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.

Wominjeka Picnic

The word ‘wominjeka’ is a Wurundjeri word often translated to ‘welcome’. Mandy Nicholson, a Wurundjeri elder explains that there is more to the word than just welcome.

WOMIN means ‘to come’.

DJI indicates an instruction from me to you

KA means ’purpose’

So WOMINJEKA is a word to use when inviting people to come along for a purpose. Our Wominjeka picnic is tomorrow night from 5-7pm. We are inviting you all to come and enjoy a summer evening together with the community.

This is our first social event of the year and our most relaxed event too! With the only intention being to connect with people within and across our community, it is truly a lovely evening and way to start our year together.

Limited food and drinks will be available for purchase. Please bring along picnic rugs or chairs, dinner and drinks. Please remember to take any rubbish with you at the end of the night.

NAPLAN

For all of our year three and five students, The NAPLAN assessment will be taking place during weeks eight and nine of this term.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9, and is the only nationwide assessment that all Australian children undertake.

As well as providing an ‘ in the moment’ snapshot of each student’s ability in a variety of curriculum areas, the results of the NAPLAN assessment help the school and the state determine where and if we might need to shift our focus and target the teaching and learning in particular curriculum areas.

Further information about NAPLAN will be shared as we get closer to the date. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to check in with your class teacher.

School Council Nominations

There is one more week to submit your nomination for school council elections this year. If you are interested in nominating yourself or another member of the community, please go to the office to collect a nomination form. Nominations must be made in person, using the forms provided before 4pm next Monday (27th February).

Sentral Functions

The term calendar has been a real hit with our school families, but we know some families (who are much more organised than ours) need to know future dates beyond the current term. If you or someone in your family is in need of future dates, we have a digital calendar that extends the full year - you can access this calendar through the Sentral app.

This calendar includes the important dates on the BNW school calendar and is updated as new events are planned.

Sun Smart Hats

Just a quick reminder that any time they are outside at school, BNWPS students require a Sun Smart hat. Sun Smart hats should either be a hat with a broad brim that goes all the way around the hat, or a legionnaires cap that has the brim at the front, and a flap at the back to protect the neck.

Broad brimmed hats are available in a variety of sizes to purchase for $15 from the front office.

Baseball caps unfortunately do not fit these requirements and are not considered to be sun smart. Students who are not wearing a Sun Smart hat during recess and lunchtime will be asked to play in the undercover area.

Library Jungle

Buildings & Grounds might be having their first meeting this week, but a jungle has appeared inside our main building! Next time you are at school, you might want to check out the library jungle that has appeared outside Unit CD (Celia) and Unit ER (Emma and Rebecca) - it’s wild!

Design Competition

We are still looking for student artists to help us with our next school design - thank you cards! As a school community, we always have people we are thanking and would love to include the magic spark only our students bring. We want the designs to represent what makes our school and its community so special, but the rest is up to you - what would you include?

All design submissions should be dropped off at the front office by the end of the day this Friday - we hope to share the winning designs with the community in next week’s newsletter.

OSHC

Bernadetta Martella