Above: a taste of the Autumn weather in the BBPS playground

Ellen Jose Reconciliation Art Awards

Celebrating Reconciliation Through Art – Ellen José Student Reconciliation Awards

We are delighted to share some wonderful news from the BBPS community!

The Ellen José Student Reconciliation Awards honour the life and legacy of Torres Strait Elder Ellen José (1951–2017), a pioneering figure in Australia’s urban Indigenous art movement. Ellen was also a passionate activist and campaigner for social justice. Her incredible contributions to the arts and the Bayside community continue to inspire awareness and action for reconciliation.

Established in 2018, these annual awards invite Bayside primary and secondary students to reflect on the question: “As a young person, what does reconciliation mean to you?” through the mediums of art and writing. This initiative encourages our future leaders to engage meaningfully with the concept of reconciliation and express their thoughts creatively.

We are incredibly proud to announce that three of our students—Bauti and Frankie from Year 3, and Claudia from Grade 4—were named finalists in this year’s awards. Their thoughtful and imaginative artworks were selected from over 200 entries across Bayside schools. We also want to acknowledge all BBPS students from Grade 1 to Grade 6 who took part, each of whom created artworks that showed heartfelt understanding and creativity around the theme of reconciliation.

On Saturday 24th May, Bauti, Frankie and Claudia, along with their families, Mrs Hellier and Mrs May, attended a special event hosted by the Sandringham City Council. The event included a Flag Raising and a traditional Smoke Ceremony to honour Ellen José, followed by a morning tea to celebrate the finalists’ achievements.

The 22 finalist artworks, including those by our talented BBPS students, will be exhibited from 23 May to 25 July 2025 at the Bayside City Council Corporate Centre, 76 Royal Avenue, Sandringham. If you would like to go and see this exhibition, we encourage families to visit and experience this powerful and inspiring display.

Congratulations again to our finalists and to all students who participated. Your voices and visions are helping to shape a future grounded in respect, understanding, and unity.

BBPS have excursion fever!!!

After hearing the reflections of our Preps and their experiences at the aquarium, this week it was Grade 1 and 2's turn with a visit to the zoo.

Grade 3/4 will be doing a local excursion in the coming weeks to learn more about our local land.

Next week Grade 5 have both the Upstanders Forum and Waste Warriors beach clean.

And Grade 5/6 have made strong connections to their visit to the museum.

We are fortunate to be able to provide our students with such rich learning experiences. Thanks to you all for your support, and especially to the many parent volunteers who have helped us.

Prep

Preps were delighted to host some visiting kindergarten teachers as part of our Education Week open classroom program. They played the popular "Get out of my house" maths game, which was super fun!

Grade 1: Zoo Excursion

Skye "I liked seeing all the animals. I liked seeing the giraffes. I like how they eat their food from so high up. I learnt that tortoises can live for over 100 years. In the classroom we have a whole wall of different types of animals. "

Sam "I liked that all the animals were really active. I liked the meerkats. They're really funny and they were chasing each other around. I learnt that tortoises have different patterns on their shell."

Other learnings in Grade 1 ...

Grade 2 have also been learning about time!

Arya "My favourite time is 3:31 PM because its home time. If it was AM I would still be in bed. I know how to tell the time using an analog clock face"

Layla "My favourite time is 6 o'clock (PM) because I get to make dinner with my family. I really like to eat pasta. I learnt that the big hand points to the minutes."

Maya "My favourite time of day is 11:30 in the morning because we get to eat recess. I like to eat muesli bars. I learnt that the big hands are minutes and the small hands are the hours. If it is quarter past it would be pointing to the 3."

Harry shows us fractions of a circle. Using materials can help students visualise fractions effectively.

Grades 1 and 2 Enrichment@BBPS

Our enrichment program has delighted and enthralled our grade 1 and 2 students, who have been immersed in a variety of extension activities.

STEM: Students designed and built catapults to explore push, pull and gravitational forces. We also looked where energy is stored in a catapult. Jelly babies were catapulted into cups and one even went so high it landed on the ceiling fan!

HISTORY: Students explored Ancient Rome with a focus on the history of the Colosseum. They were surprised to discover that the Colosseum was built to hold around 50,000 spectators and hosted a variety of events, including gladiator fights, boat battles and grand festivals. The most fascinating part for many students was learning about the Colosseum’s hidden trap doors and secret underground tunnels.

MATHS: During our enrichment mathematics session, students learned about Fibonacci numbers, their origin, and predicted the next numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Students also identified Fibonacci numbers in nature and art and created a Fibonacci rectangle and spiral.

SPACE : Years 1 and 2 went on a space adventure starting at Earth, exploring the weather and how our atmosphere keeps us alive. Students also zoomed up into the solar system to explore the different planets and their characteristics through hands on planet model making.

Max and Harry designed catapaults to explore push and pull. Layla explored Fibonacci numbers and created a Fibonacci rectangle and spiral. Oscar learnt about ancient Rome with a focus on the Colosseum. Maya explored different planets in the solar system.

Grades 3 and 4 have been busy being geologists, exploring earth formations.

Lou Lou and Harper "We have made crystals. We started with a jar, a straw and a pipe cleaner. Then we filled the jar with Borax and steaming hot water. We shaped the pipe cleaner into a shape and then we dipped it into the solution and we left it there for 3 days. When we came back we saw that crystals had formed around the pipe cleaner. We liked how everyone got to do something that was creative and scientific at the same time."

Oscar and Keziah "Enrichment@BBPS was the best this week. I get to be a chef, and each week we research a different cuisine. This week we made gyozas, from Japan. Riho's mum, Keiko, came and taught us and they were the best I have ever eaten. ..."

Thank you to Keiko for her amazing culinary skills (and patience!).

Above: Grade 4 students building their robots!

Grades 5 and 6, linked to their mentor text The Rabbit Proof Fence, students visited the Bunjilaka exhibition at The Melbourne Museum.

They had a wonderful day exploring the Forest and Melbourne Museum. This excursion provided a rich learning experience that deepened their understanding of the impact of European settlement on First Nations people, linking closely with our current English and Inquiry topics.

Bella W "We went to the Melbourne Museum. We saw three different sections. The first was about Australia's colonial history, The second was about what Melbourne looked like in the early 1900s, and the last one was about the natural landscape that existed in Victoria before colonisation. I learnt that there were lots of indigenous languages in Australia. One of the exhibits had a button you could press to listen to how they said 'hello' in various languages. There were replicas of old houses and an old cinema, which i enjoyed seeing so I could experience what life would have been like in Victoria's past."

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