From the Principal Team

Natalie Shanahan, Sam Fleming, Claire Johnston

Welcome everybody to this week's newsletter!

We continue to be impressed with how well the children are settling into this year, supported to do through our Wellbeing Start Up program.

At the beginning of each year, all students participate in this program. It runs for approximately two weeks and involves setting up the classroom and school environment as a safe, inclusive and optimal learning space. The program includes sessions on revisiting our values and developing classroom protocols. We also revise our learning programs by addressing our Instructional model and the expectations based around how each lesson is delivered.

This week our staff professional learning meeting focused on our Student Engagement, Wellbeing and Engagement Handbook to solidify our consistent approach across the school. In the coming editions of the newsletter we look forward to sharing sections of this with parents, to give parents and insight into what happens in the classrooms and behind the scenes to ensure student success.

This week, we are sharing the High Impact Wellbeing Strategies. The HIWS are 7 evidence-informed strategies that have a significant effect on student wellbeing. The HIWS empower school staff with the knowledge and skills to build student wellbeing.

The HIWS form part of the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0). They are a companion to the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) and contribute to effective instructional practice.

The HIWS complement existing school processes and practices and are most effective when integrated with other mental health and wellbeing initiatives. This includes the Health and Physical Education curriculum and Personal and Social capabilities as well as social and emotional learning.

Our teachers will use multiple strategies to meet the needs of their students. Teams of teachers will collaborate to use the strategies to promote student wellbeing. As you can see below, our long-running Start Up Program alone links to multiple HIWS, reaffirming its importance each year.

HIGH IMPACT WELLBEING STRATEGIES

Open Classrooms and Family Picnic

Thank you to everyone who attended our Meet the Teacher and Family Picnic night. While the day was a scorcher, the summer breeze through the shade of the trees made for a pleasant evening of meeting, catching up and sharing some crackers and cheese quite pleasant. The summer vibes were made even more summery with the amazing tunes of singing and piano extraordinaire Francesca, obliging to the many requests of 6-12 year music fans. These events are great for helping to build connection in our wonderful Banyule Primary Community so it was great to see so many brave the heat and join in the fun.

BPS School Review

Every four years all Victorian Government Schools are required to undertake a review. The reviews are facilitated by an independent school reviewer with a panel comprising of the principal, school council president, DET Senior Education Improvement Leader, two principals from similar schools and the school's leadership team.

The review process begins with the preparation of an extensive Self-Evaluation document. This involves analysing data from the past four years to reflect on the achievement of goals set during the last review. Many thanks need to be extended to our Leadership team for their hard work and extra efforts in preparing this document to ensure it is an accurate reflection of our achievements. The Reviewer has already praised the comprehensive nature of the document the team has prepared.

The Reviewer and panel will spend three days conducting 'fieldwork' to gather information and discuss the evidence presented. This will inform the directions and propose goals for student learning and wellbeing outcomes for the next Strategic Plan.

As part of the information gathering process we will be conducting focus groups with staff, students and parents/carers during week 6 of term. The parent/carer focus group will be held on Wednesday the 5th of March at 2.30pm in the staffroom. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

Classroom Leaders

Our classroom leadership positions will be announced at assembly on Monday at 3pm. Parents are always very welcome to join our assemblies each week. Students at BPS are given many opportunities, both formally and informally, to develop leadership skills. This includes the 'formal' classroom leader positions but it also includes various 'informal' roles and opportunities within the classroom context. Student leaders BPS are selected based on their ongoing capacity to demonstrate our school values.

Each year we have large number of students hoping for a leadership position. This makes it a timely opportunity to focus on resilience building in the safe and supportive environment of the classroom. Developing the skills to manage and cope with everyday disappointments is essential in preparing children with the coping strategies needed for adult life.

Playground Works

We have been waiting, somewhat patiently, for news on the commencement of our playground works. I have been told that there is a lot of work behind the scenes with the architects and VSBA project managers as they finalise the scope and plans. We can't wait to get this up and running!

You may also have heard that we were successful with our North East Link Grant application to have the basketball court re-surfaced. This project (managed by us) will commence during the last week of this term and will be completed by the end of the holidays.

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