Newsletter Term 4 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
Thank you to Margaret Malar
I’d like to acknowledge the incredible contribution that Mrs Margaret Malar has made to Public Education over the past 45 years. Mrs Malar’s career has spanned many schools Newtown Public school, Davidson Park, Lindfield Public, Roseville, Mimosa and Northbridge Public school.
Mrs Malar has been an integral part of the fabric of the Creative Arts programs at Balgowlah North for the past 21 years. She has been involved with Regional and State dance ensembles, choirs, Gala performances at Town Hall and the Opera House, School Spectacular, Gala Concerts as well as regular school performances and high quality teaching of music and dance to all students at Balgowlah North Public school.
Margaret brings unrelenting commitment and positivity to everything she does. She has touched the hearts and minds of so many students with her passion for the Arts. Even during these two years of restrictions during the pandemic Mrs Malar has been agile in her approach to ensure we have been able to continue to provide our students with a connection to the Arts.
We hope that you will enjoy your retirement and your last few weeks at Balgowlah North Public school.
Student Leadership Day
Leadership Day was a day for Year 5 to learn how to work together to lead, not just for when we are in Year 6, but for the rest of our lives. One thing we had to do was to discuss the 5Cs with a group and explain why we need them to be a good leader. Character is about who you are and how to be a role model to other students. Collaboration is about working with each other to make this school a better place. Communication is about clearly talking to people about our ideas to make a difference. Critical thinking is about thinking outside the box and really digging deep into our thoughts. Creativity is about being creative with ideas and using our imagination to problem solve. These skills will help us and our peers next year and throughout life. We were encouraged to always share our ideas or they will never be heard and the ideas won’t come to life. We are excited to be involved in the election process next week.
By Karina Olofinsky and Toby Overhoff
Kindergarten Orientation
Wonderful to welcome our new kindi parents and students to orientation last Thursday. We have another orientation day planned for this Thursday. Thank you to our administration team, especially Kerrie Nugent who works hard behind the scenes to ensure everything is organised for the day.
Roads and Traffic review
Earlier this year I met with Northern Beaches Council Road safety Officer RobynAnn Dixon and independent specialists who conducted a road safety review and also reviewed community concerns.
In response to the key areas of concern, Council has developed feedback, to encourage safe behaviour around schools and also to give explanations of the issues Council needs to consider with some of the concerns raised. Please see links below as to the council's recommendations.
- Picking up children, speeding footpaths and trucks: https://files.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/balgowlah-north-ps-road-safety.pdf
- Pedestrian crossing considerations: https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/services/roads-and-paths/public-roads/pedestrian-crossings
Gifts
We have a very generous parent body at Balgowlah North Public School. We understand and appreciate that parents like to show their appreciation of their child's class teacher as the year ends. We kindly ask that individual gifts are kept under the $50.00 limit as per the DoE guideline.
Kind regards
Brooke Keevers
Principal
School news
Reports
Parents will receive their child’s Semester 2 report via email in week 11 of this term. Please ensure you have updated your contact details with the school office if your email address has recently changed.
Our Semester Two reports will take on a different format to reflect the Covid 19 Interim Policy Standards, developed by the Department of Education in association with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).
Reporting will provide feedback on individual student learning progress to support parents and carers in understanding how their child is progressing and what can be done to further support their learning. Priority curriculum areas of English and mathematics will be the focus of report content.
There is a modified 3 point grade scale where students will have their progress assessed to the state syllabus standards for their stage. A description of the grade scale is included below:
Working Towards (WT) | The student is working towards developing the expected knowledge and understanding of the main content areas for their stage. They are consolidating the necessary processes and skills to achieve syllabus outcomes. |
Working At (WA) | The student demonstrates satisfactory knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content for their stage. They have achieved the expected level of competence in their processes and skills. |
Working Beyond (WB) | The student consistently demonstrates exemplary knowledge and understanding of content beyond their stage outcomes. They have achieved an outstanding level of competence in their application of processes and skills. |
Leaving BNPS
If your child will not be returning in 2022 could you please complete the google link below. This information is very important because it has an impact on our class structures and staffing of the school.
Students not returning in 2022 (google.com)
Rachel Ridley
R/Deputy Principal
Library borrowing for the year will finish at the end of this week. This is to ensure we have all books returned by week 10 when we will commence our yearly stocktake. All efforts to return library books by the end of week 9 are most appreciated. Our Ebook and audio book platforms will continue to bei available. These can be accessed on the Ebook by Wheelers app.
This term in our library lessons Stage 1 has been reading books with the overarching theme of landmarks around Australia. These texts support their classroom geography program learning. A favourite has been Mr Chicken all over Australia by Leigh Hobbs. In response to this wonderful text students have had an opportunity to use green screen technology and created images with Mr Chicken visiting landmarks around Australia.
You can enjoy this story read aloud on Storybox Library - https://storyboxlibrary.com.au/stories/mr-chicken-all-over-australia
Deborah Horsley
Teacher librarian
PSSA Jerseys
Any student who has not yet returned their winter PSSA shirts please return them as soon as possible to your class teacher. Please make sure the item is clean and in a named bag. We need all shirts returned by Friday 26 November. Thank you.
Kerry Kelly
Sports Coordinator
Year 5 student leadership
All year 5 students will take part in a leadership development program on Thursday 18th November.
The development of life-long leadership skills is one of the learning opportunities offered to all students at
Balgowlah North Public School. Having effective student leaders supports the development of our school's
core values of respectful, responsible and safe behaviour.
• The aim of the day is to provide opportunities for all year 5 students to develop their
leadership skills.
• Dress for the day: school uniform
Leadership Positions:
Student Leaders: (8 positions)
• 2 x Captains
• 2 x Vice Captains
• 4 x Prefects
Nomination for the Year School Leaders
• All year 5 students will participate in a structure leadership program
• Students then self-nominate for Student Leaders
Speeches for the Roles of Student leaders: Wednesday 1st December
A successful student wishing to gain Captain, Vice-captain or committee will be required to present a
2-minute speech to their Year 5 peers. Speeches are written at school prior to presenting to their
peers. Each student will be given half an hour to prepare their speech. Voting will follow immediately
after the speeches are completed.
Voting for School Leaders
The Voting procedure will proceed as follows:
• eligible voters include: all year 5 students and all teaching staff
• students will vote for one boy and one girl candidate
• positions will be filled in order of the number of votes received
• results of the voting will be announced at the final K-6 assembly of the year
House Captains: (8 Positions- 2 students from each Sport house: Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallabies,
Wombats).
Speeches for the Roles of House Captains: Friday 3rd December
A successful student wishing to gain House Captain will be required to present a 2-minute speech to
their Year 4 and 5 students. Speeches are written at school prior to presenting to their Houses. Each
student will be given half an hour to prepare their speech. Voting will follow immediately after the
speeches are completed.
These positions will be decided in 2022:
Band Captains: (2 positions)
• Library monitors
• Sound crew
Susie Stock
Stage 3 Assistant Principal (relieving)
Waste free Wednesday
The Waste Free winners for week 7 were KM; winners two weeks in a row!
Band news
Join The 2022 Band Program – You’re Invited
We would like to invite students from Years 3- 6 to join our wonderful band program next year. It has been a tough couple of years for band programs but our students (and conductors and parents) have showed incredible resilience and tenacity to keep going with online sessions. They are amazing and producing some really great work.
Time: Nov 30, 2021 07:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
https://nsweducation.zoom.us/j/64905102208?pwd=U1hpVHlKRmEzMThzUDdaTDlYc2M4dz09
Please contact bnpsband@hotmail.com if you have questions or would like more information.
Caroline Fechner
Band coordinator
Dates for your diary
24 November
- Remote P&C Meeting
25 November
- Kindergarten 2022 Orientation Session 2
04 December
- Election day BBQ - band fundraiser
06 December
- Kindergarten graduation - 9.30am
- Stage 1 presentation day - 10.30am
07 December
- Stage 2 presentation day - 9.30am
- Stage 3 presentation day - 10.30am
09 December
- Christmas stall - prebook tickets through flexischools
Second Hand Uniform Shop
The second hand uniform shop will return to online ordering this week.
Please email your orders through to us by 5pm on a Tuesday.
Orders that can be filled will be placed in the office for collection by your child from Wednesday afternoon, and we kindly ask that you send them with the correct $$.
All items are $10.
Reply emails will be sent advising what items are / are not available.
Please also continue to donate good quality, new logo uniforms which can be dropped at the office any time.
Thanks for your support and patience,
Brooke & Ness
Uniform Shop Co-ordinators
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