Deputy Principal's Message
Welcome to Term 2. We have a lot to look forward to this term, with many of our PSSA sport teams participating in gala days, our choirs are performing in the Armidale Eisteddfod, Stage 2 and Stage 1 visit Thalgarrah this term, and teachers are beginning to prepare our Semester 1 Academic Reports, which will be available at the end of the term.
Next Tuesday, students in Stage 2 and 3 will be treated to a presentation from the Bell Shakespeare Company with their primary school performance The Wonderful World of Will. Please see School Bytes for details.
Attendance matters
Regular attendance at school is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes. Ben Venue aims to work in partnership with parents and carers to encourage and support regular attendance of our students. When your child attends school every day, learning becomes easier and they are more able to build and maintain friendships with other children and improve their wellbeing.
For more information regarding compulsory school attendance, see the compulsory school attendance brochure for parents or the Department of Education's School Attendance information for parents webpage for some handy tips and information regarding school attendance.
Reasons for student absences
On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:
- being sick or having an infectious disease
- having an unavoidable medical appointment
- being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral.
In accordance with the Department's School Attendance Policy, parents must provide an explanation for absences to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence. Where an explanation has not been received within the 7-day timeframe, the school will record the absence as unexplained on the student's record.
Late arrival to school and early leaving procedures
If your child arrives late to school or is required to leave early, please inform the office. Any late arrival or early departure from school requires an explanation, either verbal or written, from parents/carers. Explanations that are provided by a student, rather than a parent, are considered unjustified absences. To ensure the safety of all children, students are to be collected and signed in/out from the office, rather than the classroom.
PAX Good Behaviour Game at Ben Venue
The PAX Good Behaviour Game is an internationally-recognised program that BVPS teachers implement across all classrooms to help create and strengthen peace, productivity, health and happiness.
PAX consists of proven behavioural strategies used daily by teachers. These evidence-based and trauma informed strategies help to build self-regulation in children, strengthen peer networks, reduce impulsivity and teach prosocial decision-making in students. The ‘peaceful’ (PAX) classroom environment supports learning, wellbeing, participation and confidence.
In our classrooms, teachers use the PAX Good Behaviour Game to explicitly teach behaviour expectations and to support inclusion and connection. It is not a curriculum, nor a system of 'consequences' for bad behaviour. Instead, it helps children learn to work together by reinforcing desirable behaviours and inhibiting unwanted behaviours in the classroom and the playground.
For more information on PAX visit the PAX Website.
Lana Howlett
Deputy Principal