From the Principal Team

Natalie Shanahan, Sam Fleming, Claire Johnston

A warm welcome to this week's newsletter. We've seen busy times at BPS over the past two weeks! This fortnight has also seen us inundated with messages of thanks and appreciation. Thank you to those who have taken the time to express gratitude, it really means a lot to our staff to receive such positive and appreciative feedback. We too would like to further echo all the sentiments we received...

Firstly, a huge thanks to the staff and parents who worked to organise our first ever BPS disco! We've had lots of glowing reviews and it wouldn't have been such a success without the extra efforts of Shencina Conway, Amanda Adderley and Claire Johnston. Thanks also to the following staff and parents who volunteered on the night: Ali Francis, Candy Edwards, Chloe Hild, Clare Ong, Elissa Luciani, Ellen Molloy, Em Pinney-Brown, Emily Trembath, Georgette Conti, Jodie Burns, Kim Archer, Lyndsey Thwaites, Melinda Barton, Melinda Howsam, Melissa Stone, Mojdeh Shirazi Manesh, Nardia Martino Ruszkowski, Nicola Hainsworth, Prameend Singh, Sarah Steel, Stuart Adderley, Thu Tran, Natalie Shanahan, Sam Fleming, Karen Burke, Daniel Johnson, Rachel Burgess, Nicole Batchelder, Santhy Olowoniyi, Jeanene Margiolakis and Dora Greig.

Much fun was had and many memories made along with over $6,000 raised. What an outstanding effort!

Secondly, to the parents, teachers and staff who volunteered their time to attend the Year 5 and Year 6 camps- Thank you! We know how hard it is to spend time away from your families and life commitments.

We understand how much work goes into organising such events for our children and we really appreciated all of the extra time and effort put in to ensure these both ran smoothly. What has resonated with us over these past weeks really speaks to what makes BPS special. Its a staff and a community who care, people who are happy to put in the extra effort and go the extra mile because they really do want the best for our kids.

We know it can be difficult for some to understand just how special our school is as we are often one's only point of reference, but we have had the benefit of working in and with many other schools to know that what we have in our community is really special but also don't take for granted that its borne out of the hard work of a large dedicated team.

Finally, our Year 2 day camp this week wouldn't have been possible without the extraordinary planning of the Year 2 team, along with support from parent helpers on the day. And what an adventurous day it was with camp activities and challenges and a broken-down bus! Sometimes in this business you just don't know what a day will bring, and we are grateful that this out-of-the-box hurdle was handled with aplomb by those involved.

Meet our Inclusion Team

Some of you may be aware that schools in our Region have started working within a new Disability Inclusion model. This model replaces the previous Program for Students with Disabilities. Our school receives a small amount of funding to staff the program and our team works under Sam Fleming (Student Welfare).

Jayden Stapleton

Jayden is our Disability Inclusion Coordinator, working two days a week supporting teachers to support students with a variety of needs. Some of his work includes providing teachers advice on student Individual Educational Plans, school-based assessments and intervention programs, guidance on accommodations and adjustments to support children in the classroom as well as facilitating regular staff professional learning opportunities on a variety of topics in the inclusion realm.

Rebecca Ball

The funding enables us to employ Rebecca one day per week in an advisory role. Rebecca has a background in Special Education and Occupational Therapy and we are extremely fortunate to be able to access her expertise. Rebecca's role is to work with staff to plan for classroom accommodations and adjustments to support inclusion for specific children with additional needs. Rebecca is also able to advise the parents of these students on the best way to access the private therapy services their child may need.

Planning for 2025

We have now commenced planning for the 2025 school year. This starts with process of analysing projected student numbers in each year level and aligning this with the staffing resources provided by the Education Department. Victorian government schools work within a set of mandated guidelines for creating class structures which includes guidance on class sizes for Prep-2 cohorts and Years 3-6 cohorts.

If you know that your child will not be attending BPS next year, could you please send an email to let us know as having this information early really assists with our preparations for next year.

Busted!

Congratulations to the students who became our most recent additions to our Busted Doing Your Banyule Best Board of Fame: Luca from PAM and Beau from 1TY. We are grateful for them doing their Banyule best! Luca and Beau will now join the other weekly winners at a special luncheon with the Principals in September.

Natalie, Sam and Claire

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