Dear Families,

Welcome back to the 2024 school year! Again, I hope that you had a lovely summer break and that you and your children return feeling energised and refreshed for a big year ahead.

We welcome a number of new staff to our school this year:

Ms Alison Williams (3/4 classroom teacher)

Miss Shaelyn Taylor (5/6 classroom teacher)

Ms Darcy McQuinn (5/6 classroom teacher)

Audrey Wilson (Education Support member)

Olivia Lee (Education Support member)

Mr Jeremy Beggs (5/6 Performing Arts teacher)

In the event that you need to communicate with the school regarding your child’s education or wellbeing, we encourage you to reach out to their classroom teacher as your first port of call. This can be easily done through the Seesaw app, or if just a quick check-in, before and after school. Please note that from 9am, teachers are actively teaching their class and are not available for 1:1 catch-ups with parents. We highly value this partnership and relationship with our families.

Duty of Care – before and after school

Our school yard is actively supervised by staff from 8:45am in the morning and until 3:45pm in the afternoon. Outside of these times, students are not actively under the duty of care of yard duty teachers and staff, and we ask that parents/carers are mindful of this when dropping off and picking up each day.

I’d like to reiterate an expectation for students in Years 3-6; before school all students in Years 3-6 need to arrive and remain in the court yard until the Yard Duty teacher arrives and allows them to move to the basketball court/playground area. NO STUDENTS should be on the oval at any time in the morning.

COMPASS and SEESAW

I would like to take this opportunity to also highlight the importance of all parents/carers being connected to our two main communication platforms; COMPASS and SEESAW. Firstly, Compass is our main vehicle for whole school operations such as notifications, absences/attendance, student reports and bookings for parent-teacher-student interviews. Seesaw is the platform individual teachers use to communicate with the families of their specific classes.

Information regarding the activation of both Compass and Seesaw has already been communicated home, and most of our families are connected. However, if you are still yet to get one or both platforms connected to the school, please communicate with the office (regarding Compass) or your child’s teachers (regarding Seesaw).

Term One Events and Pupil Free Days

Starting this week, we have a number of events and curriculum days that I would like to highlight from our calendar:

13th February, 5:30pm-6:30pm – Foundation (Prep) Picnic
20th February, 5:30pm – 6:30pm – Foundation Reading Night
22nd February, 10am-6:00pm – Year 1 to 6 Meet and Greet Meetings (Pupil Free Day)
1st March – BNPS Senior Athletics Day
11th March – Labour Day Public Holiday
13th March – 25th March: NAPLAN Testing window for Year 3 and 5 students
26th March – 9:30am: Information Morning and Tour for Prospective 2025 Foundation Students & Families
28th March – Final Day of Term 1: 2:30pm dismissal

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website https://www.ballaratnthps.vic.edu.au/index.php/about-us/school-documents.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

Until I see you in person,

David Garner,

Principal

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” ~ Albert Einstein

Student Engagement and Restorative Practices at BNPS

At Ballarat North, we implement Restorative Practices in our daily interactions with all community members. In addition to the digital copy in today's newsletter, you will also receive a hard copy of some new documents that support this approach.

Staff have been developing their skills in this space for over 2 years and we have recently begun work embedding the Student Engagement Plan. This plan outlines what Restorative Practice means for our community. It steps through the types of restorative interactions students and staff are having on a daily basis, and it explains how and why this approach is so important to developing a community that is learning and growing together. Throughout the year we will be providing further opportunities for parents to learn more about Restorative Practices.

Alongside our Student Engagement Plan, we are also starting 2024 with a brand-new Behaviour Matrix. This document is an overview of how we manage behaviour choices. It demonstrates the variety of learning opportunities provided and the chances for repairing harm offered to our students when they need guidance or support to modify their behaviour choices in the classroom or the playground. Please familiarise yourself and your children with this new document.

Student voice is central to Restorative Practice. Within our classrooms, to begin the year, children participated in preparation circles. In these circles, they were asked, “What makes a happy and safe learning environment?” They were also asked to share what makes it hard to learn. Classroom teachers were pleased with the thoughtful way our students participated in these circles and the honesty they showed. We believe that giving students a chance to help set the tone for their learning environments will help them have a successful year. Some examples of the outcomes of these circles are below.

- At BNPS we have a zero-tolerance attitude to violence and aggression of any form to staff and others. We build a thriving community by working positively together to educate our children. -

Pupil Free Day - Thursday 22nd February

Year 1 - 6 Meet and Greets