Principal's Report 

Thank you to the 2020 Student Leadership Team

We would like to begin this fortnight’s newsletter by thanking our current Student Leadership team for their hard work, resilience, and contributions to the Bimbadeen community throughout this year. With the impact of COVID-19 on school operations, they have had to adapt and adjust their expectations and generate new ideas to lead their peers and have done so with pride. 

Their positivity and encouragement to of all community members throughout this most challenging of years, have demonstrated their maturity, natural leadership qualities and personal qualities that resulted in their nomination to the role of student leader. We are incredibly proud of the leadership they have shown our entire community and thank them for the way in which they have held themselves throughout their final year at Primary School. 

2021 Student Leaders

We are very pleased to announce that following a process that involved participation in leadership training, self-nomination, shortlisting by teachers, the presentation of speeches to all Year 4 and 5 students, a preferential voting process and finally, an interview with Mrs Brookes, Mrs Gardner and Mrs Gregson, our student leadership team for 2021 are:

Bimbadeen Heights 2021 Student Leaders

Our School Captain and House Captains make up our formal student leadership team and will be presented with their badges and certificates at a special assembly to be held and recorded via Webex and shared with the Bimbadeen community later this term. 

We are looking forward to working with our new student leaders throughout their final year of primary school and supporting them as they make a positive impact on our school community and leave a legacy for future Bimbadeen students to enjoy. 

Congratulations!

2021 Student Supplies

On Wednesday 2nd December, the book bags for all students from Year 1 – 6 next year will be delivered. (All stationery for our Foundation students is purchased in bulk and kept in their classrooms, rather than being sent home). The children of all families who have paid by today, (November 27th), will be given their bag of stationery on Wednesday. We suggest that parents make arrangements to meet their child at school on this day to help them with carrying the bag home. If you haven’t yet paid, the supplies will be here at the school and can be paid for and collected at the office from Thursday 3rd December until the end of the year. Parents who pay Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday next week will be given their supplies on Thursday. Parents who pay after Thursday will be given their supplies at the time of payment. If you have any questions about this please speak to Adele Gates, Business Manager, at the office.

Class Structures – Straight Grades and Composite Classes

At Bimbadeen, we see positive relationships as our priority and from this our class structures are determined. There are other factors such as peer relationships, inclusivity and academic diversity that also guide class placements. We have extremely dedicated teachers who foster positive relationships with our students, and we are confident this in turn will develop good learners. Research shows that constructive teacher student relationships have a positive impact on students’ academic results. At Bimbadeen, we have highly dedicated teachers who have the ability to maximise the learning potential of all students in their class regardless of the class structure. 

Composite classes are a practical response to the problem of uneven grade enrolments; for example, when there are too many students to form one ‘straight’ grade but not enough to form two. Combining students in this way is often an administrative solution that not only allows schools to ensure more consistent class sizes, but enables them to address gender balance issues within each class; more easily match teachers to student need; maximise school and teacher funding and resources; and cope with declining or increasing enrolments. Some schools, however, regard composite classrooms as optimal for student learning and incorporate them as an educational choice, rather than a purely administrative one. At Bimbadeen we have and will continue to incorporate composite classes from time to time as an educational choice within a school year. Factors that influence this decision are based on teacher strength and student academic and social/emotional need.

When considering class structure, we most definitely have the students and their learning needs at the forefront of the decision-making process. 

In 2021, we will be implementing the following class structure that includes a combination of straight grades and composite classes: 

• Foundation – 5 classes
• Year 1 – 4 classes
• Year 2 – 3 classes
• Year 3/4 – 5 classes
• Year 5 – 3 classes
• Year 6 – 3 classes.

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend and fortnight of learning ahead. 

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George