We continue to be busy 'Banyulians' here at BPS with lots happening since the last edition of the newsletter.

Nice to Meet You!

We've thoroughly enjoyed welcoming parents and carers into the school to meet the teachers this week. It's been a wonderful opportunity for teachers to meet and discuss your children and such an event goes a long way in creating strong, supportive and essential connections between home and school. We encourage parents to remain connected throughout the year, and to continue sharing anything that could assist us in helping your child thrive at school.

GOAAAALLLL!!!

We've all observed the hysteria that has come with Taylor Swift's current popularity. Some of us have been entrenched in it, while others have carried on as normal, unphased by the happenings around them. Schools often see 'fads' that come and go. (Please don't come at us Swifties!! You'll see it's just a long-bow segue, Tay Tay is OK by us!) When we were at school ourselves it was probably things like marbles, British bulldogs, collecting Smurfs and Garbage Pail Kid stickers that took over the school. Annually, there's always footy card swapping and more recent times have seen things like fancy drink bottles, must-have Smiggle things and Pokemon cards. These nearly always lead to challenges that need to be navigated, be it arguments over trading card swaps, collector-things getting lost, items becoming distractions to learning, safety.

In recent times we've seen an explosion in popularity of soccer here at Banyule. It seems the Matildas really did inspire a new generation of soccer lovers, dreaming of the green and gold and that's a great thing. It has however presented us with challenges to navigate. Aside from the white-line fever, must win attitude that typically infiltrates all school yard sport games, the rise in soccer popularity has created a safety issue, particularly concussions caused by collisions between heads and rogue soccer balls. Contrary to the idea that the oval is too crowded, the problem has come with there being too many soccer balls, and often soccer balls that are too large and hard for those playing, making it hard for those on the oval to keep track of what ball's flying where. As such, we have recently made some adjustments to the soccer rules at BPS. Kids can still play soccer, there are just modifications to how it's to be played. This is to ensure kids can still play the game they passionately love, while looking to make it safer for everyone.

Last year we trialed half-court type games. Earlier this year we trialed a red-card system. And soon we're running a supervised indoor-soccer competition. At this week's assembly we introduced children to brand new soccer balls to be used for soccer at BPS. Bearing the green and gold colours many aim to represent, these balls have been specifically chosen because they are softer than those being bought from home. We've introduced the rule of keeping the ball under waist height to maintain control and also capped the number of soccer balls, in an attempt to reduce the amount flying around.

Adjustments like these aren't anything new. We already have modified rules in place for other sports like the no tackling or bumping in football and no hard balls in cricket. We encourage your support in helping your soccer-loving children adapt to these changes. After all, no one really remembers who actually won those lunchtime soccer games, people will remember their Taylor Swift experience for a long time, but the effects of concussion can certainly outlast both. And minimising that is the goal that we're actually aiming for.

From the playground:

While the new soccer balls are keeping lots of kids busy and active at play times, it's great to walk around on yard duty and see all the things that children are doing together. From outdoor games, to play equipment to quiet corners and sandpits, here's some snapshots of kids in action:

Recognising that the rough and tumble of the playground may not be for everyone, we also have a variety of passive and alternative options for children. These are made able by harnessing the passions and skills of our wonderful teachers who dedicate extra time in their days to help provide these opportunities for children.

The weather often allows for passive play experiences also. At this time of the year the heat means we may need to alter playtime and remain inside, as the rain does throughout the year.

Playground Project Update:

Our eastern boundary playground project progress continues behind the scenes. After seeking landscaping quotes, our School Council last night endorsed the project to proceed to the next stage of the process- Regional approval to submit an application with the Victorian School Building Authority. While this process can take time, we feel our concept design and preparation holds us in good stead for this to be as efficient as possible. We look forward to providing even more amazing things for our children to do in the yard. Stay tuned!

Building Project Update:

The last two weeks have really seen the new building start to evolve from a stark shell and into a real-life learning centre. As it stands now, the installation of the second story steel work has been completed, with the roof plumbers beginning to prepare for the soon-to-arrive roof sheets. One has to admire the resilience of the tradies working on the roof in the warm conditions we've seen this week. Surely to the envy of the roof plumbers above, in the shade of the ground floor, the installation of the internal wall frames has begun, allowing to us to start seeing where learning spaces start and finish. Exciting!!

Farewell...for now...

This week we said farewell to Learning Specialist, Jessica Ray who leaves us momentarily to embark on the amazing adventure that is baby number 2. We wish Jessica a relaxing next few weeks and all the very best for this exciting new chapter in family life.

The Community Engagement Committee are still looking for lots of helpers for the BBQ at Eltham Bunnings on Saturday the 16th of March. If you're able to help, can you please add your name to the following document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ac1mA-j4ybLCil1Ae13mYN7qQSVqzJRz8cmh-VJ-3EI/edit?usp=drive_link

We look forward to sharing more behind the scenes action from BPS!

Year 1 Community