Lots has been happening at BBPS over the past two weeks, and we are so impressed with our students’ enthusiasm and persistence, especially as we all enter the final two weeks of Term 1!

LEARNING & ENGAGEMENT

Last week students loved being active and collaborative for our annual Kaboom Sports friendship lunch. Preps and Grade 5 have been thrilled this week to formally be paired up with their buddies after last week’s initial session.

Division swimming took place this week, outstanding results for all our swimmers

Mimi, Charlotte, Madison and Tilly.

Grade 6s attended the Halogen National Young Leaders Day this week, a conference focused on accepting challenge, understanding that failure and making mistakes is essential to personal growth as a leader. Students heard from inspirational speakers, including Lachie Smart, Cate Campbell (Olympic swimmer), Damien Fleming (cricketer / commentator). Go to www.halogen.org.au for more.

Production Auditions have been completed and Sally Wickes is working closely with the team to finalise individual roles, allocating parts to our year 5/6 students. Enthusiastic preparation for this year’s production - The Adventures of Ella and Teddy – has also been embraced by all classes. Rehearsals and practicing class and whole school song items has begun in earnest. Production takes place in term 3.

CRTs (Casual Replacement Teachers) at BBPS

From time to time teachers will be away from school for a myriad of reasons. Class cohorts are notified of staff absence if a teacher will be away for an extended period of time. If your child’s teacher is away, please feel free to speak to any of the teaching team should you need anything. Any communication of urgency (e.g. change to pick up arrangements), please go through the office as it cannot be guaranteed that your class teacher will be checking emails in their absence.

At BBPS, we value the role professional development plays in supporting our teaching and learning program. We have a number of staff attending professional development sessions over the next few weeks, including:

Professor Di Siemon - Effective Teaching of Mathematics
Victorian Academy’s Leading Literacy
Working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Bike Education
NAPLAN training
Graduate Teacher Conference

Next week teachers will also be engaging in their termly planning day. On planning days, the whole teaching team are released to collaborate and plan their teaching and learning program for term 2. During this day your students will be supported by the Specialist team, and will be participating in a full-day specialist program.

COMMUNITY

Parent Expos: If you were unable to attend these sessions, you can find relevant resources and recordings at Whole School Sharing on Google Drive

Thanks to our Parent Association who met last week, and the Prep/1 team who are well on their way to organising our annual Easter Raffle, to take place on the last day of term.

A huge thank you to all that have managed to bring in their Easter Raffle donations. Class room boxes are filling up but we would love to receive some more donations. Easter eggs, Arts and crafts, books, soft toys, easter bags and baskets are all gratefully received. Raffle tickets sales are just around the corner and we cant wait to get as many easter delights to the children as we can!

Stay tuned for more information about a special raffle prize addition ... tickets to the Grand Prix ... a very generous donation! For details on how you can purchase raffle tickets for this prize, keep your eye out on Compass

If you missed the meeting, and are a member of the PA / a Parent Rep, please access our Information Booklet HERE

Our Prep 2023 Information Night was well attended earlier this week, an opportunity to share with potential new families information about our school. A big congratulations to our grade 6 leaders Ati, Edan, Brody and Harvey who were outstanding in representing our school, speaking confidently about all learning programs.

Our School Council team for 2022 met in the school library on Wednesday evening. We acknowledge the importance of the governance role school council plays and thank all our councilors for giving up their time.

Buildings and Grounds: Asphalt resurfacing continues, Shade Sales are going up in the coming weeks, including an additional shade sale by the “snail”, a big thank you to Shane for fixing the playground clatter bridge.
Education and Policy: Updated policies were shared, with a focus on the targeted strategies used across our school to support student wellbeing. See Policy section of the newsletter for the latest versions of the Wellbeing and Engagement Policy and Bully Prevention Policy.

Feedback was also sought from our council members about the learning program at BBPS, in particular linked to our whole school strategic goals of:

To achieve high learning growth for all students, with the minimum of 12 months learning growth in literacy and numeracy every year.

To strengthen the partnership with the school community to achieve expected learning growth for all students.

To enrich student engagement through enhanced opportunities for student voice and agency in learning.

Our School Strategic Plan can be found on our school website.

In term 2 BBPS will undergo a school review (a process that takes place every four years), an opportunity to celebrate our successes, to identify areas for improvement and to formulate goals for where to next. Guided by the Framework for Improving Student outcomes (FISO), student agency, student health and wellbeing and sustainability are key focus areas. We will be seeking your feedback - so stay tuned for opportunities to engage in this process.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Next Week …

Our SRC Badge Ceremony will take place on Monday, 28th March at 2:45pm on Exon. All parents of SRC reps Grade 2-6 are invited to attend, please enter via the Windermere Gate and be prepared to show proof of vaccination on arrival.

Wednesday 30th March 5:30 Graduation Meeting in the Grade 6 classrooms - be prepared to show proof of vaccination on arrival.

Community News

Preps stretching and moving