Principal's Report 

Welcome Back

We hope our Bimbadeen families enjoyed the school holiday break. 

It has been a fantastic start to second term, with a range of exciting activities taking place across the first two weeks. We have a lot happening this term so please keep in touch with the school via our fortnightly newsletter, make sure you log in to Sentral and set up ‘notifications’ so that you receive important information about your child’s learning and school events. If you need any support with Sentral, please contact the office for assistance.

Winners are Grinners

Congratulations to our Bimbadeen students who have been successful in their Summer sporting competitions. 

Ethan in Year 6 won the Under 11 Boys Diving competition and the overall Under 11 Diver of the Year award. You can read more about Ethan’s achievements later in the newsletter. 

Congratulations also to our students who were part of the Kilsyth Basketball Under 11’s C Reserve team who won their Summer season premiership.

Easter Raffle

Congratulations to our Easter Raffle winners from the final week of Term 1. Thank you to the members of our community who donated items to our raffle and purchased raffle tickets. A special congratulations to Aiden who won the first prize, a giant bunny from The Ministry of Chocolate, donated by the Thomas family. 

Whole School Cross Country

Today is the inaugural Whole School Cross Country event that is taking place within and around the school grounds. There is a buzz throughout the school about our first official house competition and both teachers and students alike are looking forward to this new and exciting event on our sporting calendar. Parents and carers are welcome to attend as spectators (a maximum of 2 spectators per student please). We hope that this event will provide the opportunity for our school community to come together again, since COVID-19 impacted participation in events, and prevented spectators at school activities. 

We look forward to sharing more about this exciting event in our next newsletter.

Mooroolbark Festival

On the morning of Saturday March 23 the weather was not looking fantastic for the Mooroolbark Festival however the rain did very little to dampen the spirits of participants. 

Our Bimbadeen Dragon featured as a special part of the festival opening celebrations. Our students did a wonderful job carrying the dragon and performing fan dancing as the dragon snaked its way through the centre of the festival. 

Thank you to our students, families and staff who volunteered their time, came along on the day and helped contribute to the festival atmosphere.

It was great to be a part of our local community’s celebration.

Mid-Year Reports

Reporting to parents/carers about how each child’s learning is progressing supports the work of teachers and parents/carers in supporting our students to achieve their full potential. Our teachers are busily collating information about their students’ learning and are preparing to implement formal assessments in coming weeks that will assist with report writing. Our mid-year reports are made available to parents on the Sentral Parent Portal. 

They will look different to our reports in 2020 as we will be returning to the same format as our reports pre-2020. Mid-year reports will be available in PDF form for parents/carers to read online or print out a hard copy for themselves. Reports will be available for parents/carers on Sentral on Friday 18th June at 4pm. For parents/carers to access these reports they will need to be registered for and be able to access the Sentral Parent Portal. 

If you have not yet registered or are having difficulties accessing the portal, please contact our Sentral co-ordinator Melinda Ruscitti on Melinda.Ruscitti@education.vic.gov.au or Shelley and Emma are also able to provide support at the office. Parent-Teacher interviews will be held in Term 3, with further information being provided to families at a later date.

Student Portfolios

Our staff and school leadership team have been exploring best practice in student portfolios and the concept of continuous reporting. As such, throughout this year, we will be experimenting with alternate ways to provide information about your child’s learning. In Term 1, we will be sending home your child’s current Reading goals via Sentral. Please keep an eye out on Sentral for a parent/carer survey about student portfolios in coming weeks.

ANZAC Service

Our annual ANZAC service was held on Friday 23rd April and was once again a highlight of the school year. Although the weather was not in our favour and the ceremony had to be moved indoors, it did not diminish the significance of the service. We had several special guests attend the ceremony including Flight Lieutenant Lee Gordon-Brown from RAAF Headquarters Training Group and Mooroolbark College Captains, Lily and Jonty. The Honourable Tony Smith was unable to attend this year and sent a wreath which was laid on his behalf by our school captains. We were incredibly proud of the respect and honour that our students demonstrated during the service. The service included readings and stories from our school captains and house captains. The special ANZAC song, written by our own music teacher Mrs Lynne Burt, is also a highlight as the choir and percussion group lead the school in singing the words of the catchy chorus; 

“We remember, we remember,

A legend not of victory but courage under fire.

We remember, we remember,

Gallipoli on ANZAC Day.”

Our ANZAC service is always a proud moment for our school as the respect shown by all the children is amazing as they listen attentively and stand completely quietly for the minutes silence. Thank you to all who came along and helped to make it a special event and to the children who brought along family medals or other mementos to honour the ANZACS.

Mother’s Day Stall Helpers Needed

This special event will be held on Thursday 9th May.  It is always a great event for children as they lovingly, and carefully choose gifts for Mum, grandmothers or the other special mother-figures in their lives. 

Sarah Huxley has done a great job planning for this event. Sarah does however need some assistance on the stall to support our students as they select and purchase their gifts. If you are able to help out on the day, you please contact the office.

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 3 and 5 students will be held in a couple of weeks’ time, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 11, 12 and 12. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents/carers, teachers and principals which can be used to improve student achievement. Student’s personal NAPLAN reports will be sent home to parents/carers later in the year, usually around September. 

Each year it is of concern for teachers as we notice that some children become highly anxious about these tests. We work hard to ensure that children are well prepared for these tests and that every child does their best, however we know that the results of this test do not define them as a learner and certainly don’t define them as worthwhile individuals. The NAPLAN test is just a snapshot of their learning. We certainly do not 

over-emphasise the importance of these tests and we certainly don’t believe that NAPLAN results are the most important measure of success of our school, despite what some people might say.

Choosing a School for Next Year

At this time of the year many people are thinking about choosing a school for next year. This may be parents of children in Year 6 who are deciding on secondary schools or parents of pre-schoolers who are looking for a primary school. 

Choosing the school that is best suited to your family and child’s needs can still be a challenge. The best way to determine the right school for you is to visit them, participate in the school tours and take advantage of the open days/nights and various transition events that the schools offer. This approach works equally well for primary and secondary schools.

If you know of anyone who is looking at a Primary School for next year please encourage them to visit our website and register for the online tours where they will hear teachers, parents and students talk about our school. They are also encouraged to come and visit Bimbadeen and see our school ‘in action’ where they will get a sense of the great relationships that exist here. We love showing people around and talking about this outstanding school.

We hope you have a wonderful fortnight everyone, feel free to pop in for a chat with either of us or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open!

Kind regards,

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George