Junior School

Readers for Life

It has been an exciting start to the new year in the two campuses of the Junior School. The children have settled quickly into their new classes and the buzz of learning has begun!

This is a great time to develop or continue those daily routines for your child and nothing is more important than making time for reading. Often, this is the area that children need to regain progress made at the end of the previous year. This is a well-researched phenomenon, sometimes referred to as ‘summer learning loss’, ‘summer setback’ or even ‘summer slide’.

We grow into great readers by learning great habits. Reading is one of the easiest ways that a student can continue to develop their literacy skills for writing. Becoming a fluent reader is fantastic, but it isn’t the only goal of reading development. Reading develops our sense of empathy, cognitive stamina and of course, vocabulary. How can we encourage our children to read widely, for pleasure and understanding?

• Give time to reading and create a routine. Younger children may be too tired at the end of the day. Spend time as a family enjoying books together and try to read with your child as often as possible.
   
• As an adult, model reading. What do your children see you read for your own pleasure? Talk about your own reading choices. Visit the library together. Choose books for yourself as well as your child.
   
• Ask lots of questions! Discuss what your child is reading- prompt them with open-ended questions during and after reading. Make links between books your child has already read.
   
• Reading doesn’t just have to come from books. As the world changes, our children are reading more online than ever. Learning to read and navigate websites, advertising, newsfeeds and digital instructions are all important. Older students often like to read a range of texts around a topic of interest in order to become an expert in that area- reading material might include a range of non-fiction texts such as manuals and instructions. Listening to audiobooks is a fantastic way to share a book and very useful for occupying everyone on a long car journey!
   
• Mistakes in reading are a great way to learn. Tempting though it may be to jump in and correct a word for younger children to maintain the fluency, encouraging your child to sound out that word will reinforce the strategies we use in the classroom. At School, we use a ‘synthetic phonics’ approach, meaning students are taught to sound out words in the order that they are in a word, rather than using pictures or initial sounds to have a guess.
   
• As always, if you would like to know more, ask your child’s class teacher who will be able to help you with a specific area of reading focus.

Mrs Bronwen Knebel

Leader of Curriculum & Pedagogy (Junior School)

Music

Instrument Hire 2021

The Music Department has a range of instruments available for hire to students taking private music lessons. If you are hiring an instrument for the first time or would like to renew your instrument hire from 2020, please contact Ms Kathi Downs in the Music Office to discuss the details. Our hire fees are $60-$80 per term, with a $100 deposit. 

Music Tutors

Our peripatetic Music Tutors are now back on-site and enrolling new students. Tutor specialties include: flute, clarinet, saxophone, brass, violin, guitar, drums, piano, singing and musicianship. This term we are also pleased to welcome a new cello tutor with strong experience in teaching Junior students. If you are interested in booking private music lessons, please contact the Music Office for details: kdowns@bmgs.nsw.edu.au or 4757 9003.

Year 6 parents/Berimba Band 2020

If your child was in Berimba Band last year and has any of the following items at home, would you please return them to Mrs Cooney or the Music Office now:

• Essential Elements music book or music folder
• Flute cleaning rod – metal or plastic
• Cloths for cleaning woodwind instruments

Ms Kathi Downs

Music Department

Junior School Sport

Basketball Results - Term 1   Round 9

The BMGS Dream Team played the Miami Flames.  The BMGS Dream Team won 19 to 6.

The BMGS 3/4 Red Rockets played the Shooting Stars.  The Shooting Stars won 22 to 20.

The BMGS 3/4 Golden Stars played the Hurricanes.  The Hurricanes won 19 to 14.

The BMGS Slam Dunks played the Road Runners.  The Road Runners won 30 to 10.

The BMGS Flames played the Baskets.  The BMGS Flames won 18 to 7.

Mrs Lori Gerrard

Ms Elizabeth Christie