We would like to acknowledge and honour the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which our school stands. We pay our respects to all First Nations elders, past present, and emerging.

Welcome Back

We would like to extend a warm welcome back to everyone; can you believe it’s already term 4?! With camps for students in 3-6, Foundation and high school transition, reports, graduation and preparation for next year, we know that this term will fly by for everyone.

Warm Spring Weather

This year, Spring is already looking like it will be a warm one! This often means that students (and teachers!) are needing to wear light layers of clothing in order to keep their own temperature just right. As the day gets warmer, these layers often get taken off and left around the school. To help each item of clothing find its way back to its owner, we ask that every item (no matter how small!) is labeled with its owner’s name. At BNWPS we have a huge amount of lost property that remains unclaimed, and we do not want to make this pile any larger as we move through the warmer months.

As a SunSmart school, the warmer months also mean that students are required to wear a wide brimmed hat or legionnaires cap at any time when they are outside during breaks, or when classes are being run outside. Caps without the flap at the back are not considered to be sunsmart.

Spring can also notoriously bring more allergies, as dust and pollen becomes airborne. Please make sure that your child and the school are aware and prepared for any known allergies that may come their way.

Class Structure 2024

Every year we look at our enrollment numbers and review our class grade structures for the following year. There are many elements to consider when creating a grade structure, including but not limited to the number of students in each year level, the spread of gender and needs across each year level, the union agreement on class sizes and of course our budget.

At BNWPS our school-wide priorities include maintaining all five subjects in our specialist program, creating small class sizes across the school wherever possible and building teaching teams that support collaborative planning (all teachers within each team plan together for all students).

	F	1	2	3	4	5	6
Students	58	40	56	42	63	47	73
Classes	3	5		4		5
Team Av.	19	19		26		24
Union Av.	19			25
Overall Av.	22

If families have any feedback for the school on this model - or any ideas that you would like to share with us on the grade structures, please let Hannah (hannah.reid@education.vic.gov.au) and Keir (keir.jasper@education.vic.gov.au) know, so we can take this into consideration.

Teachers will begin the class creation process in staff meetings next week, as this forms an integral component of our Transition Inquiry. This process extends over six weeks and includes asking students about their preferred learning partners and social connections. We understand the importance of positive connections in classrooms and endeavour to ensure every child is matched with at least one friend from their list, but due to the complexity of forming classes, we cannot make any guarantees. Our Transition Unit will focus on how much we have changed and how ready we are to face new challenges next year, including making new connections.

Parents and carers will be given an opportunity to share relevant information for class formation through a survey sent out next week.

Education Committee

Our next Education Sub Committee meeting will be on Monday 23rd October, not this Thursday (5th October) as previously advertised. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Foundation Information Night

On Thursday 12th October we will be running our online information session for families of students enrolled in Foundation for 2024. We are very excited about beginning this journey with a lovely new group of families (as well as some familiar faces!) . The session will run from 6pm to 7pm. An email will be sent to all families with the google meets link for the meeting. If you have any questions please reach out to Cath Beswick catherine.beswick@education.vic.gov.au Cath is our Foundation team leader and will be able to answer any questions that you may have.

If you have a child in your family (or if you know of any others!) It may not be too late to enroll. Please give the front office a call and they will be able to assist you in getting the enrollment process started.

The Nor'Wester

BNWPS is committed to Child Safe Standards and prevention of child abuse

Issue 29 · 02 Oct 2023

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