Principal's Report

Dear Bundoora Families,

Family Movie night tonight!

Remember to come along to our family movie night on the oval tonight. The event begins at 6:15pm with the opportunity to bring along a picnic and purchase some cold drinks and yummy treats, including icy poles, popcorn, fairy floss, homemade donuts, and slushies. 

As previously advised our SEP sausage sizzle is not available tonight due to the extreme heat.

There is no cost for this event and all are welcome. We have hired an extremely large blow-up screen that will be set up on the cricket pitch, with the food to be sold from near the art room.

We invite you to bring along rugs or chairs, a picnic, and some friends, family, or neighbours to enjoy an outdoor showing of ‘DC League of Super Pets’.

STEM at Bundoora Primary School

I have been talking with organisations and local schools to get some new initiatives up and running to benefit our students. 

These include a farm club run by Bundoora Secondary School Staff and leaders, and a coding and robotics camp to be held over the holidays been terms one and two (days only). This camp will be held at our school and is run by Junior Engineers. A flyer will be coming out in the next couple of weeks with more information about this camp but here is an example of what the camp could look like:

These extra classes are part of our plan to make Bundoora Primary school a well-known STEM school. Although we don’t currently have a stand-alone STEM class due to staffing issues, we do include STEM in our discovery units, which run from Prep to year six. In addition, we are offering robotics after school, and Chess lessons during lunch time. 

Next year we will start earlier to recruit a STEM teacher and continue our commitment to building a STEM culture, not just access to one STEM class per week. 

Class Captains and Vice-Captains

Congratulations to our new Class Captains and Vice Captains. It was a pleasure to see our Student Action Team Captains and Teachers present the badges to these worthy students today. I’m sure that these new leaders will make a positive impact on our school this year. The Student Action Team will focus on local fundraising to make our school grounds even better and will be driven by our students’ ideas.

Our new Student Action Team is made up of the following leaders:

SAT Captains – Isabella Anthonisz, Ellie Constable, Zoe Parkinson, Sofia Swainson

                Captain                                                                 Vice-Captain

1A           Hugo Costa                                                         Jett Parkinson

1B           Bronte McGuire                                                Luke Gaffy

2A           Izaia Asaad                                                          Zara Wyatt

2B           Taylor Rowell                                                     Ruby Prendergast

3A           Morgan Jagger                                                  Jasmine Horwood

3B           Josh Asaad                                                          Aryana Tarash

4A           Zara Heritier                                                       Heath Cogley

4B           Lou Prendergast                                               Amber Thomas

56A        to be announced                                              Tobi Tait

56B         Matthew Ren                                                    Costa Katsonis

56C         Harley Taylor                                                      Sage Baker

56D        Ethan Ellery                                                        Emma Kostadinovska

Karen Starkiss Parent Sessions.

Thank you to all the parents who made it to our Karen Starkiss sessions. I think parents who attended learned a lot and are now prepared to help in our classrooms. One mother shared a story of her son (year two) playing Hangman with her and asking if the word had a ‘digraph’ in it. This is the type of language our students are now able to use and understand. 

Karen also met with our new teachers and helped to build their knowledge of our evidence-based reading/writing/spelling approach.

Project Rockit

On Wednesday our year five and six students attended Project Rockit. This presentation covered topics such as cyber bullying and navigating online hate, resilience and social leadership, digital technology and wellbeing, and pro-social behaviours. The company’s simple premise is that young people can create positive change in the world around them – our job is to cultivate the skills, confidence and connection need to do it. 

School Tours

School tours are now available. If you know a family looking for a great school  please ask them to contact Louise, our Office Manager (see the school tours tab in this issue).

Front of School open

Mrs Dunn and I are delighted to have the front of the school now open, three weeks behind schedule. Our students were delighted to have the extra space to play in. 

The rest of the playground will be opened in stages, with our new nature play areas being installed. The new planting will not commence until the grounds revamp once the prep/one building has been demolished.

District Swimming Carnival Swimmers

On Thursday five brave swimmers competed at the District Swimming Carnival, representing Bundoora Primary School. Congratulations to Coen, Tyson, Zara H, Zoe K, and Stella for volunteering to swim at this event. Thank you to their parents who took them along and supported them on the day.

Interschool Sports

The summer session of interschool sports is well underway for our year five and six students. So far, they have played against three local schools and represented our school confidently in a range of sports, from bat tennis to basketball. Congratulations to our year 5/6 students and staff for representing our school so well.

Year Level Ambassadors (YLAs)

I am pleased to announce that we now have a full complement of Year Level Ambassadors. Our ambassadors are:

Prep: Kellie Collett (Billy prep, Harriet yr. 6) and Amber Taylor (James)

Grade one: Kelly Hannah (Ethan) and Lia Thiagi (Kyra)

Grade two: Dayna Rixon (Jett), Jess Sayers (Ryder), and Bronwyn Yarrington (Evelyn)

Grade three: Corrie Quigley (Jimmie yr. 5, Chloe yr. 3, Zara prep) Jane Baguley (Morgan)

Grade four: Natalie Cogley (Heath)

Grade five/six: Corrie Quigley (Jimmie yr. 5, Chloe yr. 3, Zara prep) and Stephanie Katsonis (Costa yr5).

The Year Level Ambassadors major role is to help us create and strengthen community relationships by organising at least one social event per term for each year level. These events will take place after school hours and are run externally to the school on an informal basis.

The YLAs are also your liaison with the teacher if needed. This means that although the teachers will put out information via Compass and the Bulletin, your YLAs may send out a quick reminder at the teacher’s request. You are also able to contact the YLA if you have questions about the school as a new parent. They are also a friendly face in the playground if you are new.

Unlike the parent rep positions in the past, this new role is more geared to social events, and not sending out regular updates or emails, a more informal position.

For dates on the calendar please see the newsletter, as it is  published with the dates up to 2 months in advance. 

Many of the YLAs have opted to use WhatsApp, however, we recognise that this is not everyone’s preferred method of contact. If you wish to opt into the groups, your YLA may have an email option for you.

Please remember that these parents are volunteers and are doing their best to foster community. 

I also ask that those using WhatsApp use it respectfully. 

School Council

School Council nominations closed on Monday 20th of February at 4pm. At the close of the day, we had received the following eleven nominations (in no particular order):

Staff nominations:

Name                                                    Nominated by

1.Julie Dunn                                       Self-nominated

2.

As we received one nomination forms for the two open staff positions we need one more staff member for this category. 

Parent nominations:

Name                                                    Nominated by

1.Anthea MacDonald                      Self-nominated

2. Amber Taylor                                Self-nominated

3.Natalie Cogley                               Self-nominated

4.Harry Nikoleris                              Self-nominated

5.Tanja Russo                                    Self-nominated

6.Ariane Heritier                               Self-nominated

7. Dayna Rixon                                  Bree Smith

8.Owen Hodda                                  Self-nominated

9.Alex Tzikas                                       Nathan Smith

As we received more nominations than positions in the parent category, we will now hold a school council election, commencing on February 27th, 2023, and closing on March 6th, 2023, at 4pm. 

Ballot papers can be collected from the office on Monday and placed in the ballot box. I encourage all parent members of the school community to cast a vote in the election. 

The parent listed above will provide a short paragraph introducing themselves by Monday, 27th of February, to assist you with your vote.

Message to the School Community

I have had feedback from members of the school community regarding my communication and the number of changes that have been implemented. 

I appreciate the people who have taken the time to give me this feedback. We are continually working on our communication as a school and will continue to improve. I genuinely want the best for our school and students and I assure that change has not taken place for change’s sake. Each decision is thought out carefully, a range of groups is consulted, including students, staff, parents, and School Council, and change implemented to improve outcomes for our students.

Change is inevitable with a new leader, and I know that this can be confronting if you have been part of the school community before the principal changeover.

It is also normal in most schools for there to be staff turnover at the end of each year. This may mean that some traditions are removed, but other, new and exciting events also come along. I ask that you please remember that I want the best for your students, to give them every possible opportunity when they leave primary school, and that sometimes means bringing change to curriculum and instruction. I recognise that this can be challenging for teachers and I thank our staff for the way in which they have stepped up to make a difference.

As you know my door is always open or book in if you would like to chat.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sherrin Strathairn

Principal