Acting Principal's Report

Happy Friday Bundoora Families,

It is hard to believe we are about to embark on week 5 of the term.

The last 2 weeks at BPS have been very busy for everyone. It is wonderful to see our students and staff engaged in their learning programs. It is also fantastic to see so many parents in our school grounds before and after school, adding to the positive atmosphere of our school. 

Thank you for your patience whilst visiting our office over the past few weeks. Due to illness, we are short staffed in the office which means we are taking longer than usual to respond to calls and enquiries at the front desk. Thank you to Chloe C for stepping in. 

We hope to have our Admin team all back onsite very soon. 

We have had a number of positive COVID cases in the school recently so please continue to test your children if they have symptoms and keep them home if they are unwell. 

If you have and an enrolment for 2024, please contact the office and they will send through the relevant documentation for you to complete. Alternatively the enrolment forms are available on our website. 

If at any time you have any questions or issues please contact me via the office on 9467 2601 or via email: julie.fanger@education.vic.gov.au

Upcoming and past events

All classes are busy preparing and practising for our upcoming Concert in August. Mrs Newell is working hard to have everyone prepared and ready to go. Already we are seeing some very talented and enthusiastic students. We look forward to seeing you all in the audience at the concert at Loyola on the 1st and 2nd of August.

Education Week begins on Monday the 22nd of May. To help celebrate this, next Wednesday the 24th May we will be holding an Open Afternoon session from 3.30pm until 4.30pm. During this time parents, carers, friends and relatives are welcome to visit our classrooms and specialist rooms. The students are very excited to share their learning journey with you.

On the 9th of June we have a Curriculum day when students are not required at school. The TheirCare program will operate on this day. Please contact TheirCare directly to make a booking. 

The SEP Food Drive is continuing and we have received a huge amount of donations so far. Thank you all for your generosity. 

Last week we had a visit from the Australian Federal Police to present a Cyber Safety session to our year 4-6 students. It was a very informative and eye-opening session for us all. Please ask your child about this session and what they have learnt as a result of attending. 

On the 12th of May our Parents and Friends Committee, along with a number of parent volunteers ran our Mother's Day Stall in our Hall. The students had a lovely time choosing items for that special person in their lives. If you were the lucky recipient of one of these gifts I am sure they brought a smile to your face on Sunday. There was a huge variety of items to be purchased. Thank you to all of you who made generous donations to this event. We received so many donations some of these will be raffled off to raise funds for our upcoming concert.   

Our swimming program concluded last Thursday, and after an initial issue with our buses the program ran smoothly and our students in years 1-4 had a great time and hopefully learnt some valuable skills to use in and around the water. 

Our Prep Information session is planned for the 30th of May. It will begin at 6pm with our prep teachers providing families with information about our prep program and school readiness. If you are interested in attending, please book in by calling our office on 9467 2601.

We do our best to provide second hand uniform to our families at BPS, however we are currently very low on stock. If you have any uniform at home that is not being used and is in good condition and you would like to donate this to the school, we would be very grateful. 

Currently our Bulletins are sent out to families on a fortnightly basis via Compass. School Council have reviewed this and after much discussion about the pros and cons of how often to send these out, we concluded that twice per term will give more of a spotlight to our Bulletins. Also, this year, as we are using other ways to communicate with families such as Year Level Ambassador (YLA) information, Compass alerts, Facebook updates and assemblies, we are conscious not to overload you or repeat information where possible. If you have any feedback on this matter please contact our School Council President, Dayna Rixon  at: daynamrixon@gmail.com 

We continue to hold regular tours of our school.  Please call the office if you are interested in booking a tour of our school. 

Celebrations

It was brought to my attention that Maureen Hyatt our much-loved Crossing Supervisor will be receiving an award for 40 years of service at a ceremony in June this year. This is a remarkable achievement. Maureen has provided this service to our school during rain, hail, and sunshine both before and after school since April 1983.

In recognition of this achievement and to thank Maureen, our school leaders presented Maureen with a bunch of flowers at assembly. Thank you Maureen.

State School Relief came to our assembly on the 5th of May to talk to our students about their service to the community. Social Enterprise presented a cheque to SSR for $2445.31. 

On Monday the 15th of May, students who qualified, participated in the District Cross Country. Bundoora PS came 6th overall with Stella progressing to Divisional Cross Country which will take place on the 31st of May. Congratulations to Stella and best of luck in your next event. Thank you to those of you who came along to support and helped on the day.   

Tuesday the 16th of May was ES (Education support) Day. Some of the ES in our school, work alongside our teachers to ensure all students are given the opportunity to learn in a supportive and caring environment. They are the angels of our classrooms. We thank them all for the dedication, patience and understanding they show every day. 

Other ES in our school, work in Admin, Intervention, the library, and our canteen to ensure the smooth running of our wonderful school to benefit our school community. We thank them for their expertise and time.

We hope they all know how appreciated they are by us all. 

Staffing Update

Sherrin is still on leave, and she is recovering well. As yet, we do not have a return date for her, however I will keep you all updated as best I can.

Steven Meagher as also been on leave due to illness for the last week and a half. Unfortunately, he has been in hospital for some of this time and was diagnosed with a heart condition. This will require Mr. Meagher to have surgery within the next month. This will result in an extended absence of up to 12 weeks. Mr. Meagher visited his class on Monday to explain the situation as best he could to help them understand. Some students had been concerned about his health, and we hope this has alleviated some of their anxiety. Jaci DeFazio will replace Mr. Meagher during his absence. Jaci is a regular CRT in our school and the students are all very familiar with her. Mr. Meagher will continue to liaise with Jaci to ensure as little disruption to the students' learning as possible. 

Val, our long-time canteen manager returned to her duties this week after injuring her hand. The menu is currently limited due to Val's recovery. Once she can, she will return the regular menu to QKR. We are pleased to have her back. 

In other news, Chloe Connelly our Intervention teacher and currently a helping hand in the office due to illnesses, has accepted a job on the snowfields and will finish up on the 29th of May. Chloe has been an asset to our students learning over the past year. 

Also, our Auslan teacher, Rachelle Beneke will be leaving us on the 15th of June as her husband, who is with the defence forces, has been deployed elsewhere. 

Abbey Giles, our bubbly year 2 teacher will also be leaving us at the end of term 2 to embark on a working holiday overseas. 

They have each have had a different, yet positive impact on the learning journey of our students. We will miss each one of them greatly, however we wish them all the very best in their new adventures.

 Have a lovely weekend everyone, and thank you for your continued support of our amazing school, staff and students.

Julie Dunn

Acting Principal