The Newsletter Friday 14th February 2025
SWIMMING CARNIVAL RESCHEDULED
The Robinvale College Swimming Carnival has been rescheduled to be held on Tuesday, 25th February. Students are encouraged to dress up in their school house colours – Blue, Green or Gold.
Students should arrive at school at their usual time and will walk to the Robinvale Leisure Centre with staff for a 9:30am start. The event will finish approximately 2:30pm and staff will walk students back to the school for the usual dismissal time of 3:05pm.
Families and carers are welcome to attend the event and cheer on our students
PRINCIPAL REPORT
Welcome students, parents, carers and our community supporters to the 2025 school year.
Firstly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new families. For our Foundation students welcome and we look forward to watching you learn and grow over the next 13 years. To our Year 12 students how exciting that you have reached such a significant milestone in your lives. This year will fly by and before you know it you will embarking on the next stage of your journey. Work hard and make the most of all the opportunities that will be offered.
Before the start of the year, we made some significant changes to the year levels and class structures. Our Foundation to Year 6 students are now all working in the E building. Already we are seeing such a change in our senior primary students as they take up the role of leaders in their community. The Year 7 to Year 9 community is continuing in the M building and we will be working with our middle years students to make sure they are prepared for the senior years of 10 to 12. The V building is the hub for our senior students where the focus is on preparing for life and learning beyond Robinvale College. Of course, across the 3 communities we will have an overarching focus on Academic excellence and developing well rounded happy community members.
In 2025, all our classroom teachers and the leadership team are focussing on making our Instructional Model (GROWTH) more consistent in every lesson and every classroom. A consistent approach and model of teaching across the school supports all our students to learn and grow. Additionally, we are aiming to support our students and teachers to have calm and orderly classrooms with our “Catchup” program.
In the first newsletter it is also timely to remind families that students are expected to be in full school uniform and prepared and ready to learn with all the right equipment for each class. Remember if you need support with school uniform, please contact the wonderful office staff who are more than willing to assist. It is also timely to remind students and families that mobile phones SHOULD NOT be at school. Phones can be handed to the office, Community Coordinators or securely stored away. If your student is found using a phone at school, you will be contacted.
Unfortunately, our House Swimming Carnival need to be postponed because of the extreme temperature. Our new date is Tuesday 24th February . I am very excited to see who will bring home the trophy this year. Hopefully, we will have many parents and supports at the pool to cheer everyone on. Regardless, of who wins I know the pool will be buzzing and the free BBQ will be getting plenty of customers.
I am very excited for the 2025 school year and all the opportunities and events it holds. School Camps are returning this year with the Year 12 Leadership Camp already attended. Our Year 12’s came home last Friday happy and exhausted after 2 days of fabulous activities. The other camps will run throughout the year. This year we are also offering students many more opportunities to be involved in inter-school sports and cultural activities and excursions. I look forward to working with you all to make this a year to remember.
Timeline for our School Council election process:
Notice of election: 14th February 2025
Closing date for nominations: 28th February 2025
Close of ballot (if required): 14th March 2025
New Council meets: 18th March 2025
Nomination Forms can be collected from the front office at the College
Positions Vacant 2025
1 School Employee
1 Parents
1 Students
WELCOME TO OUR NEW STAFF
Taka Pasai
Taka has joined us from Harare in Zimbabwe. His studies include BSC Applied Chemistry, and MSC Science Education. HIs teaching experience includes Science teacher: Waterberg High Sch, South Africa 2010-2016, Chemistry teacher: Lee Central High School, USA 2016-2018, Chemistry teacher: National Private School, Oman 2018-2020, Chemistry teacher: Dwight School Dubai, UAE 2020-2024. Taka is teaching Science in the 7-10 year levels. Taka First impressions of Robinvale College, he is very Excited to be here, the school leadership team and all staff at the school have given me a lot of support, I feel welcomed and looking forward to contributing to the school and the community at large.
Rhys Phelan
Rhys comes from Melbourne! He has have lived there his whole life. Rhys is currently completing his Master's of Education, through the Teach for Australia program. Before this he completed a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in the Arts Industry, with a minor in Pop Culture studies! Rhys is currently teaching in the subject areas of Media, Humanities and Personal Development! His first impressions are nothing but positive! The town has been incredibly welcoming, let alone the staff at the school who have made his transition as smooth as he could have imagined!
Catherine O’Haire
We welcome back Catherine O'Haire,
Catherine has been living in Robinvale since 2018 and worked at the college until going on family leave in 2021. She grew up in the town of Healesville, about an hour out of Melbourne. After finishing high school Catherine obtained an Arts degree (Deakin University) and a graduate diploma in Secondary Education (La Trobe University). Previous working at the College, she worked at a girls school in Melbourne and small country school in Gippsland. Catherine is currently work part time at the College, teaching Year 12 English and VPC Work Related Skills. The College is as she remembered -A friendly, diverse and always an event, camp or special day to look forward to.
WELCOME TO OUR FOUNDATION STUDENTS
The Foundation students have had a fantastic start to the school year! They have embraced new routines, made new friends, and enjoyed engaging in exciting learning activities. From exploring foundational literacy and numeracy skills to participating in hands-on play-based learning, their enthusiasm has been wonderful to see.
It has been a joy watching them grow in confidence as they navigate their new environment. We look forward to an exciting term ahead, filled with curiosity, creativity, and lots of learning!
JENNER BOYS AT ROBINVALE COLLEGE
The Jenner boys all attend Robinvale College. The boys have all attended here since Foundation (Prep) . Cooper is studying Year 12 as well as doing a school-based apprenticeship Davoli Electricals. We have Cooper Jenner in Year 12, Hamish Jenner in Year 10 Riley Jenner in Year 8 Darcy Jenner in Year 5 and Lachlan Jenner in Foundation.
YEAR 12 LEADERSHIP CAMP
Students in year 12 went away to Lake Cullulleraine for a team building and goal setting camp. They participated in a range of activities that built trust and team spirit. On Thursday, lots of time was spent on the lake, canoeing and playing games. After lunch, there were team building tasks making a balloon tower and a trust task with blindfolds. We played Trav’s Trivia after dinner and the first prize was dinner at the Golf Club with Trav! Well done to that team – those questions were HARD! On Friday, students focussed on managing their time well in year 12 in order to juggle all of their commitments. They also shared their Hero, (educational) Hardship and Highlight, with many people sharing that the camp had made them feel closer as a team and given them chances to mix with people they normally wouldn’t. I feel very grateful to have been a part of this camp. It was a great opportunity to start to get to know these lovely students.
Michelle Griffiths.
ELIZABETH IS OFF TO CANBERRA
Congratulations to Elizabeth Chirchiglia, one of 25 students selected to participate in the National Schools Constitutional Convention. Elizabeth will be representing the state of Victoria in Canberra later in March. We are honoured for her to be representing our voice from Robinvale
MEET AND GREET BBQ
Last Wednesday, we hosted a wonderful Meet & Greet BBQ, bringing together parents, friends, and members of the school community. Guests were treated to a delicious sausage sizzle while students had the exciting opportunity to meet the school’s beloved pet dog.
We were honoured to welcome the local councillors, Cr King and Cr Englefield and representatives from Jade Benham MP Office, who joined in to show their support for our school. It was a fantastic event filled with great conversations, warm connections, and a strong sense of community.
A big thank you to everyone who attended—we look forward to many more events like this in the future!
RECYCLING
The Robinvale College is once again recycling our plastic bottles and aluminium cans. Please donate if you can. All money raised goes back into the school for our students.
CASEA PROGRAM
Robinvale College has been invited to partake in the Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS) and Schools Early Action Plan (CASEA) this year. Robinvale College will be working alongside a child mental health specialist from Mildura CYMHS, Nellie Patterson (Psychologist) to provide early intervention for students in Grades 2 and 3.
CASEA is an evidenced-based program first developed by the Royal Children’s Hospital and jointly funded by the Department of Human Services and the Victorian Department of Education.
The CASEA child program will be offered to a small group of students in Grades 2 and 3. Additionally a parent group running in Term 2 will be open for any interested parents for children in these year levels to attend. The Parent group program is based on the Tuning into Kids model. Your child does not need to be part of the CASEA student group for you to participate in the parent group.
Aims and Rationale for the Children’s and Parents Group
The CASEA program is an early intervention program that aims at improving the mental health and wellbeing of those children that are struggling with managing their emotions, making friends and managing their behaviour at school and home. The CASEA program has a dual focus in that it works alongside parents and their children in teaching and building skills through a group model approach. CASEA clinicians will lead a 6-week small group of children and a separate parent group alongside chosen school staff who will continue to be able to monitor and support the families once the program has ended.
Parents/Caregivers will have their own opportunity to talk about parenting and ways to assist their children based on the specialised parenting program which combines Bringing Up Great Kids and Tuning into Kids. This parenting group will run for 6 weeks in Term 2. Details will be sent home closer to the time.
If you are a parent of a Grade 2 or 3 student and wish to know more about the CASEA program, please contact:
CASEA: Nellie Patterson 0497 842 255
Robinvale College: Celeste Hill 03 5026 3704
THE ROBINVALE LEARNING AND COMMUNITY HUB NEWS
The Robinvale Learning & Community Hub would love to extend the invitation to your learning service to attend this upcoming exhibit at the Robinvale Learning & Community Hub.
This is a wonderful, open ended conversation starting exhibit where viewers of the artwork are encouraged to share their ideas around the identity of the "Three Well Known Australians" depicted. There is no right or wrong answer and responses are collated as a kind of snapshot in time to tour with the painting to its next destination. There will also be yearbooks of past responses, including those by other well-known Australian characters including sports people, politicians and actors, available for viewing.
