Newsletter Term 4 Week 10 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

Student Celebrations 

What a wonderful week at Balgowlah North. On Monday we recognised our Kindergarten students at their very first ‘Celebration of Learning’. This was followed by our Stage One presentation assembly. Our Strings Ensemble played beautifully. What a wonderful opportunity for them to be able to perform for us again.

We also recognised all our students at our special recognition assemblies which were also held virtually. 

Today we celebrated our Stage 2 and Stage 3 students at their presentation assemblies.  Thank you to Mr Richard Wokes, Mrs Sarah Olofinsky who represented our P&C. Thank you also to Mrs Gwen Hunt and Mrs Kirsty Taylor for also attending our ceremonies as our special guests.

We hope that you were all able to watch and share our celebrations as well through the virtual space.

Farewells  

We will be farewelling Mr Dudley Poole our counsellor and we will be welcoming Joy Thompson  to our Balgowlah North team. Dudley has played an important role in supporting our students during 2021. He will be returning to Balgowlah Boys High. Ms Claudia Mete will also be leaving her SLSO position as she will be able to now work as a teacher having completed her university studies. Thank you to both Dudley and Claudia for all the work you have done this year in supporting our students across the school.

We will also be saying farewell to Mr Stuart King. We appreciate the energy and commitment that you have  brought to Balgowlah North especially in the areas of sport and technology. With permanent teachers returning from leave and a decrease in school numbers this has a flow on effect to temporary staffing. We wish him well at his new school.

New Opportunities

As the school year draws to a close this is an opportune time to discuss change with your children. New school years are exciting opportunities to build new friendships and develop connections with new teachers. Building confidence and resilience in our children is an important skill they will carry forward into their future lives. As parents this is a time to provide proactive and positive support to your children and encourage new connections and new friendships.

We are providing transitions for identified students to ensure our students and teachers are well prepared for the new year. Students will be placed in their new classes on the day they return to school in 2022. Our teachers have worked hard to ensure that we have well balanced classes that provide an opportunity for all our students to be known, valued and cared for.

Student Leaders 2021

Our 2021 student leaders have led with courage, flexibility and commitment this year. They have been attending weekly leadership meetings this year even during home learning! They have worked hard on the mural initiative which will be completed by the end of the term, and have been working with the SRC to improve our lost property processes. They have assisted Mrs Ridley and myself in organising  our assemblies.  We are all very proud of every one of them and wish them well for high school. Thank you to Captains;  Annie B and Caleb M, Vice Captains: Lucy R and Max W.

Prefects: Indie O, Harry S, Amali E and  Max T. House Captains : Jack H, Emily R, Lachie S, Katie H, Spencer Y, Harriet W Jacob R and Isla R.

Student Leaders 2022

Our new student leaders for 2022 were announced at our Stage 3 presentation ceremony today. Congratulations to all of our Year 5 students who were nominated for a student leadership  position. We were very proud of the standard and calibre of the leadership speeches presented last week. Congratulations to the following students.

Captains

Emily H and Beau P

Vice Captains

Lani H and Toby O

Prefects

Beau B, Jonty F, Rose K and Talia T

 House captains 2022

 Kangaroos: Milly P, Christopher O

 Wallabies: Chloe G,George R

 Wombats: Heidi H, Kingston F

 Koalas: Clementine R,Tyler W

I’d finally like to thank our parents and our school community. We greatly appreciate the constant support that has been provided to our students and teachers this year. It has been a year of surprises, challenges and opportunities. We will continue to ‘Aim high, work hard and care deeply about what we believe in.’

Brooke Keevers
Principal

School news

Balgowlah North School Band 2021

We wish to acknowledge the incredible efforts of our senior and concert bands this year who demonstrated absolute commitment to the band program throughout the challenges of lockdown. These students' dedication to the band will be celebrated with special certificates of achievement that will be awarded this week. 

Concert  Band

Indie O, Isla M, Isabelle K, Nina H, Yasmine M, Juliet O, Isla K, Jessica F, Sam P, James R,Callum R, Charlie M, Jude F, Kayla T, William O, Zac H, Jonty F, Erin R, Max R, Clementine R, Summer W, Wyatt A, Karina O, Annie B, William O, Samuel L

Senior Band

Isaac A, Josie P, Eleanor F, Max  A, Henry R, Oscar G, Lila   B, Chloe H, Neve R, Emily G Beth  W, Alex  R, Jessica  D, Eloise M, Lewis R, Finn C, Samuel M, Emily M, Matthew D, Chloe  W

Award recipients 

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:

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

Premier’s Reading Challenge Certificates

It was my great pleasure this week to announce the recipients of the Gold and Platinum Premier’s Reading Challenge Certificates in our final assembly. To receive a Gold award, students have completed the reading challenge for 4 years in a row. Well done to: Meg A, Ben B, Cameron B, Olive B, Archer C, Hugo D, Cara F, Amy G, Kurt H, Cooper I, James J, Aven L, Josh N, Jack O, Louisa O, Anneliese O, Tess P, Lachie P, Milly P, Anna S, Amelia S. To receive a Platinum award, students have completed the challenge for 7 years in a row. Well done to: Eddie C, Toby K, Arabella K, Hugo M, Juliet O, William O. All other certificates have been given to students in their classes.

Holiday Borrowing

In week 11 there will be an opportunity for students to borrow over the holidays. If you would like your child to do this, please fill in the form below. 

https://forms.gle/QmsKpDmpUHXgNT6E8 

Deborah Horsley

Teacher librarian

Leadership process

Student Leader -

On Wednesday the 1st of December we had our speeches and voted for the year six Student Leaders for 2022. All participants in the running for Student Leader had forty-five minutes to write their speech and we started our first speech at 10:10am. A wheel was spun to see who the first person would be to stand on stage in front of all year five, our teachers, Mrs Keevers and Mrs Ridley. After the first person was done the wheel was spun again and the next person would speak.

We went through the whole morning with 34 speakers. Once all the speeches were finished, we started to do our voting. The voting process was slightly different from last year as we voted like the council elections last weekend. One class would go, one by one lining up waiting to vote. We had two votes for the boys and two votes for the girls. Our first vote was first preference, and second vote was second preference. We all thoroughly enjoyed the whole process although we were very nervous. The leadership training has been a great experience and we are looking forward to next year.

House Captain -

On Friday the 3rd of December we also had our House Captain speeches and voting. The House captains had 45 minutes to write their speeches and they started to announce them at 12:00pm. All Houses were separated in an outside environment due to having two cohorts that are not allowed to mix. The Kangaroo’s and the Koalas were different ends of the COLA. Wallabies on the deck near the hall and the Wombats were on the deck at Koolkuna. One by one all the candidates would do their speech in front of their house. After everyone had done their speech, the teachers would hand out a piece of paper with all the names on them. Once everyone got their paper they would tick the column with a person they wanted for one boy and one girl. All students that ran for either Student leadership or House Captain would find out if they made either team on Presentation Day Wednesday the 8TH of December. Fingers-crossed!

Lani H, Beau P and Jonty F 6/5S

Years 3-6 Picnic Day

On Wednesday 15 December 2021, students from Years 3-6 will be walking to Manly Dam to celebrate the end of year with a picnic. Stage 2 will be departing school at 10:00am and returning by lunch time and Stage 3 will be departing after 11:30am and returning  by 3:00pm. Permission has already been given for this walk in the Local Area Permission Note signed earlier in the year. Students will need to bring a small bag to carry a waste free packed recess or lunch and a full drink bottle.  They are to wear mufti, sports shoes and hats. Students are encouraged to apply sunscreen and insect repellent. We are looking forward to a wonderful day. 

Stage 2 and 3 teachers

Year 6 inquiring research project on Indigenous Cultures of the world

PBL

Waste free Wednesday

The Waste Free winners for week 9 with 100%, were KM - congratulations!

SEAT news

Information for parents from the Catholic community

We have missed seeing you this year and can’t wait to come back next year! We hope you have a Happy Christmas and a lovely break over the holidays. Click on the link below for an E-Message from your SRE Teachers and enjoy working your way through the beautiful Advent Activity Book containing art/craft/printables/recipes/stories etc based on The Christmas Story. Warmest wishes to your school community and may the joy and peace of Christmas fill your hearts. From, your Catholic SRE Teachers.

Link:                       An Advent & Christmas Message from Catholic SRE Scripture Teachers

Band news

Join The 2022 Band – Choosing an instrument?  Register now.

Instrument suitability assessments – Thursday (8.15am) in the Hall.

This week we are excited that we will be holding instrument suitability assessments for our Year 3 – 6 students who are interested in joining the band next year. 

There are many factors that contribute to ensuring your child has a great start to their musical experience such as such as physical stature, muscle strength around the mouth area, results from aural  tests, any developmental issues (physically or otherwise) your child may have and your child's preferences are all considered when deciding on an instrument for your child. 

The instrument your child would like to play sometimes isn't the right choice for them as it may not give them the best chance of success longer term. We want to make sure the learning of the instrument and their participation in band is a positive experience from the outset.

Register to join band, give us your child’s preferences and indicate your child’s attendance at the instrument suitability test on Thursday.

Register now:  https://forms.office.com/r/arE0rJ75TW

Dates for your diary

08 December

• Stage 2 presentation day - 9.30am
• Stage 3 presentation day - 10.30am

09 December

• Christmas stall - prebook tickets through flexischools

2022 Fundraising

It’s time to start thinking about how much fun we are going to have and what good things we are going to do in 2022 for our school community!
So we’re calling all parents (particularly current Year 1 moving into Year 2 in 2022) to make a contribution to Fundraising and social events for P&C in 2022!
Come to the School Library Wednesday 1 December at 7pm to sign up and learn more.  
Nearly all events were sadly cancelled this year, but in 2022 we are coming back better than ever!!!
Get your friends together and get involved or come make new friends and own a P&C event to help raise funds for our school. It’s not hard! It’s actually fun!  And you get to give a little back to our awesome school community.
Thanks!

Lucy Orth and Pip Perkins
2022 Fundraising and Social Committee

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