Newsletter Term 2 Week 1 2025
"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
Welcome back to Term 2. I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely break filled with relaxation and quality time with your children. We are thrilled to have our students back today and are eager to dive into an exciting term ahead.
Our teachers have been engaged in fantastic professional learning over the past two days, focusing on recognising and nurturing potential across the four key domains: intellectual, creative, physical, and social-emotional. We've been exploring various inquiry models, collaborating in teams to discover effective adjustment tools for our classrooms. It has been a wonderful opportunity to delve into De Bono’s Thinking Hats, William’s and Bloom’s Taxonomy, allowing us to refine our teaching practices based on the latest research.
Looking ahead, we have many exciting events planned this term. Please keep an eye on the school calendar for updates. A special thank you to our parent volunteers who will be managing the BBQ this Saturday, as we provide our community with a voting space. Our deck construction is progressing, despite the challenging weather, and we can’t wait to see it completed!
We are also excited for our Mother’s Day Breakfast and Stall on Thursday, May 8th. While we typically use the deck for this event, we’ll be relocating to the front playground to enjoy performances from our bands and choir. Our canteen will offer a delicious breakfast menu, and I had a sneak peek yesterday—it looks fantastic! Let’s hope for clear skies. Additionally, our Cross-Country event is scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon, weather permitting.
We wish our students the best of luck as they prepare for the selective high school tests this week. We believe in their abilities and know they will approach this opportunity with determination. Our Public School system offers incredible opportunities for students to excel in various areas of talent, and it's inspiring to see so many of our students engaging with these opportunities as they progress into Stage 2 and 3 and into high school.
Our leaders
Thank you to Abbey M and Lachy T represented the school with pride at the Northern Beaches Council ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Manly Dam.
Blake T was the first speaker at the ANZAC Day Beach service MC’d by the Hon Bruce Baird AM. What a wonderful opportunity for them all.
Attendance
All applications for ongoing partial exemptions for students to participate in external therapies to support their learning must be reviewed at the start of each school term. If your child is currently missing part of a school day to attend regular appointments with external providers, please email the school office with the details of this intervention for approval for Term 2.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Here’s to a wonderful term ahead!
Brooke Keevers
Principal
School News
Sports News
Cross Country Teacher Information 2025
The BNPS Cross Country will take place on Tuesday 6th May from 1:30pm, weather and ground conditions permitting. Parents are welcome to cheer on their children from the top oval or around the course.
Students who are turning 8 in 2025 have the choice to run 1km around the school or 2km around the school. The 2km race will be combined with 9-year-olds and the top 6 runners from the combined age group will move on to the zone competition. We will aim to walk the course and discuss the distance during sports lessons before the carnival.
Students should wear their sports uniform for this event. Students are permitted to wear a house-coloured T-shirt, but it is not compulsory. Please make sure any shirt is appropriately sun safe.
Winter PSSA
Winter PSSA training will take place during school sport time on a Friday afternoon for weeks 1 and 2. Before school Friday training will commence in Week 3 on the 16th May.
Thank you
PSSA Coaches
Library News
Stage 3 students looking for a challenging, enriching and inspiring learning opportunity are encouraged to enter the What Matters? Writing Competition
Inspired by Gough Whitlam's commitment to involving young people in shaping Australia's future, the What Matters? writing competition is currently open to school students in years 5 to 12 from Australia. Responding to the simple question 'what matters? entrants are free to express their views on any matter they care about.
Participation in this competition is voluntary and must be completed in the student’s own time outside of school. It is strongly recommended that students read this year’s winning entries and shortlist of commended texts, so they understand the caliber of writing that is expected for this competition.
Entries can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose of up to 600 words, and submitted online. Entries close on May 16th. For further information on the competition please visit the website below:
Whitlam Institute Enter What Matters? 2025
Any students who are interested in participating in this opportunity, who would like to be mentored in refining their writing, are welcome to see Mrs Ridley to express their interest in this opportunity.
Sydney Writers Festival
On Wednesday May 21, 2025, students in Stage 3 are invited to attend the Sydney Writers Festival School Days program at the Chatswood Concourse Theatre. The festival runs from 10.00am – 2.00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to engage with their favourite authors, discover exciting new voices and be inspired in a fun, educational and interactive way.
Students will need to be at school by 8:45am to travel by bus, leaving at 9:00am. The bus will return to school by 3:00pm. The cost for this excursion is $48.
The Sydney Writers Festival email will be sent to all students in years 5 and 6 at 10am on Friday 2nd May.
We are restricted to 58 tickets for this event, therefore, the first 58 students to return permission will attend. The fee of $48 will be added to your statement within 24 hours of submitting permission and can be paid immediately to secure your ticket to the event.
More information regarding the day and the author speakers can be found on the following link-
https://www.swf.org.au/education/primary-school-days
Scholastic Book Club Orders
All orders for Scholastic Book Club need to be submitted by Friday 16th May
Amanda Mason
Teacher Librarian
Admin News
Emailing the school
When you email the school, please include the surname of the child you are emailing about and the parent surname so your correspondence can be sent to the right person.
Student Contact Details
Please ensure you email the school if you have any changes to your contact details, email, address or emergency contacts.
Medical
If you have listed a medical condition on your enrolment form that requires treatment at school we will need documentation for this treatment to be administered eg: Asthma plan, Anaphylaxsis, Allergy and Request for Student Health Support at school
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".
Administration Team
The Week Ahead
Thursday 1 May Kindergarten School Tour 1
Tuesday 27 May Kindergarten School Tour 2
Saturday 3 May P & C Election Day BBQ
Monday 5 May K-2 Assembly 2.30pm
Tuesday 6 May Cross-Country Carnival 2-6 1.30pm
Wednesday 7 May Maths Olympia/Explorer years 3-6 9am
Thursday 8 May Mother's Day Breakfast in the front playground 8am
Thursday 8 May P&C Mother's Day Stall
Monday 12 May 3-6 Assembly 2.30pm
Tuesday 13 May Rugby 7's Gala Day
Tuesday 16 May Walk to School Day
P & C News
Uniform Shop
Please note that the Second-Hand Uniform Shop will now be open on TUESDAYS, from 2.30pm-3.15pm.
All clothing items are $10 / hats $5. All proceeds from the shop go directly back to the school and your support is greatly appreciated!
We are always grateful for donations and are currently in need of smaller sizes across both winter and summer uniforms. Any preloved items may be left at the school office during opening hours or at the shop on Tuesdays.
Save the Date - Trivia Night
Please save the date for the next big event on 21 June 2025. We look forward to seeing you all there!
School Disco
Please save the date for our school disco to be held on Thursday 26th June.
Sponsorships and Sponsorship and Donations
We are always looking for new sponsors for our events. If you are interested in being a sponsor, please contact Dan Brabant on 0434 004 797 for further information.
Canteen News
Koolkuna News
We hope everyone had a lovely Easter break. We wanted to give a HUGE thank you to all the parents and families who donated books for the "Books for Africa" Charity. We can't thank everyone's generosity enough and the response was absolutely amazing.
Coming into Term 2 we wanted to announce that it is a legal requirement & the responsibility of the parent/guardian to ensure that their child/ren are signed into OSHC for BSC & Vacation Care and signed out of OSHC from ASC & Vacation Care. All parents/guardians must use their Xplor Home Accounts to sign their child/ren in/out of care. If someone other than those listed on the Enrolment Form will be picking up your child, please send an email to the Centre to provide temporary authorisation for collection. If your child/ren is found not to be signed in or signed out of OSHC by an authorised contact, educators will contact the parent/guardians and a No Sign In/Out Fee of $11.00 will be applied to your account. We are looking forward to Term 2 and we can't wait to see everyone back again at Koolkuna!
Kind Regards,
Sam
Koolkuna OSHC Admin
School Community News
Primary School Newsletter Story Fire and Rescue NSW Open Day
Are you ready for winter? Cooler weather is just around the corner, so this is a great opportunity to catch up with your local NSW Fire and Rescue firefighters and learn all about keeping your family fire safe this winter.
We would like to educate your family and the community about fire prevention and safety. Our key message this year is around home fire safety, encouraging everyone to consider and take ownership of the fire dangers in our homes.
Fire and Rescue NSW will be hosting its annual Open Day on Saturday 10 May 2025 between 10:00am and 2:00pm. This will give you an opportunity to engage with your local Fire and Rescue NSW station.
You and your family are invited to head down to your local fire station for home fire safety tips, activities, and demonstrations.
You will also have the opportunity to chat with firefighters to learn more about their everyday role and type of fires and rescue emergencies they attend.
For more information on your local station, visit www.fire.nsw.gov.au/openday and follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/frnsw.
Make sure you mark it in your diary and come and join us!
School Sponsors
