Welcome to a new learning year

Welcome back to school to all of our students and their families. Our classes have started with the Start Up program - getting to know each other, creating their learning environment and their classroom expectations and rules. They will work on what is a good classmate and how we can work together to support each other's learning throughout the year.

We welcome all new families and look forward to you becoming active members of our school community.

A special welcome to our Foundation students who have started school for the very first time. There were lots of smiles and a few tears on the first day. Walking into the classroom we see settled students focusing on their activities and finding out about this new learning environment. There are lots of questions.

We have also welcomed 20 new students in other levels. It has been great to see our students making friends and supporting everyone to settle into their class.

Open Classrooms and Welcome BBQ

On Thursday February 20th we will have Open Classrooms from 3.45-5.30pm - an opportunity for you to visit the classroom and find out about the learning program this year. This will be followed by the Welcome Back BBQ from 4.00-6.00pm.

A flier will be sent out via COMPASS but be sure to put the date in your family calendar.

Values

We have new posters up in all learning spaces with our school values, thanks to Kim for her design work.

This is a great opportunity to have a conversation with your child about the school values - discussing what they mean and how we can use them in our everyday life interacting with each other both at school and at home.

Rights and Responsiblities

Our rights and responsiblities are core to our expectations at school. Our students will have gone through them as part of their Start Up program. These posters (thanks Kim for the design!) are up in all learning spaces to support us to use them each day.

Happy Lunar New Year

Many of our families have been celebrating Lunar New Year leading into the start of the school year. We hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.

Lunar New Year is the beginning of the new year based on the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is based on cycles of the moon and sun, and is generally 21-51 days behind the Gregorian (internationally-used) solar calendar that begins the New Year on January 1st.

The date of Lunar New Year changes every year, but it always falls between January 21st and February 20th. In 2025, Lunar New Year was on January 29th.

Lunar New Year is a period of celebration involving family gatherings, special food and preparations for the year ahead, making way for incoming good luck.

It is celebrated in many Asian countries including China, Singapore, Korea and Vietnam, and by their community groups worldwide, including those here in Victoria.

There are many different ways to assist your child to develop intercultural understanding, to learn about others and their culture. Picture books are a great starting point - here are a few you might be able to find - taken from Readings who have had a great window display of many of these texts. These are just two of the books featured.

Lunar New Year by Natasha Kim and Jingting Wang

A celebratory, inclusive and educational exploration of Lunar New Year for both children that celebrate and children who want to understand and appreciate their peers who do.

Lunar New Year captures the magic of the celebration by exploring how Ling and her family enjoy the biggest Chinese festival of the year. The new year festival lasts for 15 days full of preparation, celebration and symbolism. Join Ling, her sister Mei and granny Po Po as they clean the house from top to bottom, pick fresh flowers from the garden, visit friends and family, and carry red lanterns through their neighbourhood.

In the Celebrations & Festivals series, you are invited into a family's celebrations as you explore the magic and excitement of religious and cultural festivals around the world. The heart-warming story is followed by a fun 'factivity' section packed with information on the festival in more detail along with activities, recipes and craft projects to enjoy.

The Lucky Red Envelope by Vikki Zhang

Get ready for Lunar New Year, following a little girl and her family as they get ready for and celebrate the Lunar New Year festival.

With non-fiction information about the significance of certain rituals, but told through the excited eyes of a child, this is a book to return to year after year in the run up to the biggest festival in the Chinese calendar. Each of the 12 spreads features 12 lift flaps, 144 in total.

Spreads include:

See the little girl decorate the house with lucky red decorations
Tidy the house to welcome in the new year
Watch a special firework display
Discover which animal year it will be
Make festive dumplings with Nainai (grandma)
Read a story about the zodiac with Yeye (grandpa)
Watch a lion and dragon dance in the town square
Make offerings to her ancestors
And on the very last spread, have a traditional family reunion new year on the eve of Lunar new year and exchange lucky red envelopes.

I have also come across MaiStoryBook who explores lot of picture books on many different themes and has recently posted about Lunar New Year. Whilst North American based there are lots of books you might like to explore - be warned there are lots of pop up ads on the site.

Victoria has a rich history which involves Chinese culture over time - when searching for things to put in this article I came acroos something about a mystery Chinese dragon from Museums Victoria - Unravelling the tale of Melbourne's mystery Chinese dragon

Volunteer induction and registration

We are currenlty putting together our Volunteer induction and Registration form. We aim to send this out to all in the community but also run a number of sessions where we can meet together, ask questions and fill in the form.

This form meets our obligations for volunteers, Child Safety and Occupational Health and Safety.

All volunteers are expected to undertake the induction and register via the form.

Playground - Grant success

This week we met with a playground company and a group of Year 5/6 students to discuss redevelopment of the Year 5/6 playground. We were successful in gaining a North East Community Grant in late 2024.

We are excited to be working on developing a new outdoor space for our students. In our discussions they shared how the space is used now and what needs to be considered. The students had many questions and were given the opportunity to suggest components to include and the need for it to allow for many students to play at once.

A design will now be developed based on their ideas. This will be presented back to them in 2-3 weeks. Once approved the playground goes into manufacture and we hope to have it installed around August/September.

School Council Elections

School councils play an important role in Victorian government schools. Our School Council meets at least twice each term and has a number of sub-committees established to oversee tasks between meetings.

The key functions of school council with regard to the school can be found via this link - School Council Powers and Functions

The Council is responsible to establish the broad direction and vision of the school within the school's community. They exercise a general oversight of the school buildings and grounds ensuring they are kept in good order and condition. They ensure that all money coming into the hands of the council is expended for proper purposes relating to the school; they also raise funds for school related purposes. The Council informs itself and takes into account any views of the school community for the purpose of making decisions in regard to the school and the students at the school.

In Term 1 each year we undertake School council elections for half of the parent and school employee positions.

Our School Council consists of 15 members, 8 parents, 5 school employees and 2 community postions.

This election period there are four parent positions open for nomination.

Class Directories and What's App groups

Don't forget to join your class Whats App group. A reminder about this opportunity went out via COMPASS on Friday January 31st, details are also included in the Class Reps page of this newsletter.

The Class Directories form was sent out via a news feed item on Wednesday February 5th.

Be sure to add your details so you can make contact with other families in your child's year level.

Shade Sails

This week we had a meeting about the shade sails across the school, with many of them having been damanged by storms over the last 18 months. The sails were reviewed, measured and assessed.

We will be replacing the shade sails in the Year 5/6 playground once we have redeveloped this area. We are reviewing the shade sails in Area 1 with a view to having all taken down, cleaned, restitched and put back up or replacment of all sails.

We have approved the replacement the shade sail over the new Year 3/4 play equipment. The playground in Area 2 will also have new shade sails installed.

No Smoking or Vaping

Schools are a no smoking and no vaping zone. You are not allowed to smoke or vap within 4 metres of schools.

Supporting Anxious Children

The City of Boroondara and other local councils are partnering with Anxiety Recovery Centre Victoria to deliver free online information sessions ‘Supporting Anxious Children’.

The sessions will cover:

Understanding anxiety and normal childhood development
Identify signs and symptoms in your children
Types of anxiety disorders
What’s helpful and not helpful
Methods and strategies to support your children
Where to go for more information/support

Bookings are required, and the booking link is: www.trybooking.com/CXQDN

Monday 17 February – Parents & carers of children aged 0-6, Supporting anxious children information session - ages 0 to 6 | City of Boroondara
Thursday 20 February – Parents & carers of primary school-aged children, Supporting anxious children information session - primary school ages | City of Boroondara
Wednesday 5 March – Parents & carers of secondary school-aged children, Supporting anxious children information session - secondary school ages | City of Boroondara
Time: 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Online | Registration required (see flyer for details)

2025 Pupil Free Day

A reminder to put the following dates into your family calendar:

Tuesday April 22nd

Wednesday July 2nd

There is one more Pupil Free Day for 2025, which is currenlty being planned - we will let you know the date when it has been confirmed.

BPPS Facebook and Instagram

Don't forget to follow our social media accounts and see what is happening at school each day. Boroondara Park Primary School Facebook

Search @BoroondaraPark on Instagram to follow the school.

Awards and Celebrations

Care, Learn and Share Awards

Our Care, Learn and Share Awards will be published in our next Newsletter