Junior School

As we pass the mid-term mark, I continue to admire the way our students, supported by their families, are managing this elongated period of online learning. I received some helpful feedback from parents who attended this week’s Zoom meeting check-in and am in the process of exploring some of those ideas with the teachers. Whilst no system is perfect for everyone, we continue to strive to find the right balance of supporting learning and wellbeing that is flexible enough to suit most families. As always, if you are in need of support, please contact one of us at School and we will do our utmost to assist you.

On the following pages you can see some examples of what some of our kids are getting up to in their learning from home.

Here are some updates as to what to expect in the weeks ahead:

Book Week (August 21-27) - Children can Dress Up! (If you are happy for them to!)

One thing children can do to celebrate Book Week is to dress up as a favourite book character, take a selfie (or ask someone else to take a picture) and send it in to his/her teacher. Each class is going to collate their own Online Book Parade showcasing the fabulous characters of the class. If your child doesn’t want to dress up as a character, s/he could dress up in line with this year’s Book Week theme: Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. Perhaps someone from historical times, a futuristic being, an astronaut, an alien. Imagination is the only limitation!

You should not be thinking about buying a costume! In COVID times this is probably impossible anyway! See what you have in your cupboard, check if there are items around the house that can be repurposed or upcycled. 

Children have all week to do this (they could even start over this weekend if they want to). Just make sure that s/he has sent the pic to his/her teacher before Friday (August 27). This is the day the teachers will be collating their parades.

If dressing up isn’t really your child’s thing then send in a pic of him/her holding up a favourite book or just “chillin’ and reading”. Celebrate Book Week in whatever way suits you best. 

Mr Bonser is then going to pull all the class collations together and make a school Online Book Parade to post on Dojo the following week.

Story Time

During Book Week teachers, educators and other staff at the school are going to spend some time reading favourite stories or books to the children and they can Zoom in to listen. Younger children will need an adult’s help to link to the correct Zoom, so thank you in advance.

Story Time is happening on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 1.30pm.

Teachers will post a schedule giving you your story options on Monday as part of the week’s Online Learning docs.

Whatever you do, enjoy Book Week and take some time out to read because …

BMGS Wellness Wednesdays

Junior School is joining Senior School in embracing Wellness Wednesdays!

Studies from the UK and Victoria show us that time in extended learning from home means students and staff will benefit from a renewed wellbeing focus at this time. Regular time away from screens and more ways to connect with students, staff, families and local community are crucial.

We have decided to run Wednesday afternoons off screen. Students are encouraged to focus on health and wellbeing during this time. 

We encourage you all to get off screen, off classes and get out and about doing off screen activities. 

While some classes are already planned for next Wednesday, many will be commencing with Wellness Wednesday next week, 25th August. All classes will then be observing Wellness Wednesday until the end of term, meaning no lessons, no Zooms, no screen time.

Please, please, please do not use Wellness Wednesday for a game on the PS4 or vegging out in front of a movie! The idea is to get away from the screen. Ride a bike, kick a ball, feed the chooks, build a cubby, do a puzzle, knit, cook, garden…. Whatever your heart desires – as long as it doesn’t desire a screen!

Embrace Wellness Wednesday and join me in the joys of getting away from the computer!

Mr Nigel Cockington

Head of Junior School