From the (Acting) Principal

Term 3 Important Dates

5th - 9th August - 5/6 Canberra Camp

13th August - School Council 6.30pm

16th August - 2 to 6 Swimming commences

19th August - Book Week Parade and National Tree Day

21st August - Netball Tournament TBC

23rd August - 5/6 Basketball Tournament

5th September - Maths Olympiad (event 4)

12th September - Division Athletics

16th September - Curriculum Day - no school for students

17th -19th September - Parent Teacher Interviews

17th-18th September - Golf Clinics

20th September - End of Term BBQ, Casual Clothes and 2.30pm finish

Happy Birthday 

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday in the coming two weeks:

• Nullah
• Monique P
• Monique H
• Trinity
• Willow
• Mayah
• Juhkobi

Book Week and National Tree Day

Monday August 19 is going to be a busy day for us. We will start the day with our Book Week parade, where students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character. As always, families are welcome to attend this event.

In the afternoon, we will be participating in National Tree Day where every student will get to plant a tree, bush, or other plant around the school.  Families may want to send a change of clothes if they'd like to avoid costumes getting dirty during this session. If you would like to volunteer to help out with this event, please email the school at beaufort.ps@education.vic.gov.au with details of your Working With Children's Check.

From the (acting) principal

After a very early start on Monday, our Year 5/6 students headed off on camp to Canberra where they will be visiting significant locations including Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial, and the Australian Insitute of Sport. All reports so far have been that the kids are enjoying themselves and are excited about their week away. I'm looking forward to hearing about their adventures when they're back at school next week (presumably after catching up on some sleep over the weekend).

While our 5/6s were away, the rest of the school held our Mini Olympics event. Students competed in egg and spoon races, pillowcase races, a foam-glider throwing competition, tunnel ball, and a bucket-filling relay. If the noise was anything to go by, the kids really enjoyed themselves. Thanks to all of the teachers who helped bring this together at the last minute. Check out the photos in the "Mini Olympics" page.

Congratulations again to Kaylee and Monique whose DASH project was launched last week. Here's a link to an article on the project from the Central Highlands Water website: Community project comes to life as Beaufort students Choose Tap | Central Highlands Water (chw.net.au)

I'm going to finish this week's message with a note about boundaries, as it's a topic that's come up frequently in the yard and the classroom. Some issues have started with someone intentionally ignoring someone else's boundary. The much more common scenario has been someone not knowing that a boundary was there in the first place. I've worked with classes around how to communicate your boundaries, why it can be scary, and why it's important to do. If we don't tell someone that we're not happy with what they're doing, they won't know to stop or change it. We've been using the structure below to communicate our boundaries. 

Examples have included:

• I feel sad when you exclude me. Could you please let me play next time?
• I feel uncomfortable when you make jokes about that. Can you please not make those jokes around me?
• I feel upset when you walk away without telling me. Can you please let me know if you're going off to do something else?

I'll be honest, it feels a bit clunky to start with, but it gets easier over time. The more we use it, the more our kids get used to communicating their own boundaries, and the more they get used to respecting the boundaries of others.

If you're interested in learning more, there's a great podcast episode from The Imperfects (part of The Resilience Project) on this topic.

Season 6, Episode 30 - Dr Emily - Setting Boundaries - TRP@HOME (theresilienceproject.com.au)