Buninyong PS Newsletter

Principal's Report

TERM 2 COMES TO A CLOSE

Winter is certainly upon us and terms 1 and 2 have flown by.  There’s a lot to be celebrated from term 2, including:

  • We have been working with an external reviewer and others from the department to undertake a school review, something that comes around every 4 years.  That has been a positive and useful process, which has involved classroom observations, focus group discussions with students, staff & parents and 2 full days of review panel discussions.  The final panel day was held yesterday and we’re now ready to develop a new Strategic Plan to guide our work for the next 4 years.
  • Kim ran a highly successful Book Fair early in the term.
  • We had our very first Ride to School Day, which was well attended and is sure to become part of the annual calendar.
  • The Mother Day Stall was a hit as always and the event was used nicely to encourage our kids to appreciate what their mums do for them.
  • We were involved in a number of interschool sports events, and as always, our kids made us proud.
  • The Kinder to school transition process has continued with lots of tours and some visits to the local kinder.
  • Tracey ran a successful Pie Drive and Sausage Sizzle Day.  The canteen is setting new records most weeks.
  • We finish off this term with Parent Teacher Interviews and thank the many parents that show and interest and come along.

 As always, we have a number of things to look forward to in the term to come, which includes:

  • Our 150 celebrations on September 1
  • A school disco
  • The grade 3/4 Camp
  • South Street Debating
  • Young Authors Workshops
  • More Victorian State School Spectacular rehearsals
  • Biocats excursions for the 5/6s & an Earth Ed Incursion for the Preps
  • Book Week from August 21-25
  • Our Fathers’ Day Stall on August 30
  • Kinder visits throughout week 8
  • The Celebration of Learning event in the final week of term
  • Finishing off the term with the Sports Colours Day…and maybe a staff V students football match.  

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support and we hope you get to enjoy the mid-year break. 

150 CELEBRATIONS

The team organising our 150 celebrations met last week to progress ideas for this event and plans are gradually coming together.  The festivities will be taking place on Friday, September 1 and all past students, staff and parents, as well as interested community members are invited to come along and join in. 

 

Whilst the detail is still being worked out, we do know the following:

 

·         All staff and students will be invited to dress up for the day.  You can choose the era, anywhere between now and all the way back to the 1870s.

·         We will start the day with a whole school assembly, which will include some presentations and words from guest speakers.

·         Following the assembly, we’ll arrange a procession of some sort to give everyone the opportunity to display their costume for the day.  We hope to follow this with a photo with all in attendance for the day.

·         The students will then have the rest of the day working on activities that relate to life at school through the ages.

·         All visitors will be invited to stay after the assembly to view a display of memorabilia that will be set up in the staff room.  There will be ongoing morning tea that will turn into afternoon tea as we expect visitors throughout the day.  All visitors will be invited to take a tour of the school, which will be led by grade 6 students.

·         The day will conclude with a gathering of current and past staff in the late afternoon and early evening.

 

As mentioned previously, we’re using this opportunity to gather as much memorabilia as possible.  We see this as an important task, given the school has very little that dates before the early 1980s.  It has been fantastic to see large numbers join the Facebook site that has been set up and we encourage everyone to jump on board and share photos and memories. 

 

The Facebook page can be found here https://m.facebook.com/groups/982972123053897/?ref=share&mibextid=S66gvF. 

 

Please join this page if you haven’t already done so and feel free to share, so that we can reach as many people as possible to help us gather photos and memorabilia.

 

We’d love to have some parents and other community members to get on board and help us out as we get organised for September 1.  If you’d like to help, please get in touch.

CASUAL DRESS ON FRIDAY

As always, we’ll finish off the term with a casual dress day and the invitation for students to come along with a gold coin donation to go towards a charity nominated by the students.  Last week the decision was taken by our VOTS students for the money raised to go towards the TeamSeas organisation, which raises money to fund rubbish to be removed from oceans around the world.

ALL THE BEST TO JONELLE, CHRISTINE AND ALLI

We have a few staff finishing up with us on Friday.  Jonelle Barber is heading back to Bacchus Marsh PS, and we thank her for the excellent work she’s done as part of the 1/2 team. 

 

Christine White has been part of the office team for the past 12 months and is heading off on an exciting journey.  The caravan is packed and will become home for Christine and her husband for the next 3 years.  

 

Last, but not least, we wish Alli Slater (one of our teacher aides) all the best as she heads off on an adventure of her own.  Alli and her family are relocating to Merimbula for some warmth and a life on the coast.

BATTLE OF THE TITANS!

A few weeks ago, Yuille Park PS asked if we were interested in an end of term footy match.  We cobbled together a team of grade 4 students and travelled across to North Oval this morning.  The conditions were cool and the ground was heavy underfoot, but that didn’t make any difference to the kids.  They had a great time and got very muddy.  The Yuille Park kids loved the opportunity and there was even talk of a follow up match next term.