principal's message

Dear parents/carers,

In yesterday’s morning announcement I mentioned how proud I was of our Foundation teaching team and our student leaders as they ‘virtually’ shared information for prospective 2021 Foundation students. They encapsulated the power of our community and how it give us all a sense of belonging and support. We really are part of a team of people ‘where the sum is greater than the parts’.

Wellbeing matters!

1. Family and student support:

You didn’t choose to home school, let us help you!

During our last period of remote learning our teachers sought to provide you with relevant resources and research to help everyone feel knowledgeable and supported while working with their children learn remotely. The BNWPS Blog includes articles targeting PE and Art and others such as:

Wellbeing: https://au.reachout.com/articles/7-tips-for-dealing-with-change. Which provides excellent strategies for families of older children, supporting them dealing with change.

Numeracy: http://bnwps.global2.vic.edu.au/2020/07/22/shedding-some-light-on-the-curriculum/ in which Alice delves into the maths curriculum, helping explain the how and the whys of what we are teaching. 

Literacy: http://bnwps.global2.vic.edu.au/2020/05/07/helping-with-reading-at-home/ in which Emma Mallia provides some advice how you can support your child reading at home.

As Educators, we have many ‘tricks’ and strategies to support your children learn. In above link from the blog Emma provides advice of how you can support your child read at home. Emma who is an outstanding teacher says:

During Reading – 

• Listen for accuracy. If your child encounters a word they don’t know first give them time to work it out, them prompt them or give them hints and finally tell them the word if they can’t work it out after two or three attempts.
• Ask questions to check your child’s understanding.
• Support fluency and phrasing. Is your child reading smoothly and with expression?

After Reading – 

• Together with your child, retell or summarise the book.
• Ask a range of closed questions (which might be answered with a single word) or open questions (which require fuller responses).
• Finally, above all, make sure your time reading together is positive and fun.

Emma raises two very important points:

Wait time: As educators, we know to give children time before we give them the answer. We may simply wait, giving the child our full attention. Or we may something like…

1. “I’m going to give you a minute…”
2. I’ll see XXX first then you can tell me your thoughts…”
3. Prior to asking student a question, we may even say to them, ‘I’m going to ask X, Y and Z for your thoughts, please get your answers ready.’

This time allows all children to be prepared and not feel pressured, as we all know that pressure can significantly reduce one’s ability to answer. It also tells the child that we have confidence in them, that they can ‘give it a go’ and that we’ll be there to help them when they’ve tried. This helps students learn important skills to get out of the ‘learning pit’ themselves.

Fun: This can simply never be underestimate! Enjoy your little people’s learning as much as you can. Be surprised, be delighted encourage and celebrate. I’m sure when you do this you can visually see them puff out their chest. I personally love seeing this.

Coming soon to BNWPS radio "Education hour – there are no silly questions"

Now more than ever before teachers and parents are sharing the job of supporting children's learning. With remote learning being the only method of education available to the vast majority of our students for the foreseeable future the Education Committee wants to offer additional support to carers and families. Parents are now the main source of clarification and support and we understand how difficult this can be while you are trying to work from home.

Have you got some questions about different areas of remote learning, did you want to understand why maths seems so different to the way you were taught. Are their concepts and phrases coming up in the work plans that you are frustrated or confused by? Do you want to know some ways you can give your kids extension work to keep them occupied for longer during the day?

Education hour - no silly questions is about a frank and open conversation between parents and teachers about how we can make remote learning easier and more fun for everyone. We would love to hear about the issues you are facing and we will pull the questions into an interview format and have some laughs along the way. (Written by Tanya Pittard, on behalf of the Education Committee)

1. Teacher wellbeing:

As I mentioned in yesterday’s morning announcement, if you or your child needs a day ‘off-line’ take it! This is also true for teachers. When we are at school, if a teacher is absent we will get a CRT to replace them. During remote learning, this isn’t practicable as they don’t know the students, nor have access to the online programs etc. As such we get a team member to communicate with families, and where possible provide the feedback. Some days, this will not be possible. On these days, our commitment is to notify you of the absence and let you know if the teacher will be replaced or not. In the case of our specialist team, they won’t be replaced as no one has the in depth knowledge required. Please let you children know that they’ll need to wait for the feedback in this scenario.  

Building works – STELLA is coming!!!

According to the most recent updates, STELLA should start being built end of September, early October. Please go to the links attached for the building design and materials. Very exciting!

Take care and be safe,

Wendy