We would like to acknowledge and honour the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which our school stands. We pay our respects to all First Nations elders, past present and emerging.

Class Placement - Family Input

Now that grade structures have been decided, we start the exciting process of building classes! Teachers will create, analyse, compare and unpack countless class models over the next few weeks. Classes are created using what we know about our students along with what students and families have shared as being important to their learning next year.

If you have information you want to share with the school to help inform class placements, we ask that you use this survey to let us know. We ask that you complete the survey, even if you have emailed the school over the past few weeks; while we endeavour to keep track of all information, this is a complex process and we like to be sure.

Your privacy is important - your survey responses will only be viewed by Keir and Hannah, with relevant information being shared with teams as required. Please be aware that by completing this survey you are sharing information, not making recommendations to the school.

Open Streets

Tomorrow is the last chance to be involved in our Open Streets 2022! Come along from 8.30am - 9.00am and from 3.30pm - 4.00pm. We would love to see even more members of our community there enjoying the open streets and trying out some different active transport choices.

Sprout will be open after the morning sessions for any grown up members of the community who would like to stick around for a coffee and a muffin - a great opportunity to connect with people who you may not have seen for a while. We will both be around Sprout at that time also if you would like to say hi.

31st October and 1st November - No School

Just a reminder that Monday 31st October is a Student Free day and Tuesday 1st November is Melbourne Cup Day (Also a student free day!)

Camp Bake Sale

Over the weekend the Moran family baked all kinds of treats to sell, raising funds to send three of their Grade 5/6 children to Canberra. The family were personally invited by Pater Khalil to sell their treats at the Fawkner Festa, and here are some of the family, Fabiola, Taliyah and Maya with Peter at the festival.

They raised over $1900, paying for camp and making a donation of over $1000 to the Trevor Bowen Camp Fund to assist other families with camp payments.

Thank you so much, Fabiola, Lucian, Taliyah, Regan and Maya from BNWPS.

Camp Policy Update

After the new Victorian Government Schools Agreement outlined that school staff will now earn Time in Lieu for additional hours worked, schools have been busily making arrangements for future camps. In recent newsletters you would have seen a survey, asking families to provide feedback on a few early ideas the school had on making the program manageable for all families.

Last week, the Department of Education alerted schools that there will soon be an update to the parent payment policy, which excludes any chance of schools asking families to pay for the additional costs of providing staff with Time in Lieu accrued during camps. As yet, no additional funding has been allocated within the schools budget for TIme in Lieu, therefore, the future of camps for government schools is in question.

At our School Council meeting last week, there was discussion around using locally raised funds (such as profits from our Winter Magic Market) to pay for camps. Currently, these funds are earmarked for adding depth to our existing programs (such as resourcing our Enviro Science program) and updating important facilities (such as resurfacing the basketball court). With Time in Lieu estimated to cost the school approximately $20,000 for each camp, this option would cause significant impact to the daily operations at BNWPS.

School Council are exploring options on how to respond and we will continue to update families on any developments.

Calling all Creatives! (repeat from last week)

We are looking for some creative community members to assist us with two tasks that are beyond our skillset.

One task requires someone who (literally) wants to leave their mark on our school: part of our front entrance renovations will include a giant splodge painted on the wall of the corridor, with ‘Deeds not Words’ written underneath. We are looking for a font or writing style that really represents the vibe of BNWPS. Whether you have the beginnings of an idea or a full vector drawing that you would like to share, we welcome any input from our artistically talented community.

The second task requires someone with photographic talent: we are looking for someone who is available to spend an hour or two during school time to take photographs of learning in action. These photos will be used in our updated enrollment and transition documents as well as our new website (coming soon). As you will be photographing students, a valid Working with Children Check is required.

If you are able to assist with either of these tasks, please contact Hannah (hannah.reid@education.vic.gov.au) or Keir (keir.jasper@education.vic.gov.au) to discuss.

Open Streets!