“We would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, the first people to dream, create, wonder, dance, play and learn on this breathtaking land. This land was cared for and respected for tens of thousands of years. The First Nations people lived in companionship with the animals and the life on this land. We acknowledge that this is stolen land and we pay our respects to elders, past, present and emerging.”

Rayma Atkinson (2023 Suzanne Peterson Award Recipient)

Student-Led Conferences

Thank you to all the parents and carers who made time for the Student-Led Conferences last week and congratulations to our students! The ten-minute presentations are a really important stage in a larger learning experience that includes reflecting on our learning and progress, identifying goals for our future learning and considering how we will present this information to our families and teachers.

The skills of reflecting and goal setting are part of the Metacognition sub-strand of the Critical & Creative Thinking curriculum which is an essential element of developing successful, confident and innovative members of the community.

This week and next week our teachers are meeting with some parents and carers for the next cycle of our Tier 2 Student Support Groups (SSGs). At first glance another meeting with your child’s teacher might feel a bit like Groundhog Day, but the intention of the upcoming meetings is slightly different. While we aim for all our students to engage in the process of Student-Led Conferences, only a portion of our students have SSGs. If you are interested in reading more about our Tier 2 SSGs, check out Emma’s article in today’s newsletter!

Term Two Inquiry

For BNWPS, week three of term two marks the beginning of our new whole school Inquiry. This year, we will be looking into Health, Science and Personal and Social learning. Our whole school key understanding (SWKU) for this part of the Inquiry is;

Our health and wellbeing are our responsibility; nurtured through our relationships with environments, communities and ourselves.

Each team of teachers spent significant planning time last term translating this understanding into three big ideas. The big ideas break the SWKU into smaller, more digestible chunks for the students at each year level to explore and unpack. These big ideas will be shared in each team’s own newsletter.

During last week’s planning days, our amazing teachers designed opportunities to introduce this key understanding in a way that suits the age, year level and curriculum demands that are relevant to their students. They also planned for a deep dive into a variety of texts that will support these big ideas during literacy sessions, and real world numeracy and maths concepts and investigations that relate to the big ideas they will be exploring.

When we move into term three, students will take their understandings and wonderings from this inquiry and apply them to a solution design process.

We are aware that the use of the term ‘responsibility’ in this SWKU may be perceived to be challenging or feel imposing. Part of our Inquiry will involve unpacking the idea of responsibility; what it means and who shares it. Please chat to your child's classroom teacher if you have any questions about where this Inquiry might lead.

Our SWKU is intended to spark thinking and discussion. Maybe you would like to chat about it around the kitchen table, or while you are out walking the dog?!

BNWPS Staff Conference

A reminder that Thursday 9th May and Friday 10th May are student free days. Students will not attend school on these days. OSHC is available on these days for those families who require it. Staff at the school will be diving deeper into Playful Pedagogy, which is an approach that comes from Harvard University’s Project Zero initiative. They will also be unpacking how to assess and document this approach. Once the conference is over, we will share some of our learnings, and no doubt, some of our documentation!

Sprout

Kris Bidenko