Principal's Report
As term 1 closes already, I feel most proud of our students, teachers 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. To think it was only 12 months ago that we were deciding whether or not to cancel the welcome barbecue and Holi festival and this exact week last year was when the government announced four additional days of school holidays to try and limit the movement of Victorians! Then to add in it only feels like yesterday that the children returned to school from the 5 day lockdown and we slowly returned to a COVID normal school term.
Early Finish - Thursday 1st April
A reminder that students will be dismissed early to mark the end of term - Thursday, 1st April. at 2.30pm. Please ensure that your child is picked up at that time or that you have booked your child into TheirCare. Teachers will be on yard duty until 2.45pm.
Theircare holiday program will run from Tuesday 6 April until Friday 16 April.
Cross Country
What a marvellous day for our Cross Country yesterday - great decision to postpone Miss P! Well done to our winning house - Cook! Thanks to Merissa for her preparation for the event, particularly with the change of date and venue. Thank you to those who have offered and willingly supported the day. Such an amazing day and very proud of the way our kids encouraged each other and ran to their very best.
Farewells
Sadly tomorrow we farewell two of our teachers.
Nicole Buchanan, has been provisionally appointed to new position at Bonbeach Primary School. Nicole has worked at Blackburn since 2018 and she is to be commended for being successful in achieving this new role which is much closer to her home. This is a very positive move for her and we are happy for her. She will commence this position from the 19th April 2021.
Tina Varga has been working with us this term from Blackburn English Language School and has been busily upskilling our teachers working with students from backgrounds other than English. This has been a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn from an experienced teacher in this area.
Thank you to Tina and Nicole for all of your work this term. It has been an exciting and busy term and I wish you both a very well deserved break. We are very privileged with the high standard of teaching and learning at BPS and I hope that your time at BPS has set you up for further successes. Wishing you both good luck.
Maple Street Intersection
School parents have raised concerns with me and our local member Paul Hamer about the safety of pedestrians – in particular school children – walking along an unfenced section of Whitehorse Road, at the intersection of Maple Street.
Paul recently raised this in Parliament and below are relevant links to support this :
https://www.facebook.com/paulhamermp/posts/931136700956148) (facebook post)
https://paulhamermp.com/protective-fencing-bburn (website landing page)
Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
Between May and July this year, our school will be taking part in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). This is a nationwide census/survey of early childhood development held once every three years. The AEDC is an Australian Government initiative run by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment and includes all children in their first year of full-time school.
The AEDC provides vital information to communities about how children are developing in the crucial early years. AEDC data is relied upon by schools, early childhood organisations, researchers and government to inform planning and improve services and supports for children and families.
Please contact me by 19th April if you don't want your child to take part.
Have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing the children all back on Monday 19th April.
