Newsletter Term 3 Week 3 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
Education Week
Words from Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell.
“Our schools have successfully managed droughts, bushfires, floods and a pandemic, and it is all thanks to the efforts of all the people who make up each individual school community,” Ms Mitchell said.
Education Week has been a highlight of the NSW public education calendar for more than 60 years and this year, more than ever, our schools deserve to be celebrated.
“Teachers have stepped up in every aspect. Despite the challenges, schools were prepared for this current lockdown in Greater Sydney and continue to improve.
As recently as last week, our teachers spent time upskilling in their remote teaching practices, with nearly 2000 teachers attending our live sessions, and over 2500 viewings of recorded webinars,” Ms Mitchell said.
Our students will be celebrating their learning this week with you at home and online through the virtual classroom. This year’s theme is “Lifelong learners”. We at Balgowlah North emulate this everyday in our classrooms, with our teachers and our school leaders. Over the course of this week our students will be sharing what this means to them personally through their Google Classrooms and SeeSaw classrooms.
We will share these responses in our newsletter next week. If you have a photo of your child/ren learning from home that you would like to share please email it through to the school email and we will include this in a slideshow to be shared with the school community as well.
Home Learning
As we are now aware ‘Home Learning’ will continue until at least the 28th of August. We will continue to keep our students as our focus. Our teachers will continue to provide a quality ‘Home Learning’ program that focuses on
- Flexibility of delivery to ensure we can make this work for all our families
- Wellbeing and connection between students and teachers
- Student Engagement with curriculum content
Thank you for your continued support of keeping our students at home, as this will assist in keeping our school staff and our school community safe during this current health crisis.
Take care
Brooke Keevers
Principal
School news
URStrong Workshop
We were absolutely thrilled to have Dana Kerford host our URSTRONG Language of Friendship session for BNPS families last night. It was so lovely to see so many of our students and their parents actively engaged in this workshop, discussing respectful relationships and strategies for establishing and sustaining positive friendships.
For those families who were unable to attend the session, URSTRONG have provided access to a recording of the workshop for a period of 7 days. It can be accessed via this link:
You will need to use the code #1Ninjas to access the replay
We are looking forward to implementing URSTRONG at our school and extend our gratitude to all those families who have so proactively supported it’s inception.
Diverse Learners Team
Our Diverse Learners Team (DLT) continues to meet weekly to review how we can support our students’ social, emotional, behavioural and academic needs. The DLT comprises of our Principal, Deputy Principal, School Counsellor, Learning and Support Teachers and the Class Teacher and Assistant Principal of any student referred to us for review. We are committed to ensuring our students’ learning and wellbeing needs are supported as they learn from home. If you have concerns about your child’s engagement and participation in the home learning program, your first point of contact should be your child’s Class Teacher. If you have any concerns about your child’s mental health or wellbeing and would like to access our School Counsellor, please contact the school office for a parent referral form or visit the school's website for a print at home form:
Parent_Referral_Process.pdf (nsw.gov.au)
Supporting our Learners
We are aware that many of our students are supported with SLSO support, Personalised Learning Plans and Specialist Intervention Programs when they are at school. We are working on ways we can connect with these students and support their learning from home.
I would like to acknowledge the work of Amanda Mason who has been doing an incredible job running Zoom MiniLit sessions for our Stage One students.
Next week Katrina Ross will be commencing focus groups for some of our students in Years 3-6 with Personalised Learning Programs.
ICAS
If you have paid for your child to complete the ICAS assessments, please be advised that these are likely to be rescheduled for October. We will communicate further information as soon as it comes to hand.
Maths Olympiad
The Maths Olympiad competition will resume once students return to face-to-face schooling. We are preparing some exciting mathematical challenges for our students in Stages 2 and 3 that will be delivered via Google Classroom.
Rachel Ridley
R/Deputy Principal
Last Thursday 22nd July Kindergarten celebrated 100 Days of Kindy.
We've been at school 100 days,
Through every kind of weather,
And, now it's time to celebrate,
We'll say this poem together.
100 days! Hip-hip-hoo-ray!
It sure seems like forever,
We'll celebrate 100 days,
And, we'll be friends forever!
Congratulations to our Kindergarten cohort. Your teachers and school community are so proud of you!
Georgia Witton, Sarah Bee, Sarah King, Nathan Pakes, Rachel Ridley
Students at BNPS have been participating in virtual meetings with their teachers each day. Although these are optional, it allows students an opportunity to discuss their learning, ask their teacher any questions or challenges they have and come together with their classmates. The meetings are usually held on zoom and last for about 30 minutes. Students have been proud to share work that they have completed and social connection is an important part of the day for everyone. We look forward to seeing more students connecting with their teacher and peers in daily virtual meetings.
Eliza McAllister
Selfie Poem - Chloe G. 5M
I am proud as a peacock of my swimming
I find it fancy, fun and thrilling
I quietly swim every morning
And I find it’s not boring.
I am kind as a bird and ever so caring
I find friendship is for sharing
Ego and unkindness is not tolerated by me
I look in the mirror and love the person I see.
I love to help my parents around the house
I keep as busy as a mouse
With daily chores and other things
And everything else that life brings.
So I'm proud as punch of all that I do
Kind, caring and responsible too
I would love to achieve fame and fortune
As I reach for the stars and the moon.
The Forest High School relocation: update
The Forest High School will be relocated to a portion of 187 Allambie Road, Allambie Heights. This site is located within the current intake area for The Forest High School. The relocation is part of the re-zoning and planning framework for Frenchs Forest to create a new town centre for the community.
The project for the relocation of the Forest High School is in the planning phase. For more information visit The Forest High School relocation project website, and read the Planning Update published on the ‘Library’ tab. Further updates, including timeframes, will be released by School Infrastructure NSW as the project progresses.
Dates for your diary
28 July
- Remote P&C meeting
03 August
- Kindergarten 2022 parent remote information session
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