The Grapevine Newsletter 23/02/2024
Principal's Message
Newsletter week 4 Term 1
The 2024 school year has begun beautifully with the staff and students demonstrating their resilience and positive ’can do’ attitude once again. Our students continue to make staff proud with the way they approach their learning and school life in general. Staff were particularly impressed by the way students approached their first round of diagnostic testing. Their efforts to improve with each round of PAT Reading and Maths testing has been noted and acknowledgements of their achievements are shared not just by staff but between the students as well.
The Student Representative Council has resumed with 30 students expressing interest in joining the Year 5-12 team. The SRC has already conducted Pancake Day and are underway with plans for fundraising for Foodbank Victoria. The Junior SRC has also been formed. Congratulations to our junior school captains, Annabelle Morris and Gwen Masila-Liutolo who did a wonderful job hosting their first P-4 assembly last Friday.
Staffing update
This week we welcomed Bhawini Narayan the first of our overseas teachers to join our staff. Bhawini will be teaching 7-12 Science and Maths classes.
Also joining us as an Education Support staff member is Apolossi Latunipulu. Apolossi will be supporting in the Food, Fibre & Technology electives, and sports program.
This week welcomed two CRTs Alexandra Rodek (7-10 English/Humanities) and Bridgette Gray who is taking Primary classes.
Welcome back to Sharon Urquart who is supporting in the 5/6 classes
Congratulations to Rohan Schloithe who has joined the Information Technology team, 3 days a week.
Overseas Teachers Update
Great news! Our primary teacher Pretty Munodawafa is set to join us on March 4 and Karusha Naidoo our English/Humanities teacher is aiming to start teaching on March 25. We have been in continuous contact with them and know how enthusiastic they are about working at the college and joining our community.
We thank Alicia Spurr for staying an additional two weeks after accepting a position at the Swan Hill Specialist School. Our wonderful Cath Remer, busy as ever, is off for a while but we intend to welcome her back later in the year.
Whole School Meet and Greet and Student Leadership Induction Evening
Wednesday 28th -5pm - 6:30pm
Parents and carers are invited to the get to know the staff and other parents of the Robinvale College school community. Staff at the College value a positive relationship and strong partnership between school and home to support students. We hope parents and carers will join staff to celebrate our student leaders and get to know each other better. There will be a formal welcome, then some time learning about our Community centres and time to meet the teachers who teach your children, this will be followed by fun and games while we share a BBQ tea.
Robinvale College School Council is seeking new members. Election Forms are available from front office
Natalie Mouvet
Acting Principal
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope this letter finds you well and that you have all had a positive, safe start to the year.
This letter is to inform you of the work we have done behind the scenes to ensure that your child has consistent education and opportunities to learn. This is despite the difficulties we have had, alongside all schools across the state, in regards to staffing.
Firstly, we are excited to inform you that we have a number of experienced teachers joining us from overseas, the first of whom have already arrived. We are expecting five more to join us, across Primary, Math, Science, English and Humanities teaching areas.
We are also actively recruiting across all learning areas, and have been supported by the government in offering Targeted Financial Incentives and Graduate Grants to attract experienced teachers join our team. In the mean time, we are a priority amongst agencies across Victoria that supply casual relief teachers.
We have also been responsive to new staffing situation and have had to think creatively to ensure that all students receive consistent education. One of these solutions has involved merging some classes in both the primary and secondary spaces. This involves merging:
- The Foundation classes, with Mrs Louw being the Foundation teacher.
- The VPC and VM classes, with Ms Fang teaching Literacy, Mr Afa teaching Numeracy, Ms Ford teaching Work Related Skills and Ms Yates teaching Personal Development.
Whilst we appreciate this is not necessarily ‘Plan A’, we are proud of our students’ demonstration of our school values – given the calm learning environments that we saw at the start of the school year, we are confident that students can support one another to continue being respectful, responsible, resilient learners.
Should you have any questions about your child’s learning, please don’t hesitate to reach out to either myself, any member of leadership, or your child’s teacher.
Many thanks,
Natalie Mouvet
Acting Principal
SRC PANCAKE DAY
The first team activity for SRC this year was a Pancake Day. The students cooked and served up delicious pancakes with fresh fruit, ice cream and toppings. They were enjoyed by the students and staff.
2024 VET TRADIES PROGRAM
The 2024 Vet Tradies program is underway. 1st Term the students are doing “Automotive” where they are learning about small engines and the basics of mechanical work. The students are very enthusiastic and keen to learn from Sunitafe Teacher Jason.
NEW STAFF
Jonathan Michaels
We welcome Jonathan Michaels from Melbourne. Jono has a bachelor of Exercise Science from Australian Catholic University and Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) from Monash University. He has worked in Newman, Western Australia and Bendigo, Dandenong and Corryong in Victoria. At the College he is the Health, Physical Education and Sports Coordinator and is teaching Health and Physical Education for Years 7-10 and Science for Year 9/10. Jono's first impression of Robinvale is avery unique in terms of its multicultural population. It's definitely a melting pot of different cultures which make it so unique. The people he has met so far have been very welcoming and friendly and this has definitely helped him settle into the community.
Apolosi Lea Latunipulu
Apolosi is from Miranda which is in the shire of Sydney. He started his High School years at Endeavour sports high school and finished at Newington College, Apolosi has worked in the digital printing industry and still working as a carpenter, in Robinvale. We are lucky to have Apolosi working in the Community Garden and utilising his skills in the Woodwork area. His first impressions of the College he finds the college very unique and diverse with a lot of potential and talents that need to be explored.
Damien Plonsker
Damien originally from Swan Hill but has lived in Robinvale long enough to class himself as a local. He has been a chef for 15 years, in restaurants, bistros and even Café work.
Damien will be working as an education support throughout all year levels. He will be working with the cooking teacher throughout the year to get cooking classes up and going strong. Damien enjoys teaching cooking, as he believes cooking is a very important life lesson.
His first impressions of the school are fantastic. All staff members have made him feel welcome and the kids very much so as well.
SAVE THE DATE!
Get ready to put your running shoes on and join us for the funnest, messiest school fundraising event EVER – Foodbank Food Fight!
Mark your calendars because on the 22nd of March, our school oval will be transformed into a messy, fun food fight – even better, no real food will be used! We can’t wait for the community to get involved and have an absolute blast!
We’re hoping to raise $5000 for Foodbank Victoria so please sign up at foodfight.com.au today to get involved!
SRC FUNDRAISER
We have been recycling plastic bottles, soft drink cans and drink cartons at 10 cents each. So far we have raised $17.10 for the SRC to use for a variety of projects and donations. Recycling bins are being organised for the F-4, 5-8 and 9-12 Communities In the meantime, please check your bottles, cans and drink cartons. If they have 10c on them please recycle and help us fundraise. Set up a container in your room or bring them to E2 for storage until next recycling day. Helpers are needed to sort the containers into categories before delivering to Robinvale Trash and Treasure.
School Chaplaincy
It's my privilege to be the new school chaplain of Robinvale College. I thought I would take this opportunity to let everyone know what school chaplaincy is and how it works.
Chaplaincy is a confidential service for anyone in the school community to come and talk to about things going on in there lives. School can be an extremely difficult time for many and sometimes we all need someone to talk through our problems to. As the school chaplain my door is always open for students, staff, and family to come and talk about the struggles you're facing. We can discuss options for services if you need, strategies to help you through, and ultimately be the safe space needed. Confidentiality is paramount and will only be broken when it is needed for safety and wellbeing purposes.
Over the coming days and weeks I will be starting up some programs in various year levels, aimed to help build relationships, strengthen resilience, and build mental and emotional wellbeing. If you want any information about these programs feel free to let me know.
The school now has a wellbeing webpage. This webpage can be accessed by the link below or by scanning the QR code, the link is also available in the compass accounts quick links under "Robinvale Wellbeing." On this page you will find inspirational videos, forms to report bullying (anonymous or not), arrange a chat with me or someone else, wellbeing trackers that will give you tips on what to do when feeling various emotions. This webpage is being updated constantly so keep an eye out for new updates on the page.
https://sites.google.com/education.vic.gov.au/rcwellbeing/home
WOW PROGRAM
As the new year begins, the fresh team from Robinvale College embarks on an exciting adventure through the WOW program. We extend our warmest wishes to them as they explore growth and learning
YEAR 6-8 INDUCTION CAMP
Clontarf camps are back for 2024 with a whole new crew!
To celebrate the start of the new school year, Clontarf's annual Year 6-8 Induction Camp came and went in Week 3. All three Mallee Academies (Robinvale, Mildura and Swan Hill) came together for an overnight camp at the Mildura Motorcycle Club. As Clontarf’s first camp of the year, this was many of the student’s first time meeting each other, and for the Year 7’s of Mildura and Swan Hill it was their first ever Clontarf camp. While Robinvale Clontarf Academy members Corey Valinoti-Marks (Year 7) and Harry Pettit (Grade 6) have been a part of our Academy since our entry year Grade 4, both students were excited to meet their new Clontarf peers. Coming into the camp with more experience than the other boys, Corey and Harry showed great leadership with their exceptional behaviour. After leaving the Robinvale Academy Room on Thursday afternoon the boys touched down at the Motorcycle Club to set up swags and meet the other Academies. The afternoon was spent playing teambuilding exercises and activities, followed by a BBQ tea. After a feed, the boys enjoyed the evening swimming and fishing down the river. Friday morning, everyone was up early for a morning ‘s Super Training, filled with fun games for a bit of physical exercise. Finally, the camp was rounded off with a tour of the Mildura Police Station, complete with real police gear! Everyone involved had a fantastic time and the rest of the Clontarf boys can look forward to more events in the near future.
