Buninyong PS Newsletter

Student Wellbeing

Offsite Evacuation Drill

Last Friday we held a practice offsite emergency evacuation drills at Buninyong Campus and on Thursday at Scotsburn Campus. The drill helps to prepare staff and students in the unlikely event that we have an emergency and have to leave the premises.

 

Both drills were highly successful with all staff and students evacuating the premises and all accounted for in under 15 minutes at Royal Park (our offsite evacuation point). As you can imagine, it is highly complex to move over 700 students and staff in this time, so a big thank you goes out to the Occupational Health and Safety team and our staff for assisting with developing efficient processes that allow us to do so.

Grandparents and Special Friends’ Morning

A reminder that Grandparents and Special Friends’ Morning will be held next Thursday on the 8th of November between 9-11am.

 

During the morning, grandparents and special friends can come at any stage to see their child’s classroom and take part in some fun activities and be involved in the classroom environment.

 

At approximately 10:30am we will also be holding a special morning tea which has always been a great opportunity for everyone to catch up and reconnect with those that they may not have seen for a while.

 

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as we can! Thank you!

Preps in 2019 with Additional Needs

Families who have new Prep students coming to school in 2019 and have been identified as having additional needs (e.g. Speech therapy, paediatric investigation, Autism, significant medical condition, etc), are encouraged to make a time to talk to Scott.

 

Scott will be able to help those families in understanding the Department of Education’s support framework and provide information on how our school supports the transition into Prep and also any additional resourcing that we may have access to. To arrange a meeting with Scott, please call the office to book in a time.

Well done Brooke and Bec!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have had Bec and Brooke from grade 6 running a dance competition in the gym for any students that are interested. The event has been highly popular with the kids and creates another opportunity for our students to perform and showcase their strengths. A massive thank you to Brooke and Bec for their organisational efforts in creating such a wonderful experience for performers and the audience.

Another successful PLP meeting

Last Thursday, we held our 1st PLP meeting of the term and again it was a great discussion and we thank everyone who attended for their feedback and ideas that continue to go into making our school such a wonderful place.

 

Last week’s discussion included:

  • Parent Opinion Survey Data
  • Out of School Hours Care feedback
  • Carols by Candlelight request for help
  • Grandparents and Special Friends’ Morning request for help
  • Concert funds – money raised and projects identified

 

Minutes of the meeting will be soon distributed, so please see your PLP or Scott for further clarification if need be.

This Fortnight’s B+ Theme is… Secrets

Over the next fortnight our classes are focussing on the theme of secrets with the kids in class. This element of the B+ program is based around our Child Safe framework and addresses some key learning around:

  • What is a secret?
  • Types of secrets (Good = A surprise birthday present / Bad = someone telling you they feel unsafe or uncomfortable)
  • Steps to take when you feel uncomfortable about a secret.

If time permits, we ask that all families follow up with some discussions around the above at home as well. Empowering our kids to speak and understand these will help maintain their safety as they grow. Below is a book that may assist in opening up the conversation.

Blue Light Award Winners

At the start of this year, we developed a partnership with Ballarat Police to award students for positive attendance, behaviour, and overall effort towards learning. Each month, we have nominees put forward from various year levels on behalf of the teachers. From those nominees, we select a student to receive the award. Accompanying the wonderful medallion (seen below) is also a free pass to the Blue Light discos, which the Ballarat Police supervise and build positive connections within the community.

A special Thank you to Des Hudson and Ballarat Police for being such a wonderful part of our school. Congratulations also to all award winners from last week and throughout the rest of the year.

Pictured below are:

  • Claire Baker (Junior – Prep)
  • Braxton Cahill (Junior - Grade 1)
  • Piper Tippins (Junior - Grade 2)
  • Felix Worland (Junior - Grade 3)
  • Grace Shackell (Senior - Grade 4)
  • Billy Gravell (Senior - Grade 5)
  • Inez Demirceviren (Senior - Grade 6)
  • Sienna Webb (Senior - Scotsburn)