Principal's Report

Traffic at school

Dear School Community,

I am writing to invite you to participate in co-designing a solution to traffic management around Bundoora Primary School (BPS). Previous approaches, including signage, parking zones and Banyule City Council enforcement activities have not resolved traffic related issues. Traffic related behaviours around school pick-up and drop-off times continue to cause issues for residents and the school community.

As a school community, we are committed to resolving this matter but cannot do this alone. We are working with subject matter experts from Banyule City Council and would like input from the school community to find the best solution for all stakeholders. 

If you would like to become a member of the Traffic Management Co-Design Team please register your interest by emailing bundoora.ps@education.vic.gov.au with the subject heading ‘Expression of Interest – Traffic Team’, supplying the following details by Friday September 30th.

1. Name and address
2. Age
3. Cultural background
4. How the problem impacts you
5. Your connection to the school – i.e., neighbour to the school, parent, interested community member, etc.
6. Availability to meet – preferred days and times of day
7. Ability to commit to attend all meetings.
8. Any supports needed to participate in meetings – hearing loops, interpreters, etc.

We look forward to hearing from anyone that would like to contribute to the solution in our streets.

Thank you

Thank you to our school community, staff, and students for all their hard work this term. The two-week holiday break will give us all a chance to rest and refresh before a very busy Term 4. 

This holiday period also now includes two Public Holidays, one to enable people to mourn the passing of the Queen at the time of her funeral and one for AFL Grand Final. Term 4 commences at 9.00am on Wednesday 5 October. 

This term finishes at the earlier time of 1.45 pm on Friday 16 September. After school care is available from 1.45pm with TheirCare,  which can be booked via their usual channels.

Teacher responses to email

As of term four, and with the advent of Time in Lieu under the new Victorian Schools Agreement, teachers will now be responding within 48 hours of receiving emails from parents. 

We respectfully ask that when you have an urgent message for your child’s teacher please contact the office so that we can deliver the message for your around teaching schedules. 

Please do not contact your child’s teacher to ask that they advise your child about attending TheirCare that same day, as teachers often do not have time to check emails during the day and the message may not get to your child.

Curriculum Days

A reminder that Monday October 4 and Tuesday October 4 are student free days and TheirCare is open for bookings for these days. 

Monday is professional development for teachers and Tuesday is three-way interviews. Interviews will be held online, and your child’s teacher will be sending out WebEx invitations shortly. Your child is requested to attend the interviews with you.

Chess

This week our year one and two students had the opportunity to participate in a free chess lesson. The presentation was very interesting, and the students really enjoyed the lesson.

Chess lessons and Coding Camp

Please remember that chess lessons and coding camp are open for bookings for term four. Both lessons will start in week two of term four, chess on Fridays and code camp on Mondays.

Junior School camp day and year two sleepover

On September 2nd I was privileged to attend the evening session of the camp day and sleep over. I also got to attend the bush dancing session with Prep E. Congratulations to all the staff members involved for your dedication to our students in providing them an amazing experience. Our students had a great time, and all ran smoothly. 

Mini athletics day

On Tuesday, our junior department ran a fantastic mini athletics morning. A great time was had by all at the various activities and students also earned points for their house. Thank you to Mr. Kret, teachers and senior students who ran a successful and fun-filled day.

Student wellbeing

I have been quite concerned about the fatigue experienced by students this term. After two years of broken terms and shortened school days we are noticing that our students are not coping with the long school days and full terms. We ask that you encourage your students to rest and relax over the holidays and avoid screen time if possible. 

We also encourage you to monitor your child’s use of social media over this period, as we have had reported incidents of students sharing naked photographs and bullying each other over apps such as snapchat, Instagram, and Tik Tok and this is spilling over into school. We cannot control issues that are occurring out of school hours so ask for your support to monitor your child’s access to these apps over the holidays so that our children can be children.

Leaving the school or needing to enrol?

As our school enrolments for 2023 continue to grow we ask that if you have not yet enrolled your prep child for 2023 that you do so as soon as you can to allow us to plan and recruit new teachers if necessary. 

If your family is also planning to leave our school due to a housing move we also ask that you advise the office as soon as you can.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday,

Sherrin Strathairn