The Connection Coldstream Primary School 16th September, 2020

Respect Compassion Personal Best Resilience

From the Principal’s Desk

LIGHT at the end of the tunnel - While this lockdown has been tough, I feel like decisions have been

made in order to preserve life and keep everyone safe. Notwithstanding that, we will all be happy when

we can have your children return to us and get back to the business of learning in a very social context.

We know that children learn best through talk and through social interaction. At this stage while it is

clear that P-2s return in week 2 on Monday 12th October and we are planning for 3-6 to return on the

26th October, we are hoping that we may be allowed to bring the 3-6 children in earlier. We will keep

you posted if there are changes. The learning, when we return, will have a heavier focus on core Literacy

and Numeracy skills to ensure that the children are well prepared for 2021. We remind you to ensure

that all materials come back to school.

REPORTING – will be not dissimilar to Semester 1 but will have a clearer idea where your child is against

the Victorian Curriculum. More information is elsewhere in this newsletter.

ATOSS – This year the Attitude to Schools Survey will have a greater focus on student wellbeing as a

result of current circumstances. To this end there is an information sheet in this newsletter. Please let

me know if you have any concerns.

OH&S compliance – We have recently been audited and have received 100% compliance – which

requires a considerable amount of work and evidence. We remind parents of affected children to

ensure that we have CURRENT ASTHMA and ANAPHYLAXIS PLANS updated by your child’s doctor.

Term 4 sees lots of allergies from pollens and we do not wish to take chances with your child’s health.

CURRICULUM DAY – as part of our work with our neighbouring schools we will be working together on

November 2nd and while we are working, there is an opportunity for our families to enjoy and very long

weekend.

ENROLMENTS – Keep encouraging those you know who haven’t yet enrolled to make contact with us to

assist us with our planning. All children starting school in 2021 should now be enrolled at a school.

RESPECT COMPASSION PERSONAL BEST RESILIENCE

Phillippa Adgemis – Principal

2 The Connection

STARS OF THE Week F/1M

Zackary M – in recognition of his excellent money knowledge & value of coins

Jacob M – outstanding work across all areas. Sensational!

Jake – for working so hard on his handwriting & letter formations

Chloe - for displaying focus & concentration on all tasks. Woo Hoo!

Lucas - being a motivated and independent student with a great love of learning who strives to do his

best at all times. Well done!

Benji - working hard to learn the names of all his classmates. Super effort!

P/1 - Showing persistence & resilience during Term 3 and making me so proud to be your teacher.

1/2B

Kobi - showing enthusiasm with your learning. Lucy - showing pride in all of her work.

Brodi - reading using fantastic expression!

Lucy - completing all tasks with excellent effort and beautiful handwriting.

Paige - completing all tasks including all of the Eeek Grid tasks this week!

Bella - completing all work for Term 3, including the extra activities, neatly and enthusiastically!

Emily - Presenting tasks with enthusiasm and fantastic expression!

Kobi - Always having a smile and eagerness to share information with me. Lani - Showing FANTASTIC expression when reading aloud to me!

All Grade 1/2B for Showing perseverance during Term 3 and helping to put a smile on my face

3/4T

Annika - completing all tasks on time and always putting her best effort into them. Henry – always participating in our morning meetings and trying his best. Natalya - her high standard of work and for collaboratively working with me to improve her opinion writing. Tiarni - working hard on improving her work this week and for being an active participant in reading with Mrs Godden. Alsie - working endlessly on catching up on work she has missed Noah - working hard on completing a great opinion text on the benefits of having a school pet.

5/6

Lachie - For assisting others with queries

Mitch - For applying himself to Remote Learning in a positive and productive manner

Gavin - For showing improvement in his work standards

Ryan - For showing great insight in our daily quiz questions

Olivier - For showing improvement in his Remote Learning tasks

Mackenzie - For assisting others with queries

3 The Connection

LOTE AWARDS Lydia for doing a wonderful job of her animal labelling in Indonesian and coming up

with creative ways to present her work. Hebat!

Chloe has been working very hard at home on her Indonesian tasks. She has synergised

with her family to get her work completed and uploaded every week. Hebat!!

Paige has approached her Indonesian tasks during remote learning with enthusiasm.

Often completing the extension activities and recording herself speaking in Indonesian

and uploading it to SeeSaw. Menakjubkan!

Tayah has approached her Indonesian tasks during remote learning with enthusiasm.

Often completing the extension activities and recording herself speaking in Indonesian

and uploading it to SeeSaw. Menakjubkan!

Zoe has diligently completed her Indonesian work during remote learning. Fantastic to

see some great Indonesian work being handed in. Bagus sekali!

Luke has tried to challenge himself with his Indonesian studies by writing extra

sentences in Indonesian. Hebat!

Hayden has completed all set Indonesian tasks during remote learning. His work is

always neat, orderly, completed and uploaded by the due date. Menakjubkan!

Lily has enthusiastically completed her Indonesian tasks during remote learning. She

often takes the time to video herself explaining her completed work and taking the

opportunity to speak in Indonesian where appropriate. Hebat!

4 The Connection

MATHLETICS AWARDS

P/1M

Cooper – Bronze x2 Lydia – Bronze x2 Anae – Bronze x2 Tayte – Bronze x2 Kady – Bronze x3 Karlea – x2 Jade – Bronze x2 Lucas – Bronze x2 Ellie - Bronze Taya – Bronze Jacob – Bronze & Silver Chloe – Bronze & Silver Special congratulations to Kaiden who received Bronze x2, Silver & Gold Special congratulations to Lucas who received Bronze, Silver & Gold Special congratulations to Karlea who received Bronze, Silver & Gold 1/2B Alice – Bronze x2 Kobi – Bronze x2 Paige – Bronze Isabella – Bronze Nikita – Bronze Tayah – Bronze Lani – Bronze Ruby – Bronze x2 Josh – Bronze Lucy – Bronze Brodi – Bronze Chelsea – Bronze x2 Paige – Bronze x2 Isabella – Bronze x2 Harry – Bronze x2 Lani – Bronze x2 & Silver Emily – Bronze x2 & Silver Special congratulations to Tayah who received Bronze x2, Silver and Gold 3/4T Angus – Bronze Tiarni – Bronze x3 Jacob – Bronze x2 Matthew – Bronze x2 Noah – Bronze & Silver Henry – Bronze & Silver Special congratulations to Briony who received Bronze x3, Silver & Gold Special congratulations to Luke who received Bronze x2, Silver & Gold 5/6

Kailey – Bronze Hayden – Bronze

Mitch – Bronze Gavin – Bronze

Nathan – Bronze Kane – Bronze

Kaiyah – Bronze Jackson – Bronze

Riley H – Bronze Tylah – Bronze x2

Ryan – Bronze & Silver Shelby – Bronze & Silver

5 The Connection

P/1M Online Learning

.

Zac D colouring

with lots of focus

My Dad Rocks – Jacob, Lydia & Lucas

Benji’s has tried hard with

his writing

Our creative Father’s Day cards

from Cooper, Taya and Karlea

6 The Connection

Ellie’s sssstunning

colouring of a

sssssnake.

Zac made a spoon craft. How cool are these?

Lucas learning about

the language of

Chance and his

completed Sound

Waves.

Benji has tried really

hard with his Sound

Waves.

Karlea’s snake

poem and Lydia’s

sssssnake writing

7 The Connection

1/2B Online Learning

TY writing and reading

– Bella, Harry, Tayah,

Paige, Kobi, Peter

James & Emily,

Procedural writing

and activity – Josh,

Emily, Lani, Kade,

Paige, Ruby & Mia

8 The Connection

Writing – Emily, Kobi, Nate, Paige

Shaylii, Tayah & Lucy

Math with Bella, Mason,

Nikita & Shaylii

LOTE –

Chelsea, Kobi

& Mia

Art Activities – Paige, Ruby, Shaylii, Paige, Lani & Mason

9 The Connection

Read To Self – Josh, Nate,

Peter James, Lani & Ruby

Show and Tell with Chelsea, Kobi and Mason

Safari Surprise – Tayah, Paige & Lucy

Family exercise for the Pimblett

family and Hip Hop lessons in the

McLeod household

10 The Connection

3/4T Online Learning

Indigenous Literacy Day

Wednesday, September 2nd was Indigenous Literacy Day. The grade 3/4 class celebrated the day by

listening to the story KooKoo Kookaburra. We then created our own Kookaburra art and we wrote our

own Dreamtime stories using words from Noongar which is the official language of the Aboriginal

people of the south-west of Western Australia.

Briony, Charlotte, Luke,

Natalya and Josh –

KooKoo Kookaburra

Tiarni - It was a little bit hard but I got it done in the last bit.

Our little rabbit Annika showing you

can eat and work at the same time.

Happy munching!!!

11 The Connection

A long long time ago and still now we had Aboriginal they ruled the land they made this whole thing they made spears and made like hammers and they were really kind to everyone. - Alsie

HOW THE CROW DIDN'T GET HIS COLOR Long long ago when birds didn’t have their colour and crows were mean fellows. They kept to themselves and stayed away from the other birds, until one day when a bird went to get a worm as he was going down his foot got stabbed by a stick. The crow was off flying about and saw him on the ground. The crow did not go to help but when other birds saw him they went to help. After they pulled the stick out whoosh whoosh all the colours came out of the bird’s leg and that’s how the crows missed out on getting their colour. – Angus

How the dingo got its colour. (Golden Dingo) Once upon a time in the Dreamtime, a dingo named Yindi was hunting for food. When she stumbled down to a riverbank but the water was not brown but gold she looked in the water and saw a golden platypus and it was a girl platypus. She was so hungry she dove in and tried to get the platypus. But when she came out with no food… she went home starving. When she was almost home she saw a mouse. When she was about to eat it. The mouse said, “Oh dingo don't eat me. I know where you can get the best fish”. So she followed the mouse back to the riverbank. She was so hungry. When she was there she saw what the mouse was talking about but all of a sudden… splash! The mouse had pushed the dingo into the water. The dingo kept going until… she saw a big fish she grabbed it and ate it when she was in her den she saw her paws were golden and that's how the dingo got its colour. - Annika

How the dingo got its colour (alpine dingo) Once upon a time in the Dreamtime, there was a dingo named Minjarra. Minjarra was angry because he was white as snow but he was in the desert and often hunters would think he was a girl. He looked bad he thought so he went upstream and saw an alpine dingo he begged to look like him. And finally, the dingo gave up. But in the morning he was way different so he went out and all the animals including other dingos saw him and that's how the alpine dingo got its colour. –Annika Kangaroo was the highest jumper in the world and the way he become the highest jumper he was doing sooo much jumping sport for 9 years and 8 months - Dane

12 The Connection

LU LU The Possum

One day there was a possum named Lu Lu. Lu Lu had some friends named Boomerang the Sugar Glider, Gadget the Capybara and Bear the Choc Lab. They loved it when Lu Lu jumped over them even when they were eating. She loved when Boomerang was in the tree with her but Bear and Gadget couldn’t go up in the tree. Later that night they all came down and sang a song but Lu Lu was yelling weird words. The next morning Lu Lu saw that all the animals were gone. She searched for them all day long. She took some breaks and had some water but it was getting late and dark and all of the animals that she didn't know were coming out so she ran back to the house they were living at then...SHE FOUND THEM! They were awake playing cards and Bear said “where were you? Do you want to join in?” - Briony

The kangaroo that found its pouch. One day there was a kangaroo that didn’t have a pouch. That kangaroo was teased and bullied. His mother thought that not having a pouch was special because he was different which is true because most kangaroos have pouches. Now if I was him I would be glad that I am different being different means that you are the special one. Sometime later the kangaroo finally got his pouch. He said “I am going to love being normal but I am going to miss being the odd one I thought that was amazing”. – Charlotte One day there was a parrot. The other animals said that the parrot was ugly, but he wasn't. He was nice, but then the parrot turned into a mean parrot and he made fun of other animals just like they did. The snake said, ``Why are you mean?” Parrot said “because you told the animals to be mean to me”. “I didn't,” said the snake. “I swear it was another animal” Parrot found out it was his brother who told the animals to be mean to him. Then parrot asked all the animals to stop being mean because it wasn’t nice. All the animals agreed and they all had a good time. - Gemma

How the echidnas got their spikes.

One Day Echidna was talking to his friends, Koolbardi, Kaada, Koolmal and Yonga. They were talking about Echidna saying that he was looking a bit different today, so he told them what happened. He said “Today I was going to see my old friends but I heard them talking about me, they said that I was weird and ugly. Then all I could see was red (which means anger). I was so angry I lifted up the tree that they were sitting under and threw it at them, then they got their spears out and threw it all at the same time. I blocked it with my shell and they threw it so hard that they were permanently stuck and would never come out of my shell. His friend’s reaction was, wow are you ok? “They are so rude”.

That's how echidnas got their spikes. - Jacob

13 The Connection

How the earth got its grass

One day, a kangaroo was searching around the desert for food. In the distance, something exploded and glowed. It was a fiery spear but where did it come from? He saw a horde of angry mobs led by a tiger. The kangaroo called his friend to help him fight. When most of the horde died the tiger retreated. Behind the tiger was the nicest home they have ever seen and they lived in it. One day, the tortoise was looking for his children when he saw his children get hurt he started to rage. He went to the kangaroo and talked to him. The kangaroo did not want him to leave but the tortoise stabbed the kangaroo with the spear and the kangaroo was shaking in pain. The kangaroo’s friend decided to avenge him so they chased after the tortoise when they finally caught him he was begging for mercy. One of his friends accidentally stabbed the ground right in front of him. The flamingo in the sky got angry. The ground started to shake, a hard part in the ground fell on the tortoises back and suddenly the ground cracked opened, it exploded and all the spears fell out of their hands but for some reason they did not die. The flamingo protected them but all the other animals were dead. After the incident, they buried the animal beneath the ground. To this day, when there's water on the ground their spirits will answer and stick tiny parts of the spears and that’s also how kangaroos got their pouches and tortoises got a shell on their back. – Henry

The Silly Yongka (Kangaroo)

One day there lived a Yongka, he had a lot of friends. One day his friend Koomal the possum said “do you want to come over?” The Yongka said “yes, please!” When he got there he saw a lot of lollies and he ate them all. When his friend turned around there were no lollies left. Yongka started laughing and laughing. His friend koomal kicked him out and said never come back again! He was kicked out of the country and went to the desert. He started walking for days and days. He was starving and thirsty. Yongka saw a person and the person said “are you ok?” Yongka said “I'm ah-ah-ah-choo” and all the lollies he had eaten came out. Yongka asked for help to get back to his country. – Luke

How the tiger got its stripes.

Tim, the tiger was walking around in the zoo, and Tim the tiger walked out of the zoo gates and ran away because he found out that his brother Tommy the tiger has been killed, and he got mad and ran away. He kept running and running until he got so tired. Eventually, he stopped at a football oval in Tiwi Island, how did he get over there? I don’t know! There were some Indigenous people playing football, and eventually one of the people saw Tim the tiger and they chased after him. The Indigenous people eventually caught him and took him into their house and they kind of liked Tim the tiger and they painted stripes on Tim the tiger and that's how The tiger got his stripes. – Matthew

14 The Connection

Once upon a time there was a kangaroo. Kangaroos at that time could jump backwards, sideways, up and down. However they kept jumping on little animals like lizards, snakes, frogs and wallabies.

Bunjil saw this and said to Kangaroo “If you keep jumping backwards on other animals, then I will take away your ability to jump backwards.”

Kangaroo laughed and said, “I don’t even care!” Bunjil swooped and screeched at Kangaroo “That’s it. From now on you can’t jump backwards and all you will be able to do is jump forwards!

And that’s why kangaroos can only jump forwards. – Troy

Butter the Butterfly.

One really hot day in the treetops there was a little butterfly and her name was Butter. She was nice and kind until one boiling hot day Butter started being mean to her family and friends. Her brother Jeff was telling her not to be mean to your family or friends or they wouldn't be nice to you. Butter told Jeff she didn’t care and then Jeff got really mad and slammed the door. Butter, the Butterfly flapped her wings out the window and flew away and said “I wish I never had to be in this family and I’m never coming back”. Butter went to a road and saw some good food like donuts, cake and butter. She saw her friends and family looking for her. Butter yelled “stop looking for me” and then she started throwing food at them. Butter quickly flapped away with no one seeing her and then went to a beach and went into the water and said “this is nice water”, she went under it and saw a big house and said “how do you do?” and the house said “good thank you” and took Butter the Butterfly to his owner. Butter again saw his family and friends and then he yelled at them and said GO AWAY FROM ME. His mum said, “We are sorry for what we did”. Butter forgave them. – Tiarni In the Dreamtime, before once upon a time, there lived a Cockatoo named Cody who loved to promise everyone a playdate. One day Cody did not keep the promise and soon enough he became lonely. Then Cody’s mum called, CoCoo flew over and said “always keep your promises”. But Cody did not listen and just flew away. Cody tried to talk to his friends; they just ignored him. His mum flew to him again and said to Cody that I have talked to all your friends and they are ready for an apology. Cody flew to his friends and they all had one big playdate about keeping promises and being kind. – Natalya

15 The Connection

How magpies swoop the best

Once upon a time, there was a proud magpie named Koolbardi who just built his first nest for him and his wife to start a family in. 2 weeks later there were two eggs. This made him happy but also nervous because he was scared that a predator would come to take the eggs and he was not sure how to protect them. He built his nest up in a very tall gum tree but he knew some animals can still get up in his tree-like the big goanna that lived in the area. Koolbardi wasn’t worried about other birds because any that came near his tree he had been able to scare them away. What worried Koolbardi was that he had seen the goanna climbing smaller trees and stealing other eggs. Every night and day he would think about how he would keep the goanna away from his nest but he did not know what to do so he hoped that the goanna would not see the nest, the eggs, him or his wife. One nice sunny day Koolbardi was looking to see if there was a threat. He saw the goanna so he flew down and yelled at it to go away, and it did. But the next day it came back and he told it to go away again, but this time it did not so Koolbardi gave it a nudge which scared him and he ran away. Koolbardi hoped that he would not come back any more times. For another 4 days, it was gone and the eggs started to hatch but the goanna came back and it got up the tree and it was about to get the eggs but it was on a dead branch and snap, it fell. The goanna fell down and started to limp away but the Koolbardi followed it. Koolbardi went up high then went down and clapped his wings hard scaring the goanna. Then a wise old bird went to Koolbardi’s nest and said, “We know you are the strongest bird here. You don’t need to keep us away from your nest we will only go to your nest to chat with you or to warn you of any danger in the area. But I’m going to get to the point why I’m here. I saw you go down and scare the goanna. What I think you should do is sharpen your beak and then go up high and come back down without flapping your wings and injure that goanna”. “I’ll do it!” said Koolbardi. So koolbardi sharpened his beak. The goanna came back so koolbardi knocked the goanna off the tree and when it started running and Koolbardi swooped at it and the goanna had a bad injury and Koolbardi chased it super far away. - Josh

16 The Connection

5/6 Online Learning

Indigenous Literacy Day

KooKoo Kookaburra Art

Jackson, Lily & Hayden

KooKoo Kookaburra Art

Nathan, Kaiyah & Gavin

KooKoo Kookaburra Art

Blake T, Tylah & Jorja

KooKoo Kookaburra Art

Mitch, Mackenzie & Shelby

17 The Connection

Here are some Dreamtime stories our kids created online. They created their stories on Google Slides and then published them on an interactive book making site called StoryJumper. Not only did they write and illustrate their own books, they also narrated them!

18 The Connection

DROP YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS OFF AT THE GENERAL OFFICE

19 The Connection

Harry, Lucas and Shaylii

sorting through coins

for their money unit

Harry and Jacob

enjoy sharing

their reading with

one another

Congratulations to our 5/6 tennis team for the interschool competition,

comprising of Lily, Jackson, Shelby and Hayden who won the championship.

20 The Connection

Coldstream OSHC News We have certainly been keeping busy in OSHC! TY teddies seem to be the new

craze; not a day goes by without a child bringing one in! These TYs have been a

terrific idea for both comfort and play. The children have included them into

almost everything they have been doing, including participating in a game of Uno

and getting their temperatures checked on arrival too.

Another new obsession the children have been displaying is building cubby houses,

as well as indoor obstacle courses that the children call “Obbies” filled with heaps

of challenges and lava! Both are great ideas for their social development,

imaginative play and as well as supporting their physical and mental health.

We took some time with the children attending individually and asked the children

various questions with ‘Corona Virus’ being the topic. The children were all happy

to participate with their writing, reading and answering the questions. This was a

great opportunity for the children to share any feelings, questions or concerns they

may have had and demonstrating their effective communication skills.

Please see below our upcoming September/ October

Vacation Care Program.

For all enquiries and booking please email Perin at

perin.kuipers@education.vic.gov.au

21 The Connection

Monday 21st of September

School Based Day

2nd Birthday

Party

Tuesday 22nd of September

School Based Day

Wheels Day

Wednesday 23rd of

September School

based day

Science Day

Thursday 24th of September

School based days

Heroes vs Villains

Friday 25th of September

School Based Day

Spooky/ Freaky Friday

Join us

celebrating Coldstream

Vacation Care’s 2nd birthday!

We will be filling our day with a

disco, heaps of party

games and prizes.

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for today.

Bring any wheels you may have, from a bike to a scooter, skateboard or even roller skates. **If the weather and restrictions permit, we will go down to the local skate park. (TBA)**

Please bring:

A water bottle, a helmet &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for today.

Calling all little Einstein’s and aspiring scientists. Today will be filled with stacks of experiments and things to fill our curiosity.

Please bring:

A water bottle & appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for today.

Attention all heroes and villains, today is your day to show off your skills. Whether it’s a known character or a character from your imagination. Please come dressed to show off your powers, but remember to keep your identity a secret.

Please bring:

A water bottle & appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for today.

Halloween is coming early to Coldstream primary. Please come dressed in your spookiest costume or any dress-ups that take your fancy- for a chilling day.

Q) Why didn’t the skeleton go to the party? A) Because he had no body to go with!

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for today.

22 The Connection

Monday 28th of September

School based day

Games/ Challenge

day

Tuesday 29th of September

School Based day

Animal day

Wednesday 30th of

September School

Based Day

Spring craft day

Thursday 1st of October

School based day

Multimedia day

Friday 2nd of October School

based day

Footy day

Prepare yourself for a

day of challenges and games. Today

we will be putting our

skills to the test in a numerous

amount of challenges as well as stacks

of different board & card

games.

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for

today.

Today is all about animals,

learning new and interesting facts about various

animals as well heaps of animal based activities.

Q) Why is there no Panadol in

the jungle?

A) Because Parrots-eat-

them-all! (Paracetamol)

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for

today.

.

Adios winter and welcome spring. We’ve

dedicated today to all things craft

with a spring theme.

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for

today.

Bring any media

devices you may have,

(iPads, iPods, tablets,

phones, or even a

favourite movie your child might

have.)

Please bring: A water bottle, a charger for any devices you may bring & appropriate footwear. We will provide all meals for today.

Today is all about sport! Wear your favourite

sports team colours

and/or gear for a day filled with heaps of different sports.

Please bring: A water bottle &

appropriate footwear.

We will provide all meals for

today.

23 The Connection

24 The Connection

PARENT / GUARDIAN INFORMATION AND CONSENT LETTER

2020 Student Attitudes to School Survey

Dear Parent / Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about the 2020 Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), that your child is invited to participate in.

About the survey

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of your school.

The AtoSS is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school.

This year, the survey also includes some questions about student health and wellbeing and student perceptions of COVID-19. Understanding health and wellbeing needs has always been important, but especially so this year, and the Department is providing this survey to allow schools to capture this information to support students. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, family, friends, health (including mental health) and wellbeing, and bullying.

The health and wellbeing questions are taken from another Department survey called the Victorian Student Health and Wellbeing Survey (VSHAWS) that has been conducted with a sample of schools in Victoria since 2014. The questions about COVID-19 have been developed by or recommended by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

This year, the AtoSS will be conducted at your school over the period Wednesday 4 November to Friday 13 November.

What are the risks?

While we do not anticipate many risks of participation, some students may find the survey questions to be more personal and sensitive in nature this year. Should you agree for your child to participate, they are still free to skip questions or to withdraw at any stage if the survey makes them upset or uncomfortable.

What are the benefits?

In our experience, the majority of young people enjoy having the chance to have their say. Your school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.

What will my child be asked to do?

Your child will be invited to complete the survey online during class time using a purpose built secure online survey tool. It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child. Please note:

Student participation in the survey is voluntary and students may withdraw at any time.

The survey will take around 30-40 minutes to complete.

How is my child’s confidentiality protected?

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey from their teacher. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data for statistical and research purposes only. Personally identifiable data will not be recorded in the survey response file. This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is protected at all times.

25 The Connection

How will results be reported?

The survey results will be reported back to the school in an aggregate form in term 4. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified. Data suppression rules are used for schools with low student numbers per year level.

Options for participation

Participation in this survey is voluntary. If you do not wish for your child to do the survey, please opt out via email to your school: Coldstream.ps@education.vic.gov.au Please do so before November 2nd stating that you wish to opt out of your child’s participation, along with their name, school and year level.

If your school does not receive a Refusal of Consent email from yourself before the survey commencement date mentioned within this letter, it means that you give your consent for your child to participate in the 2020 Attitudes to School Survey.

A copy of the survey that we are asking your child to complete is available from your child’s school. Please contact the administration office if you would like to see the survey before making your decision about whether you would like your child to participate.

If you would like more information, please speak to your child’s teacher, or contact the Department at attitudes.school.survey@education.vic.gov.au.

Yours sincerely,

The Department of Education and Training Victoria

26 The Connection

27 The Connection

28 The Connection

29 The Connection