Newsletter Term 1 Week 8 2023

"We acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians on whose land our school rests. Their footsteps and whispers blow in the wind, drift on the clouds, remain deep in the sandstone and float on the waterways of this place. Their memories and Dreaming stories will continue to connect us to the land and guide future generations of our school community. Country is alive if you take the time to look, listen and learn."

Principal's message

Zone Swimming Results

Congratulations to our amazing swimmers who, for the second year in a row, have won the Manly Zone swimming carnival against 11 other schools in our zone.  Our school was the overall winner in both the boys and girls categories. We also took 1st place in the handicap results-a fantastic achievement!   We were very proud of the way the team cheered each other on, took pride in personal bests and competed with good sportsmanship.  

Thank you to all the parents who were able to come and support the team. Thanks also to Lisa Foster for filling in as a timekeeper when needed! 

Congratulations to Addison B who was awarded 12 year girls age champion. Congratulations also to Millie G who was named 11 year girls age champion.  

We wish the senior girls relay team:  Addison B, Sophie R, Millie G and Amelia S all the best as they move on to regionals!

Joining them at regionals will be: Vinnie M, Freya VR, Toby S and Edward G.

Results - top 5 finishers

Connections

Our SRC students meet this week to discuss their ideas and plan for our playgrounds. This week the teachers will spend some time looking at options and our parents will also be able to contribute ideas at our next P&C meeting. The students worked from a google map of the school, workshopping how the playground space is used and identified the passive and active play areas. We are all very excited to see what opportunities there are!

Parent teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews are scheduled for the 4th and 5th of April. Bookings will open on Wednesday the 22nd of March. Please keep an eye out on the SZapp for further information.

NationalRide2School Day

NationalRide2School Day Is coming up on Friday the 24th of March. Our students in 3-6 are welcome to ride their bike to school on this day. If our K-2 students wish to do so they must be accompanied by an adult. 

Having access to Manly dam and such a beautiful area to ride is a wonderful opportunity for many of our children. If you could ensure that our students remember to wear a helmet, have a bell on their bike to use around pedestrians and be aware of their speed around paths and pedestrians.  

See you around the playground.

Brooke Keevers
Principal

Assistant Principals News

Last week I had the privilege of attending a High Potential and Gifted Education Conference with my colleague Amanda Mason. This conference brought school leaders and teachers from across The Beaches, Pittwater and Forest school networks together to explore the social-emotional domain of giftedness.

In recent years, the Department of Education has initiated significant progress in the HPGE space, with greater importance placed on identifying and enriching students across four domains- intellectual, creative, social-emotional, and physical.

The social-emotional domain of potential refers to natural abilities in self-management and relating to and interacting with others. Students who show high potential in this domain typically display natural abilities in social connection, empathy, intuition, self-regulation, personal insight and evaluation, perceptiveness and leadership. 

Attending this conference provided us with the opportunity to evaluate our school procedures, programs and practices to ensure we identify students in this domain of potential and provide them with opportunities to deepen their skills and enrich their learning.

The goal of the conference we attended was to facilitate professional learning that will enable us to  ‘find the potential and develop the talent’ for each and every student who demonstrates innate ability in this area. We look forward to extending our work in the HPGE space this year, working alongside our BNPS colleagues, to ensure we provide enriching  opportunities for students across all the four domains of potential. 

Rachel Ridley

Assistant Principal

School News

School photos at BNPS 

Brush up the black shoes and get your best smiles ready. School photos are next week! Tuesday, 21st March, 2023. All students will have their individual and class photos on this day, as well as sibling photos.

To view prices and pay online, please go to www.theschoolphotographer.com.au and enter our school code, found on the flyer: X1291EL50B

NAPLAN Make Up Sessions 
If a student is absent from school for their NAPLAN assessment they will have the opportunity to participate in one of the following make up sessions:
Friday 17^th March- Writing
Wednesday 22^nd March- All other assessments 

Attention All Year 6 Parents and Carers 

In 2023 the Department of Education has digitised the transition from Year 6 to Year 7 enrolment process. 

You can now go into the MOVING TO HGH SCHOOL link located on the enrolment page of our BNPS website:

https://balgowlahn-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html

Please note you must complete either the APPLY FOR YEAR 7 PLACEMENT IN A NSW GOVERNMENT SCHOOL or the PLACEMENT NOT REQUIRED IN A GOVERNMENT HIGH SCHOOL.

When applying for a Year 7 placement in a NSW Government School you will be required to provide your residential address in order to determine your local high school. If you are requesting consideration for placement at any other DOE secondary school in our area other than your local high school you will need to type “Northern Beaches Secondary” for Balgowlah Boys, Cromer, Mackellar to appear as options.

If you are unable to complete the application online, hard copies of the Expression of Interest form are available for collection from the School office.

Please note that the last day for submission is 31 March 2023.

Planting in the Yarning Circle

Squish! Squash! went 2MR’s shoes on the scorching hot dirt. We were off to plant native, endangered, fragile and magnificent plants all around the yarning circle. 

Mr G wouldn’t let us start yet, without instructions. The instructions were to be careful where you step because lots of other classes went before us. And we didn’t want to step on their delicate plants. 

First, we had to dig a hole with a shovel. Then Mr G would give us a plant to plant. Before we planted ours, we had to squeeze the bottom and hold the plant gently. Finally we could plant. Some of them were native and others were endangered.

Before Stage One planted all those plants it was very sparse around the yarning circle. Now it is teeming with plants. It is so beautiful.

Ben, Izzy Summer & Walter (2MR)

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Positive Behaviour for Learning

Library News

Premier’s Reading Challenge

It is so fantastic to see so many students have signed up to complete the Premier’s Reading Challenge this year. The reading challenge provides a great opportunity for students to be rewarded for their efforts in reading. Registration for the challenge can be done through the student portal or by going to the PRC website and logging on with a student’s DET username and Password. Please let me know if you would like any help with this.

Book of the Week 

Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee

The genre of this beautiful text can be described as magical realism. It is a middle grade book (appropriate for years 4-6) set in Australia with themes of dragons, family and friendship. Pip, the novel’s protagonist, shows great strength and resilience in difficult situations throughout the text in which she is dealing with family and friendship issues.

The Week Ahead

Dates for the diary 

Wednesday 15 March                                    NAPLAN Writing and Reading
Friday 17 March                                             NAPLAN Conventions in Language
Friday 17 March                                             Bullying No Way day
Friday 17 March                                             NAPLAN make up assessment -Writing
Monday 20 March                                          NAPLAN Numeracy                                     
Monday 20 March                                          NBLA Student Leadership day
Monday 20-24 March                                     Year 2 Swim Scheme
Tuesday 21 March                                         School Photos
Wednesday 22 March                                    NAPLAN make up assessment - All other assesments
Thursday 23 March                                        Harmony Day
Friday 24 March                                             National Ride2School Day

Sports News

Summer PSSA results: Round: 3 

Australian Mountain Biking Interschools Competition 

The Australian MTB Interschools Competition was held in Thredbo this past week.  Henry R, Van H and Max A rode for BNPS in Division 4 (yrs 5&6) and Will R rode for BNPS in Divison 5 (yrs 3&4).
BNPS came equal 5th in Cross Country, 7th in the Pump Track and 7th in the Fox Flow Motion events in Division 4. In order to qualify for the school overall results you had to have a minimum of 3 riders in each division so there was no placing for BNPS in Division 5 as we only had Will riding in this division. 
In the Champion Schools award, BNPS came 42nd overall across all divisions which was an exceptional result given there were only 4 BNPS boys competing and 294 schools represented!

Flying down the mountain on two wheels
Making gnarly instagram reels.

Day 1 of racing;
We went to practice to warm up for our race,
When our race came we were really nervous, it was a great experience because it was our first ever mountain bike race.

Flow results: Van.H 38th, Max.A 45th, Henry.R 48th, Will.R 19th

Pump track qualifying was at the end of the day. Henry, Van, and Will qualified for pump track party finals the following day

Day 2: On day two we had XC (X-Country) . We were waiting in the freezing cold for about 40 mins. Until our race started, Van went really hard while Henry stuck back with the pack. 

Results for XC: Van:9th Max:62nd Henry:73rd Will:34th

Pump track finals
Results overall: Van.H 13th, Henry.R 15th, Will.R 7th

Written by Van H and Henry R 

              Van H                                  Henry R                              Max A                                      Will R

Class snapshot 4/3W

Waste Free Wednesday Winners

P & C News

Band News

Band Election BBQ and Cake Stall Fundraiser – Sign up to help

The BNPS Band community is looking for volunteers to help with the upcoming Election BBQ and Cake Stand Fundraiser, held at the school on Saturday 25 March, 2023. This event represents a significant portion of critical funds raised to keep our fantastic band program operating and relies on volunteer support from our parent community. So, please join us, we have slots available for BBQ cookers, cake stand operators and money/till operators - 1.5 hr slots. We are also looking for cakes, cookies, slices or other baked goods to sell on the day for the cake stand.

You are guaranteed to have some fun and meet other parents in the band whilst supporting our kids on their musical journey at BNPS. 

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c094aada722a7ffc16-bnps#/

Band Program – Meet and Greet.  Tuesday 21 March 6.30pm

Join us next Tuesday evening in the Hall to meet our Band Director and members of the band committee plus other parents.  It’s a great opportunity to hear about the band program, meet the band director and other band parents.

Canteen News

On Thusday the 23^rd of March (wk9) the school will celebrate Harmony day and the Canteen will be providing the following menu of lunch items from around the world.

America:       Cheesseburger with BBQ sauce, Mayo and melted Cheese or   
                      Meatball sub a deli special stuffed with meatballs, cheese and Napoli sauce

France:         Classic Ham and Cheese Croissant or Cheese Croissant

Greece:         Greek Salad of Olives, Feta, Cucumber & Tomato on a bed of lettuce
                      Spanakopita – Spinach & Fetta in a Triangle of flaky pastry served with salad

Italy:             Classsic Lasagne or
                     Penne with Bolognese or
                     Meatballs with spaghetti & Napoli sauce

Middle East: Mezze Plate of Falafel, Crackers, Dip, Fresh Veggies, Ham & Cheese or                 
                     Falafel Bowl/wrap filled with Homous, Cucumber, Tomatoes and Baby Spinach

Australia:      Meat Pie – homemade with beef of chicken or
                     Sausage Roll or
                     Vegemite Sandwich

Japan:           Poke Bowl with Salmon or Tofu or
                      Katsu Bowl with Chicken, Carrot and Edamame on a bed of rice
                      Gyoza – 4 pork Gyoza on a bed of rice served with salad

Please order via Flexicchools.  Order early to ensure you don’t miss out!

Community news

Swans visit to BNPS

We were lucky to have some members of the Swans visit our school last weeek. The children got to meet Will Haywood, James Rowbottom, and Will Edwards. The session started with the children having a kick about with the players, we did a Q&A session hosted by the Balgowlah Suns President, and then had 45 minutes of autographs and selfies! Great fun was had by all.

Ethics Note

Our Primary Ethics team is seeking more volunteers to teach Primary Ethics. We particularly need volunteers for Kindergarten, year 1, year 4 and year 6 students.  

Ethics teachers receive full training by Primary Ethics, the not-for-profit organisation approved to design the curriculum and training for the ethics program. Training consists of a two day workshop and short online modules. Suitable volunteers have an interest in children’s education and the development of their critical thinking skills. You must be available to teach a 30 minute class on a Thursday afternoon each week. All lesson materials are provided.  

In ethics classes, we aim to give students an opportunity to discuss and think for themselves about ethical issues relevant to them. 

Students discuss topics such as:

- empathy;
- being an ethical consumer;
- how should we treat living things;
- how do we know when we have done something wrong?;
- intentions and knowledge - what might a whale know?; and
- understanding diversity.

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a valuable contribution to our school and be part of a great program, please visit www.primaryethics.com.au. You can also email our Primary Ethics Coordinator Susan Gray at bnpsethics@gmail.com for further information.

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