From the Principal
What a start to Term 4! Che Orgoglio!
We’re off to a vibrant start to Term 4, with classrooms buzzing and students settling back into learning. There was even more energy around the school than usual as we celebrated La Settimana della Lingua Italiana nel Mondo, the annual week dedicated to promoting Italian language and culture around the world. This year’s theme was “Il tema di quest'anno è "L'italofonia: lingua oltre i confini." Italophony refers to the use, presence, and cultural reach of the Italian language. We’re grateful to Nancy, who organised a range of fun activities for students to enjoy over the week. We were so proud to see and hear our students interviewed for Il Globo TV and SBS Radio, as well as performing at the Italian Festa at the Exhibition Building. Not to mention their live appearance on national TV, as special guests on ABC News Breakfast! Truly, these kids never ceased to amaze!
It was a pleasure to welcome the Vice-Consul General of Italy, Mariagiovanna Rizzo, to our school as part of the event. She enjoyed joining students for the Comites incursion exploring the work of famous Italian author, the late Andrea Camilleri. Our sincere thanks to Ms Rizzo for joining us as part of the week’s festivities and for her genuine interest in our school and our bilingual program.
- Brunswick South PS and Footscray PS students ready to be interviewed at Il Globo TV
Our Zecchino D’oro Choirs in action
Kinder to Primary and Primary to Secondary - Italian language pathways
Our Foundation Transition program begins this week, with the first of our four sessions with 2026 students and their parents/ carers. Our guest speakers for Session 1 are Matt Absalom and Professor John Hajek. Matt is a university teacher and researcher, professional linguist, Italian language coach, translator and published author. His current appointment is in the Italian Studies program at The University of Melbourne. John is Professor of Italian Studies at UoM, and a linguist in the School of Languages and Linguistics. We have been very fortunate to work closely with these two experts in the field over many years, and look forward to introducing our new families to them next week.
Chiara and I recently met with Dr Lars Andersson, Principal of Thornbury High School. Lars is himself multi-lingual, and understands the many benefits of a bilingual education. He was very impressed with the confidence and focus he observed in our students when he visited their classes, and particularly the Year 5/6 Welcome Ambassadors who greeted him. They chatted about their hopes for high school, and it was lovely to hear their excitement about continuing their language studies through to VCE.
Thornbury High offers an Italian CLIL immersion program, is able to accommodate students wishing to accelerate into VCE Italian in Year 10, and runs various extra-curricular opportunities to use Italian authentically. They are very keen to welcome graduates of BSPS to be part of this program so they can continue their Italian language journey. THS have invited us to take part in a special information session for BSPS families interested in pursuing this pathway for their child - stay tuned for details! We’re delighted to have taken the first steps in forging a partnership with THS, and look forward to building on this over time.
Ciao for now, Kristie