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 report

Education Week last week was a fantastic opportunity for our students to share their views on what ‘Lifelong Learning’ means to them. We hope you enjoy the jamboards that each class has put together.

JamBoards - Google Docs

Thank you also to 1R, 3/2P, 4W, 3M, 4V, 3E for their ‘Home learning’ slideshows that you can view here. It is lovely to see how our students have adapted to their learning from home.

4V: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ggz8oEGaEKutFfUqmv6GBx-k-x5-aXQ__Eb5UQ7Bteo/edit?usp=sharing

4W: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11WQ3-uqk9pRfOpjqhpt7zJCl4WYElAlSgUPS8Q9BEhk/edit?usp=sharing

4/3C: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uNZqTXu4Qkz3yqSUkwBQ_aYQIcD_WAB7/view?usp=sharing

3E: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aUSIj5p2WxTYNEMH3DRUjuLdgJVfgNyS/view?usp=sharing

3/2P: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Indonfcw9Z2-YvBCnAiCfMBwcox2w5Mh-GaIqRaD3VU/edit?usp=sharing

3M: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yDSePu2vKn_3nrpTfTQ70YTqlsrRcuE4/view?usp=sharing

1R: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-0-CaNz1CDAyqLFFLp5stjO85rAoWi7ybiPiMZvsK-4/edit?usp=sharing

School Grounds

The current NSW Health order prevents any community use of the school grounds until further notice. School access is restricted to students of essential service workers and staff supporting these students. During the school day and after school care. We ask the community to respect this order to protect the people that attend the site during the day. If families can please play outside the school grounds eg; Manly Dam ,Woolgoolga Park, Seaforth Oval, It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for spreading the word into the local community.

Invoices

Our business manager Colleen Tobler is in the process of adjusting school fees that may have already been paid and organising credits going forward. As I am sure you are aware this is quite a time consuming task so may take a little time for the adjustments to be made. We thank you for your patience at this time.

P&C Meeting

Thank you to the many parents who attended P&C last Wednesday night. It was lovely to have such positive feedback to our teachers around the support they are providing to our students and their ‘Home Learning’ programmes.

I am very proud to be the principal of a school with such a dedicated and professional staff who are committed to providing flexible, engaging programs for their students.

Stay safe everyone..

Brooke Keevers

Principal

School news

As our lockdown continues, we understand that the most challenging part of the absence from school for our students is the isolation from their friends. It is so important that we validate these feelings and support our students to make a plan for how they can feel connected to their social network over the coming weeks. We have put together a few ideas that might be helpful for you:

Set up virtual playdates and book clubs

We already have our daily zooms set up with our Class Teachers but also encourage parents to look at setting up social zooms for their children outside of the school day. You may like to think about making these into virtual parties or play dates where students can parallel play using virtual conferencing (side by side lego challenges, pokemon card trading, book club discussion, tandem movie watching etc).

Write and share letters and craft

Encourage students to write to each other or draw pictures that can be dropped in each other’s letter boxes. You could also think about painting rocks or creating craft to drop to a special friend.

Maintain Boundaries and Routines

Weekdays and weekends can start to feel like a blur as everyone struggles to maintain productivity and balance. Establishing and maintaining boundaries that distinguish between ‘school time’ and recreational activities and social connections are vital for our students’ wellbeing. Make sure you designate time each week for your child to connect with their friends so they know it is a regularly occurrence they can look forward to.

Remember to reach out to us if we can support you at this time. The DLT is still meeting regularly and we have the support of our school counsellor.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

year of schooling
category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Rachel Ridley

R/Deputy Principal

Premier’s Reading Challenge

To support students during the current period of home learning the Premier’s Reading Challenge will be extended for a further two weeks and now finishes on Friday September 3. If you are running low on books to read at home, a great option is Library2U, which is a contactless delivery service, provided by Northern Beaches Council libraries. For more information use this link: https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/library/during-covid-19/library-2-you

The Penguin Read Aloud Stories playlist is another place you can access stories online. This is helpful for our younger students who can include texts on their reading lists which are read to them.

Despite all the challenges we are facing at the moment, it is great to see many of our students are reading. Well done to the following students who have now completed the challenge for 2021: Lachie A, Orla C, Matthew C, Grace H, Max H, Meg A, Olivia C, James J, Finn C, Mae I, Lewis R, Max J, Mia R. Keep up the great reading.

Books to help with Coronavirus worries

Oxford University Press has developed two gorgeous free eBooks, Everybody Worries by Jon Burgerman and Winnie and Wilbur Stay Home by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul. Some of our students might enjoy and appreciate these books at the following link:

https://www.oup.com.au/primary/covid-ebooks

Deborah Horsley,

Teacher librarian

My Selfie Poem - Fletcher 5M

Fun but fidgety

Like a fidget spinner

Enjoys soccer

Too much mocca

Cats are my fave

Happy in their cave

Enjoys the xbox

Repeats roblox

URSTRONG_newsletter_Term_3_Week_4_.pdf

A message from the Catholic scripture supervisor

I’m writing to let you know that we are thinking of you and praying that the school community is safe and well. We miss our SEAT lessons with the children. Please let your families know that the Catholic Learning from Home lessons can be located at the following link:

Catholic Learning from Home Lessons

The NSW Department of Education has approved these to be passed on to parents.

With best wishes from the Catholic SEAT Teachers.