THURSDAY JULY 27th 2017
DIARY DATESWhole School assembly / Monday 9:00am - middle courtyard
School Banking / Each Tuesday
F-3 Free eye checks at school / Tuesday August 15th
School Camp day / August 16th 17th 18th
ABCN student Forum - Docklands / Wednesday August 16th
Pupil Free Day / Friday August 25th
NEWSLETTER Issue 11
Literacy……
READ with your child EVERY DAY …
The more you read the smarter you get!
Web site: http://www.bellevueparkps.vic.edu.au/
Hi everyone,
I hope your week has been a good one. Schools are very busy places and Belle Vue Park is no exception. We are just about at the half way point of the term - still lots to do and many great things organised for our students.
We had our school Council meeting last night. Our School Councillors do a brilliant job and provide so much support for myself and our teachers. Thank you to these great parents for their generosity and support.
DOXA School Camp
For the past few weeks our staff have been very busy preparing for our school camp to DOXA, near Malmsbury.
It should be a fantastic experience for our children with lots of fun, memorable activities planned - it is going to be a great adventure for our students. Lucy and her team have done a great job organising the camp.
Students leave for camp next Wednesday 16th and return on Friday 18th. They need to be at school at the normal time with all their gear including sleeping bag, medications, and clothes. A last reminder sheet will be sent home on Monday.
Don’t forget to bring a packed playlunch and lunch.
If parents need to contact a child whilst they are at camp please ring the school and speak to Mr. Kenna.
“Hunting for Microbes”
Later in the term our year 5/6 students will be doing some more science investigations with staff from Gene Therapy Access Centre (G.T.A.C.) in Parkville. These investigations are always a highlight for our students and they learn so much. This year our students will be involved in investigations based on the theme “Hunting for Microbes”
Canteen Sausage sizzle
Gayle and Georgie did a great job organising our canteen sausage sizzle this week. Our students certainly enjoyed the special lunch. Many thanks to our parents for supporting this event.
Online learning after school
Wondering what are interesting learning tools on line? The DET (Department of Education & Training) have some great online resources for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Students. Why not check out the following link to the website and see for yourself…
https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Primary
ICT Computer resources
Did you know that our School Council has spent $50,000 to update our I.C.T. resources across the school and also in our kindergarten?
The library now has new desktop computers (including large screens) and purchase an additional 12 laptops. We have also purchased an additional 20 iPads for the school with support materials and hardware.
The year 5/6 area will have an additional 12 laptops for their use. The kindergarten will receive 10 ipads, a new office computer.
What do our students think about school?
Each year the D.E.T. seeks feedback from students in year 5 and 6. Students participate in a Student Attitudes to School survey. This year the survey was online for the first time.
Our survey data results were very positive and indicate that our students really enjoy school; they feel safe, happy and valued and feel that their teachers support them in their learning.
The overall school performance in the survey rated above 90% positive in all areas with the lowest rating by our students at 93%. This is above like schools and the state average.
The planning of stimulating learning activities, differentiated learning opportunities; extra experiences; pitching the teaching at the students level of understanding; and promoting curiosity and inquiry really does connect our students with their teachers and with each other.
School Banking
School Banking is on Tuesday. Lots of children are making use of banking day and it is a great way to teach children the importance of saving money.
“THRASS” (Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills)
Our main strategy in English that all our classrooms, Foundation to Year 6 are focussing on is to use “THRASS” (Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills)
The strategy is used throughout the day and teachers and students refer to different parts of the strategy in any type of lessons, not just English sessions.
Teachers report back to our staff meeting every 3 weeks on how different THRASS strategies are working in their classrooms. It is great to see consistency across each grade and year level.
Did you know that there are 44 individual sounds letters make in the English language? It is our job to teach these to all our students.
Graphemes are the names of the letters and Phonemes are the sounds that they make. I have the terminology all our teachers are using with their students. You can use this language with your child at home to re-inforce what we do here at school.
Parent Opinion Survey for 2017
The annual Parent Opinion Survey period is here. This year the survey will be online for parents. The survey seeks parent opinion on measures of our schools climate, student engagement, and effective teaching practices known to influence student engagement and outcomes. This information will provide insights for the school to consider in the year ahead.
The survey will be completed online via a secure portal. Parents can use any device that is connected to the internet. In addition language guides can be provided.
Key Dates: Survey period is from 7th- 27th August.
Classroom Observations
Today we had classroom Peer Observations where teachers are observed teaching a lesson by myself and another teacher from their team.
The focus of our observations was S2S (Steps to Success) where the teachers use strategies to assist students to understand where they are now with their learning, where they need to go next and what they have to do to get there.
The focus today in year 5/6 was writing judgements where students used a Rubric to compare pieces of writing. Students need to make judgements about the writing, work out what was missing and establish what the writing needed to have added to improve it. They were great lessons and it was impressive to talk to our students about their learning.
In the year 3/4 classes I observed the V.C.O.B. (vocab/connectives/openers & punctuation) strategy in action and also focused 10 minutes writing. Again the strategies implemented by our teachers were impressive.
The standard of the writing and volume of writing produced was really impressive. After completing the writing piece the students were then asked to assess their writing against the V.C.O.P. rubric.
Each class was very focused on the learning task and it was obvious that the students were
FOCUSED and putting in EFFORT.
What was also impressive was teachers having very high expectations of their students.
It’s not OK to be away
Several studies have shown that school tardiness has a negative impact on learning outcomes. By arriving late and missing school hours, students receive fewer hours of instruction than students who are in class and on time.
But not only does a student who is consistently arriving late to school establish bad punctuality habits, their tardiness also disrupts the learning of other students in their classes.
A study by Hammill Institute on Disabilities (Caldarella, Christensen, Young & Densley, 2011), found that students who are frequently late to school often miss out on important opening announcements and academic activities.
‘Teachers can become frustrated as late students disrupt instruction, often requiring re-teaching of what they have missed. Tardy behavior can also negatively affect the overall classroom environment,’ the study says.
Arriving late to school can also mean that students miss out on activities designed to build connections with their peers, potentially impacting their social interactions and creating a greater sense of alienation from their classmates.
A reminder to our families that school classes begin at 9:00am. It is wise to have students arrive at school at around 8:45am which gives them time to play, catch up with friends and get organised for the day ahead.
We ask families to make the effort of ensuring that their child/ren arrive at school on time. Late comers miss out on the start of the lesson and interrupt the class.
The Department is asking schools to really be active in contacting families to ensure students attend school every day, so if your child is away you will be contacted by us.
It is not OK for students to stay at home to help their mum, or to baby sit etc. If your child is away too often you will be sent a note from the office seeking an explanation.
Have a great week everyone and may the mighty Bulldogs have a big win this Friday night!
Cheers everyone
Paul Kenna
Principal
Belle Vue Park School website
Don’t forget that you can find information, newsletters, forms, photos etc. on our school website which is found at this address…
http://www.bellevueparkps.vic.edu.au/