Issue 615
05 November 2009
Contact our school
18-20 Ruskin Avenue(P. O. Box 249)
CROYDON, Vic 3136
Ph: (03) 9723 3886
Fax: (03) 9725 5355
OSHC: 0439 345 134
Email: ruskin.park.ps
@edumail.vic.gov.au
Web: www.ruskinparkps.vic.edu.au
Our Sponsors
Please click on any advertisement to email the affiliated business or view further details such as company brochures, flyers or promotions
 NOVEMBER
Movember for Men’s Health
Thurs 5th Nov
Footsteps Dance program – last session
6:45pm – 7:45pm – Blokes Night
Ruskin News
Fri 6th Nov
Disco Night – Prep to 2’s 6-7pm & Yr 3-6’s 7-8:00pm
Mon 9th Nov
9:15am-10:15am – Prep Transition
7:00pm – School Council
Mon 9th-Fri 13th Nov
CANCELLED - Years 2-5 Swimming
Wed 11th Nov
Remembrance Day – short assembly 10:30am
Mon 16th Nov
Assembly & Principal’s Awards
Tues 17th Nov
School Photos for Yr 6 Graduates, Teams, Choir
7:30pm – Families & Friends Meeting
Thurs 19th Nov
Ruskin News
12:30-1:30pm – Prep Transition
Fri 20th Nov
Rehearsal for Concert at George Wood Theatre
Mon 23rd Nov
Assembly & Principal’s Awards
Wed 25th Nov
Whole School Concert – 7:30pm
Mon 30th Nov
Assembly & Principal’s Awards
DECEMBER
Wed 2nd Dec
7:00-8:00pm – Prep Orientation Night
Thurs 3rd Dec
Ruskin News
9:30-10:30am – Prep Transition
Ann’s Music Concert (changed from 26th Nov.)
School Council Dinner
Mon 7th Dec
Assembly & Principal’s Awards / Teachers’ Planning Day
Tues 8th Dec
Choir and Recorder Concert
Thurs 10th Dec
Thank you Morning Tea for all Parent Helpers & Volunteers
Fri 11th Dec
3:45pm – Stuart’s Music Concert
Reports go home
Mon 14th Dec
Assembly with Flute Performance
Year 6 Graduation Night
Tues 15th Dec
Parent / Teacher Interviews
Wed 16th Dec
1:35pm onwards – Class Parties
3:15pm – Kids Hope Break Up Party
Thurs 17th Dec
Ruskin News
Croydon ABC Christmas Concert in Courtyard-private function
Fri 18th Dec
1:30pm Dismissal – Last Day of Term 4
Happy & Safe Holidays to All!
School Concert – 25th November
The highly anticipated biannual school concert will be held on Wednesday, 25th November-7:30 pm
at the George Wood Theatre, Yarra Valley Grammar. There is one half day rehearsal scheduled
for Friday, 20th November and the students will be bussed to the theatre on this day. Kindly sign
and return the permission slips when you receive them.
Parents are asked to let their child’s teacher know if their child will not be attending the school
concert evening on the 25th November. Students who will not be performing on the 25th November
will remain at school under supervision on the rehearsal day. Other than designated parent
helpers, the rehearsal is restricted to students and staff from RPPS.
Ticket information will be available shortly and further inquiries or questions may be directed to
Mrs. Jenny Rainbow, Concert Director and Manager. Call the school on 9723 3886.
Lunch Slips
From time to time students arrive at school without a lunch. On these occasions the school
provides a couple of slices of toast with a choice of jam or vegemite for the children to eat. No food
is provided from the canteen.
As of November 6, the school will send home a slip with each student for whom food is provided.
This allows families to organise and discuss the preparation and bringing to school of lunch so that
students can take greater responsibility for remembering to bring along a packed lunch or money
on canteen days – Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thank you for your attention to this important
issue.
Photo Day for Graduating Year Six Students & Teams
On Tuesday, 17 November, all Year Six students will have their Graduation photo taken. All other
teams and special groups such as the School Choir will also be photographed. Students, teachers
and parents are asked to check with the school office to ensure that all special groups and teams
have been included and acknowledged for photo takes on this day. A list of the groups is available
for viewing at the office.
The school will be using advancelife photography www.advancelife.com.au for the Graduation
and Team photos this year as well as for the school photos in February, 2010. The school benefits
by receiving a commission towards additional program resources for the photo packages sold and
families have the advantage of accessing their child’s photos over time as these are archived for
30 years.
Families will be able to purchase from the traditional photo packages offered at various prices.
Details will be available at the start of the new school year in 2010. All families who submit their
orders by the due date in 2010 will be placed into a draw to win one of five gift vouchers for one
complimentary “A” Super Value School Photography Package valued at over $100 each.
The Family & Junior Australian Run
On Saturday 28th November children aged 11-14 will have an opportunity to run or walk 5km and
those aged under 11 years of age can participate in the Great Australian Family Run over 2km.
Parents are welcome to participate with the children.
This event takes place at Albert Park and Cathy Freeman will be present as well as loads of
different sports for children to try out. A discounted entry fee of $20 per child is required to enter
this event. If a group of 10 or more children take part and enter as a school group, an additional
discount is available. The school offers this information to interested families and will not be
organizing a school group to enter the event this year.
Entry forms and details are available at www.greataustralianrun.com.au
Reminder of Swimming Program Cancellation
Due to insufficient numbers this year’s supplementary swimming program for students from years
2-5 has been cancelled.
Blokes Night
Remember that on Thursday, 5th November, boys from years 4-6 and their fathers, grandfathers,
uncles or other significant carers are welcome to attend a puberty talk from 6:45 -7:45 pm. Light
snacks will be provided. See Mrs. Bickford for more details.
Mothers & Daughters Night
 Thank you to all the girls and their mothers/carers who attended the recent puberty session held on
29 October. The presenters did a terrific job and on behalf of those who participated I’d like to once
again thank Mrs. Bickford, Ms. Plant (school nurse), Mr. Robbie Boyle (Chaplain) and Mrs. Kim
Dall.
Disco Night – Friday, 6th November
All students are invited to attend a FREE Disco Night this coming Friday. Years Prep to Two are
welcome from 6-7pm and Years 3-6 are welcome from 7-8:00 pm. All parents are welcome to join
in or drop off their children who will be supervised for the designated times of the year levels.
Remembrance Day Ceremony
A brief ceremony will take place in the school courtyard from 10:40-11:00 am on Wednesday, 11th
November. All parents and family members are welcome to attend. Lest we forget!
Thank You to…
Thanks to Mr. Brown for organising a fantastic Japanese Day on Tuesday, 20th October. Everyone
had a great time and learned new skills as well as enjoying interesting demonstrations of Japanese
Daiko Drumming and Ninja self-defence.
Thanks to Mrs. Vistarini for organising the 2009 Walk-a-thon which raised over $1200 towards the
purchase of an electronic white board for the Library. Thanks also to all the parents who joined in
and to the helpers at the water station, Sam and Steve Unsworth.
Thanks to Mr. Alexander for organising the annual ‘Music Count Us In’ singing event where
schools across Australia sang the same song Music is Everything at the same time on the same
day – Thursday, 22 October at 11:30 am. Well done to everyone for their participation – it sounded
fantastic!
Thanks to Mr. Scott for organising the collection of plastic bags to save the environment event.
While the school had a late start with this activity, more than 1000 bags were collected by students!
Thanks to everyone for caring about the environment.
Thank you to Mr. David Cook for the time and effort he has contributed to the school to finalise the
plans and selection of new playground equipment for the students at Ruskin Park Primary School.
New playgrounds will soon be installed for the children to enjoy.
Thank you to Families and Friends who are running the SunBlock Australia fundraiser at this time.
Remember to be safe this summer and ensure that your children are wearing sun block to school
every day. The school will receive a $2 profit for every item sold and these funds will also go
towards the purchase of the electronic whiteboard for the Library.
Congratulations to all Solar Boat competitors
Thanks again to Mrs. Pope, Mr. Cain, Ms. Thompson and the parents for their support of all the
students who prepared to compete in the 2009 Solar Boat Challenge.
A special mention goes to Holly W and Angel C who were the Metro winners and have been asked
to return to compete at the Australian Championships.
Well done to everyone and good luck to Holly and Angel!
Elle May Laikve
Principal
 Japanese Drummers and Ninja Warriors
 Safety on the internet
At school the internet is used to support learning. All internet usage is supervised and monitored.
At home, the internet can be used for projects, but also as a social space to meet, play and chat.
The internet can be lots of fun. If you have the internet at home, encourage your child to show you
what they are doing online. Make time to sit with your child to find out how they are using the
internet and who else is involved in online activities. Have the computer with internet access in a
shared place in the house – not your child’s bedroom.
It's recommended that at home that you ask questions when your child shows you what they are
doing, such as:
 How does it work and how do you set it up?
Who is else is sharing this space or game? Did you “meet” them online?
Can you see any risks or dangers in the activity? - What are you doing to protect yourself or
your friends from these potential dangers?
When would you inform an adult about an online incident that concerns you?
Some students like to publish information about themselves and their friends on social networking
sites like Facebook, however it is important that they understand that they should not provide
personal details or the personal details of other students as once published, this information, image
or comment could be seen, changed or used by others.
Remember to also encourage students to password protect any accounts they have and most
importantly be aware of strangers
education and awareness for children, young people and parents.
Thank you,
Mary Kelly
Congratulations to all those who participated in our annual Spring Walk-a-thon on Wednesday 21st
October.
Those who participated enjoyed a 5km walk around Dorset Golf Course with their teachers,
parents and classmates on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
Students are now reminded to collect money from any sponsors they collected prior to the walk. So
far we have managed to raise $1,253.80 and this money will go towards the purchase of a new
electronic whiteboard.
So keep that sponsorship money coming in and enjoy the sunny weather by continuing to walk and
staying healthy!
Mel Vistarini
 2010 Enrolments
All families are required complete new enrolment forms each year. 2010 enrolment forms will be
available at the Oshc program from Wednesday 2nd December 2009. Enrolments will be
accepted in order of receipt and families will be notified in writing of their child/children’s place in
the program. If the need arises for a waiting list, Australian Government Priority of Access
Guidelines will be applied as stated in our Policy And Procedure manual.
Please note that enrolments for 2010 will not be accepted until outstanding accounts have been
paid.
Programs
These programs are planned in consultation with the children and highlight “Special” activities
based around the children’s interests and requests. We aim to repeat these activities during each
week to ensure all interested children have an opportunity to participate.
Other activities available every day include: Dramatic Play, Construction, Music/DVDs, Game boys
and Computers, Drawing, Junk Construction, Puzzles and Board Games, Quiet Area for Reading
and Homework, Sports Equipment and Outdoor Games.
WHAT’S ON AT BEFORE SCHOOL CARE
Monday 09th November –
Friday 13th November 2009
Craft: - Butterfly Painting
Cooking: - Popcorn Caramels
(Thursday)
Gardening: - Weeding and Mulching
Outdoor Fun: - Basketball Skills
Monday 09th November –
Friday 13th November 2009
Craft: - Bottle Critters
Cooking: - Apple Tea Cake
(Tuesday)
Gardening: - Planting Tomatoes
Outdoor Fun: - Balloon Games
 WHAT’S ON AT AFTER SCHOOL CARE
Monday 09th November –
Friday 13th November 2009
Cooking: - Pikelets (Wednesday)
Games in GP Room: Children’s
Choice
Craft: - Stars in Jars
AASC Sports: - Multi Sports (Wed)
Gymnastics (Friday)
Monday 09th November –
Friday 13th November 2009
Craft: - Bottle Critters
Science Fun: - Volcanoes
Cooking: - Apricot Chews (Friday)
AASC Sports: - Multi Sports (Wed)
Gymnastics (Friday
OSHC Team
Out of School Hours Child Care
A group of 14 Level 4 students have been working on designing, building and testing 6 boats for
the Model Solar Challenge run by Monash University. They spent many lunch times last term, a
day during the holidays and just about every day this term working on their boats to have them
ready for the competition which was held last week end (October 17th and 18th).
We have had a very limited chance to trial our boats in preparation for the competition, so were not
sure how our boats would perform.
Saturday was the BIG DAY! We all arrived at Scienceworks by 9am to have our boats scrutinized
and hand in our posters. Then the fun started! We had until 10:30 to test out boats and iron out any
problems. We used washers, nuts and even a 50c coin to balance our boats.
Each boat had 3 races in a Round Robin in the morning, which allowed us to make modifications to
help the boats go faster. Most of our boats had at least one win and a couple of them were looking
promising. As the cloud cover became lighter, the racing became faster.
After lunch the Knock Out Finals began. The clouds were beginning to lift and we had some sunny
patches. Unfortunately a couple of our boats were knocked out in the first round as they raced
against the faster boats, but were actually faster than a lot of boats that went on to the next round.
We ended up with 2 of our boats in the last 6, Josh C’s ‘Silver Tide’ and Holly W. and Angel C’s
‘The Marshmallows’. Unfortunately Josh’s boat was beaten in the semi finals, but Holly and Angels
boat won and had made it into the Metropolitan finals. It was the best of 3 races. “The
Marshmallows” won the first race convincingly, also the second. They came 2nd in the third race,
but had enough points to be overall winners!! Congratulations girls.
Both boats were then asked to return on Sunday and race against the top 6 country boats to
decide which boat was the Victorian Champion.
Sunday proved to have heavier clouds than the day before, but both boats performed extremely
well against the Regional boats and were once again in the top 6 Victorian boats! Unfortunately,
they were both beaten in the semi finals, but have still been asked to compete in the Australian
Championships to be held in November.
We will continue to modify the boats and hope for full sun for “The Marshmallows” to perform at
their best at the Australian Championship!
The students all had a wonderful day. It’s a great way to enjoy the fruits of their labour! I would like
to thank Steve Cain for helping me to work with the students and have their boats ready for the
competition and to all the parents who made the trip to Scienceworks with their children. Also the
Marnie Thompson, a trainee teacher for coming with me and making sure the teams were at the
pool in time for their races.
 Margot Pope
COME AND HEAR THE SCHOOL ROCK BAND Platinum Anarchy
PERFORM AT 11:15 am THEIR FIRST GIG OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL IN 2009!
 Come along and support the Ruskin Park Rock Band
“Platinum Anarchy”
at the Croydon Uniting Church Fete this
Saturday November 7th.
(Croydon Rd, next to Croydon P.S., just round the corner from Coles)
On Stage about 11.15 am
Be there or be
?
 A
A separate handout will be given out today to the oldest in the family outlining details about our
concert. Tickets will be on sale soon so take the time to read the information carefully. Thank you.
Jenny Rainbow
Arts Convenor
THE RUSKIN PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL VISION
Every student at Ruskin Park Primary School can develop their natural curiosity and
imagination through new and engaging approaches to teaching and learning.
The encouragement of a positive attitude within a friendly community of learners will
promote success today, tomorrow and into the future.
THE RUSKIN PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL VALUES ARE
Building Friendships
Creativity
Honesty, and Respect
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