Balgowlah North Public School eNewsletter

"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 News

Leadership Learning
Over the past 18 months I have had an amazing opportunity to work with the School Leadership Institute, our Director of Educational Leadership and 3 principal colleagues to deliver professional learning to the Assistant Principals from The Beaches network. We have worked with over 50 Assistant Principals, building their knowledge and understanding of the skills needed in the domains of Collaborative Culture, Leading Learning, Social and Emotional Intelligence and Feedback. This has been an opportunity to connect, strengthen and grow our leadership of The Beaches network. I would like to take the opportunity to recognise the commitment and dedication of our own Assistant Principals who have been part of this strong network of reflective leaders.

Remembrance Day
On Monday Talon D and Olivia C represented Balgowlah North Public School at the Remembrance Day ceremony at Manly Dam. Student leaders from Manly Vale, St Kieran’s and BNPS were asked to deliver a speech about various aspects of war and present a wreath or gift. It was wonderful to see our leaders represent our school with such dignity and respect.

Colour Run
What a wonderful afternoon of pure joy and fun! The rain held off, the colour flew around and water pistols were accurate. Thank you to the many parents who attended, supporting us in a myriad of ways. Our kindi students greatly enjoyed their first colour run! Thank you to all the fabulous students who raised money for our school.

Selective high school and opportunity class applications are open from 7 November 2024 to 21 February 2025

Selective high school Year 7 entry in 2026: Apply when your child is at the end of Year 5 or the beginning of Year 6.

Opportunity class Year 5 entry in 2026: Apply when your child is at the end of Year 3 or the beginning of Year 4.

Selective high schools and opportunity classes are 2 of the ways the NSW Department of Education supports high potential and gifted students.

What are their benefits?

Students learn alongside, and form friendships with, other high potential and gifted classmates.
Special teaching methods allow students to learn at a quicker pace and in more detail.
Research shows that students benefit both academically and socially when learning with classmates who have similar abilities.

Selective high schools and opportunity classes are not zoned so you can apply to ones outside your local enrolment area.

Submit_your_application_in_5_steps.pdf

parents_applying_for_selective_education.pdf

OC_classes_for_2025.pdf

Brooke Keevers
Principal

Assistant Principal's News

Stage 3 - Year 5 Student Leadership
On Wednesday, 20th November, all year 5 students will participate in the second day of the Leadership Development Program. At Balgowlah North Public School, we offer all students opportunities to develop lifelong leadership skills, enabling them to guide, influence, and inspire others throughout life. By nurturing effective student leaders, we strengthen the core values that shape our school community.

The aim of the day is to provide opportunities for all year 5 students to develop their leadership skills.

Dress for the day: school uniform

Leadership Positions:
Student Leaders: (8 positions)

2 x Captains
2 x Vice Captains
4 x Prefects

Nomination for the Year School Leaders

All year 5 students will participate in a structure leadership program
Students then self-nominate for Student Leaders

Speeches for the Roles of Student Leaders: Wednesday 27^th November
A successful student wishing to gain Captain, Vice-captain or committee will be required to present a 2-minute speech to their Year 5 peers. Speeches are written at school prior to presenting to their peers. Each student will be given half an hour to prepare their speech. Voting will follow immediately after the speeches are completed.

Voting for School Leaders
The voting procedure will proceed as follows:

eligible voters include: all year 5 students and all teaching staff
students will vote for one boy and one girl candidate
positions will be filled in order of the number of votes received
results of the voting will be announced at the Celebration of Learning Assembly on Tuesday 3^rd December

House Captains: (8 Positions - 2 students from each Sport house: Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallabies, Wombats)

Speeches for the Roles of House Captains: Friday 29^th November
A successful student wishing to gain House Captain will be required to present a 2-minute speech to their Year 4 and 5 students. Speeches are written at school prior to presenting to their Houses. Each student will be given half an hour to prepare their speech. Voting will follow immediately after the speeches are completed.

Voting for the Role of House Captains
The Voting procedure will proceed as follows:

eligible voters include: all year 4 & 5 House members and teaching staff
students will vote for one boy and one girl candidate
the position will be filled by the candidate with the highest number of votes.
results of the voting will be announced at the K-6 Assembly on Monday 9^th December

These positions will be decided in 2025.

Band Captains: (2 positions)
Library monitors
Sound crew

Susie Stock
Stage 3 Assistant Principal (relieving)

School News

Life Education
It’s that time of year again, and next week the Life Education van and Healthy Harold will be with us! Life Education, with the help of Healthy Harold, will teach us valuable lessons about our healthy, relationships and personal wellbeing. Our students will explore the qualities and attributes that make a good friend and discuss the importance of respectful relationships for our overall wellbeing. They’ll also learn strategies for seeking, giving, or denying consent, empowering us to communicate effectively and set boundaries. We’ll identify people within our support network who can help us when needed, reinforcing the idea that we don’t have to face challenges alone. These lessons equip our students with skills to be healthy, build positive relationships and seek support whenever necessary.

K - 2: 60-minute session
3 - 6: 90-minute session

Programs:
Kindy: My Body Matters
Stage 1: Growing good friends
Stage 2: Friends & Feelings
Stage 3: Take a Breath

Susie Stock
Assistant Principal (Relieving)

Christmas Fair Mufti
On Thursday the 14th of November we will be having a mufti day to support our school Christmas Fair. Students can wear mufti clothes and are asked to bring in a chocolate donation that will be given as a prize at the fair.
By Sadie S (Principal for the day, Term 4)

Sports News

No PSSA Cricket Training this week
There will be no training this week as Mrs Kelly is away.

Round 9 PSSA results

4M Class Snapshot

PBL Week 5

Admin News

The school grounds are supervised from 8.30am, if you require for your child to be at school before this time please send them to Koolkuna.

How to see notes on the School Bytes Parent App
If you are wishing to see any excursion notes these can be found by going into the School Bytes parent app, clicking on your "activities tab" and then the event name.

E-bikes, e-scooters, bicycles and skateboards are not permitted on school grounds under any circumstances as their use jeopardises the safety of our community. Use of play equipment is prohibited outside of school hours and playing on school grounds after school and during the school holidays should always be under the supervision of an adult.

We understand that the community enjoy having access to the school grounds outside of school hours so we urge you to please assist us in keeping our school safe by adhering to these protocols and notifying local police if you observe any concerning behaviour occurring on the school grounds.

Manly Police - 99768099
Dee Why Police - 9971 3399

Administration Team

Library News

Teacher Picks!

Mrs Evans' favourite picture book is:

‘Window’ by Jeannie Baker

A mother and baby look through a window at a view of wilderness and sky as far as they can see. As Sam, the baby, grows, the view changes. At first, in a cleared patch of forest, a single house appears. A few years pass and there is a village in the distance. The village develops into a city.

Sam, now a young man, gets married, has a child of his own and moves to the country. Now father and baby look through a window in their new home. The view again is of a wilderness, but in a cleared patch of forest across a dirt road a prophetic sign reads, ‘House Blocks for Sale’. - Jeannie Baker

The story starts out in the country. A little boy moves there but the reader doesn’t really know what he is thinking. It's wonderful to chat to everyone reading the text with me to try and determine what is happening. The story goes year by year, as the whole environment changes. Why? How? The conversation this text elicits is awesome! - Mrs Evans

Library News
Next week will be the last opportunity to borrow books from the school library. Please ensure all library books are returned by Week 8 for our annual stock-take.

Thank you for your cooperation and support!

Amanda Mason

Food Scrap Friday

The Week Ahead

Thursday 14 November Mufti Day
Thursday 14 November Strings Parent Information Session
Monday 18 November 3-6 Assembly 2.30pm
Monday 18 November Life Education Program starts this week
Wednesday 20 November P & C Fundraising Meeting for Year 1 parents 7.30pm in the library
Thursday 21 November Strings Program Student Information Session - Kindy & Year 1
Thursday 28 November Community Helpers Thank You breakfast 8am
Monday 25 November K-2 Assembly 2.30pm

P & C News

BNPS Christmas Carnival:

The countdown is on, and we are so grateful for your enthusiasm and support already for this huge event. The carnival not only promises to be a wonderful family and memory-making day, but 100% of proceeds will go towards our school in the form of playground improvements for Stage 2 and 3, health & wellbeing sponsorships for students in their pursuit of arts/sport/STEM and helping to fund the band program.

Facebook Event Page:
Please join our exciting new BNPS Carnival Facebook event page here to learn more about what is on offer throughout the big day!

Chocolate Bar Mufti Day on 14 November
Tomorrow, the 14th, the students have a mufti day at school and are asked to bring a chocolate bar donation for our popular Lob a Choc carnival stall. Flat chocolate bars work best for this game and will be collected in the classrooms. Thank you in advance for your contributions!

Tombola Jars:
Thank you for the outstanding efforts with all of the fun and creative tombola jars that are coming in! We have decided to extend the collection deadline to Friday, the 22nd of November, to source as many of these filled jars as possible for this highly popular stall. Please continue to deliver these to your child's classroom so that we can ensure all of the jars are attributed to each class, giving them the chance to win the grand prize of a pizza party at the end of the collection period! As it stands currently, 2A, 2HL, 4/3W, 4M, 4/3P, and 6/5H are at the top of the leader board, but there is still time! Huge congrats to 6/5H for winning the tally last week with 26 filled jars.

Carnival Ride Wristbands:
Carnival entry is free, but early bird unlimited ride wristbands are on sale here for $40 until the 26th November for the pre-order sale. Buy yours today!

Calling All Jam Makers!
We are looking for people to help us make jam for our jam stall at the carnival. If you are keen to assist, please drop your homemade jams/preserves to 58 Woodbine Street by the 30th of November.

Volunteer on the Day:
As you can imagine, an event of this scale cannot operate without the support of the entire school community. Please see here for how you can help out during the day.

Entertainment Schedule*:

11:00	11:30	The Singing Squad
11:40	11:55	BNPS Visual Arts
12:10	12:30	Monsters Dance
12:40	13:00	School Band
13:10	13:30	NB Dance Co
14:30	16:00	DJ Kit Kat

*Subject to change

The BNPS Christmas Carnival Committee

Christmas Stall

Band News

Promising numbers for Band 2025
It was exciting to see a strong number of families attending the Band Parent Information Session last Thursday. Thank you to everyone who has shown an interest in joining our band program. If you couldn't attend, and are interested to know more, you can go to our website https://bnpsband.wixsite.com/website. Make sure you register your interest to join band via our online form so we have your contact details to communicate with you. Access it here https://forms.gle/cFKDrYeeddCYyipr7. This is important, as the school is unable to share parent details with us. If we don't hear from you directly we will be unable to communicate with you.

Instrument recommendations to students who have had an instrument suitability test will be issued later this week/early next week and will be emailed to individual families - that's why it is important that you register via the online form.

Further Instrument Suitability Assessments will be held over the next few weeks. Please contact bnpsband@hotmail.com to arrange an instrument assessment with a professional tutor who can recommend the most suitable instrument for your child.

Join Strings Information Session – Thursday 14 November 8.15am – 8.45am
Kindi and Year 1 parents are invited to come along to the library, on Thursday morning at 8.15am, to hear the string ensemble play and learn about the instruments as well as the string program.
No need to RSVP. Please just turn up.

Koolkuna News

As we approach the holiday season Sustainable OSHC is participating in a Reverse Advent Calendar. In support of One Meal - Northern Beaches, Sustainable OSHC will be collecting a range of goods to donate to those families doing it tough these holidays. Our Reverse Advent Calendar will begin on Monday 19th November and run for 24 week days until Friday 20th December. Refer to our Reverse Advent Calendar on display at the Sign In/Out Area to identify which products we are collecting on each day. We hope our families will support this initiative by encouraging your children to drop the goods under the Koolkuna OSHC Christmas Tree.

Canteen News

Flexischools update
Look out for the new "Multi Order" function on flexi schools, coming soon. The Multi-order function will allow parents to place orders for several students across different services and dates. This is currently available via desktop but will be released to app soon.