We would like to acknowledge and honour the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which our school stands. We pay our respects to all First Nations elders, past present and emerging.

International Transgender Day of Visibility

Last Friday was the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which has been observed since 2009 to celebrate transgendered people and to raise an awareness of the discrimination experienced by transgender people around the world.

Gender identification and expression is a hot topic for many people recently, as we have seen significant social change over the past few years. Given the importance our community places on respectful and authentic inclusion, our staff engaged in professional learning last week to ensure we were up-to-date with language and that our school practices support students, families and staff who might identify as non-binary.

Deanne and Jay from Body Safety Australia started off by explaining that transgendered people have existed in communities across the world and throughout time, with many cultures having words and/or pronouns to describe many more than two genders. They also explained that people should not feel uncomfortable talking to young people about gender or talking about young people’s gender because gender and sexual attraction are two separate things. When considering gender, there is one’s physical sex (as identified by reproductive organs), gender (the social construction of concepts such as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’) and gender expression (how one chooses to signal to others what their gender may be) - all of which can be explored without any link to sexuality or sexual attraction.

As we know, language is a powerful tool that can enhance warmth and security or can disrespect and isolate people. Language also evolves. As transgender rights and awareness is increasing, transgender communities are embracing terminology that best represents who they are - as with any group of people, within each community diversity remains and the pronouns people choose for themselves may vary.

Great professional learning should always inspire action. Our school has committed to taking on a number of actions over the next few weeks and beyond including but not limited to: co-creating with students a consistent process for responding to students who identify as non-binary, providing badge-making supplies for students, staff and families to identify their pronouns and auditing our library texts and curriculum resources to ensure non-binary children and adults are represented, all with the intention to promote a safe and inclusive environment for all.

Wednesday Assembly

This Wednesday will be the last day our students are at school this week, with conferences on Thursday and a public holiday this Friday. As such, we will be holding a community assembly on Wednesday at 3pm. Please feel free to come along and see one of our school bands, as well as a performance from our Junior School.

Term 2 Calendar

A hard copy of the BNWPS calendar will go out to all families on Wednesday this week. This is a great calendar to pop onto your notice board or fridge at home, and includes all of the key dates for the exciting things that are happening in our community in term two. As always, these dates are correct at the time of printing, but, sometimes changes have to be made. Please make sure that you continue to check here in the newsletter, and Sentral for any late changes or additions. A huge thank you to Ann Brennan for the great work she has done collating and creating our calendars each term.

School Council Nominations

The school Council nomination and election process has finished. With two rounds of nominations we received fewer nominations than we had available positions, so a ballot was not necessary. We are proud to announce that our 2023 School Council consists of a wealth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.

Our DET representatives are: Hannah Reid, Keir Jasper and Ange Hopkins.
Our existing parent & carer representatives are: Kelly Davis, Helen Metzger-Roberts, Stacey Roberts, Philippa Joliffe and co-members Anne Treasure and Brigid Dolan.
Our new parent & carers members are: Sandra Dellios and Rebecca Corn

The office bearers (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) will be voted on at our first meeting next term and we would like to thank Kelly Davis for standing in as President this term!

Classroom Helpers Workshop

At 10am on Monday 1st May next term, we will be offering our yearly classroom helpers workshop. This workshop will be facilitated by our Literacy and Foundation teams and will focus on how classroom helpers can support the amazing work that goes on in our classrooms. The workshop will be particularly useful for any new or Foundation families who are keen to help out in the classroom, but might not be clear on what might be involved. The workshop will go for no more than an hour. Please register your interest in attending by filling out this form.

The Nor'Wester

BNWPS is committed to Child Safe Standards and prevention of child abuse

Issue 10 · 03 Apr 2023

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