Principal's Report 

Book Fair

Thank you, Sonia Hogan, and the parent volunteers for the incredible amount of work in running our book fair, we raised $2209 in scholastic rewards dollars that we will spend on books for the library.

Colouring Competition Winners

Congratulations to Blaise Prep B, William 1A, Jackson 2B, Mia 3C, Violet 4B, Ari 5A & Nyah for receiving an honourable mention for their entries. and to our winners, Astrid Prep B, Alya 1B, Eliza 2A, Emily 3C, Flynn 4B, Olivia 5A & Avie  6C.

Father's Day Stall

The students all love visiting the Father's Day stall and purchasing gifts for their special person in their lives.  

This stall takes an immense amount of work, and we are very thankful for both Alison and Kerryn for planning organising and running this stall.  

Well done ladies and thank you so much to all the wonderful parents who volunteered to work on the stall.

Term 4 marks my first anniversary as Principal of BNPS. Time is such a strange thing; in some ways, I feel as though I have only just arrived, while in others, it feels like I have been here forever. I have learnt so much from our students, staff, and families, and the support I have received has been extraordinary. 

To celebrate the milestone, the staff surprised me with a delicious morning tea, an entertaining 'ode', and even a demonstration of our new mini-whiteboard routine! Their generosity, humour and genuine sense of joy make this a wonderful place to work and inspire me to keep improving.

Last Thursday, I was fortunate to spend the day visiting our Year 4 students at Camp Adanac. What a fabulous group of children! There was also widespread agreement that Camp Adanac serves the best food of any camp. 

My sincere thanks to parent volunteers Karen, Paul and Jess, who generously gave their time, sacrificed a couple of good nights' sleep and tackled that enormous hill several times a day. 

To Donna, Beth, Melissa, Naomi, and Tania, you deserve medals! The preparation, responsibility, and physical demands of a three-day camp are considerable. These experiences contribute enormously to children's independence, confidence and development, and we are grateful to everyone who makes them possible.

Congratulations to 3A, winners of our inaugural Uniform Blitz! This was certainly not intended to be a serious competition, but rather a light-hearted way to address a little 'uniform creep' and remind everyone about our expectations, particularly around hats, now that the warmer weather has returned. 

Along the way, students practised teamwork, following rules, congratulating others and managing disappointment. All valuable life lessons! Meanwhile, 3A appears to be learning how to negotiate the maximum possible reward from the Principal. You should see their wish list! I suspect we have some future CEOs in that classroom.

Preparations for our end-of-year concert on 26 November are well underway. Our Year 6 students have shown impressive leadership, not only rehearsing their performances but also contributing to props, costumes, and choreography.

Year 6 students are also demonstrating their growing maturity through their willingness to support younger students. Twenty Year 6 students volunteered to help coach and encourage fair play on the oval at lunchtime, particularly among their Year 1 buddies. I am enormously proud of the care and responsibility they are showing.

Year 6 Mini Market

And what about the Year 6 Mini-Market? My goodness, that was epic! Who would have thought a unit of learning about commerce could become such an extraordinary practical experience? Students developed products, managed sales, and experienced the realities of running a small business. Thank you to the families who supported their children's preparations over the holidays, the parents who ran the very successful sausage sizzle, and our Year 6 teachers for bringing it all together. Special thanks also to our office staff, who managed Qkr payments, vouchers and the considerable amount of cash involved.

Incredibly, the Mini-Market raised a little over $6,500, which will be divided equally between charities chosen by students, Year 6 Graduation expenses, and a gift to the school. Last year's graduating class gave the school our 3D printer, which has provided wonderful learning opportunities through our lunch club. I look forward to seeing what legacy the Class of 2026 will leave for future students.

Cake Stall

Thank you to the generous bakers and members of our community who turned up on Saturday to our Cake Stall.

We raised $3079, which will go directly into our Library Fund.

A special thanks to all the students and parent helpers who worked on the stall all day and leading up to it. 

We’d also like to acknowledge the support from our Sponsors: Bromley's Bakery, Beaumaris Medical Centre and Mattel for their generosity. 

What a great start to our Library Rejuvenation Project! 

Late last term, I also had the pleasure of attending one of our instrumental music soirées at a beautiful little church in Brighton. Thank you to Simon for providing this opportunity, and congratulations to every student who performed. 

Performing music publicly takes courage, preparation, and persistence. In many ways, a performance is the ultimate assessment: you demonstrate what you have learnt, in front of an audience, with little opportunity to start again! It is a wonderful lesson in resilience and the value of practice, and I applaud every student who demonstrated they are a risk taker.

Another highlight was seeing our Year 5 students and Student Agency Teams (SAT) collaborate on the Footy Colours fundraiser for Nepal. The initiative connected beautifully with Year 5's recent unit of inquiry, Natural Disasters, and helped students understand how their actions can make a difference beyond our school. Together, they raised more than $1,600. 

Thank you to Nicole in the office for coordinating the raffle and to our Parents & Friends Association for donating the footballs. The excitement of the winners at assembly was delightful!

There is certainly no shortage of activity at BNPS, and I hope these stories give you a sense of the extraordinary learning, generosity and community spirit that fill our school every day. Behind every opportunity is a team of people willing to contribute their time and energy, and behind every achievement is a child learning something about themselves and the world.

Wishing everyone a wonderful few weeks.

Julia Stoppa

Principal