Newsletter Term 4 week 6

Principal's report

Important dates for your Diary

Last day of Term 4 2020, for students will be Wednesday 16th of December. School will be non-operational on Friday the 18th of December. School will recommence for teachers on the 27th of January. The first two days of Term One will be Staff Development Days.

Students 1-6 will commence on Friday the 29th of January 2021. Kindergarten students will be commencing on the 3rd of February following their Best Start interviews.

Excellence and Equity

Teachers worked together yesterday on our 2021 – 2024 Strategic Improvement Plan. It has been an exciting journey for us over the past term and a half analysing, researching and now framing this into a new school vision. We will be sharing more on this at the next P&C meeting on Wednesday the 2nd of December. Tomorrow and Friday our leadership team will be completing Leading at the Speed of Trust – Franklin Covey. Strong, strategic and effective leadership is the cornerstone of school excellence.

Year 5 Leadership Day

Today our Year 5 students worked closely with their teachers on building skills in goal setting, consultative decision-making processes, active and reflective listening, seeking feedback and acting in responsible ways. At BNPS we empower students with decision making and encourage student voice in school decision making processes.

Over the next few weeks the students will begin the process of nominations, speeches, voting and securing a leadership role for 2021. This can be a stressful time for our students. Please discuss these processes positively and proactively. All students have the opportunity to nominate for these positions. This is a learning opportunity and also an opportunity to build resilience in our students. 

Brooke Keevers

Principal

Deputy Principal's report

Presentation Days

We are pleased that our presentation days will be going ahead. These will look significantly different, however, with them taking place under the COLA and with limited performances. We are working towards allowing only two parents per award winner being able to attend in a physically distanced way. More information regarding this will be in next week's newsletter. This plan will only work if parents follow the strict physical distancing measures we aim to put in place.

K-6 Assembly

Our K-6 Assembly occurred via Zoom last week. Please see the below photos for award recipients.

Band incursion

We are grateful that the Band Committee is providing a fully funded incursion for all students who have been part of the band and strings ensembles this year. It has been a particularly challenging year, however, we have been impressed with their resilience and determination to continue to practice. The students will attend an African drumming workshop under the COLA.

Life Education Van

The Life Education Van is again visiting Balgowlah North PS in Week 8. The curriculum that is delivered in the Life Education Van supports the PD/H/PE syllabus.

Belinda Norrie

A/Deputy Principal

Assembly awards

Citizenship

Banner recipients

Principal Award recipients

Class snapshot

PBL

Be respectful

Weekly focus: 

We keep our hands and feet to ourselves

What it looks like:

• You have the right to have a personal space ‘bubble’
• Other people need their space too
• Games at playtime are non-contact - no hands on others, no tackling, no pulling on clothing
• Be respectful of others in the queue at the canteen, library or office

Library news

Recommended Reading

The year 5/6 book club has just finished another excellent read – Trash by Andy Mulligan. This is a story about three young boys who live in unthinkable poverty. They spend their days on the trash heaps at Behala Dumpsite sorting through rubbish in the hope they will find something of worth. The story quickly becomes action packed, with many twists and turns when the boys come across a mysterious package that they decide to keep. Unknown to them at the time, this package has immense value. The following book reviews are written by book club members:

I enjoyed the sense of adventure and mystery in this book and I was shocked to hear about the children living in trash on Behala Dumpsite. It makes me think how lucky we are to live in a place like Australia! It is interesting to learn about this culture and how corruptly their government is portrayed. This book is full of tension and hard to read without ignoring the harsh environment. By Jessica

What I liked about Trash is all the mystery, tension and action. The main characters are always on the run from the corrupt police while trying to solve the mystery before them. I would recommend this book to Year 5 and over. By Ethan

Lego Club

Lego Club has now commenced again on a Wednesday at lunchtime. Students are invited to build and create either in small groups or independently within a chosen theme using our Lego. This opportunity fosters much creativity, collaboration and most importantly fun and I am very excited to welcome it back to the library.

Waste Free Wednesday

Congratulations 2E, 2P & 4M - 100% waste free

Kindergarten puppetry incursion

On the 2nd of November, Kindergarten attended a Puppetry Workshop with Julie Zommer. The students were taught the rules of puppetry and were able to experiment with Julie’s extensive puppet collection. Kindergarten were then invited to make their own puppets to use throughout the term in class. Using all sorts of materials their sock puppets came to life. All the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and continue to discover the world of puppetry in drama. Keep an eye out for your child’s puppet soon.

Miss J. Freede Dance/Drama

Eagle tag gala day

The deafening sounds of cheering filled the bus, our students were preparing for an exciting eagle tag gala day to come. On Wednesday the 11 of November the Senior Eagle Tag teams travelled to Nolans Reserve to represent our school. Throughout the day the senior girls eagle tag teams worked extremely hard and never gave up, here are our results:

1. Girls A’s v Harbord 1-0 (Loss)
2. Girls B’s v Harbord 4-1 (Loss)
3. Girls A’s v St John 3-2 (Loss)
4. Girls B’s v Oxford Falls 3-2 (Win)
5. Girls A’s v Curl Curl North 3-3 (Draw)
6. Girls B’s v St Johns 7-3 (Win)
7. Girls B’s v St Cecilia's 4-3 (Win)

The effort and commitment the girls brought to the game was highly impressive and they should go home feeling exceptionally proud of themselves. Special thank you to Mrs Kelly and Mrs Stock for a great day of sport, it wouldn't be possible without you! 

Written by Tilda, Holly & Archie

House captains of 2020

What a day it was. The sun was shining and we all played really well and the results for the senior A boys team were:  we won the first game against Curl Curl North public school the score was 3-0. Our second game we won 2-1 against Harbord. Our third game we unfortunately lost against the best team in the whole competition- Saint Augustines. It was a very tight game and we all tried our hardest and the result was very unfortunate. But good job A’s for trying your best and we worked very well as a team. 

The B team played very well on this fine day and congratulations for your wonderful efforts today. The B team won 5-2 against Saint Cecilias; they played their heart out, good job B’s. Second game they won against St Johns 9-3 what a wonderful score, Ms Stock called it a try fest. In the third game there was a very unfortunate score which was a loss to Oxford Falls 5-2. Congratulations everybody what a great day it was. Thank you Mrs Kelly and Ms Stock, this couldn't have happened without you guys. Thank you. 

Reported by Ben Tucker, the house captain of the wombat house and by Joe Stoddart, the house captain of the koala house. 

Dates for your diary

23 November

• Band incursion

24 November

• Year 6 games day - K-2

25 November

• Year 6 games day - 3-5
  

26 November

• Last SEAT for 2020 
• Last day for donations for the ethics hampers 

Sponsors