I'm not sure how we are at Week Four already! It has been an outstanding start to the year and our new students have settled in amazingly well. We start 2024 with 434 students (1 lower than this time last year!)

This week we start our 2024 work with maths consultant Michael Ymer. This is a great opportunity for our staff to look at our we are engaging our students through our teaching approaches. Ensuring that we have the very best teachers in front of every class and getting the very best out of every student.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

As you would be aware from Compass yesterday, each year at this time I call for nominations for positions on School Council. This year there are five vacancies for parent representatives for a two year tenure. Parents may either self-nominate or be nominated by another parent member. Nomination forms are attached to the compass post or available from the school office.

Please return your nomination form to the Office by Wednesday 6th of March. Elections will be called if more than five nominations are received. If you would like to chat with me about the role of School Council and how you might contribute to achieving the goals established in the School Strategic Plan, please contact me.

SCHOOL CONTRIBUTIONS

Thank you to all of those families who have already made voluntary parent financial contributions in 2024. These payments allow our school to offer the high quality educational programs that we have at BPS. Parent Contributions are available for payment via compass course confirmations. Recurring contributions (payment plans) can be set up when making payment, and the office can assist you in changing the dates/amounts to suit your needs.

Holi Festival and Welcome BBQ - Save the Date

I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet with many more of our families at the twilight picnic which is from 5pm - 7:30pm on the 21st March. As we have in the past few years we are combining the traditional Twilight Picnic with the Indian Festival of Colour, Holi. There will be Indian Street Food, a BBQ and lots of colour. For more information please see keep your eyes on the P&F section of the newsletter.

PARKING @ BLACKBURN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Surrey Road Car Park is a Staff Car Park with limited visitor spaces. Families are asked to please use Kiss ‘n’ Drop for school drop-offs and pickups and if there is a need to park and come into the school, please use the spots available in the One Community Church Car Park from 8.45am-9.15am. There is also parking in the surrounding streets being mindful of time restrictions. Parents are not permitted to park in the Whitehorse road or Blackburn Clinic Car Park.

FACILITIES WORKS

Beginning later this term we have a number of building projects happening around the school. As these progress I will send more details to the community via compass, some of the work that will be done throughout 2024 to ensure that BPS facilities are second-to-none including -

Running Track Upgrade
Access upgrades to our school to ensure every member of our community has access to all buildings
Installation of a solar panel system on the Junior Building to reduce our electricity usage and bills
Repairs to our exist ramps and handrails
Installation of furniture into the science room.
Upgrade to the flooring in the gym toilets.

PARENT–TEACHER PARTNERSHIPS

Thank you to those families who attended our recent information sessions and parent-teacher exchanges, research shows that one of the most important factors affecting a child’s performance in school is how involved their parents are in their education. When parents and teachers have strong relationships, children get many academic and social benefits.

I recently read this article about engaging with your children's school that I felt worth sharing:

Parent As Helpers Training