school life

tips & tricks for remote learning

Throughout term 2, we will use this space to celebrate student work and efforts as well as share optional resources, activities and ideas to support students and their families whilst learning remotely. Nothing included in this space is mandatory - they have been identified by our teachers, aides or other schools in our network as a high-quality resource.

How are you going to see my kid’s work?

We have aimed for an easy start this term as we know families are all feeling overwhelmed with the number of changes required in schooling and life. Soon, however, we will be seeking work samples from your children. Some of the work we are doing is digital, but it won’t all be digital - so how do you share this work? Taking photos can sometimes not show the work as you had wished, so we recommend downloading a scanner app on your mobile device - these apps can be found for free and take a photo that has effective picture settings so students’ handwriting is much clearer. We are not recommending a particular app, but this approach has already proved popular with some families.

How do I teach my five-year-old about social distancing?

It’s tricky, I know... As adults, I am finding it tricky not to unconsciously edge closer to people (especially when I am excited to see them!) and so we expect to remind our younger community members repeatedly and in a few different ways. When children have been on-site, we have asked them to imagine if a whole-Hannah could lay down between them without her head or toes touching anyone (I am 182cm tall, so it’s a pretty reasonable benchmark!). If our first Friday digital assembly is successful, some of you might have had the opportunity to see Larissa perform a Social Bubble song and if you missed it, you might want to catch this link that includes a video to a social distancing song by The Wiggles. Happy Watching!

capital works update

As the construction industry continues to operate through COVID-19 restrictions, our Capital Works program continues full steam ahead. In our overall timeline, we are currently at the Detailed Design phase, which is due for completion by the end of next week. Detailed Design gets to a much more specific level of detail, including discussions around colours, materials, outdoor landscaping as well as the long-awaited cost planner.

We have had two meetings with Content Studio’s landscape architect (Simon) and have discussed the importance of our mature trees, indigenous planting, a natural landscape that mirrors our existing yard (large river stones instead of concrete blocks) and the desire for natural shade options. The placement of priority on these areas has caused small adjustments to the STELLA building plan, such as a repositioning of the stairs, but the group is pleased about this, as it saves the mature Sheoak that is situated on the south-west corner of the metal playground and also removes a potential bottle-neck that had been identified.

We are pleased to have a number of documents to share with the school community, which can be found on our school website. The new documents include:

Some design images of our school building, including updates to the main building that are predominantly focussed on the toilets, floors and windows, but also includes a fresh new literacy resource area and more detailed designs of the access ramp that will be built in our undercover area. The intention is for this new ramp to complement and fit in with the beautiful (but old) main building.

Some design images of our new STELLA building, which has updates to provide more security for our mature trees and more open spaces for our students to access and use as well as more details for the outdoor spaces.

A planting palette, with suggestions of indigenous plants that will thrive in the locations where they will be planted (water, exposure, light, etc). From this palette you will see that Simon has done a marvellous job responding to feedback about our school’s vision and priorities. Where do the grapes go, you ask? The mesh sides to the bridge that runs from the MPR to STELLA needs to be 1.8m for safety reasons. We have been concerned about the visual impact of this on such a beautiful space. Simon is planning to plant grapes that will grow on this mesh, hiding the metal, providing more shade for our students and potentially offering a new harvest for our school!

maths

Hello BNWPS families! I hope you've had a nice first week back and you have started to settle into remote learning. It was been quite a change but like Hannah said it's a great time to learn new skills (I'm definitely learning new computer skills that's for sure!) 

In this weeks blog, I've got some additional websites you could try if your child is finishing their maths work early. 

Please comment on the blog if there is something specific you'd like to know more about during online learning or about additional supports or resources. 

Here is the link to this weeks blog http://bnwps.global2.vic.edu.au/category/maths/

You may notice that maths is joined by PE and Art, who are also posting some great blogs filled with activities for you to try!! 

Have a restful weekend, 

Alice