welcome back

Hello everyone and welcome back to another fantastic year of learning! I hope you were all able to enjoy your holidays; I am thoroughly enjoying hearing all the tales of excitement and adventure. I also hope all our families and those close to you have remained safe from fires that have ravaged our country over the summer. Many students have recounted how fires impacted their holiday plans and I know a number of teachers are already planning units of work on sustainability and the environment as a result of these disasters. A positive from these stories is hearing about individuals, families and communities working together to support each other. This year our school is focussing on problem-solving; from solving internal problems and challenges, to working as a team to solve larger problems that face our school, our community and our world. You will hear more about this as the year progresses.

It has been a tremendously calm start to the year and we are incredibly impressed with the school readiness of all your children! We believe this to be a combination of factors:

families preparing their children really well

the number of new students who are already familiar with the school

our new and improved transition process at the end of last year

Clearer processes throughout the school

With each new year, it is so exciting to meet the amazing new community members who have joined our big school family. You will notice that there has been some movement between our classroom teaching teams. There are great benefits to moving teachers into new year levels, but one of the main reasons for us is the development of knowledge within individual teachers and teaching teams. On Thursday, our teachers started planning their first inquiry cycle and it was clearly evident to see teachers combine their knowledge - knowledge from experience in the team, knowledge from the challenges and foundations of earlier year levels, knowledge of the expectations of future year levels. This shared knowledge and experience builds incredible ‘brains trusts’ that collaborate to plan for teaching your little ones. Throughout upcoming newsletters, you will get a chance to learn more about our staff and how BNW functions from day to day, but in the meantime, here are the names of the staff in our new teams:

FOUNDATION: Catherine Beswick, Chris Moed, Faith Kelly and Larissa Fry

JUNIORS: Jess Brown, Emma Mallia & Celia Dickinson, Jesse Hughes, Jessie Meade & Shalani Marasinghe, Nici Fausten and Lisa Do

MIDDLES: Kate Middleton, Bianca Dallan, Alice Hamilton & Rebecca Ewer, Bel Martys and Tom Dartnell

SENIORS: Tim Plummer, Ann Laming, Michael McLaughlan, Deborah Robins and Jenny Wheatcroft

SPECIALISTS: Andrew Lang & Kate McCormack (Art), Ian Adams & Shalani Marasinghe (Enviro Science), Jack Madin (Performing Arts), Kasenya Grant & Nadia McComb (Indonesian), Tom Nelson (PE)

OFFICE: Ange Hopkins, Audrie Sexton, Danni Vidali, Mayii Evans

Our TEACHING AIDE team is about to grow, so we will update you with this team (and photos!) shortly.

communication @ BNW

After so many changes over the past two years, we are excited to slow the pace a little this year. We are focussing on improving the way we do things rather than introducing more new approaches. Our goal is for calm and orderly learning environments throughout the school and we are off to a fantastic start already. I really enjoy reflecting on each year as it passes and considering where we were at this time last year; sometimes thinking back to where we have been, helps us see how far we have come! When I looked back and re-read the first newsletter of 2019, I saw that we were still functioning with a paper newsletter at that stage, which brought with it numerous communication concerns between school and homes. I am thrilled that we have made many improvements in this area, but communication is a top priority for the school office, your child’s teachers and school council. We want to ensure everyone feels fully informed about what is happening at the school, or at least that you know where to get more information!

Our current forms of communication are:

In person, by phone and email

Weekly newsletter and our school website

Sentral messages & announcements

School calendar (printed and Google calendar)

Posters at school, assembly announcements, information evenings

Twitter (accounts from school, teachers, specialists and clubs)

As I mentioned earlier, a top priority this year is to improve our communications - we are aiming for it to be earlier, clearer, more reliable and more targeted. As communication is a two-way street, however, we need you to be involved and we need your feedback! We will be seeking feedback on specific approaches, successes and challenges, but if you have an idea of how communication could be improved between home and school, please let us know.

Sentral

I know that Sentral is becoming the new ‘S-word’ at Brunswick North West, but we are pleading with families to ‘hang in there’. There were many reasons why our school moved from Compass to Sentral, our experiences with Compass were frustrating and expensive with limited customer support, however because there was no other option, we persisted. In 2017, other student management systems starting becoming available in Victoria and we spent many months exploring the different options. We chose Sentral because it offers our school a number of functions that we previously had not been able to access, including but not limited to:

Tracking student growth over 7-years with longitudinal data collection systems

Deep analysis and reporting of curriculum data

Creation, storage and communication of Individual Learning Plans between teachers as well as school and home

Wellbeing functions that help staff remain aware of health and emotional needs of our students

Administrative functions with purchasing, class formation and attendance

At BNW, we love Sentral (mostly)! We know that parents and carers have a significantly different experience to ours at school. We know the app has only 1-star and that the original signing up process is challenging. We are asking you to persist with Sentral, as it offers our school so many features, but we don’t want to leave you frustrated. We have solutions in the works:

Mayii works in our front office and is the Sentral Queen. Mayii works Monday-Thursday from 8am to 3pm and is always willing to help individual parents and carers with their Sentral concerns. Mayii has assisted numerous families to troubleshoot their app issues on the spot!

We intend to include trouble-shooting tips, details on how to make the user experience smoother and updates on changes to the app through our school newsletter.

We have spoken with Sentral about the problems our families are facing with the app and they are keen to hear about our concerns. Sentral is ready and waiting for user-experience feedback from our school community. We have set up a school-based email address (Sentral@brunswicknwps.vic.edu.au) for you to send any questions or complaints, which we can then respond to directly, or pass on to Sentral for product improvements.

We understand the level of frustration felt by families, but ask that you all stay engaged in this system and work with our school to make it a better form of communication for all.

school calendar & events

Our printed school calendar will be coming out early next week. We know families love having something to stick on the fridge, acting as a reminder for upcoming events. Teachers and school council developed this calendar and have checked it numerous times - at the time of printing, the dates were all accurate and correct and we strive to limit any changes, if possible. Please keep an eye on our newsletter or the digital calendar to check for any changes to dates.

school review 2020

The Department of Education (DET) conducts reviews of schools every 4-5 years. This rigorous process is conducted by the Victorian Registration & Qualifications Authority (VRQA) and the evaluation is completed with support from a DET appointed external reviewer. The school review supports each school to differentiate its improvement journey by building on current strengths and assisting it to respond to challenges. It emphasises continuous improvement and affirms that every student, no matter their background or circumstances, has a right to learn in a school committed to improvement. It maintains that every school can improve.

The review:

welcomes school community participation in the review

embraces the input of experts from both within and beyond the school

forges links between evidence, school review, and strategic and annual planning

seeks multiple perspectives, engagement with the whole school community and openness to challenge for improvement

celebrates strengths and achievements.

The result of this is the development of the School Strategic Plan (SSP).

Our school review will include a pre-review self-evaluation, which will include a whole-school consultation process that will take place over Term 1 of 2020 and leading into our Review in Term 2 of 2020. There will be regular updates in our newsletter as well as a new webpage on our website that will provide updates and access a range of documents including:

Reports related to the school’s academic achievement

Reports detailing the results of surveys of key stakeholders including students, parents and teachers

School policy documents which are also looked at as part of the Review.

If you have any questions about this process please feel free to contact me via the School Office.

building works

Over the summer holidays, the architects from Content Studio continued to work with the school, DET and the VSBA (Victorian Schools Building Authority) on our building works plans. A detailed summary of the journey so far, as well as an estimated timeline of what’s still to come will be coming home early next week. Similarly to the School Review, we will also develop a webpage through the school website that collects all the information about our Building Works in one place. Keep an eye out for the update and the webpages soon!

school council elections

Each year school council elections take place in Term 1 and the process must be completed by 31 March. As the principal, I am responsible for conducting the election. School Council Elections are part of Ministerial Order No 52 – School Council Composition and Elections Order (as amended from time to time); this Order establishes the legal framework for the conduct of school council elections. Nominations for elections will open February 24, so over the coming weeks, more information will be included in the newsletter and via email about how you can become involved in our School Council. We also recommend all families to keep an eye on the School Council page of the newsletter, for weekly updates from our council and its sub committees.

nut awareness

At Brunswick North West we are not a nut free school. This is a careful and conscious decision, as there is a lot of evidence to suggest that creating a ‘false’ sense of security with a nut-free environment can be life threatening to students with anaphylaxis. However, it is important to also acknowledge that every day can feel life threatening for someone with a severe allergy. Brunswick North West is not a nut-free school, but we are aware. We are aware that there are a number of students in our school with serious allergic/anaphylactic reactions - but not just to nuts; some of our students have severe allergies to other foods as well. Over the first week of school, teachers will be talking to classes about the different food allergies within the class and school, defining the measures we need to take to keep everyone safe; this is done with consultation of families and maintaining privacy where appropriate. We ask that at home however, you reinforce this message that is coming from school.

No sharing of food - this includes buying someone food from Sprout.

Cleaning up after ourselves - shells from nuts might seem innocuous to many of us, however for some community members, this is a real worry.

When we have parties or events that involve food, all ingredients need to be listed.

Some students and classes require additional behaviours and limitations to keep students safe, these will be communicated with the relevant families.

We thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this extremely important matter. Please let your classroom teacher or the front office know if you have any questions or feel unclear about our expectations around anaphylaxis and allergies at school.

safety in the yard

As we return to school, it is a good time to remind all students and families about safety in the yard. At the beginning of each year, we discuss yard safety with our students; where is out of bounds? What does it look like when someone is lonely? How do you ask to play with someone? Role playing the three-step-tell and more. But we need your assistance with another element of yard safety! During Term 1, 4 and part of Term 3, our students need to wear broad-brimmed hats and cover their shoulders to keep them safe from the sun. Any students who do not have a hat are asked to stay in the undercover area during play time. Another safety rule we have at school is about students’ shoes. In the warmer months of the year, students tend to wear sandals or open-toed shoes which can catch sticks as students are running through the woodlands area. We ask that families consider the footwear your children are wearing to school and the activities they are involved in for the day - if they are cubby builders or soccer players, if they have Enviro Science on today or have a game of tiggy planned in the woodlands, we strongly recommend closed toe shoes.

road safety

I’m not sure about all of you, but I know that in returning to school I am slowly getting back into my routines - I am shocked by how quickly I forget tasks that just a few months ago, I was doing every day. At the office, we have already seen children forgetting their school bags and teachers forgetting to mark the roll. Everyone is getting back into the swing! One important routine to get into as soon as we can is to uphold road safety rules at all times. We know our school has a current traffic congestion issue, which we are trying to remedy in a number of ways, in the meantime we thank you for your cooperation in observing the following rules:

Please always drive within the speed limit at all times, but especially around schools.

Please never double-park on the road, as this creates more congestion and confusion.

Please observe the parking restrictions, including the timed areas and the no-parking zones.

Please never obstruct the laneways and driveways on our surrounding streets, maintaining positive relationships with our neighbours is essential and they don’t like being blocked in (or out) of their homes - however quick you may feel you are going to be.

Please try to be extremely cautious when entering and leaving car parks.

Please talk with your child about road safety and the expectations you have for their age, awareness- and skill-levels. This includes all students, not just the students who take themselves home.

Please make sure you are helping your children abide road rules by walking them across the road or parking on the school-side of the street - children often dash across the road when they see parents and carers in cars, without looking beforehand!

mobile phone policy implementation

All Victorian government schools are required to implement a Mobile Phone Policy from the first day of Term 1, 2020. The policy requires that:

students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours

schools will manage non-compliance with their local mobile phone policy in accordance with their existing student engagement polices.

Our mobile phone policy was reviewed by our Education Committee and the ⅚ students in 2019, after the Minister made his announcement. We hope to complete and publish this policy and publish it to families shortly, but in the meantime our policy does not differ greatly from prior practice - we ask that all students who have mobile devices have them switched off and securely stored at the front office during school hours.

coronavirus precautions

On Tuesday of this week, the Australian Government advised that there is no cause for alarm with respect to the coronavirus and that the risk to the Australian public remains relatively low. The following day, this advice had evolved to a stronger precautionary approach, especially when working with people who have recently returned from the Hubei province in China. All government schools have been asked to advise parents and caregivers that any student is isolated at home and should not attend school for 14 days, following exposure to any confirmed novel coronavirus case or after leaving Hubei Province.

At all times, DHHS advises that everyone can protect against infections by practising good hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene regularly. Please remember and support your children to:

cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing with a tissue, or cough into your elbow

dispose of all tissues into a bin and then wash your hands afterwards

wash your hands regularly, after using the toilet, and before eating (a fun video on being a ‘Soapy Hero’ can be found here)

volunteering @ BNW

Soon you will start to see opportunities for volunteering within the school; these may come from classroom or specialist teachers, from our sub committees or for special events. If you are interested in volunteering within the school this year, I ask that you ensure you have a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC) card - please note, this includes the Winter Magic Market. As part of our Child Safe Standards, it is required by law that all adults working with children at school have completed this check. As a volunteer, this check is free and can be completed online here. As it is free, we recommend all community members apply for your card as a precaution, so there is no delay if/when you choose to volunteer! If you have already presented your WWCC card to the front office, please keep an eye on the expiry date to keep it up to date.

annual privacy reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy

Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website under School Documents.

For more information about privacy, see: Schools’ Privacy Policy – information for parents. This information also available in nine community languages.

school life