Principal's Report

"What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning." ― Chuck Grassley

Welcome to the final term for 2019, I do hope that all families had a relaxing break.

During the school holidays I travelled to Vietnam with 15 other Principals on a Community Service tour organised by Antipodeans. We visited schools and orphanages and participated in Child Safety workshops centred around the link between poverty and child abuse and human trafficking.

We also visited a number of villages in the Ban Lac region, travelled around Halong Bay on a private junk and spent time in the Vung Vienna fishing village. This was a new experience for me - one I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget.

Camping Program

We certainly hit the ground running this term as the Year 4 students and staff headed off to Camp Adanac (Yarra Junction) on the first day!

Our camping program, for students in Year 4, 5 and 6, is designed to:

Assist in the overall social and personal development of each student
Develop individual and group responsibility
Foster independence
Challenge and extend physical skills through a ‘risk-taking/have a go’ attitude, and
Promote teamwork, reliance and interdependence

Camps require a huge amount of organisation by several staff members over many months to ensure everything runs smoothly both at camp and at school.

I would like to sincerely thank the staff who attended camp for leaving their own families to provide our students with this amazing opportunity. Only staff who have attended a school camp truly understand both the physical and emotional demands.

Thank you also to Grant Rounsley for coordinating our Camping Program and to the staff left at school for their flexibility.

The Year 5 Camp will be held at Cave Hill Creek Camp in Beaufort next week (21 - 25 October) and the Year 6 Camp will be held at Phillip Island Adventure Resort from 18 - 22 November.

Division & Regional Aths

Last week 9 of our students represented the Seaside District at the Division Athletics. It is always a huge honour and a great experience for students to compete at this level, as many of the competitors are state level athletes. All of the students performed exceptionally well and should be proud of their efforts.

Luca S (6C), Kiara M (6B) and Emmanuel B (6D) now proceed to the Regional Championships to be held on Monday. Please see the 'PE & Sports News' page of this newsletter for a full report.

The 2020 Fete Logo!

Thanks to the combined efforts of our Fete Drawing Competition winners (Toby M - 1A, Emma Z - 4D & Darcy M - 6D) and Fete Committee member, Anita Layzell, we now have our AMAZING 2020 BNPS Fete Logo!

The Fete Committee are doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes to stage our major community event - I encourage you to get involved and help out where you can.

The Three Flags

Our new flagpole stand arrived late last week and we were thrilled to be able to fly the Australian National flag, the Australian Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flags at Assembly on Monday.

The flags are now located in the foyer of the main building.

Courtesy & Safety

Please be courteous to our surrounding residents, when parking, dropping or collecting students from school by obeying parking signs and rules - do not park in or over driveways or across the school crossing.

For the safety of all, please allow enough time to drop off and pick up your child/ren in an appropriate manner.

Please also ensure that your child does not climb on top of the Art Room verandah. Parents are responsible for their children when they are in the school ground beyond the duty hours of teachers.

School Ground Works

Window repairs and painting are now complete which has really lifted the exterior of the main building. The skylight in the main building has also been painted, providing a lot more natural light in this area.

The First Aid Room has been painted and freshened up with new linen.

2020 Education Contribution & Planning

It is important that 2020 Education Contribution forms are returned by Friday 25 October as your contributions determine the additional programs we are able to run beyond the Victorian Curriculum. Many areas that rate highly on our parent feedback surveys are only made possible by voluntary education contributions, so your continued support is very much appreciated.

Please note that a ‘Stationery Pack’ will be ordered for each child unless you advise us that you will be sourcing your own or that your child will not be returning to Beaumaris North Primary School in 2020.

2020 Prep Transition

Yesterday (16 October), our 2020 Prep children had another opportunity to experience some exciting classroom activities to facilitate smooth transitioning from Kinder to Prep. As you will see from the photos below, it seems that they are well and truly ready for school!

Whilst the children were busy in the classrooms, our 2020 Prep parents enjoyed morning tea in the staffroom, and I would like to thank Sofia Dedes (Prep parent) and the staff who helped with set up and pack up.

Thank you also to our Uniform Shop volunteers, Irena Peoples, Bridget Stickland and Julie Laurent, for assisting Annie Thomas (Uniform Shop Co-ordinator) with uniform orders and fittings.

In Closing...

Thank you to the parents who took the time to respond to our Term 3 survey. As always, all feedback will be considered and prioritised.

I look forward to seeing as many families as possible at our final 'Open Classrooms' on Thursday 31 October. Hopefully the health and wellbeing of our school community will improve as we head into the warmer weather.

Sherril Duffy

Principal