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

Connections and Community
One of the greatest strengths of Balgowlah North is the spirit of connection and community that lives at the heart of our school. It’s wonderful to see so many families, staff and students coming together to support, celebrate and contribute to our school’s growth.

Our much-loved sustainable garden continues to thrive - not only as a beautiful, calm space for our students at lunchtime, but also as a practical learning environment and even a source of fresh produce for our canteen! A huge shoutout to our Eco Warriors, who have helped collect over 265kg of compost so far this year - an outstanding achievement we can all be proud of.

We’d love to see more families involved in helping to maintain this space. If you’re free, pop on your gardening gloves, grab the kids and join us for a couple of hours of fresh air, connection and the satisfaction of making a difference to our little school.

There’s a wonderful buzz building around some upcoming events. Our Trivia Night is fast approaching, as well as the always-popular Band P&C Disco. These events are made possible by a dedicated team of parents working tirelessly behind the scenes - booking venues, finding sponsors, organising rosters and covering the countless details that create such memorable opportunities for our families. Thank you for all that you do.

It’s also exciting to see tangible improvements around our school grounds. The new deck is complete, and it won’t be long before the fencing comes down so we can all enjoy this beautiful new space together. Looking ahead, we’re thrilled about the upgrade of our front playground, with our incredible P&C generously contributing $60,000 towards this project. Work will commence later this term and continue over the school holidays.

Thank you for being such a vital part of our school community. Every contribution, big or small, helps to shape the warm, vibrant and supportive environment we’re so proud of at Balgowlah North.

Come down and help us at the Green Grove Working Bee this Sunday 15th June. “Bring your tools and lend a hand, bring the family & stay for a bbq”.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050944AFAC28A6FD0-56829636-green#/

Thank you

Brooke Keevers
Principal

Assistant Principal's News

At Balgowlah North, the pursuit of deeper learning and student growth is always evolving. This term, groups of dedicated teachers embarked on an action research project aimed at enhancing students' creative and critical thinking skills across multiple year levels and subject areas.

Drawing on respected differentiation frameworks such as Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Williams Model, teams collaboratively designed and implemented a series of classroom strategies focused on unlocking students’ potential to think in more complex, original, and reflective ways.

The Six Thinking Hats methodology was a particularly popular tool, enabling students to explore multiple perspectives when tackling a problem. Whether wearing the "black hat" to consider risks or the "green hat" to generate innovative ideas, students were encouraged to engage in structured, yet imaginative discussions that fostered curiosity.

Bloom’s Taxonomy was used as a guiding framework for curriculum planning, helping teachers to move students beyond simple recall of facts and toward higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and creation. Tasks were scaffolded to support all learners, ensuring that each student was appropriately challenged and able to develop their abilities in the area of spelling.

Incorporating the Williams Model, teachers designed learning activities that encouraged fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality - even for our youngest learners. In Year 1 classrooms, students were invited to think creatively by brainstorming multiple uses for everyday objects, such as a cardboard box or a shoe. They participated in storytelling sessions where they could change the ending of familiar tales or invent new characters. These activities laid the foundation for multiple ways of thinking in a fun, age-appropriate way.

The beginning of this action research journey has already begun to further enrich classroom practice but has also sparked a school-wide dialogue about how best to support our students to develop as thoughtful, creative, and curious learners.

Kate La Peyre
Assistant Principal Stage 1

School News

ICAS
After careful consideration, Balgowlah North Public School has made the decision not to facilitate the ICAS Assessments on-site this year. Over the past few years, student interest in ICAS has steadily declined, and we have used this as an opportunity to evaluate our capacity to support extracurricular activities in relation to the resources they require and the impact they have on students.

We do understand that these assessments provide some of our high potential students with an engaging and worthwhile challenge, so we encourage interested students to consider participation at one of the ICAS testing centres.

Building familiarity of participating in an assessment in a test centre may also be worth considering for our families interested in pursuing Opportunity Class or Selective High school pathways.

Further information and registration details can be found on the ICAS website.

ICAS Testing Centres | ICAS Assessments

World Environment Day Stage 2

WriteOn 2025
The annual WriteOn competition is an exciting opportunity for budding young writers in our school community. Through the competition, students develop skills in writing to express their ideas and may become published authors.

The competition is for students in Years 1 to 6. Students create an imaginative text of up to 500 words, using the stimulus provided. The new stimulus for WriteOn 2025 is the quote:

“Could they be changing?”

Each year, winners are celebrated at an award ceremony and their entries are published in ‘The Best of WriteOn' anthology. The 2024 version of the anthology is now available for purchase from the NESA Shop.

All entries must be submitted to the school via email by 3pm on Friday 13th. The entries will be judged by a panel and the school will enter the strongest piece of writing from each stage.

For any enquiries about WriteOn 2025, please see Mrs Ridley.

Kindergarten Enrolments 2026 - Help Us Spread the Word!
Exciting times are ahead, we kindly ask for your help in spreading the word to friends and neighbours who have little ones ready to embark on their educational journey next year. Our enrolments are officially open, and we have a school tour scheduled for Tuesday, May 27th. This is a fantastic opportunity for prospective families to explore our vibrant school, meet our enthusiastic student leaders, and begin forging connections within our community.

If you have a child currently attending Balgowlah North and a sibling who will be joining us next year, please take a moment to fill out the online enrolment form linked below. We have a wonderful lineup of connection events planned for the upcoming terms, and we can’t wait to welcome our new families. Thank you for your support in making our community even stronger!

Online Enrolment Application

Curiosity and Outdoor Learning

During week 6, stage one students explored the oxygen cycle and role of photosynthesis. Can you see the bubbles that were created by the leaves in our glasses of water? The sunnier the position the glasses were placed, the more air bubbles were formed!

Sports News

PSSA Round 4

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Orders
All orders for Scholastic Book Club need to be submitted by Tuesday 17th June.

Premier’s Reading Challenge
Congratulations to Jake I and Parker C who has completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025.

Admin News

Parent Volunteers
For any parent wishing to volunteer in a classroom, assist with excursions or get involved with school activities please contact the office and we can assist you in completing the Declaration form online.

Because you are a parent, you only require the Non-Child Related Work Declaration, and this can now be done online. We do not require you to obtain a WWCC from Service NSW.

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 form 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

PBL week 7

The Week Ahead

Friday 13 June Regional Cross Country
Sunday 15 June P&C Working Bee
Monday 16 June K-2 Assembly 2:30pm
Tuesday 17 June Years 5 & 6 Interrelate
Saturday 21 June P & C Trivia night
Tuesday 24 June Years 5 & 6 Interrelate
Thursday 26 June Band School Disco
Friday 4 July Last Day of Term 2
Tuesday 22 July First Day of Term 3

P & C News

Green Grove Working Bee Sunday 15th June
“Bring your tools and lend a hand, bring the family & stay for a bbq”.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050944AFAC28A6FD0-56829636-green#/

Eco Warriors

Koolkuna News

Bake Sale
In Term 2, Week 8, Koolkuna OSHC will be hosting a Bake Sale with the goal of raising funds for The Dalwood Spilstead Intervention and Support Service. This wonderful service is dedicated to providing multidisciplinary health, education, and support service to vulnerable children and families. The Bake Sale will take place on 19th June and will be held from 2:50pm onwards. We warmly welcome any contributions and donations you can offer. Your support goes a long way in making a difference. To learn more about the Dalwood Spilstead Service, please click on the link below.

Dalwood Spilstead

Winter vacation Care
2025 Winter Vacation Care Bookings are now open via the Xplor Home App. Important Note: When adding a new booking, please only select the session “Vacation Care K-6” - DO NOT SELECT “REQUEST A SPACE”. This ends up duplicating the booking where you will receive a notification of rejection. Please use the Xplor Home App to find the bookings tab and book into the appropriate sessions where you will be able to book each child in for the days requested. When a solid orange circle is displayed above, your child is successfully booked in for that day. Changes or cancellations will be accepted up until 2 weeks prior to your booking and must be requested via Email.

Koolkuna OSHC Admin