Principal's Report 

Student Excellence

This week has been filled with excitement for our students participating in two of our Student Excellence activities, the Rotary Club of Lilydale 2024 Primary Schools Speech Contest and the Tournament of Minds competition.

2024 Rotary Club of Lilydale Primary Schools Speech Contest

Congratulations to Gabby E and Eliza T for representing Bimbadeen Heights PS at the 2024 Rotary Primary Schools Speech Contest held at Mount Evelyn Christian College on Wednesday evening. We are so proud to report that Eliza achieved third place on the night and is now heading to the Regional competition later in the year. Gabby also did a wonderful job presenting her speech and was very proud of her efforts. What a fantastic achievement!

Tournament of Minds

Best of luck to our students competing at the Tournament of Minds competition this weekend. Tournament of the Minds is a problem-solving challenge for teams of students from both primary and secondary years. They are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges. 

Teams are required to work together on a Long-Term Challenge for six weeks without assistance from teachers, parents/carers, or peers. They are encouraged to explore possibilities and experiment with ideas as they endeavour to produce their best possible solution. They develop a creative and original way to communicate this solution to others, working within predefined parameters such as limited materials, complex challenge criteria and the deadline of Tournament Day. The teams must also participate in an unseen Spontaneous Challenge on Tournament Day. This challenge requires rapid interchange of ideas, the ability to think creatively and well-developed group cooperation skills.

Our team has worked tirelessly throughout the term to prepare for the challenge, and we wish them the best of luck. A special thank you to Beth Dean, our Student Excellence Coordinator, and Michelle Franks, our Tournament of the Minds mentor, for supporting our Bimbadeen team in their preparation for the tournament and at the competition on the day. We look forward to sharing their achievements with you in our next newsletter.

Congratulations, Amelie!

Congratulations to Amelie in 5OM who had an amazing opportunity on the 1st of August, to perform in the Children's Choir to a sold-out audience as part of Opera Australia's national tour of Puccini's La Boheme. Amelie had only 6 weeks to learn her part and stage directions, which included having to sing in Italian! 

Amelie's favourite part of the performance was when she got to make faces and act that she was annoyed at the characters in Cafe Momus who were trying to shoo the children away. The children were following a toy seller called Parpignol and sang about the toys in his cart that they would like to buy.  Amelie's Mum thinks she's going to have "Parpignol, Parpignol, Parpignol" stuck in her head for weeks! 

Opera Australia invites a new Children's Choir at each venue they visit. Amelie was able to perform at this performance at The Round because she is also rehearsing to perform in a Scout and Guide production called Whitehorse Showtime. Tickets for this production are on sale now, and Amelie would love to see you there. Please put "Amelie R-N" in the ticket attribution field so that the tickets are credited to her. Head to: https://www.whitehorseshowtime.org/

Meet our New Staff

This week, we would like to introduce you to Vanessa Saffin. Vanessa has joined our teaching team. Vanessa teaches in several classes across the school, and provides valuable time for our teachers to collaborate, and work together to design teaching and learning programs for our students. 

Vanessa Saffin:

I am very excited to be part of the Bimbadeen Heights community and look forward to meeting new faces every week. I am very passionate in growing student outcomes and developing students' knowledge about the wonderful world we live in. 

Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with my two little ones and partner; whether we are bush walking or gardening - I love the outdoors!

School Council Public Reporting Meeting

Our School Council Public Reporting Meeting will be held next Wednesday 21 August, starting at 6:30pm and concluding by 7pm. At this meeting, our School Council President, Kate Rogers, and Principal, Adele Gregson, will share a presentation covering 2023 School Council key activities and achievements, and the 2023 Annual Report. The meeting will be held in the Foundation building. Please enter through the main entry door into the Foundation classrooms. A summary of our 2023 School Council key activities and achievements will be shared in our next newsletter, and the 2023 Annual Report is available on our website. 

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to another fantastic week of learning at Bimbadeen, next week!

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George