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

Curiosity - Why is it important?

Curiosity refers to an individual's intrinsic motivation to explore, ask questions, and seek out new knowledge and experiences. It involves a desire to understand the world, investigate new ideas, and engage with different perspectives.

Curiosity drives learners to inquire deeply, think critically, and pursue learning opportunities, fostering a lifelong love of learning.

In educational settings, nurturing curiosity can lead to more engaged and motivated students who take an active role in their own learning process. Our teachers are focussed on building opportunities for our students to strengthen this learning disposition this term through our teaching and learning programs.

Mobile devices and smart phones

Many of our students wear smartwatches to school. We very much appreciate parents supporting us with how these devices are used at school. All phones and watches must have notification alerts and location switched off.

Please take the time to read our school procedures around devices and have a conversation with your children around their responsibilities when at school.

https://balgowlahn-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/rules-and-policies.html

Mobile phones are to be kept in the student’s bag at all times including before school, recess and lunchtime, and must be switched off or on silent. Phones and watches are not to be used in the classroom, playground or during incursion/excursion for any of the following purposes; check text messages, access games, the internet, images, the camera or videos.

Phones and watches are not to be used to call home in the event of a mishap at school or because belongings have been forgotten, unless at a teacher’s discretion and under the supervision of the teacher. In the main, these events are to be dealt with by the school. Parents will be informed of any events that have impacted their child.

Thank you for supporting us with proactive behaviors and respectful technology use.

Brooke Keevers
Principal

Assistant Principal's News

School News

Kindergarten RSVP link below:

https://forms.gle/417xMuuXQYcAGGkD9

School photos at BNPS
Brush up the black shoes and get your best smiles ready. School photos are nearly here! They will occur on Tuesday, 18th March, 2025 (Week 8). 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: X1289EL54B

Please be aware when purchasing photos that if you have chosen for your child’s photo not to be published, they will not be included in the class photos.

An individual portrait will be taken for school records, which is available for you to purchase if desired. Also, we will not be providing a make-up session for absent students on the day. Sibling photos will occur at lunchtime. In some cases, if the class photos are running ahead of schedule, we will start the sibling photos earlier. This will be announced over the loudspeaker in all classrooms. It is a good idea to notify your children if you are wanting them to have a sibling photo to prevent confusion on the day.

Creative Arts

Sports News

2025 BNPS Swimming Carnival

Good luck to everyone taking part in today's swimming carnival!

PBL Week 6

Admin News

Student Department emails
If you need your child's email address this can be found on the "Dashboard" of your School Bytes Parent Portal, at the bottom on the page under "Student details".

Student Medication
All expired mediation up to 2024 has been disposed of.

If your child requires medication during the school day this year, please provide in date medication in its original packaging to the school office along with a completed Student Health Support Request form. This form can be completed online by going into your School Bytes Portal under the FORMS tab.

Student Contact Details
Please ensure you email the school if you have any changes to your contact details, email, address or emergency contacts

Administration Team

Library News

Premiers Reading Challenge
The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is open to all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 10, in government, independent, Catholic and home schools. If you need help using the website and the answer cannot be found on the PRC Support site, please contact - prc@det.nsw.edu.au

The 2025 Challenge dates are as follows:

Challenge opens: Monday 24 February 2025

Challenge closes to students: Friday 22 August 2025

Students use their DoE login details – the same one they use to access computers and the internet at school.

For more information and an updated booklist please check the Premier’s Reading Challenge website https://online.education.nsw.gov.au/prc

URL for Student Experience Site: https://online.education.nsw.gov.au/prc/studentExperience.html#/

Students are welcome to come to our library at lunchtime at 1:15pm (second half lunch) on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will have the opportunity to play with Lego, draw or read books. Students can also borrow at this time.

The library is seeking any bulk plain paper that students can draw on during this time. If you have any, please drop it into the library or school office. It would be much appreciated.

The Week Ahead

Monday 10 March K-2 Assembly
Wednesday 12 March NAPLAN Writing
Thursday 13 March NAPLAN Reading
Thursday 13 March Kindy Parents Reading Workshop
Friday 14 March NAPLAN Language Conventions
Monday 17 March NAPLAN Numeracy
Tuesday 18 March School Photos

P & C News

Parent's Night Out - Saturday, 8 March
Ticket sales close on Thursday

Raffle tickets can be purchased even if you can’t make it to the event.
Thank you to Wavescape Orthdontics for their continued support and sponsorship.

Green Grove
The children planted seeds- strawberries, carrots, basil, chives, lettuce, marigold, sunflowers. We’ve put them in the greenhouse until they grow into seedlings and will then plant them into the garden beds.

Children have also been enjoying caring for the chickens, turning the compost, watering the garden, and doing nature activities such as making plant bouquets. Last week one of the children noticed a beautiful butterfly, which got all of the children’s attention!
Cate Webster

Canteen News

Koolkuna News

Books for Africa is our chosen non-profit charity for Term 1. We kindly ask you to take a moment to clear your bookshelves and donate any unwanted children’s books. We have already had some amazing donations so far and thank the community for all of their support so far!Please drop off at Koolkuna OSHC - next to the parent Sign In/Out Area.

OSHC is very excited to welcome back, Motiv8 Sports as part of the After School Care Curriculum for Term 1 after such amazing feedback from the families who participated in 2024! Term 2 Additional Activity

Motiv8 Sports - Kindy - Year 6
On Thursday afternoons in Term 1, Koolkuna OSHC will be joined by the Motiv8 Sports Team who will be running sports clinics to provide an opportunity to learn new skills across a range of sports and develop healthier lifestyle habits. Each clinic emphasizes on fun and inclusion, with inflatable obstacles, prizes and music to pump you up when participating in Flag ball Battle, Ultimate League, Gauntlet, Sponge Wars, Super Soccer, Super Sports Challenge and a final week Party Face Off.

Time: Thursday 3:30-4:45pmCost: $100/child for 6-week program $20/child for a one-off session
Dates: Term 1 Weeks 4-10 (27th Feb - 4th April
Please send an email to kkoshc@sustainableoshc.com.au or come to the service to enquire.