Jumbunna 22nd October 2020

10


A Message from Ken and Lisa

A few reminders

It is wonderful to have all of our students back at school. We are really impressed with how well all of our students have settled in.

There are a few reminders for families regarding procedures in place for Covid-19 health and safety:

  • If your child is in the first group for drop off in the morning, a reminder that they should not be entering the school grounds prior to 8:45am. We have staff on duty outside and inside from 8:45am. Prior to this time is teacher preparation time and staff may not be present in their classrooms. If you require your children to arrive prior to this time, before school care is available through Their Care.
  • We understand that whilst students are getting back into a morning routine, items may be forgotten in the morning. If you need to drop off any items to your child, please take these to the general office (now located at the front of the hall next to the library) and we will pass this onto your child. During Covid-19 restrictions, parents are unable to enter the classroom buildings.
  • Thank you for your support with pick up arrangements. It is great to see families using the space we have on the oval side to spread out when collecting your children. A reminder to please ‘collect and go’ to assist with everyone being able to leave in a safe and distanced manner.
  • All students should be at school and in their classrooms ready to learn by 9:15am. Class roles will be marked at 9:15am and any students who arrive after this time will be marked as late.

 

Kiss and Go Car Parks

The Kiss and Go Car Parks are simply that. Kiss and go. The driver should stay in the car and leave within the 2-minute time frame. If you do need to walk your child to the gates, please park in a different spot. We are all time poor and we all want to get our children into school as quickly and as safely as possible.

If we all cooperate and do the right thing, we will be able to achieve this.

 

Parenting in challenging times

                                                                                                                  by Michael Grose

Life has a way of throwing curve balls that really test the strength and resilience of families. Personal tragedy, natural disasters and global pandemics are the types of events that challenge us all to the core, testing our emotional and social resources.

When difficulties occur children look to the adults in their lives to maintain their security and safety. When change and uncertainty reigns, kids want strong, empathetic leadership from the significant adults in their world. As a parent it can be difficult responding to a child’s needs when you’re trying to adjust to changes that are forced on you.

Following are some elements to consider when parenting through times of challenge, change and difficulty:

Attention

Like a television antenna your attention is tuned to pick up the strongest signal. In times of difficulty a child may not necessarily signal that they are struggling, so you may need to fine tune your attention to pick up their needs. Start to notice the small comments and subtle behavioural changes, as they may not be small at all, and can provide helpful clues to their state of mind.

Priorities

In challenging times your focus may need to shift away from schoolwork, household neatness and chores. If can move toward relationship building, maintaining wellbeing and helping each other out. Parental priorities need to shift to the immediate rather than the future, the emotional instead of the behavioural and from thriving mode to survival mode in tough times.

Permission

Children and young people often struggle to express their feelings and thoughts in the face of adversity. They look to the significant adults in their lives for guidance about how they should respond to change, loss, uncertainty and disappointment. Allow them to speak about how they are feeling. Prompt conversations through closeness and connection. Display your own vulnerability and in doing so give your kids the permission they need to express themselves in safe ways.

Collaboration

Difficult times will invariably suit a family that enjoys a collaborative, close parenting style. In collaborative families kids feel listened to and also have an ability to impact family decision making. Shared mealtimes and regular family gatherings are generally a prominent feature of collaborative families. In difficult times those families that prosper are those that value and promote close connection between siblings and parents.

Wellbeing

Child and parent wellbeing becomes paramount in times of hardship. That may mean reprioritising the importance of school and work, doing something joyful every day and practising regular wellbeing strategies such as exercise, mindfulness, deep breathing and spending time in nature. The wellbeing bucket needs to be regularly refilled during challenging times.

These five elements form the basis of a planned parent response when major difficulties occur. Be patient, be kind to yourself and be willing to reach out to the wider community for help.

 

 

 



Book Week

This week, we celebrated Book Week. It was fantastic to see all our students and staff dress up on Wenesday as their favourite book characters. Unfortunally, we were unable to celebrate this day in our usual fashion, however, our students still had a great day! Thank you to our staff Kirsty Oliver, Ange Lang and Kellie Batson for organising all of the activities for the day. Please check out our photo gallery using the link below.

https://www.bonbeachps.vic.edu.au/page/230/Book-Week



Thankyou

A massive thanks to Mr Mac for running the footy themed trivia night at the end of last term!!! It was a fabulous way for the term to end and we’re sure all families that participated had a great evening. Big congratulations to the following families who won prizes!!

1st- Gleeson’s (Rebel sport voucher and 4x Cable park passes)

2nd- Dowling’s (4x Cable Park passes)

3rd- Bainbridge’s (2x Cable park passes)

Huge thank you to Melbourne Cable Park who donated the prizes to our amazing community! Some of the teachers won a Facebook competition and received 2 vouchers. They asked if they could be transferred over to a voucher to be used for the school trivia night instead of their own personal use. Ian, from the Cable Park, went above and beyond, donating the 10 vouchers instead, saying that he knew how tough Covid was for many and spreading joy was something they liked to do! Hopefully restrictions will ease soon and the winners will be able to enjoy their prizes! The cable park vouchers will be sent home with your child next week!





             

What's happening in Digital Technologies?

All students have made a fantastic effort with their remote learning tasks, and they certainly have learned many new technical skills and we will continue using these skills in Digital Technologies sessions. During Term 4, students in Grade 1 to Grade 6 will be creating digital solutions to problems.


During Term 4 the Foundation students will be exposed to the Computer Room for the first time. We will be getting used to using the desktop computers and working on our skills when using a mouse, including the correct way to hold a mouse and the functions of the left and right buttons..A challenge for the students will be to log on independently using their individual username and password, making sure they use the correct letter case. The students will then use  programs to create projects that include pictures, shapes, colour and text. 


During Grade 1/2 lessons we will be learning about coding by using the app ScratchJr. We will spend time learning about all of the features, and then the students will independently create their own game or animation.


During Grade 3/4 lessons we will continue to learn about coding. We are focussing on code.org modules that are designed to assist students to critically think about the role that coding plays in computer programming. They will explore coding blocks to make a working sequence of code, and will also learn about technical terms, including ‘debugging’ and ‘loops’.


During Grade 5/6 lessons we will be using Google Slides to create an app prototype, to help raise awareness about endangered species that are currently being cared for in Victorian Zoos. The students will learn new skills and they will combine these with their creativity to create an app-like experience by using hyperlinks to slides, websites, images, videos and text.


Mr Sandy & Mrs Turner


 



Performing Arts News

Prep Performing Arts

In term 4, the focus for Performing Arts will be to enjoy making music through experiences in the music room. We will use percussion instruments to reinforce our understanding of beat and rhythm, as well as, revising other elements of music. We will listen to known and unknown stories using recorded tracks, such as “The Very Noisy Baby” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, and discuss how the music evokes emotion while reading the story. The students will be given an informal introduction to the ukulele and will play simple songs using open strings. 


Mrs Turner



Term 4 Lunchtime Clubs



Dates to remember

Fri 23/10          Public Holiday
Mon 26/10       Prep Web-Ex Question and Answer Session 1 7pm
Mon 26/10       Activity 2: Prep Transition Video
Mon 2/11         Curriculum Day - student free day
Tues 3/11         Public Holiday
Thurs 5/11       Prep Web-Ex Question and Answer Session 2 7pm
Mon 9/11         Activity 3: Prep Transition Video
Mon 16/11       Activity 4: Prep Transition Video
Wed 18/11       School Council Meeting 6:00pm
Thurs 21/11     Education Sub Committee Meeting 5:00pm
Mon 23/11       Activity 5: Prep Transition Video
Mon 30/11       Session 2: Prep Information Video
Wed 9/12         School Council Meeting 6:00pm

Term 1 2021

Feb 2021         Session 3: Prep Information Video

Community Announcements