Welcome back to everyone, and thank you for the smooth and wonderful start to the year. A special welcome to our many new families and students, and congratulations to our Preppies on a big first week. Another warm welcome to our new members of staff, Ryan Bolger (4B), Tasleem Sahib and Patrick Porter (both ES integration aides).
Community Spirit – Uplifting for ALL!
Our thoughts and well wishes go to families and communities in the East Gippsland area following the horrific events over the holidays, and closer to home, to our network school Sandringham Primary School. A weekend fire has resulted in the relocation of students to both Sandringham East PS and Sandringham Senior College. BBPS staff have joined staff from our network schools in providing support to the Sandringham community in any way we can. We thank our staff members Claire Paitaridis and Jo Bingham, who supported Kim Ancrum on Monday to assist the Sandringham teachers to set up new learning spaces. Principals from all the beachside schools have committed to ongoing support of resources, furniture and staff as needed. We thank Sherril Duffy the principal from Beaumaris North who has been tireless in her coordination of our combined support. Also Officeworks who have donated all the new student supplies that were lost in the fire.
Already our students have their thinking caps on and are generating a range of ways that we can further support Sandringham Primary School in the coming weeks and months.
Abby and Lauren from Year 6 are volunteering to lead a drive for providing new books for their library which was completely destroyed.
A Proud Achievement for BBPS Families – All that fundraising and all those voluntary contributions through school fees have come to fruition in the near completion of…
New Facilities: If you have not had the chance yet, make sure you pop by our new STEAM room and see the exciting renovations that have taken place over the holidays. This is the fourth stage of the refurbishment project that commenced in 2015.
Students and teachers are currently busy brainstorming the details of what this room might look like, what furniture and storage might be required, and how this space can foster the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.
A big thank you to our school community – this project was fully funded by money raised through your generous contributions to Parent Association led events, such as the mid-year event, Walk-a-thon, Dreamers Footy and Christmas Extravaganza as well as the important element of our school fees - referred to as Voluntary Contributions, the Building Fund and the Library Fund. We could not do these upgrades without your generous support!
The School Council Buildings and Grounds Committee is excited to announce that we have been successful in our application for a grant through the Local Schools Community Fund. Many thanks to the BBPS Leadership Team, Shane, Audrey (Clarke Hopkins Clarke) and the student design team who assisted with the application. We can now commence planning for the transformation of our library space into a ‘community hub’ with a range of purposes including our OSHC Theircare Program. This presents as a very exciting new project for 2020!
School Maintenance A big thank you to Shane Dawes, our Facilities Manager, who has tirelessly worked throughout the holidays and at the beginning of this year to ensure that our school is beautiful, our playground and classrooms ready, secure and safe, and that these ongoing building projects cause minimal disruption to the teaching and learning at BBPS.
Building works are currently going on in one learning space. This has temporarily displaced 1W and Japanese. This project was stalled during the holidays as additional engineering work was required for the external side of the lintel above the window. Works will recommence February 17th.
Teaching and Learning: The beginning weeks of every year is a time when teachers build learning communities. Together with the students, we establish the norms for student learners to become a community of writers, readers, mathematicians, scientists, artists, musicians and sport teams. Classes across year levels become a community of friends focused on building relationships– here is what some of our students had to say about the start to their year:
Maddy, Prep E “We got to meet our buddies and mine is really nice. I like playing on the monkey bars”
Nikolas, Prep E “I really like playing with my sister in the playground. She’s in grade one and we play in the same spot”
Haris, 1W “I love the different books in my classroom library and I did some good writing this week about an emu”
Lacey, 1W “I’ve loved making new friends”
Mimi, 2V “Our grade two teachers are really nice and it’s been great to finally be able to play on Windermere!”
Max, 2V “I’ve got to know some new people in my class and doing Escape Rooms in our classroom is chilled [translation: really, really good]”
Belle, 3B “It was exciting to get our stationery. We got earphones, new textas and pencils. We made sure we put our names on everything”
Christian, 3RH “It’s so much fun and it’s exciting to have two teachers this year – Mrs Read and Mrs Hellier – three if you count Ms Braun too!”
Flynn, 4B “It’s been fun because after the holidays we finally get to see our friends, play, and learn again”
Charlie, 4B “Mr Bolger is really nice. We learnt he has a pet pug called Louis. It’s our first year in the CLC which is all new and exciting”
Slade, 5C “We met our Prep buddies and they are so funny. They are so small and get really excited to see us. We have been having lunch with them every day!”
Deveron, 5C “We’ve been making marble rollercoasters as part of our STEAM project and we are working with some new people from our class that I’ve never worked with before”
Mary, 6C “Swimming has been a fun start to the year. We’ve been doing freestyle, backstroke. And our grade 6 jumpers look awesome!”
Clara, 6C “Having Cozon the dog has been a great way for us to get used to putting on his coat, practise and be responsible for patting, walking and training a guide dog”
Meet and Greets Tuesday, 18th Feb. Grade 1 -6 in your child’s classroom Sign up via Compass Conference – link will be provided next week. An opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher in a one on one 10 minute meeting. Prep parents will have this Meet and Greet on the first 4 Wednesdays while Prep do not attend school.
Welcome BBQ Friday, 28th Feb All welcome Windermere Oval, 5-7pm A wonderful event to reconnect with members of our community – keep an eye out in the newsletter for details. Grade 5 families have been allocated this event by the PA as key facilitators– please keep an eye out on Compass for the opportunity to be further involved.
Also, if you have a contact to a bread provider or bakery, please contact Jenny.
Parent Expo Wednesday, 4th March Classrooms, 5:30-7.00pm Prep – 6 Schedule to be communicated via Compass
An opportunity for parents to participate in a series of workshops to further inform understanding of learning at BBPS and build the home/school connection.
This is in lieu of our traditional curriculum nights - please note that Prep will still have a curriculum information session as part of the night. All details will be featured in our newsletter.
Julie Shepherd Thursday, 13th Feb In the Staffroom, 2:30-3:15 Prep parents (or junior school families who might be interested)
What do we do with the Home Books that come home each day? What are these WOW words all about?
What do I do about letters and sounds? And writing? Julie Shepherd, Literacy Consultant and ALEA president, will be running an afternoon session to answer all of your literacy questions.
David Anderson Thursday, 12th March In the CLC P-6 – all welcome *Supervision provided for your child, please email the Office should you require this service. As promised last year, in follow up to his Term 4 session, David Anderson – Leadership Consultant, will be focusing on providing you with practical language stems and processes to build strong relationships with your child that focus on inquiring and building self-regulation and independence. Keep an eye out for the Compass Event.
Grade 6 and SRC Leadership Badge presentation Monday, 16th March Hall 2:45-3:30pm Grades 2-6
Join us for our annual badge presentation ceremony, led by the Grade 5/6 teaching team, where we celebrate our Grade 6 leaders and 2020 Student Representative Council.
Parent Association 2020: The PA have their first meeting on Friday, 7th Feb in the Glasshouse Meeting Room at 9:10am. If you are interested in being part of this invaluable group of community members in any way, please come along. If you are unable to come to the meeting, but are interested in having a role, please contact Jenny Ermogenis our 2020 PA Events Coordinator via email brighton.beach.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au.
In particular, the PA are looking for Class Representatives, a Treasurer and Secretary. Please register your interest via email brighton.beach.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
School Council 2020 Nominations
Each year in February/March, an election is conducted for members of the school council for Brighton Beach Primary School. All government schools in Victoria have a school council; a legally formed body that sets the key directions of the school within centrally provided guidelines. There are three possible categories of membership:
A mandated elected parent category. Potential and retiring councillors can be nominated.
A mandated elected Department of Education and Training employee category.
An optional community member category.
The term of office for councillors is 2 years. Some members retire each year and this creates vacancies for the annual School Council elections. If you have a desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future, and contribute in ways that reflect the best interests of all students, please consider nominating. Sue Klein, our business manager would really like a parent
with finance/accounting expertise to consider joining our finance committee! Nomination forms for the vacancies on school council are now available from the office. If you are interested in nominating but cannot come to school to collect a nomination form, please telephone
the office to request that we send one home with your child. For further information see attached
The 2019 School Council will meet for their final meeting Wednesday, 19th February at 7pm.
Art Room Supplies Needed: The art room needs old tea towels/ towels, newspapers and magazines.