Newsletter Term 2 Week 8 2021

"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 report

Music, memories and teamwork were the theme of our Balgowlah North band workshop last Saturday.  Fantastic tutors, well supported by our conductors Natasha and Angus. A huge thank you to the P&C parents for assisting on the day. Thank you to  Eliza McLucas for her organisation of the lovely afternoon tea which was very well received. Great organisation and coordination by the whole school community with a special thanks to Caroline for pulling it all together. It was a special moment for our Junior band with their first live performance!  I am looking forward to the Harbourside Music Festival coming up with Seaforth and Balgowlah Heights Public Schools on June 17.  

Band workshop

Don’t forget our P&C meeting has been changed to Thursday night this week due to State of Origin on Wednesday night.

Just a reminder that students must remain at home if they are unwell, even with the mildest of symptoms. If they are unwell they must receive a negative COVID test and be symptom free before returning to school. 

School Refurbishment

Our school refurbishment continues... We have had new carpet, new vinyl and now new paint! We have quite a few tradesmen working in and around the school at the moment. We have replaced half our classrooms with new technology and are hoping the school community will  assist us further over the course of the year so that by 2022 we have up to date technology in all classrooms!

Our classrooms K-2 have new jellybean tables and wobble stools. These tables are used for small intensive, targeted group work in reading, writing and maths. Our students love being able to write on the tables when they are brainstorming! Our classroom reading corners are also having a makeover thanks to the money raised from our color run.

Enrichment Writing Workshop

On Thursday we welcome students from the Northern Beaches Learning Alliance schools. Our school is hosting the first Writing Enrichment workshop for stage 3 students. We have 28 students attending from 14 local primary schools. They will be working with Sue Whiting, she has worked in publishing for two decades. As a storyteller and school performer, Sue has informed, inspired and entertained thousands of kids across the country. Paul Macdonald is the owner of The Children’s Bookshop (Speakers’ Agency) in Sydney and Lauren Weatherall is an English Teacher at The Forest High School.

Thank you to Rachel Ridley and Deborah Horsley for initiating, creating and organising this opportunity for our students across our network who have displayed high potential in writing within their school setting. 

Setting high expectations and providing opportunities for students to reach their potential is fundamental to our vision at Balgowlah North.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Will be held in Week 2 next term. Booking Information will be sent out on Friday. If you have met with your class teacher in the past 4 or 5 weeks then it would not be necessary to meet again. Reports will be emailed home at the end of the term. Please ensure you keep these in a safe place as we will not be providing copies of reports that have been lost or misplaced.

New South Wales PSSA Cross Country Championships 

Congratulations to Lachlan S, Liliana R, Henry F and Isaac R for representing our school as part of Sydney North on Friday 16th July at Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek.  We are very proud of you all. 

Brooke Keevers

Principal

School news

URStrong - Day of Friendship

Our teachers have spent the last three weeks during our professional learning meetings planning and programming our PDHPE syllabus for Term 3 and embedding key themes, ideas and lessons to support the URStrong programme. It has also been great to see so many families have already registered for our workshop  early in Term 3.

Thank you to the P&C for contributing $5000 towards this programme. 

ICAS

Balgowlah North Public School will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS Assessments this year. ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in a range of learning areas.

These examinations incur an entry fee and ARE NOT affiliated with the Department of Education. Students who participate will be competing against students in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Pacific Countries and America. This is an opportunity for students to gain a measure of their own achievement  in an external assessment situation.

We encourage you to consider entering your child into ICAS this year. The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically.

Our school has signed up for the ICAS Assessments Parent Payment System (PPS) for Writing, English, Maths and Science. Through this system parents can pay for ICAS directly online while tests will still be held at our school. Please use the following details to register your child no later than Friday 11th June. 

PPS access details for parents:

Your school access code is: GUU692

Your parent page link is: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

Every student must also return a consent form, detailing the purchased assessments, to the school office, by Friday 11th June. 

Safety Reminder

We have been informed of an incident in the local area that serves as a reminder to talk to your children about how to identify and respond to threatening situations. Specifically, reminding students of how to respond if they are approached by someone they don’t know and put in a situation that makes them feel unsafe. Students at our school are educated in the process of ‘No, Go, Tell’ from K - 6 and should be reminded of their personal safety network of trusted adults who can help them if they find themselves in a situation where they feel threatened.The incident that was brought to our attention does not directly involve a child from our school community, but serves as a timely reminder about ensuring our students feel confident in how to respond to threatening situations should they find themselves confronted by one. 

Rachel Ridley

R/Deputy Principal

Premier’s Reading Challenge

I have the great pleasure of acknowledging a large group of students this week who have now completed the reading challenge for this year. One of the great benefits of participating in the PRC is that students are encouraged to read widely from diverse genres, authors and formats. Well done to the following students: Hugo M (year 6), Thomas G, Amelia M, Cleo M, Claire Z, Cordelia M, Lachlan T, Jack V, Ben B, Amy G, Penny P, Anna S, Alex C, Helena F, Emily M, Scarlett P, Ruby T, Sam V, Hugo M (Kindergarten), Max C, Olive B, Aven L and Matthew D.

Scholastic Book Club

The Scholastic Book Club parent volunteer is a much appreciated position at our school and therefore, I want to say a big thank you to Anna T for being our parent volunteer for Book Club this year. As Anna and family are leaving our community and can no longer can fulfil this role I am wondering if there is another willing volunteer? This position involves about 15 minutes of online administration each issue and about 2 hours of sorting and distribution of books. We would usually have 1-2 issues per term. Book Club is a highly valued resource at our school as it not only provides affordable reading resources for families but our school benefits greatly as well. For every Book Club order placed, Scholastic gives back 20% of the order spend to schools to purchase valuable educational resources via its Scholastic Rewards program. If you would like to assist with this job this year, please contact me - deborah.horsley1@det.nsw.edu.au

Deborah Horsley 

Teacher Librarian

Sports

Dance Sports

This term Year 5 started doing Dance Sports on Friday mornings. We have learnt dances such as the Cha Cha, Tango and the Salsa. The morning starts with us learning a new dance or one we have learnt before. We practise it in small parts in lines of boys and girls. Then we put it altogether with the music. At the beginning it was uncomfortable having to dance with a boy but now we used to it. Learning the dances has been lots of fun and its been great to try something new.

Lucy O, Talia T and Lani H

On behalf of the Balgowlah North community, a huge congratulations to the following people for being selected in the following representative teams:

Manly Marlins Rugby U10 Representative side:

Max H, Van H, James W, and Chris O

U11’s Manly Marlins Representative Rugby Team:

Beau P

Combined Manly, Warringah and Pittwater PSSA Zone Rugby Representative Team:

Chris O, Darcy H and Benji K

Well done to Chris O, who represented Sydney North in the Rugby League State Championships in Kiama last week. His team came 3rd, losing to eventual champions, Sydney East.

Last Thursday, in cold, but perfect footy weather, the Senior and Junior Rugby League team, as well as the inaugural girls 7’s team, participated in a Rugby League Gala Day at Nolan Reserve, participating against many schools across the Northern Beaches. It was a mixed day with results, however, they all enjoyed themselves and represented the school with pride. Huge shout out to Amali E, Giselle G, Grace P, Harriet W, Indi O, Isla R, Katie H, Kayla C, Lucy R, Tyla H and Zuri A for playing their first ever games of rugby league, tackling and running with so much energy!

Stewart King

Teacher

PBL

Be Respectful

Weekly focus:  Care for others

What it looks like:

• Be a good friend and an upstander
• Speak to others with respect
• Help someone else when they are hurt or upset.
• Be honest, kind and inclusive

Dates for your diary

10 June

• Remote P&C meeting - 7.30pm

14 June

• Queen's birthday public holiday

15-16 June

• Student Leadership camp

16 June

• Senior band performance - 8.30am
• Interrelate - stage 3

17 June 

• Senior dance ensemble - filming at Glen St theatre
• AFL clinic - Years 2&3
• Harbourside music festival - 5.30pm - 9.00pm

19 June

• P&C ping pong  family day
  

20 June 

• Working bee - Years 2&3
  

21 June

• Concert band/strings performance at assembly

22 June

• Festival of music rehearsal - 3/4 choir

23 June 

• Interrelate - stage 3

25 June

• Last day of Term 2 

12 July

• School Development Day

13 July 

• All students return for the start of Term 3

P&C news

PING PONG PICNIC

To raise $$ for tech for our classrooms!

• DATE: 19 June
• TIME: 1.30-5pm
• WHERE: BNPS Cola
• BOOK: a Family Picnic ticket on Flexischools (covers entry, entertainment and more for spectators and players)
• KIDS PLAYERS: included in Family Picnic ticket and registered on the day 
• ADULTS PLAYERS: $10 registration on Flexischools
• DRESS CODE: TENNIS WHITES! $200 Hugo’s voucher prize for best fashion on the field!

There will be prizes, a DJ, activities for the kids, sausage sizzle, a raffle with EPIC prizes and MORE! 

BOOK NOW for a fun-filled afternoon!  

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