Newsletter Term 2 Week 1 2021

Principal's report

Anzac Day

This Friday all students K-6 will attend our ANZAC ceremony. These occasions are important for our students to understand our history and commemorate the many lives lost fighting in wars for our country. What happened in Gallipoli is now known as the ‘ANZAC legend.’ It has a powerful presence and shapes the history of many people in Australia and New Zealand.

Mrs Watson will be at our school on Friday 23rd April selling poppies to help our veterans. Sales will take place in the front playground near the flagpoles at 8,30am and are $2.00 each.

I am sure Max’s poem will resonate with you all.

In distant fields, poppies grow tall

Where fearless souls, fought for us all

Die they must, glory they shall gain

In fields of strength, in fields of pain

Friendly faces coming home

Not feeling scared, not feeling alone

But to remember those, who died that day

Deserves a special kind of praise

A praise of hope, a praise of love

A praise to those who rose above

School Excellence

We are proud to announce our Strategic Improvement Plan and 2020 Annual Report are now on the website. These are the result of a large investment of time, effort and considered planning from our entire Balgowlah North staff. We thank the school community for your valued input through dialogue with the P&C through multiple meetings, our Tell Them from me parent survey and through our focus group session. You can access both of these documents on the school website, in the Planning and Reporting section.

Thank you

What a fabulous way to end Term One. Our Colour Run raised over $19060.00. We thank you sincerely for the support you have given to our incredible school. We are very lucky to have such a supportive school community that go above and beyond. 4/3C were the winning class and they certainly enjoyed colour bombing the teachers!  They will be enjoying a pizza party in the coming weeks.

Winter uniform

The weather is starting to get chilly. Now is the time we change over to our winter uniform, thank you to the students who have already started to wear them! The second hand uniform shop is open on Wednesday afternoons from 2.30pm, you can find it on the verandah next to 5M.

COVID Guidelines

With changes to health restrictions we are now able to invite parents to events on our site to a maximum of 200. We still require QR codes and signing in for picking up of students. If you are assisting in the classroom or for any other event you will need to QR code in. Parents may now attend assemblies at the invitation of the class teacher.

Our Mother’s Day Breakfast will be held on Friday the 7^th of May.  The senior and junior band will be playing on the deck and families will be able to order breakfast through the canteen and enjoy catching up with friends. More information will be sent out soon to ensure we meet the COVID health guidelines.

Brooke Keevers

Principal

School news

High Potential Gifted Education

At BNPS, we are committed to ensuring we provide rich and engaging opportunities that allow for all of our students to meet their educational potential. As part of this focus, our Stage Two and Three students have been participating in some exciting enrichment opportunities during Semester One:

Forest High Enrichment Program

We have been given the opportunity for a select group of our Year Five students to participate in the Forest High Enrichment Program. This program is an opportunity for Gifted and Talented students to undertake hands-on activities that enrich their learning and foster the development of critical thinking, communication, problem solving and project management skills. Students attend from five different primary school partners, giving the students involved the opportunity to work and explore learning with similarly capable students from across a wider local area

Maths Olympiad

This year Balgowlah North Public School has entered two teams into the Maths Olympiad Competition. This is an opportunity for students from Years 3-6, who are highly capable in mathematics, to engage with mathematical problems in a creative manner.

Gifted Writer’s Workshop

Later in Term Two, BNPS will be initiating a Gifted Writer’s Workshop for students across the Beaches Network. This workshop will provide opportunity for Stage 3 students who demonstrate exemplary abilities in writing, to engage in a series of lessons run by experts with diverse backgrounds and experience. This is a unique opportunity for students to connect with professional writers, publishers and teachers with specialised skills and engage with advanced writing tasks that will enable them to extend their compositional choices.

Arts Alive

Thomas T. from 5R has been selected to participate in the prestigious Arts Alive workshop. This visual arts workshop will allow students to connect with professional artists and specialist teachers to develop their skills in painting, drawing/mixed media, sculpture, and printmaking.

We look forward to providing more opportunities in the future to ensure every student is supported through talent development opportunities and differentiated teaching and learning practices.

Rachel Ridley

Relieving Deputy Principal

Opportunity Class in 2022

Opportunity classes cater for academically gifted and high potential students who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic and social level. Successful students will usually have to leave their current school to enrol in a school with an opportunity class for Years 5 and 6.

Testing and assessment

Applications for opportunity class placement are considered mainly on the combined results of the Opportunity Class Placement Test and school assessments. Students who wish to be considered for opportunity class placement will sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test on Wednesday 21 July 2021.

How to apply

If you would like to have your child considered for Year 5 opportunity class entry in 2022, you need to apply between Tuesday 20 April 2021 and Friday 7 May 2021. You will need to access the online application at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5 .

 You must not use the child’s email address.If you do not have internet access, you could apply at a public library. If you have a disability that prevents you from using a computer, you can contact the Team for assistance after Tuesday 20 April 2021.

You must submit only ONE application for each student. Further information is available in the link above.

Demountable removal

Please be aware of the following- On Friday 23 April 2021 there will be traffic control on Mons Rd between 6am and 8.30am. The DoE will have a crane on the school site to remove an old demountable. Please use Manning street if you need to access the school. All WHS processes will be followed. Students will not be able to access the oval or futsal field there will not be any sports training on before school.

The Colour Run

A huge THANK YOU to all participants, organisers and parents who contributed to the enormously successful Colour Run where close to AUD 19k was raised to purchase quality texts for our school library. It was a very special event and a great way to end the term!

A special thanks goes to Catherine McMillian who generously provided prizes for the event.

Kind regards,

The Colour Run team – Amanda Mason and Chris McCall

PBL

Be Respectful

Weekly focus: Being Respectful to all adults

What it looks like:

• Remember school expectations in all settings.
• Listen politely when being spoken to.
• Use eye contact when having a conversation.
• Always showing respect to:
• S.E.A.T volunteer teachers
• Casual Teachers
• Office Staff
• Classroom Teachers
• Canteen Staff
• All adults at school

Wellbeing Team

Debating

Masters Academy are again running the debating club here at Balgowlah North.

Debating and public speaking are great catalysts for learning invaluable communication skills.

Although not all students will go on to compete in debating and speaking competitions, all students will need to master active listening, critical thinking and learn to communicate effectively.

Through the practice of debating and public speaking, students will learn persuasive language, critical thinking and logical thinking skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of key knowledge areas, such as health, economics, history, law, politics, media and current affairs.

We teach these key life-skills through activities, teamwork, discussions and participation in classroom debates at your school.

Enrol now for term 2: enrol.mastersacademy.com.au

Sessions will be held in 5M on Wednesday mornings at 8:00 am (Term 2, Week 3).

Chess

Learn to be a chess champion! Coaching for students at Balgowlah North Public School is held
on Mondays from 12:50pm to 1:40pm, starting on 26 April 2021.
Learning and playing chess helps children develop their logical thinking and problem solving
skills, improves their concentration and focus, while also being a great source of enjoyment.
Activities include group lessons on a demonstration chess board or interactive whiteboard,
puzzle solving and fun practice games.
Students earn merit awards by making checkmates, or by displaying skills and positive
qualities, which all good chess players strive to develop.
If your child is interested in taking part, you can collect an enrolment form from the school
office, or email enrol@sydneyacademyofchess.com.au for a copy. For all enquiries, please
contact Sydney Academy of Chess on (02) 9745 1170. 

Waste Free Wednesday

During Term 1, BNPS students designed new certificates to be used for the 2021 weekly Waste Free Wednesday class winners. Each class chose three certificates which were submitted to an SRC meeting where the SRC members voted on a selection to be used for 2021.

Congratulations to:

Meg Anderson – 3E

Kahlia Manu – 3/2P

Jackson Trude, Hudson Little and Isaac Antolik – 4/3C

Darcy Young – 4W

Kiana Abbott and Anneliese Olsson – 5M

Katherine Evans

Class teacher

Sports news

Cross Country

The school cross country carnival will be held on Thursday 29th April.  Students have all walked the course with their class.  Students are permitted to wear a house coloured T-shirt on the day.  Please make sure it is appropriately sun safe. 

Kangaroo: Red

Koala:  Yellow

Wombat:  Blue

Wallabies: Green

Parents are welcome to view the cross country.  Please enter the school via the vehicle gates along Mons Road and ensure you QR code in at the gate and remain behind the cordoned off area.    Note that students will be running along the footpath at the front of the school along Manning Street entering at the pedestrian access on Mons Road – we ask for your assistance to park safely in this area and not as races are being run.   

The following schedule is a guide only:

Cross Country Race Schedule

Race schedule is approximate time only.

Dates for your diary

23 April 

• Anzac Day Poppy sales - near the flagpoles at 8.30am and are $2 each.

• Anzac Day school ceremony
• World book day
• DanceSport starts for Year 5

25 April

• Anzac Day

26 April

• Dance Fever trial K-4

28 April

• World's greatest shave & crazy hair day

29 April

• School cross country
• TFHS GATS test

On Wednesday the 28^th of April, BNPS will once again be supporting the World’s Greatest Shave campaign.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 5 are asked to participate in Crazy Hair Day and bring a gold coin donation for the Leukaemia Foundation. Year 6 students will have the opportunity to shave, cut or colour their hair as part of our school fundraising campaign. Further information about Year 6’s involvement is available on the school app.

This is a longstanding tradition for our school and we look forward to a day of fun and fantastic hairstyles as we support this tremendously worthwhile cause.

P&C news

Term 1 Working bee

Our Term 1 Working Bee was a great success . Over 50 mums , dads and kids from our wonderful Kindy and Year 1 community spent a couple of hours helping out at the Green Grove and around the school . They fixed gates and the chicken coop , weeded , mulched , whipper-snipped and beautified many areas around the school and in the Green Grove , and also created a new compost area . Many hands made light work, and the transformation was remarkable . The morning was rounded off with a sausage sizzle to thank everyone for their efforts & to allow them to get to know one another a little better . We look forward to hosting the Term 2 Working Bee (this time for all the Year 2 & 3 families ) later on in Term 2.

Thanks to all who volunteered – BNPS P&C

Community information

Canteen news

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