From the

Principal's Desk

Welcome to Term 4 2024!

Welcome back to Term 4! I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break. As we embark on the final term of the year, it is sure to be one filled with excitement, activities, and celebrations.

We have a very busy term ahead, with a variety of events that will engage our students and provide opportunities for them to shine both in and outside the classroom.

Year 6 Students – A Special Farewell

For our Year 6 students, this term marks the final stretch of their primary school journey. As they prepare to transition to high school, it’s a time for reflection, celebration, and looking forward to the future. We are incredibly proud of all they have achieved and know they will have many fond memories of their time at primary school. 

As the term progresses, we aim to keep our Year 6 students engaged and busy with a number of special projects to celebrate their primary schooling experience. From Market Day to directing motion-stop films with potatoes starring as the main characters, they will have a fantastic couple of months. 

We will also be hosting several special events to honour their time with us, including a Graduation Ceremony, a Farewell Lunch, and a big day out at the Bounce Trampoline Park. To help our parents and carers with this busy time we have recently sent out a permission form and payment plan for the whole term which includes all the events. 

Online Permissions and Payments

At the beginning of Term 3, we moved away from paper notes to online permissions for all our incursions and excursions. This is the beginning of a transition for the school to make all permissions and payments more streamlined and electronic. 

However, we have noticed that parents and carers are often forgetting to make payments. They complete the online permission form and do not make a payment. Or vice versa, they make a payment but forget to fill out the online permission form. 

Please remember this is a two-step process. While you can complete the form online, the payment can either be made by visiting the school to use the Eftpos facilities or sending the correct money in an envelope with your child to deliver to the Administration Office. 

Student Leadership Elections

Another exciting event this term is the Student Leader Elections for Student Councillors, Faction Captains, Music Captains and IT Technicians. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to take on leadership roles and responsibilities within the school community and contribute to school decision making processes. I encourage all students who are passionate about making a difference to get involved, either by nominating or voting for the students who demonstrate our school values.

This year, school staff will also be voting. Our teachers, EAs, School Officers and Leadership Team have a wonderful knowledge of the students and have watched the students grow over many years. This is part of a bigger plan to revamp our Student Leadership Elections. In 2025, the school will establish a committee to review the election process and introduce a wider and more diverse group of voters and several stages to ensure we get the best possible student leadership group. 

It is also an opportunity to talk to your children about what makes a good leader and leadership behaviours. When they cast their vote over the next couple of days, they will need to think carefully about who is a good friend to everyone, who demonstrates excellent sportsmanship, who applies themselves to their work, who cares for the school and who follows the school rules at all times. 

SLAM Basketball Competition

Our SLAM Basketball Competition is back for the final round of games. On Monday 21st October, our teams competed at Floreat with all teams making the semi-finals and two teams going on to compete in the grand final. Our students showed their athleticism, teamwork, and school spirit during the competition and made us all very proud. The final competition is the Invitational which will be held on 18 November, and we wish all our teams the best of luck as they compete in this final round.

We sincerely thank the parents and carers who have taken the lead with coaching our students in this competition and supporting them on the day. Their knowledge, experience, and willingness to volunteer their time has been incredible. I would also like to acknowledge the work behind the scenes done by our MCS, Mrs Annie Leece to organise all the excursion paperwork and financial factors to make this experience possible. 

School Choir Performance at the Telethon

Our talented school choir was selected to perform as part of Telethon this year. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to showcase their hard work and vocal skills to a broader audience, while also supporting a great cause. 

They will also be performing at the Massed Choir Festival on Friday 1st November. This is one of the highlights of the year for our Choir and students, staff and parents look forward to this showcase. 

We are incredibly proud to announce that our wonderful students will feature in starring roles in this performance with Peyton Garner winning a soloist role, Betty Huang leading the compares for the event and our student artwork featuring as the backdrop to the performance. We know they will do us proud and bring joy to all who hear them sing.

Before and After School

A reminder to our school community that we have restrictions on the presence of students before and after school. 

Our school opens at 8.15am, with most students arriving between 8.25am and 8.40am. Students should not arrive before 8.15am. We have noticed many of our older students arriving at school early because they would like to spend more time with their friends. While this may not seem like a big problem, it significantly impacts on our staff who need to cease their preparation tasks and meetings to provide supervision to the students. 

In the afternoon, we allow K-2 students to stay and play on the ECE equipment from 3-3.30pm if they are supervised by a parent. Students need to stay in this area. There are no ball games during this time. Students and parents should promptly leave the school grounds at 3.30pm. 

While we are happy to share our playground facilities with our community during this time, we need our community to respect that our school staff are still working and should not be disrupted. Our cleaners and gardeners need to carry out their duties, our teachers are doing their planning and preparation for the following day, and our School Leadership Team are often required to attend meetings. 

Lately, we have had to provide supervision in this area of the school to remind parents and students of the rules. If we need to continue allocating school resources to ensuring the rules are being followed, the option of allowing students to stay and play for half an hour will need to cease. It is unfair for our staff to have to delay their finishing times because they could not perform their duties due to having to remind students and parents of the school rules. 

Interschool Athletics Carnival

The Interschool Athletics Carnival is just around the corner. Our budding athletes have been training hard, and we’re excited to see them put their skills to the test. This event is always a great chance for our students to demonstrate their sporting prowess and compete against other schools in the region. Good luck to everyone involved!

Open School Board Meeting Wednesday 30th October 2024

On Wednesday 30th October, we will be holding an Open School Board Meeting from 6-8pm. While all School Board Meetings are open to the community, we advertise one each year. 

School Boards are governance bodies guided by legislation. They contribute to the school by helping to monitor the implementation of the strategic priorities (Business Plan).

If you would like to attend the School Board Meeting, we will be holding an information session from 5.15pm followed by the meeting from 6-8pm. Please remember if you are attending the meeting that visitors can observe the meeting but cannot contribute to the meeting. 

Are you leaving our school in 2025?

We are busy planning for 2025 and we need the help of our community to ensure we can develop scenarios that are the best fit for our school. 

If you are leaving Burrendah Primary School in 2025, we need to know. While we understand that our Year 6 students will be moving to high school, we also need to know if any students in Pre-Primary to Year 5 are moving to another school, interstate or oversees. Please let our School Administration team know via email: burrendahps@education.wa.edu.au.

Bike Week

To promote healthy living and sustainability as part of our Your Move Program, we will also be participating in Bike Week. 

Your Move is a free program that provides information and support to help you find healthier, more active ways to get around. The program works with schools, workplaces, and individuals to help them spend less time in the car and more time enjoying their community and environment. 

For the past 5 years our school has been awarded a Gold Medal from the Your Move Program for our promotion and events encouraging physical activity. Bike Week encourages students to ride their bikes to school, learn about bike safety, and enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle. Thank you to all families to participate and support this fun and eco-friendly event.

Kindergarten Orientation

We are excited to welcome the next generation of students and their families to our school community through our Kindergarten Orientation program. This is a fantastic opportunity for both parents and children to get familiar with the school environment, meet the teachers, and ease the transition into school life. The orientation sessions will cover important information about our Kindergarten program, provide opportunities to ask questions, and allow the children to engage in some fun activities. We look forward to meeting our new Kindergarten families and beginning this important first step in their educational journey.

As you can see, Term 4 is jam-packed with exciting opportunities for our students to learn, grow, and celebrate their achievements. I look forward to sharing in these experiences with you all and watching our students finish the year on a high note.