Principal's Message

To The School Community,

I hope that you enjoy the final Newsletter for the term and that students can look back on the term as a memorable one where they have learned as much as they could, made the maximum effort and enjoyed being around their peers and staff at the school. 

Please Remember : Thursday  7th September:    3.00pm - 5.00pm Art Show Fundraiser, school gymnasium

As it is my final Newsletter as principal at BHPS I wanted you to know that being a part of this school community is something that I will hold close to my heart and will always be in my mind moving forward. The students here are genuinely wonderful kids who I have been able to connect with strongly in my role. I hope that somewhere along the line I have been able to be kind to them and help them with something that they needed at school. 

The same for the staff, I want to acknowledge and ensure that you know that the staff here genuinely care about the students and do their best in their roles, right through from the office team, ES support staff, teachers and those with formal leadership roles. Schools are dynamic places with so many variables and things to improve which in my tenure here I have tried to do with 100% commitment. There are also many things to celebrate in a school and overall, this school has way more to celebrate than worry about. 

To the School Council, current and past, I would like to thank you for your engagement, support and commitment to the school community. I have valued the contributions of all Councillors but want to especially mention the leadership of both Stephen Gill and Cathy Crane in their role as president during my time here. Their guidance, support, challenge and collaboration has been exemplary, respectful of my expertise and they have always had the best interests of the students, staff and families in all of their interactions in their role. I appreciate this greatly.

The broader community, parents, carers, guardians and local groups have also been a great support for the school and for me in my role as principal. I continue to appreciate the level of engagement and support the school receives from all of these groups. I admire the level of care that the students receive from their families and each other in our community. There are always bumps in the road but overwhelmingly, people in this community support each other, I also feel supported.

I will miss the opportunity to stand at the front gate and greet the kids every day but luckily for me I will still be around Barwon Heads and get to see them from time to time.  My new role is an opportunity to grow, learn more and support others in schools which I am excited about and look forward to. This also brings an opportunity for BHPS to grow and learn with a new principal. The principal selection process has begun, the School Council will notify you when the process is completed.

Classroom Catch Ups 

The end of the term brings with it the culmination of student learning. I wanted to highlight examples from year two (see the photo above) during my catch ups with students about their learning.

The year two students and their teachers have been focussing on the craft of writing alongside the process to produce a published piece of work. The Writer's Festival was a successful culminating activity, where the students were able to share their Fiction and Non-Fiction writing with a varied audience. 

The students and staff were grateful for the high levels of engagement from parents and carers who attended the event. What was most impressive was the range of ideas, storylines, illustrations and areas of interest the writing highlighted across the year two cohort. Added to this was the ability of the students to share about the writing process and the structure of their stories. Most importantly lots of pride in their work and smiles on their faces.

The year 5 students and their teachers have been collaborating to deliver a Shark Tank where the students will showcase their innovation, creative thinking, problem solving and presentation skills. The students have experienced an innovation process that required them to respond to a problem, E.g What to do with disused wetsuits that go to land fill? and develop solutions that were documented in a range of ways, written, verbal presentation and the construction of a prototype. I'm looking forward to attending!

Don't forget to check the year level pages for more information about the learning that occurred this term!

Parent/Carer Contributions

The admin team and School Council are very grateful for the support our community gives to the school.

Firstly, your voluntary contributions have gone a long way in enabling the school to have the consumables the students need to maximise their learning during a school day. Added to this the support to keep technology up to date has been very important. 

Between now and the end of the school year Mrs Olsen and Ms Geerings will be ordering new take home readers and decodable texts (to support our Phonics Program leading into 2024). Some of your fundraising efforts will be used for this along with technology renewal.

In relation to contributions, you can still add to your contributions during term 4 which will support the planning for 2024, we are looking to purchase some new furniture for some outdated student chairs and tables in the new year.

Staff in the Spotlight

Rachael Curtain - Assistant Principal

As Assistant Principal Rachael has an enormous impact on the School in many ways. She leads by example and shows 110% commitment to the students at the school. Apart from her willingness to learn and develop her knowledge about teaching and learning, skills in mentoring and improving teachers and the highest levels of organisation I’ve ever seen what stands out to me is Rachael’s ability to see the positives in people.

She is always on the lookout for people demonstrating their strengths, doing well in their role or with their learning and the best part, she shares that with them directly. These actions create confidence in people to keep striving to do well. This is a part of the School Culture that Rachael influences and others following her lead contributes to improvement. Added to this, when the going gets tough, Rachael is courageous enough to have difficult conversations that generate progress and improvement.

A quick mention about her willingness to learn, Rachael goes above and beyond in this area. Each year I have been amazed at what Rachael brings to the table about new ideas, contemporary strategies and approaches as well podcasts and books handballed my way to help me learn.

I’m very grateful that Rachael is a key leader at our school.

Enjoy the weekend!

Daniel Vella