school production this semester. Rehearsals will begin at the beginning of term two every week and (at the time of writing) I can confirm the dates for the performances are Wednesday 8^th and Thursday 9^th June 2022. More information to come… 

Road Safety during Pick Up and Drop Off – A Reminder

The best way for children to learn to be safe on the roads is under your guidance.  Please respect the road rules and parking signs. It is important that parents park legally to provide a safer environment for children.

Double parking restricts the view of drivers, forces children onto the road and obstructs the flow of traffic. Parking within 20 metres before a designated school crossing or 10 metres after is illegal. If you need to drive to school, get your child into the habit of using the car’s kerbside doors.

Dogs on School Grounds During School Hours

Whilst Yarra Primary School understands that many families in our school community keep dogs as pets, to ensure that our school remains a safe and inclusive place for everyone, we have in place several safety measures:

• pet dogs must be always on a hand-held leash and in the control of a responsible adult
• pet dogs must not be tied up on school grounds or left unaccompanied
• families that bring dogs to school that exhibit signs of aggressive behaviour, bark, or jump may be asked to leave.

The principal has the authority to prohibit certain dogs from school grounds or modify this policy to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff, students, and members of our school community at any time.

You can find a copy of the policy on the school’s website. Please do not hesitate to contact Saraid or Valetta for clarification or concerns.

Schools’ Privacy Policy

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu

School Council Nominations 2022

We ask any parents who would like to join to please complete a Nomination Form with Leanne in the front office. This is an important and rewarding role and we encourage anyone who is interested to apply. We have 8 meetings per year (2 per term). We are calling for nominations for 3 parent and 1 community positions. Nomination forms are due back Tuesday 8^th March. If the number of nominations received is less than the number of vacancies, there will be a further call for nominations. We hope parents consider this opportunity to represent the school community. Meeting times and dates will be confirmed at the first meeting with the new committee. Please do not hesitate to contact Saraid for more information.

Yours In Partnership,

Saraid

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Welcome back to the Art room!  We have had a wonderful start to the year making loads of self-portraits. The Preps have also had a great start learning the routines in the Art room. The students have been working on their cutting skills and their scissor technique creating fabulous Tiger faces with lots of stripes, to commemorate The Year of The Tiger.

A reminder to all families to send in an Art Smock with their child, to use in the Art room this year. It can be a new one from Kmart or Officeworks from $5 or an old shirt, t-shirt or apron will work fine.

If anyone is feeling creative and would like to come in and help in the Art room please email Justine.moore@education.vic.gov.au . You will need a valid Working With Children Check, and proof of double vaccination to join us.

Justine Moore

Visual Arts Teacher

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LAWN BOWLS

24 students competed at the District Lawn Bowls Competition on Wednesday 16th of February. 

Both teams showed great sportsmanship and represented our school with great pride.

Congratulations to Yarra A for winning the competition. They will now be competing at the Division Lawn Bowls event next Wednesday the 2nd March. 

Good luck! 

DISTRICT SWIM

We had 18 students represent Yarra at the district swim even last Friday 18th February. 

Students showed their personal best when competing in individual and relay events. 

We have 10 students that have qualified for the division level. They will compete on Monday 7th March at Watermarc in Greensborough. Well done swimmers!

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Tuning Into Teens
Melbourne Family Relationship Centre is running two Tuning Into Teens for parents/carers in the City of Yarra. Please see the information below. There’s still spaces available in each program, so we’re now accepting registrations from across Yarra more broadly (ie. not limited to families from those schools). So if you know anyone who would be interested in the program, please pass the information on. These two programs are not specifically catering for people from CALD backgrounds, there are no additional language supports. There is a cost for participants, however it is free for anyone with a health care card.

	Program 1	Program 2
Delivery partner	Princes Hill Secondary	North Richmond Primary School partnership (Richmond West PS, Abbotsford PS, Yarra PS)
Delivery time	Tuesday evenings 7-9pm 1 Mar 8 Mar 15 Mar 22 Mar 29 Mar 5 Apr	Wednesday evenings 7-9pm 2 Mar 9 Mar 16 Mar 23 Mar 30 Mar 6 Mar
Facilitators	Jen Sells (cohealth), Naomi Pullen (City of Yarra)	Natasha Belmont, Rahel Negash (City of Yarra)
Delivery method	Online	Online
Register	tint-phs.eventbrite.com.au and enter tint as the password	tint-rich.eventbrite.com.au and enter tint as the password

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Upcoming Events

Monday 28th February	Year 5/6 ASPIRE Incursion
Thursday 3rd March	5/6D Kitchen Garden
Monday 7th March	Division Swimming Carnival
Thursday 10th March	3/4A Kitchen Garden
Friday 11th March	Curriculum Day - No students onsite
Monday 14th March	Labour Day Public Holiday
Tuesday 15th March	Harmony Week (until Monday 21st March)
Tuesday 15th March - Friday 18th March	5/6 Camp
Thursday 17th March	3/4B Kitchen Garden
Monday 21st March	YPS Lap-a-thon

 Further Ahead

Term Dates 2021
Term 1: 28th January - 8th April
Term 2: 26th April - 24th June
Term 3: 11th July - 16th September
Term 4: 3rd October - 20th December

Student Free Days 2022
Friday 11th March
Friday 10th June
Monday 31st October

 

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