School Council
There are four positions on School Council that require filling. Current school council members whose terms are expiring may re-nominate for the position and any other school parents may also nominate. If there are five or more valid nominations an election process will be held among the school families. If there are four or fewer valid nominations received, those nominees will be automatically elected.

You can self-nominate or nominate another person for a position on school council. Nominations open today (Monday 14^th Feb) and will close 4pm on Monday 21^st Feb. If required, ballot papers will be sent out on 28^th Feb for an election with the ballot closing on 7^th March.

You can contact Michael at school if you have any questions about nominating or the election process. Nomination forms are available at the school office and completed nomination forms need to be returned to the school office before 4pm, Monday 21^st Feb.

Smile Squad
Your child will bring home a consent form for Smile Squad today (Monday). Smile Squad is a Victorian Government funded initiative to provide free dental check-ups and follow up treatment. The check up and subsequent treatment (if needed) would be provided at school. Please return the consent forms if you would like to take advantage of the Smile Squad initiative.

SEL (Social Emotional Learning)
At the start of the school year we learn about our school values during Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) sessions. We discuss the reason for having school values: they help us make good choices when there are no rules or laws for a situation. You may have heard people (young and old) justify negative actions with ‘nobody said I couldn’t’. If we understand our school, community and personal values we don’t need to be told what we can and cannot do in every situation. We are guided by our common values.

This week in SEL we are focusing on the school value ‘We are Fair’. The key learning is that being fair does not necessarily mean that everyone gets the same. It means everyone gets what they need or gets the chance to participate and learn along with everyone else.

Rapid Antigen Tests
Rapid Antigen tests for weeks 3 & 4 have arrived at school. Parents are welcome to pick up a box of 5 tests per student. The tests are recommended twice weekly – but are not mandatory.

Student Leadership Positions
At assembly last Friday student leaders were given their badges and introduced to the school. Our school leaders are as follows:

School Captains – Semester One: Sally Bayne & Jack Gregory

School Captains – Semester Two: Flynn Graham & Lenni Ridgeway

Hammond House Captains: Zac Davis & Claire Walsh

Kars House Captains: Lola Mahoney & Max Edwardes

Windham House Captains: Mietta Nocentini & Nate Attwood

Wellsford House Captains: Lucy Matheson-Jones & Hugh Mason

Choir Captains: Edith McInerney & Saoirse Beatty

Bus Captains: Naisen James Hillier & Tom Wilson

The SRC representatives will be presented with their badges at a future assembly.

At Yackandandah Primary School we expect all senior students to show leadership at our school and provide a positive example for younger students to follow.

Michael Edwards
Principal

New Bank Account Details
A reminder that when paying money to the school to please use the new bank account as follows:

Bank:                   Westpac
BSB:                     033-222
Account Number:   018848

Family Contributions/Family Statements
Thank you to all the families who have paid their school contributions. As we are unable to send family statements home asking for payment for curriculum contributions or other contributions statements will be sent home showing families what they have paid for.  Statements that are sent home will include Extra-Curricular items and activities such as the Upper Hume Division Swimming as they activities are beyond the curriculum.  Payment for these activities is provided on a user-pays basis.

If you have a credit balance you will need to email me to let me know what you would like the balance to be put towards.  The CSEF portion of your balance can only be used for camps, excursions and activities.

OSHC Statements
We apologise in the delay of accurate OSHC Statements being sent out.  There are still problems with the CCS, and we are working with the Xplor team to get this worked out.  Statements will be sent out from the start of the year once the problem has been fixed.

We are also going through the enrolments and you will be notified if you haven’t signed the CWA.  This needs to be signed to receive the CCS.  Once you have signed it, please let us know so we can backdate to cover any attendances as the effective date will be the date that you have signed it.

The link below will take you to an information page with instructions on how to sign it.  Click on Step 1 – Signing the CWA and follow the instructions. 

https://support.ourxplor.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015429272-Parent-Steps-CWA-Approval-and-CCS-Enrolment-Confirmation

Health Care Card/Pension Card Holders
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.

Payment amounts this year are $125 for eligible primary school students Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

If you would like to apply for the first time, please call into the school office and ask for an application form.

You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/csef.aspx

Enjoy your week
Sandra

Jack Gregory  & Shaynia Clausen

Lewis James Hillier for being persistent and creative when problem solving.
Maddie Prentice for being creative with word choice when improving her writing.
Phia Smith Deans for using persuasive techniques, like humour, in her Junior School Council speech. It was PH-unny, Phia!
Will Black for writing a well thought out speech with a catchy slogan- ‘Where there’s a Will, there’s a way!’ Way to go, Will!
Lucas Stagg for building a wonderful bank of ideas in his Writer’s Notebook.
Emily Sheppard for displaying a positive learner’s mindset in ALL areas of her learning.
Zoe Glanville for focused learning during all activities.
Max Boschetti for contributing to all class discussions in a respectful manner.
Claudia Grech for beginning the year with an enthusiastic and focused attitude.
Maeve Van Duinen for working with dedication to group words according to their vowel sound in Word Works.
Patrick Kellaway for completing all activities with a high level of care and interest.
Kaia Allan for being an excellent leader in our classroom and helping others in need.
Will Hutchings for his cheerful smile and demonstrating excellent learning habits during all tasks.
Kinu Edwardes for confidently having a go at writing words to match her drawings. Well done Kinu!
Aliya McCormack for making great connections in her learning and being a positive role model for others.
Cameron McIntosh for applying his mathematical thinking to learn new things about negative numbers.

Artwork of the Week
In the F/1/2 classes we have been responding creatively to the book 'Surprise' by Mies Van Hout.
We have been using oil pastels in warm colours and etching patterns into the pastels to add texture and interest to our drawings.

By F/1C


By F/1K


By 1/2E


By 1/2K

Big thanks to the volunteers that assisted with the BIG kitchen clean on Friday - we are ready to start cooking!

To kick off our Hot Lunch Meals for 2022, Egg & Bacon Rolls will be served this week.  I am looking forward to welcoming the kitchen helpers and preparing a delicious lunch for staff and students.  If you haven’t yet ordered and would like to do so please order by tomorrow using the link below.

https://forms.gle/KwY9bhWoceiLjbCWA

Here is the hot lunch helper roster for Term 1, 2022.  Thank you to all that have volunteered their time! There are a few vacant slots, so if there are any other helpers out there, your help would be most appreciated!  Please email me ypshotlunch@gmail.com.
Frequently Asked Questions.

Why do we use Albury Wodonga Regional Food Share? Isn't this service reserved for people in need?
YPS is part of the Albury Wodonga Regional Food Share - Schools Program, it's a program that offers local schools’ fresh fruit as they regularly have large volumes of fruit to distribute that will otherwise go to waste.  Below is a message from Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare.

Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare collects over 1.2 million kilograms of food each year from over 70 suppliers. This is distributed to 225 regional agencies, schools and community centers within a 150km radius of Albury Wodonga.

 FoodShare regularly receives large volumes of donated fresh produce, which is shared with local schools so that all students get access to fresh fruit. The schools are notified when surplus stock is available as without access to the school network the fresh produce would otherwise go to waste.

Schools across the region often show their gratitude for this service by making an annual donation to FoodShare as well as coordinating can / non perishable food drives, which assists FoodShare to provide food hampers for families in the local community experiencing financial hardship.

Does Yack PS Hot Lunch you have a Facebook page?
Yes! If you have a Facebook Account and you are a parent or carer of a student currently attending YPS, then you will be eligible to join our private Facebook group.

Please search the Facebook Groups for; Yackandandah Hot Lunches and request to join the group.

This space will be used to share information regarding YPS Hot Lunches; weekly menu reminders, help requests, volunteer shift swaps and general feedback is welcome too.

So jump on board!

Jane Murphy

We have a crack squad of 19 swimmers heading to Wodonga to make a splash next Friday, February 18. More Permission forms have been sent home tonight and need to be returned to school by Wednesday.  Cost per student is $10.

Unfortunately, this event is not open to spectators.

Brendan Hogan

2023 Catholic College Enrolments

Please see the article below from Catholic College in regards to the change in enrolment dates for students enrolling in 2023.

OSHC Contact Information
OSHC has its very own email address! This is now our main email account and we please ask that all booking or general enquiry comes to this address. Booking cancellations can be made via this email or by contacting the school. Please do not use our Facebook page for cancellations.

OSHC has its own phone now! At all times during business hours 7am-9am and 3pm-6pm one of our educators will always have the phone with them to take calls. If the phone does not get answered during these times, one of our educators will get back to you as soon as possible to answer any questions. Thank you for your patience during those times.

Email: yack.ps.oshc@outlook.com

OSHC Phone: 0481 297 717

XPlor App
Our outside of school hours service has moved to a new software! We kindly ask that parents download an app by the name of Xplor- Home. This will allow you to login to the software. In this app you will be able to book your children in for sessions and cancel them when needed. This app will allow you to sign your children in and out of our space contactless, meaning you can do it all from your phone! How exciting! If you are experiencing any troubles, please contact us and let the team know and we will try our best to guide you through it.

This week in OSHC!
This week in OSHC the children have been focusing on expanding their painting skills using watercolour paints. The educators have been setting up paint experience tables for the children to be inspired to paint what they can see. A lot of children enjoyed painting various types of fruits and vegetables. Cassie set up a table one day with succulents for the children to enjoy looking at and trying to paint what they could see. These experiences allowed the children to really connect with their artwork and be proud of what they were making.

Thanks, OSHC team.

The Yackandandah Community on Show is on Friday 25^th February 2022.  We still need more helpers for the BBQ and food preparation.  If you can assist please let Sandra know.

13^th February – Emerson Paull

16^th February – Skye Rutherfurd-Hobbs

16^th February – Judd Maybury