Message from Bev and Kim

It’s starting to be that busy time of year, thanks for your ongoing partnership!

Grade 6 are having a ball at camp, returning back this evening. 

For camp our Grade 6s have undertaken an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the amount of $45.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Our Book Fair was a huge success! Thank you for all your purchases, total sales leaving us with approximately $2000 to spend on new books. An AMAZING outcome. Zoe, Lucy and Aubrey can’t wait to help choose some for our library.

Bike Education reflection from Grade 4, many thanks again to our parents who supported our staff to facilitate this course:

Sonny and Jack - We have been learning how to stay safely on the road on our bikes, how to go on round-a-bouts and do u-turns. You have to remember to use your hand to signal and keep a close eye out for cars. Last Thursday we did our final bike ride to St Kilda. I didn't realise how far we would ride but we did it and it was fun.  We got to stop for lunch and play at the park, and an icy pole at the end was a nice reward. 

See more reflections and photos from bike education in our BBPS Life section. 

We always value the involvement of our families in our curriculum program. Shout out to Brett (Tc in Grade 3) for providing volleyball workshops for our students for consecutive weeks. And to Luba (Marcel and Louis) for supporting our students in the hub with an end of year celebratory surprise.  

We invite all parents/grandparents who have helped us with our learning program throughout the year to join us for our Parent Thank you Morning Tea 11am on December 6th. This extends to Parent Association, helping with reading or excursions, school camps and Production. 

Don’t forget to purchase your child’s ticket to participate in this year’s colour run, ‘Run4Fun’, taking place at 2:00pm on December 6. Link for ticket purchase in the PA section of this newsletter. All parents/grandparents welcome to come along and watch the rainbow spectacle!

School Council held their final meeting for the year – a huge thank you to our 2024 members for their commitment and advocacy of BBPS within our community. A special thank you to David Capps as President for another year, and to Emma Liley and Helen Tiver, who we farewell this year as their children Ethan and Warwick graduate. Both have been wonderful members of School Council for many years.

• Buildings and Grounds – internal building works are looking good, and are on track to be completed by the end of the year. The recent storms of Brighton have caused some damage to our main building, we have been heavily supported by the VSBA to ensure a prompt response.  
• Finance – thanks to Simon Birch, our treasurer, who spoke at our Prep Transition parent session around the payment processes involved when contributing school fees. See below for a further update on this.
• Marketing and Publicity – a thank you to Marnie Bignell, who drafted a 2025 Marketing Plan, presented to council in support of our future focus on building our community profile and showcasing our successes. If anyone has particular skills or interest in this area, and would love to be involved, please let Kim Ancrum know. 
• Education and Policy – our School Performance Report was shared, highlighting our success in both Learning, Mathematics in particular, and Wellbeing . All areas were identified as high,a fantastic endorsement for what we do. 

Community News

Congratulations to Kirsty Walker, who has accepted a teaching position at Sandringham Primary School for 2025. Kirsty has been with us since her graduate year, nine years ago. We thank her for all that she has done in her time here, and wish her well with her next adventure. 

We are currently in the process of confirming workforce planning, and therefore class allocation. There will be 14 classes in 2025, two in each grade level. Thanks for trusting us to make the best decisions for each cohort, ensuring a balance of positive learning partners to meet the varied needs of students across each class. 

With Prep Transition currently taking place, we can confirm that Alison Coutts and Claire Paitaridis will be leading our Preps into their first term of school in 2025– and what a great bunch of Preps they are. It has been lovely to have them in our classrooms for the past two Wednesdays. 2025 Preps will visit for a further two sessions. Well done to some of our grade 4s (soon to be grade 5 buddies) who have been supporting both families and students. Thanks to Pernille and the PA team for having our second hand uniform stall ready for purchases this week. And also to Kyle (and Simon) for speaking with our incoming parents (and promoting the Dreamers!). 

A warm congratulations to Eliza Bernau on the safe arrival of beautiful Billy Rome. Both mum and bub doing well!

Schools Saving Bonus: This week, if you haven’t already, you will receive an email containing 1 School Saving Bonus voucher code per child. Where a family has multiple students, you will receive multiple emails each with a unique code. These vouchers are to be used for 2025 costs.

You can access the https://vimeo.com/1032194830to assist with navigating the online system.

Families will have 3 options:-

• Use the voucher code provided in your email, or the QR code in the online system to complete in-store purchases at a nominated supplier.
• Select PSW, select an amount, receive a voucher code compatible with the supplier’s online store, and complete an online purchase with a nominated supplier.
• Select an amount to be allocated to school activities – school activities are detailed in the Parent Payment Contributions under the ‘Extra Curriculum activities and items’ section, distributed on Monday.  You might like to access these early to inform your decision - jump on our website to find them. 

If you choose an amount for this option, you will only need to consent to Compass Events during the year.

Senior schools students (Yr3-6) can allocate their voucher to camp costs if preferred under the ‘school activities’ button.

Any funds unallocated with remain as a credit on your account until you spend it.

NOTE: Families need to review these choices carefully. Once an allocation or voucher purchase has been completed, it cannot be reversed.

If you have any issue accessing the School Saving Bonus portal please email school.saving.bonus@education.vic.gov.au or call our office on 9591 0888.