appreciation of above-and-beyond

This week I want to shout out to our OSHC service! I know many of you love our service and the educators who make it such an amazing program and space to be in. We are one of only a few schools that run an in-house service, and ours is spectacular - garnering attention for our outstanding achievements and excellent practices.

During these challenging and changing times, OSHC has had to rethink their plan for the year in virtually every aspect of the way they run. Bernadetta and her team have worked throughout the holidays and over many late nights, ensuring they can continue to provide families with a high-quality service during this term and of course, when we return.

Today however, I want to thank OSHC for all the extra little things they do, without ever asking for thanks. This term, our OSHC educators are helping with the supervision and care program by supervising students during morning yard duty, so teachers who are on-site can be briefed by leadership each day. This has been vital to be able to deliver a smooth and consistent educational program despite so many changes each day. For that, our teachers, students and I are incredibly grateful. Thank you.

two-way teleconferencing survey

The school has received a number of inquiries about whether our students and teachers will be using teleconference platforms for education this term. We understand the want for this type of education, as it is (in some ways) the closest we can get to a ‘normal’ school day. Where your children get to see their peers and their teacher and talk in real-time about their learning. However, there are a number of factors that must be considered before any school should be willing to take this next step.

As BNWPS did not have a 1:1 iPad or laptop program, nor a BYOD program before moving to remote learning (which I understand has been a drawcard for many families in our community), it has taken us a little bit longer to address the needs of students, families, and staff; including but not limited to ensuring every household has access to the internet and a device, which we hope to be finalised in the next few days.

In the meantime, our school is seeking information from all stakeholders (students, parents/carers, and staff) to understand any concerns you might have about moving to a teleconference platform. This information will then be used to develop I understand we have been sending lots of surveys, however, it is important for us to consult with our community before making such a big change to our approach to education, even if only temporary. We have made THIS SURVEY very short and would appreciate any responses before 3.30 pm next Friday (1st May). There will be reminders in our daily announcements next week.

learning at home

During challenging times, it's important to consider the positives in our lives; what we still have... what we can do... who we can help. Over the past few weeks, we have received many stories of joy and inspiration, some of which we will be sharing with our community.

This week we would like to celebrate our students (and families) who are finding fun ways to change up their normal learning tasks; those who are making the most of their new learning environment. Like little Romy in Foundation, who is learning her Red Words in the backyard, with a bit of chalk and a beautiful backdrop! Well done Romy.

sustainability

Do you ever wonder about what you should do with the clothes that you can’t send to the op-shops? Do you feel bad about throwing clothes into your bin? Then check out this Aussie initiative:

https://manrags.com.au/clothing-recycling/#learn

capital works program

This week we achieved another milestone in our Capital Works journey - the Detailed Design (DD) Report was signed off by the school, school council, DET and the VSBA after a review meeting on Thursday. We remain almost exactly on target with our timeline, which is pleasing given there are delays in many industries at this time.

The full report is extensive (396 pages!) so I will not include the whole document, however the designs that Mat Foley shared with the school community on Wednesday night are attached in the School Council portion of this newsletter.

Since the finalisation of the previous phase (Schematic Design) the most important factors to note are that we are now falling virtually within our budget - at the end of the last phase we were approximately 6% over-budget, but some adjustment of tender options has brought that down to just 1% over budget (approximately $9,000). Unfortunately part of this includes a reduction in how much of our main building will receive a repaint. In the DD Report, we will now be only painting the areas impacted by construction, windows, and doors. As the school believes repainting the main building will make a big impact, we are keen to see if we can expand the painting program at another point a little further down the design and construction timeline.

During our Annual Public Meeting, a question was raised about the provision of hand-washing basins throughout the school. Whilst the design includes more basins than our school currently has, Content Studio is reviewing the designs to see if there is the capacity to include more hand washing basins throughout the school.

I thank Sam Cohen and Paul Broadhurst for making themselves available to attend the meeting in their capacity as School Council President and Buildings & Grounds chair, and for their thoughtful questions and input both on Thursday and throughout the project.

After the submission of this report, meetings with the school (and therefore school updates) will become less frequent, until we begin the construction phase. At this time, we are not sure of how the bush fires and COVID-19 might impact either the state budget or our chances of receiving the remaining funds; we will communicate this with our community once it becomes clear.

grade 5/6 wellness challenge

Students across the school were given the challenge of constructing a cubby from materials they find around the house. Students were encouraged to provide designs and plans about their proposed cubbies. Once they have completed the design phase, they were to progress to constructing the model. A photo of the finished product and plans could be shared with their teacher. Below is an example of a Grade 5 Student’s work.

maths

Hi families,

I hope this week has been slightly easier for you. I feel like I have finally gotten into the groove of this remote learning gig!

This week I have posted two articles. One is about giving yourself permission to slow down and to do what you can during this mad time. There are some activities you and your child could do during the day that have maths elements but also give them a break from "maths work". The other article is some of my favourite warm up games to play. I've written the materials you will need and instructions as well as how to make it a bit more challenging. I've also linked you to some additional online resources, made by people we have had the pleasure of seeing in person.

If there is anything you are struggling with or wanting to know more about please let me know so I can tailor my posts to suit what parents need.

Here is the link to the blog: http://bnwps.global2.vic.edu.au/ while you're here you should check out Andrews amazing art posts and Tom's fun and creative P.E blog!

Have a great weekend

middles

While we might not be able to get out and about right now that hasn’t stopped our Middles from using their incredible imaginations to dream up all sorts of amazing places we could be and worlds we could visit! This week the Middles have produced an array of crafty comics, scary short stories, and revolting recipes, just to name a few. While they take on this very strange new challenge of online learning, we have been so proud of all of the efforts they have made and really wanted to celebrate some of their amazing writing pieces this week. As we work on building our narrative writing skills over the course of term 2 students will be focusing on developing the skills they need to continue growing as writers. Next week we will be looking at how we can make our writing even more engaging, by focusing on using a wide range of adjectives to help our stories come to life and create greater connections with our readers.

the Nor'Wester

Issue 9 · 24 Apr 2020

In this issue