Principal's Report
How on Earth are we already at Week 4! What an outstanding start to the year we have had. I could not have wished for a more enjoyable start. Your children are incredibly polite and welcoming which is a huge credit to the way they are brought up. Our new Foundation students have taken to school like ducks to water and definitely seem like they have been here for longer than a month!
As term 1 pushes half way through already, I am most proud of our teaching and broader staff in the way they fulfil their roles and have taken on a variety of changes and challenges to continually improve our school.
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:
NEW MATHS CURRICULUM
I am writing to let you know about the changes to student reporting for mathematics in Victorian government schools. I will share more details as we ger to mid-year reports.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) recently published its revised mathematics curriculum (Mathematics curriculum 2.0).
All Victorian government schools will start using the Mathematics curriculum 2.0 in 2025. At BPS we will beusing the revised mathematics curriculum for school reporting from Semester 1 2025.
On your child's previous report, the teacher reported against the 3 strands of the achievement standard for mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). Under the Mathematics curriculum 2.0, your child’s teacher will report against the achievement standard as a whole, providing a single, aggregated score.
The VCAA made these changes to help teachers plan their teaching and learning programs in mathematics, giving them more flexibility to support students to link ideas within mathematics and also with other curriculum areas.
Holi Festival and Welcome BBQ - Save the Date
Please see the compass that came out yesterday after parents to get involved and support our wonderful school through our first event of the year. The twilight picnic and Holi festival is a highlight in many ways for our BPS community.
For more information on how to get involved please check the compass sent by Skye yesterday.
Child safety and wellbeing at Blackburn Primary School (BPS): information for families and the school community
The Victorian Government has announced new Child Safe Standards to further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.
BPS has reviewed and updated our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. These are available to view on our school website.
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact the school Office.
PERSONAL GOODS BROUGHT TO SCHOOL AT OWNER’S RISK
Student accident insurance/Ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to school. Recently the Department of Education communicated to schools a need to remind communities of the following information regarding student accident and ambulance cover and also about personal goods insurance.
The Department of Education does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.
This applies to students, staff and members of the public.
This can include mobile phones, electronic games, iPads, laptops, toys, musical instruments, sporting equipment and bicycles parked on school grounds.
Students and staff are discouraged from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school.
The Department of Education does not provide personal accident insurance for students.
Parents and guardians are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs.
Student accident insurance policies are available through private insurance companies to cover medical expenses not met by Medicare.
Schools and DET are not able to advise parents on whether to purchase such an insurance policy or which policy to purchase as individual families have differing needs.
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.
