Principal's Report

Hello BRPS Community, 

2023 Start and Term One Dates

Parents are reminded that whole-school and year-level specific dates are constantly updated on the Compass Calendar. 

To assist with your planning for the 2023 school year please take note of the following dates:

Fri 27 Jan        Teachers Return (Statewide Curriculum Day - Student Free)

Mon 30 Jan    Curriculum Day (Student Free)

Tue 31 Jan      Students F-6 First Day of School

Fri 3 Feb          Round 1 - Year 5/6 Interschool Sports

Wed 15 Feb    Year 4/5/6 House Swimming Trials

Wed 22 Feb    Year 4/5/6 House Swimming Sports

Remembrance Day 2022

It was wonderful to see our school leaders respectfully leading and representing our school during Remembrance Day ceremonies on Friday. The student voice leadership team of Finley, Kate, Darshan, Annie, Noah and Talia led the school Remembrance Day ceremony. 

Our School Captains, Eliza, Ethan and Astrid, joined students from neighboring primary schools for the service held at Beaumaris RSL where they proudly laid a wreath on behalf of the school. 

Our Year 6 student leaders have grown and developed enormously throughout the year. The Year 6 leadership teams have been speaking about the roles of leaders to our Year 5 students who are about to embark on the leadership journey ready for 2023.   

First Lego League - Regional Competition

On Saturday, two teams represented Black Rock Primary School at the First Lego League Regional competition held at Cornish College. 

First Lego League is a team challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16 engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.  

The FLL Challenge program is a competition program and has tournaments in select areas.  Successful teams can progress to the National Championships and even International events by invitation. 

This year we had a Year 5 and a Year 6 team compete. 

Year 5 - Chris B, Emily B, Lachlan C, Kristians J, Ava P, Jack P, Laura T, Katya T, Isabelle W and Heidi W

Year 6 - Javier D, Annalise H, Sebi J, Christian J, Augustine K, Hayden M, Talia M, Maxim M, Pippa R and Caspar T

The students in each team worked collaboratively for many weeks, including during lunch breaks, to prepare their respective missions. Students take on many roles during this team event that align with our school values of Respect, Relationships, Teamwork, Innovation and Sustainability.

All of the students should be very proud of their efforts and the way they represented themselves, their school and their families throughout all aspects of the challenge.

Thank you to Mr Littlehales for organising and preparing the team, as well as attending for the full-day event on Saturday. The team was also well supported by our 'Adopted Engineers' throughout the year - Lisa, James and Gemma. 

Our partnership with Real Time Learning (RTL) has made this and other STEM opportunities possible this year and we look forward to providing similar opportunities to many more students over the next few years. 

World Teachers' Day

Thank you to all of the BRPS families who provided the amazing morning tea on Friday 28th October for World Teachers' Day 2022. The teachers were most appreciative of the gesture and look forward to continuation of the positive relationship with parents to support the learning outcomes of all students 

Pedestrian Safety - Walking to and From School

Students and parents are reminded to be careful when travelling to and from school. 

Staff car parks are out of bounds at all times, please do not take short cuts and walk your child through the car parks as it may encourage them to do it when not under supervision. Little people are hard to see in a busy car park.

Many students (and parents) have been observed dodging the supervised pedestrian crossings and cutting across corners - particularly on from the staff carpark on Arkaringa Crescent.  

NAPLAN

NAPLAN scheduling is changing in 2023. The testing window starts on Wednesday 15th March and finishes on Monday 27th March. The tests will completed online, except for the Year 3 Writing test, which will be completed on paper. The current Year 2 and Year 4 students will complete some familiarisation activities prior to the end of this year.

The new time for the NAPLAN testing, as well as a much shorter turnaround for schools to receive results, will result in teachers having student learning data that they can use effectively to further target learning to the needs of indivdual students and the group. Further information will be provided to the families of participating students prior to NAPLAN 2023 commencing.  

Absences, Late Arrival and Early Departure

Absences MUST be reported via Compass on the day of absence (early in the morning or ahead of time where possible). Students arriving to school after 9.05am or leaving during school hours MUST be signed in/out by the school office so it can be updated on Compass. Parents/Carers can pick up students early from the office. Office staff will ask the student to come to the office to be collected by parents/carers. Please use Compass to let us know if your child will be arriving late. If you do not enter an approval note advising us that your child will be late and your child arrives at school after 10:00am, you will receive an SMS Notification: "Student Unaccounted For".

Have a wonderful fortnight.

Sam Tyndall

PRINCIPAL