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 message

Calling All Landscapers!
This term our year 5 and 6 students have been involved in the design and research behind the development of a yarning circle and native garden area within our school grounds. The driving question for this project has been – how can we create a place of wellbeing and connection in our school, for our entire school community? What would this look like? The project has been facilitated by local Aboriginal educators to gain knowledge and understanding to ensure decisions and planning are contextually relevant and authentic. Students have had the opportunity to research native materials and native plants and are now in the process of designing. Below are some examples of their work.

We would love to involve our parent community in this process as well and invite anyone who could contribute landscaping and design skills. Please contact Deborah Horsley if you would like to be involved: deborah.horsley1@det.nsw.edu.au

Parent Information Session with Nathan Lawler - Forest High School Principal
Mr Nathan Lawler, Principal of Forest High School, will be conducting a virtual information session at 6:30pm on Wednesday the 22nd of June. This is a valuable opportunity for our parent community to learn more about the opportunities that exist at our local high school.

We understand that planning the transition to high school starts early, so we encourage all of our families from K - 6 to attend this special information session.

Please register your attendance using the Google Form link below:

https://forms.gle/ajAVc6q6UM4iWWYcA

Sickness
We seem to have rolled from Covid illness now into a virulent flu season! Thank you to the parents who have been keeping their children at home with coughs and colds. Many of these viruses are extremely infectious and are easily spread to both students and staff. Please keep your children at home until they are symptom free.

I’d like to acknowledge the staff at Balgowlah North who have once again shown flexibility, tenacity and collaboration to ensure we have teachers to cover classes. Our students are our priority and we have been working hard together to ensure continuity of teaching and learning.

Photos
We are all looking forward to photo day tomorrow!

Brooke Keevers
Principal

School News

ICAS 2022
We are delighted to inform you that Balgowlah North Public School will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS competitions this year.

What is ICAS?
ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies.

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals.

Learn more about ICAS here. (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas)

ICAS Assessments on offer at BNPS in 2022:

Assessment	Cost	Grades	Date
Writing	$23.65	3-6	Tuesday 9th August
English	$19.25	3-6	Thursday 18th August
Mathematics	$19.25	3-6	Wednesday 31st August
Science	$19.25	3-6	Tuesday 23rd August
Digital Technologies	$19.25	3-6	Friday 12th August

How to participate in ICAS
If you wish your child to participate in ICAS this year, please:

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas)
2. Go to Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps)
3. Enter our school’s access code – CQO552
4. Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.

Please note that the ICAS tests shown for selection are at the school’s discretion. Assessments will be conducted during the school day. If your child is absent on the specified assessment date, we will endeavor to schedule a make up session within the assessment window.

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. Please note parent ordering will close on Monday 1st August.

We will notify you of the date your child’s ICAS results are ready. You and your child can access the results once released via the Reports Portal using the TAP ID and pin found on the back of the ICAS certificate.

The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure.

Privacy Collection Statement
Janison is aware of our responsibility to protect the identity of, and all information relating to, children, and students in general, from disclosure and consequently Janison does not:

collect any personal information or data of children other than as required for the purposes of completion of the assessment, test or exam;
transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in Australia to any jurisdiction outside of Australia other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;
transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in other international regions out of the child’s jurisdiction other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;
share any personal information or data relating to children or students with any third parties (other than a third party whose services are necessary for servicing our products, e.g. print/distribution companies, medal engraving, etc.) except with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;
use any personal information or data relating to children or students for marketing purposes.

Janison may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com.

We are proud to offer ICAS and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year.

School Photos
Polish up your black shoes and get your best, sparkling smiles ready for School photos tomorrow. All students will have their individual and class photos, as well as sibling photos.

Please ensure your child is wearing full, winter uniform.

Your choices are:
Winter tunic, winter skort or slacks with school blue shirt (short or long sleeved). Navy pants or shorts with school blue polo shirt (short or long sleeved). Navy socks or navy tights and black shoes.

To view prices and pay online, please go to www.theschoolphotographer.com.au and enter our school code, found on the flyer: X1253EL46B

Kindergarten 2023
We are looking forward to commencing our Kindergarten 2023 transition program in coming weeks. Please refer to our program overview below for important dates.

Trivia Night

Missed out on a table at this year’s Trivia night? Join us as a volunteer on the night! Please sign up and experience the fun of BNPS Trivia! Head to the link below!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0445ADA828A5FC1-bnps

Can’t be there on the night ? You can still support the P&C by purchasing tickets for the Raffle!

Fantastic prizes including, gym memberships/classes, a fabulous golf experience, fitness & beauty packs, dining vouchers, kids fun experiences and more!

$5 for 1 ticket / $20 for 5 tickets through Flexischools.

Forest High Enrichment Program

Over the past two terms students from Y6 were fortunate to attend Forest High School once a week as part of the Forest HIgh Enrichment Program. It was a fabulous opportunity for them to work with students from 4 of our local schools. They had the opportunity to showcase their work to family and friends last Wednesday. Here are some example of their amazing work:

Climate Change by Noah B
Trees burning
Wildlife dying
Habitats being destroyed
However all we do is stand there and watch

Earth, the only planet with life and we’re slowly destroying it
Animals going extinct
Polluted air everywhere
However all we do is brush past the topic like it means absolutely nothing

Unlivable places growing larger
Livable places shrinking smaller
Billions of trees chopped down intentionally
And what are we doing about it? NOTHING
The time has come. This world is our baby, we need to look after it better!

Climate Change by Charlie M
Animals gone,skeletons everywhere.
Our planet is dying.
And yet we are not doing anything about it.
4,800 trees dead in minutes.
By this rate 50 percent of trees will be gone by 100 years.

Our oceans are now plastic.
And yet we are still dumping .
Our sea life is being destroyed right before our eyes
I'm sorry that our ice melted in humanity's hands.
Climate change is affecting every living organism on planet earth.

People are losing their homes.
Their food
Their Life
Just because of two words
Climate change

Comparing Ourselves by Erin
Stop bringing yourself down
We don’t know who we are when we keep being somebody else's secret shadow
Embrace your mystical mistakes.
Because that prized person who you look at and think,
she's perfect, he's perfect, why can't i be like them.
They are the people who probably look at you and think the same.

We are stuck in this loop.
It feels impossible to get out,
We are falling down a deep black hole that isn’t even really there.
But why would we care when We see so little in ourselves?
If we could look at how special we were,
maybe we would know how unique we really are.

Sadly so many of us can’t even care about the winding road that happens tomorrow.
But nobody wants you to turn out like that.
You need to know that even when it feels nobody cares,
Somebody does,
Even when it feels like nobody loves you.
They do
Thank you.

Aborginal rights by Mia R
Humans are humans. People Are people. No one is going to change that logic of life.

Aboringal people should be respected. We must understand that everyone is equal no matter what. No matter what their languages or culture , the color of their skin, the places they live. Everyone is the same in their different ways.

Aboringal people have been on this land of barren redlands and mystic rainforests, since the dawn of time.

The land that grew the best it ever could. The way things have been is just terrible. The way they lived peacefully on this land. The sly settlers came with no thought of kindness at all. Their respect was left behind on their pirate ship. Nothing could stop them.

A man came to our school to talk to us about the land and what it really means. And that it is more than the dirt, and the grass. It is about the people, animals, sky, and the plants. They were here for generations and still are. The government may not do anything but we can. A poster is not a poster if no one has put it up yet. Your voice does not have a value if it has not been heard. You Can do better, we can do better.

Climate Change by Beau B
Golden fig trees gone, no roots to hold
The world is dying, oh no
Grandad’s gumtrees goodbye.
Nothing to burn

Toxic fumes kill us inside like battlefields of the Somme
What have we done?

Oceans now oil
Fish white dead skeletons
Now as quiet as space
Ice gone melted away
The world swept under

This is what we have started
So we fix it with everything
We dont we lose
Our precious world
And our future blue one

The week ahead

9 June Premier's Debating Challenge v Allambie Heights

9 June School Photos

14 June Stage 1 excurions to Vaucluse House

16 June Regional cross country

16 June Premier's Debating Challenge v Harbord

Library News

Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
The Dorothea Mackellar poetry competition is an opportunity for passionate writers to demonstrate their skills with a chance at winning a number of fantastic prizes. The optional theme this year is ‘In My Opinion’ with students encouraged to write persuasively about a topic they feel inspired by. More details can be found at the link below.

https://www.minnisjournals.com.au/newsletter/preview.php?newsletter_id=477

Premier’s Reading Challenge
Well done to the following readers who have completed the PRC for 2022:

Kindergarten – Lucas D, Lawson F, Finn M, Clark Z

Year 1 - Orla C, Nina F, Walter F, Evie H

Year 2 – Amelia M, Oscar S

Year 3 – Billy B, Bonnie L, Lachlan T

Year 4 – Hugo D, Amy G, Aven L, Bronte S,

Year 5 – Chloe H, Emily M

Class snapshot - 5S

PBL

Sports news

Last week the NSW PSSA state hockey championships were held in Tamworth. It was an excellent week of hockey. Congratulations to Tobias O who competed with the Sydney North team. Toby played exceptionally well throughout the tournament and was selected in the State team - a fantastic achievement! Well done Toby!

Kerry Kelly
Sports Teacher

PSSA Results

3 June 2022 Round: 4

Girls: Soccer

Team	Senior A	Senior B	Junior B
Opponents	Curl Curl	Cromer	Cromer
Score	6-0 Loss	8-0	3-0
Best & Fairest	Ruby T	Lucy O	Anna S

Boys: Soccer

Team	Senior A	Junior A	Senior B	Junior B
Opponents	Cromer	Cromer	Dee Why	Dee Why
Score	2 - 1 Loss	5-1 win	9-0 Loss	8-0 Loss
Best /Fairest	Tyler W	Harry W	Matthew D	Matthew R & Lachie T

Girls: Netball

Team	Senior A	Senior B
Opponents	Harbord	Harbord
Score	8-22 (loss)	4-5 (loss)
Best & Fairest	Charlie O	Chloe F

Team	Junior A	Junior B
Opponents	Harbord	Harbord
Score	10-4 (win)	0-1 (loss)
Best & Fairest	Evelyn S	Cara F

Waste Free Wednesday

The challenge is becoming more competitive! KH,4/3V and 3E were all 100% waste free last week.

Keep up the great work BNPS!

P&C news

Green Grove

It’s that time again… sign up for the Green Grove Working Bee!

Recycling Fundraiser

We’re excited to set up our first Recycling Fundraiser for BNPS with ReCollect & your P&C.

Any questions please email Karen Ciano quincylane@outlook.com

Band news

Bravo to our Bands!
Bravo to our wonderful bands who gave their first performance outside of school at the Northern Beaches Instrumental Festival. It is great that they can perform again.

Last week our Concert Band and Junior Band performed and this week the Senior Band performed. Our conductors were thrilled with their performances and all three bands received excellent feedback from the appraisers as well as a recording of the performance which includes advice from the appraisers.

Thank you to the parents for coming along to support the children.