Messages from Mrs Inglis

 

What a crazy week onsite with the weather!  We had our first real taste of an Australian summer with three consecutive days of high temperatures to conclude with a storm at 3:40pm and then losing power.  Thankfully the power returned to school by Wednesday morning but some of our families and staff were not so lucky.  For future reference, if the school were to close, we would contact our community – so ‘no news, is good news’.  We do assess the situation to ensure that it is safe for everyone to come onsite and we would work with the Department of Education.  I hope that those affected by having no power have it restored some time soon.  If there is anything we can do at school to support, please let us know.

School Review

Over the past two weeks, our school staff have been working through a School Review.  School Reviews are conducted every four years for all Department of Education schools. A panel of people consisting of an independent reviewer, a Senior Educational Improvement Leader, two Principals and leadership from our school (Tyson Buckingham, Cara Trott, Chris Jeffries and myself) work through a process.  We look at our past Strategic Plan to see what has happened in the past four years – our successes, what enabled us, what was a barrier, what is the data telling us. The panel then spent a couple of days observing our classrooms, talking to students, staff and parents to determine what are the next goals for the school and the key improvement strategies.  The panel then determines the next Strategic Plan for the next four years – goals, targets and key improvement strategies.

The process did show us that we have a great school. Our school and community have done an amazing job at navigating learning and wellbeing through the pandemic.  There is lots of evidence to show great teaching practices, student agency and supports for wellbeing currently in places.  Our future work will see us to continue to improve the outcomes for all our students in literacy and numeracy.  We will have a numeracy focus this year and then move into writing.  Our wellbeing goal is for happy, healthy and resilient students.  We will continue to work with our wellbeing program and strengthen our knowledge, understanding and practices for all our community – student, staff and parents.

Family Open Afternoon

We hope you are able to join us for our Family Open Afternoon. We invite all our families to join us on Monday 19th February from 3:30pm to 5:00pm to meet your child’s teacher, see their classroom, walk around our school grounds and ask questions about 2024.

This week we sent home information about our school.  It was sent via an email.  Hopefully you have had time to read it and if you have any questions, please come and ask our staff.  The Family Open Afternoon is a great opportunity to have all your questions answered.

Assembly

Our whole school assemblies will resume on Monday 19th February and parents are invited to join us.  This week will be announcing our house captains to our community.  We hold assemblies every fortnight.  We aim to start the assembly at 2:45pm and they are held in the shed or gym – depending on the weather.  We will open up the top gate at 2:40pm for parents to enter. 

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website.  Link for collection statement.

School Council

On Monday 20th March, we will be running our Annual General Meeting for School Council.  We currently have couple of vacancies on our council.  If you are interested in being a part of this group, please contact the office for a form.  Nomination forms need to be in by 23rd February.  Members of school council will require a Working with Children Check. 

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad direction of a school, in accordance with Ministerial Order 1280 Constitution of Government School Councils, and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Code of conduct for school councillors

School councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004.School councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct for Directors of Victorian Public Entities issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

·       act with honesty and integrity – be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty

·       act in good faith in the best interests of the school- work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds

·       act fairly and impartially – consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to havea balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self-interest

·       use information appropriately – respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available

·       exercise due care, diligence and skill – accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school

·       use the position appropriately – not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage

·       act in a financially responsible manner – observe all the above principles when making financial decisions

·       comply with relevant legislation and policies – know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law

·       demonstrate leadership and stewardship -set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable.

Parenting

Being a parent is such a rewarding experience.  Being part of someone’s life from the very beginning and watch them grow and seeing the person they become is such a privilege.  However, it has moments of being very challenging (hopefully they do not last too long).  I thought I would bring your attention to Dr Billy Garvey.  Dr Billy is a dad, podcaster and a developmental paediatrician with over 20 years’ experience working with children and families in a number of settings.  One of his podcasts is ‘Pop Culture Parenting’.  The podcast is about finding the sweetspot between the textbooks and real life when it comes to parenting.  He uses iconic TV and cinema scenes from the 80’s and 90’s to give contect to Billy’s parenting advice.

A couple of weeks ago I listened to episode 77: 10 things I hate about you & school success.  It discussed how to support your child to succeed at school, especially their social and emotional development.  I enjoyed listening to Dr Billy – I hope you find him helpful and informative as well.

World’s Greatest Shave

On Monday 18th March, one of our grade 6 students will be participating in the World’s Greatest Shave.  Jack will spend the next month raising money and then will shave his hair at our school assembly.  He is a message from Jack:

Hi my name is Jack F from 6S. I am doing the World Greatest Shave to raise money for the leukaemia reach. On Monday 18th March 2024 I will have my year’s worth of hair shaved off in assembly. 

Leukaemia is one of the most common cancer in children and I hope one day they can find a cure for it. 

I have already raised over $200 for this great cause. If you would like to make a donation you can go to qkr! or make a cash donation in assembly when they shave my head. 

Thank you for your support in advance. 

Enjoy your weekend.

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Welcome everyone to 2024.  What a fabulous start we have had – I hope you and your family have had a smooth transition into or back into school.  If you are experiencing any difficulties, please contact your child’s teacher to discuss.  We are here to support you and your child. I hope you have been able to see all the hard work our staff have done to ensure a smooth transition – I certainly have.

Please note that we will hold our next Curriculum Day on Tuesday 12th March.  Students will not attend this day as our staff will be participating in professional learning.

The purpose of this newsletter is to provide you with information about our school and keep you up-to-date with events that are happening.  We aim to distribute it fortnightly on Fridays.  I hope you take the time to read it through so you know what is happening and feel very informed!

Welcome to new and returning staff

This year we have a few new staff commencing at our school.  We welcome Erin Carter (grade 2C), Shae Williams (grade 1W), Britney Collis (Education Support), Lizzie Beekman (Education Support) and Julie Shorey (office). We have Kerrith Wilkinson (tutoring) returning to our school.  They have all commented how welcoming our school community is and how lovely our students are.  We have enjoyed meeting all our new staff and I know they will have a great year at Beacy!

Family Open Afternoon

We will be hosting a Family Open Afternoon where we invite all our families to join us on Monday 19th February from 3:30pm to 5:00pm.

This is a great opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher, see their classroom, walk around our school grounds and ask questions about 2024.

You will receive information about our school and 2024 before this afternoon.  We will not be hosting information nights.  The Family Open Afternoon is a great time to come and see the staff to have all your questions answered.

We hope you are able to join us.

Expectations of Parents and Students’ behaviour

As we are all part of the community of Beaconsfield Primary School, it is important that we all work and behave in a manner that is respectful to everyone.  Everyone has the right to feel safe and included in our community. We need to be respectful of each other.  To ensure this happens, it is important we behave in a certain way.  We ask that as parents/carers and your child, follow these expectations.

As parents and carers, you will:

  • Model positive behaviour to our child
  • Communicate politely and respectfully with all members of the school community
  • Ensure our child attends school on time, every day the school is open for instruction
  • Take an interest in our child’s school and learning
  • Work with the school to achieve the best outcomes for our child
  • Communicate constructively with the school and use expected processes and protocols when raising concerns
  • Support school staff to maintain a safe learning environment for all students
  • Follow the school’s processes for communication with staff and making complaints
  • Treat all school leaders, staff, students, and other members of the school community with respect.

As students, they will:

  • Model positive behaviour to other students
  • Communicate politely and respectfully with all members of the school community
  • Comply with and model school values
  • Behave in a safe and responsible manner
  • Respect ourselves, other members of the school community and the school environment
  • Actively participate in school
  • Not disrupt the learning of others and make the most of our educational opportunities

Volunteers – parent helpers 

Do you wish to help at our school this year?  You may wish to be on the Parents & Friends committee, help at a treat day or stall, help in classroom, help on an excursion, attend school camp or any other way that sees you working and volunteering onsite.  It you would like to help, you must complete the following process.  This is to ensure that we are meeting the Child Safe Standards to protect our students.  Once you have completed the process, you will be eligible to volunteer at our school.

As per school policy and Child Safe Standards, all helpers at Beaconsfield Primary School must satisfy the following:

1. Hold and provide a copy of a current Working with Children Card or VIT that is registered to Beaconsfield Primary School. 

2. Complete the parent helper induction including viewing the video and read the policy – click Beaconsfield Primary School Parent Helper Induction Form

3. Must complete this each year.

We appreciate your support in providing a safe environment for all our students.  If you have any questions, please see our office staff.  I suggest you complete the process now so you are ready for anytime this year.

Drop off and pick ups

We have had a few days of settling into the new year.  I would just like to mention a couple of things:

  • Our school grounds are open from 8:30am.  Please do not bring children before this time.  On the one-off event that you require to drop them off early, your child is to sit in the office foyer until 8:30am, that is when we have staff out in the yard for duty.  If you require more permanent arrangement before school, OSHClub are open before school from 6:30am.
  • In the morning we lock the gates by 9:10am.  As soon as the bell has gone and students are in classes, please make your way off our grounds.
  • At the other end of the day, please do not enter the grounds until 3:15pm.
  • The drop off area in Lyle Avenue is affectionately known to us as our “Kiss ‘n Go” area. Drivers are not to leave their cars, and should be in the area for no longer than 2 minutes (we have new signs to remind us). The area flows really well when everyone follows the rules.
  • Please remember to abide by the road laws – drive very carefully around the area, do not park on nature strips or block roundabouts or driveways.  Please do not put our students at risk and we also need to consider the neighbours. 

Assembly

Our whole school assemblies will resume on Monday 19th February and parents are invited to join us.  We hold assemblies every fortnight.  We aim to start the assembly at 2:45pm and they are held in the shed or gym – depending on the weather.  We will open up the top gate at 2:40pm for parents to enter. 

I have provided you with a lot of information.  I hope it is helpful.  Please remember if you have questions about the school, please contact the office.  If you have questions regarding your child’s learning and their grade, please speak to your child’s teacher.  We have staff on the gates before and after school every day.  Sometimes we are helpful to answer a question or point you in the right way to obtain the answer – feel free to test our knowledge!

Let’s celebrate we have completed the first week of 2024!  I am sure we have many tired students (and parents and staff!).  Hopefully we can rest up on the weekend, ready for another wonderful week of learning.

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

We have come to the end of year and our last newsletter.  I hope you have had an enjoyable 2023 and lots to celebrate.  I know at school it has been a great year with lots of amazing experiences for everyone.

Celebrations

Thank you to all the families that joined us yesterday afternoon for our school concert.  It was so lovely to come together in the shed and watch the students perform.  I am always so proud when I see each individual person achieving success – performing in front of such a large audience.  For some it puts them out of their comfort zone, for some it comes so effortlessly.

We also enjoyed our Beacy Fair today.  Our grade 5 students have spent the term organising activities for our whole school to enjoy.  What a great way to give back to our community!  When I walked around with the Prep students, it was lovely to see our grade 5 students interacting with them.  I am sure your child came home talking about it.

Teachers and classes for 2024

Here is the staffing for next year.

AreaTeachers
Prep – 5 gradesBriony Batchelor (PB), Felica Brown (PF), Laura Griffiths (PG), Emma Jennion (PJ) and Carolyn Hall (PH)
Grade 1 – 5 gradesClaire Frith (1F), Mandy Hermon (1H), Amanda Mollard (1M) and Meaghan Ryan/Jodie King (1RK), Shae Williams (1W)
Grade 2 – 4 gradesErin Carter (2C), Lisa Kidd (2K), Sonya Nori (2N) and Yen Nguyen (2Y)
Grade 3 – 4 gradesSophie Abel (3A), Suzanne Humphries/Kat Becker (3H), Bianca Katsiavos (3K) and Charlotte Nilsson (3N)
Grade 4 – 4 gradesRhys Buckingham (4B), Danielle Crossman (4C), Mandy Harvey (4H) and Chris Jeffries/Molly Delaney (4J)
Grade 5 – 3 gradesJames Burke (5B), Shoana Carey/Kat Becker (5C) and Madi Percival (5P)
Grade 6 – 4 gradesTom O’Brien (6B), Hayley Dimitrakas/Molly Delaney (6D), Hannah Spratt (6S) and Candice Triffitt (6T)
SpecialistsTara Costello (DigiTech)
Alyssa Clinnick (Languages – German)
Irene Carroll and Vicky Fisher (Performing Arts)
Anthony Cole and Vicky Fisher (Physical Education)
Anita Jacobsen and Vicky Fisher (Science)
Danielle Gittins and Julie Taylor (Visual Arts)  
Sarah Campbell and Midge Meixner (Tutoring/Intervention) Renae Wright (Wellbeing) – 3 days a week

We are farewelling two wonderful staff members this year.  Qui Clayton (grade 3) and Nat Cayford (grade 4) are both heading off for exciting new adventures.  Whilst we are so happy for them, we will be sad to see them leave Beaconsfield Primary School.  Qui is happily awaiting the arrival of her first child and becoming a mum. Nat will be traveling and spending more time with her family and hopefully still have some time to help us out with casual relief teaching. Linda Amos will continue to take leave next year and Cara Trott will remain in the role of Acting Assistant Principal.

Positive Relationships

As a staff member who has worked at Beaconsfield Primary School for over 20 years, I have always been so proud of our community.  Our staff, parents and students have always worked together in a respectful way.  We celebrate that our community is one that works towards holding our values, being inclusive and accepting of others, and acknowledging and celebrating our diversity.

Our values at Beaconsfield Primary School are:

RESPECT:  We are compassionate and care for others and ourselves.  We are sincere and honest with others.  Our actions should match our words.  We act in a moral and ethical way as we are accountable for our own actions.  We resolve differences in constructive, peaceful ways.  We value diversity and accept others beliefs and values.  We include and welcome everyone we meet.

ATTENTIVE LISTENING:  We have the right to be heard.  We have the right to express ourselves and an obligation to listen to others.  We have a voice and a turn to speak.  We may not agree with what someone is saying but we respect their right to hold their views and share them.

APPRECIATIONS / NO PUT DOWNS:  We elevate and build the self-esteem of others when we praise and value them.  We build respect, friendship and goodwill through appreciation. We pursue and protect the common good.  In a just society, all people are treated fairly.  We speak up for the rights of others.

THE RIGHT TO PASS / PARTICIPATE:  We have the right to pass when we are not ready to contribute; however, we aim to participate as often as we can as it builds and strengthens our learning community and our society.   We encourage others to participate. We have an obligation to contribute in a way that is peaceful, respecting our environment and each other.

SAFETY:   We make wise decisions.  We respect and look after ourselves and each other.  We respect our school and personal property. 

PERSONAL BEST:  We are confident learners; we try our best and pursue excellence. We are resilient and bounce back when we experience difficulties.   We have a strong sense of justice, values and beliefs.  We are ambitious, imaginative and academically competent. We have a sense of fun and of wonder.  We are enthusiastic and optimistic about our futures.

As parents and carers, we will:

  • model positive behaviour to our child
  • communicate politely and respectfully with all members of the school community
  • ensure our child attends school on time, every day the school is open for instruction
  • take an interest in our child’s school and learning
  • work with the school to achieve the best outcomes for our child
  • communicate constructively with the school and use expected processes and protocols when raising concerns
  • support school staff to maintain a safe learning environment for all students
  • follow the school’s processes for communication with staff and making complaints
  • treat all school leaders, staff, students, and other members of the school community with respect.

As students, we will:

  • model positive behaviour to other students
  • communicate politely and respectfully with all members of the school community.
  • comply with and model school values
  • behave in a safe and responsible manner
  • respect ourselves, other members of the school community and the school environment.
  • actively participate in school
  • not disrupt the learning of others and make the most of our educational opportunities. 

We all looking forward to working together next year in positive ways and upholding our values.

Congratulations Layla Baker

I am happy to let you know that Layla welcomed the safe arrival of her son, Bowie.  It was great to hear that everything went well and everyone is having a lovely time getting to know each.  What a lovely treat just before the summer holiday!

This will be the last newsletter for 2023 so it is time to acknowledge some of the amazing people in our community.

Parents & Friends Committee

We have a wonderful team of parents who come to together to provide experiences and fundraising events for our school.  The most memorable event this year was our School Disco.  Thank you to Allison and the wonderful team.

Thank you to all our families and businesses who have supported P&Fs by donating to our raffles over the year.  We received amazing donations that were enjoyed by all our many winners.

School council

We would like to thank our School Council, for their support for our students, staff, and community.  Peter and the team have done a fabulous job.  This year we welcomed some new members to council and we are enjoying our hybrid model of meetings onsite and virtual. They have showed such great support to our teachers and community.

Some big projects that were completed this year was resurfacing the outdoor basketball court and the retaining wall on Lyle road – great to get our footpath back!

Parents

We would like to acknowledge our parent community for their amazing effort over the year.  Thank you to all the parents who volunteer their time to support our students in the classroom, on excursions, sports day and camps.  We also appreciate the support we receive as a school with the teaching and learning of our students.  It is nice to know that you work with a community who treat us with respect and understanding.  To our parents, enjoy the holidays with your family.

Students

We would like to thank the students.  They are amazing people and we feel so privileged to work with them every day.  When we take our students out into the community, we always receive the feedback as to how respectful they are.  We are grateful when they demonstrate our values.

We wish our grade 6 students all the best for next year and beyond and we are looking forward to welcoming our new Preps for 2024.

To our students, enjoy the holidays and keep reading and exploring our world.

Staff

Lastly, I need to acknowledge our staff.  As you may be aware it can be challenge to replace teachers when they are on leave or sick.  At Beaconsfield Primary School we have been so blessed to have a pool of teachers who work for us.  This pool consists of our part-time staff picking up additional days, staff on family leave who have come in to help us and casual replacement staff.  This has ensured that we have been able to cover all our classes with a teacher.  We have not had to cancel our specialist program and our tutoring program was only slightly impacted.  We have also been able to successful fill all our positions for 2024.

I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the team who have helped us all year – Danielle G, Meaghan R, Alyssa C, Renae S, Kat A, Jac Z, Jodie K, Emma J, Rochelle A, Tara C, Molly D, Julie T, Jenny A, Gill H, Paula S, Loren S, Tara K, Elyce B, Rachelle W, Emma B, Rebecca S, Meredith R and Brett G.

Thank you to all the staff at Beaconsfield Primary School.  We are so privileged to have people working at this school that go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure fantastic learning and experiences for all our students.  They work tirelessly to make sure your child is supported in their learning, as well as socially and their wellbeing.  Enjoy your break!

Enjoy the summer break and I look forward to seeing you all in 2024!

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Can you believe that we have less than 4 weeks of school left for 2023! Mrs Amos is taking her holidays a bit earlier – Linda Amos will be commencing leave next week for the rest of the year (she may pop in at the end of the year).  Cara Trott will take on the role of Acting Assistant Principal and join Tyson Buckingham and myself as part of the leadership team.

Assemblies

With only a few weeks to go, we have a couple of assemblies left to acknowledge our students.  Next week we have our regularly fortnightly assembly where we give out our Beacy Spirit awards, specialist awards and make announcements.

On Monday 11th December, we will have our final assembly for the year.  At this assembly we will acknowledge our students who reached 300 nights of reading, announce the winners of the Christmas raffle, say our ‘goodbyes’ and lots more.  This assembly starts around 2:45pm in the shed.  I hope you are able to come along and celebrate with us.

School Concert

I am sure you have heard from your child how they are getting ready for the concert (or are they trying really hard to keep their performance a surprise for you?).

On Thursday 7th December we have two concerts. 

  • Junior (Prep, grade 1 and grade 2) Starting time – 1:45pm
  • Senior (Grade 3, grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6) Starting time – 4:00pm

We all know that these events will be well attended so make sure you give yourself lots of time to park, walk to our school and get seated.  We will open up the school gates on Lyle ave at 1:30pm for families to access our school.  We will open the gate closest to the shed area.

There will be clearly designated areas for people sitting on rugs and where you can sit if you have brought a chair.  As a school, we will provided limited accessible seating for those with additional needs. If on the afternoon, you need additional support, please see a staff member.

It will be a very exciting and busy afternoon for everyone.  Please remember for the junior concert that your child is at school and in the care of their teacher, so we need them to stay with their grade at all times.

You were sent a very informative brochure regarding all the details of the concert on Sentral for Parents app.  Please make sure you are familiar with it. We will be attempting to provide a live stream – let’s hope technology is working.

It is a timely reminder about our ‘Photographing, Filming and Recording Students’ policy.

Beaconsfield Primary school requests that parents/carers, students and invited guests who photograph, film or record school activities only do so for their own personal use and do not publish the images in any form, including on social media, without the prior consent of persons whose children also appear in the images.

We will also be recording our school concert and grade 6 graduation for DVD sales, and if your child participates, they may appear in these recordings which will be available to the whole school community.

Curriculum Days for 2024

We have decided our curriculum dates for 2024.  These days students are not required at school.  OSHClub is available for supervision of students.  You can also access school dates on the calendar on the Sentral for Parents app.

  • Term 1 – Tuesday 12th March
  • Term 2 – Friday 7th June
  • Term 3 – Monday 15th July – Professional Practice Day
  • Term 4 – Friday 1st Nov

I promise my last mention of the cricket for 2023.  How exciting was it on Sunday night/Monday morning to see the men’s Australian cricket defeat India to win the ODI World Cup!  They were certainly the underdogs going into the game, but it just proves that when everyone works as a team in all aspects of the game, you can achieve amazing things.

Have a great weekend,

Heidi Inglis

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Today our Student Representative Council hosted our Remembrance Day ceremony.  It is a very sombre time for our community to take a moment to reflect on our history and acknowledge the sacrifices that people have made.  Our SRC did a fantastic job of hosting the service.

Transition

Change is a coming and this make some people nervous and anxious.  We all know that it is inevitable that change happens in life.  As part of education, every year at Beaconsfield Primary School, we say goodbye to their grade and teacher for the year and move to the next stage in their education.  This is a time of celebration as they have achieved to move on and they are ready for the next challenges.

However, we must be aware of what change does to us and our children.  For some people, it comes much easily and they have the resilience to deal with it well.  This is what we hope for all our students.  We have supported them all through the year to deal with issues and worked with them on their mental wellbeing. 

To support your child, here are some suggestions:

  • Make sure that you are talking about their next stage in a positive way – how exciting, you are ready, this is a good thing, you can do this.
  • Be mindful of how much you talk about it – sometimes it might be too much.
  • Support your child to see what they can control.  Some things are not in their control so there is no need to worry about it.  They need to trust the process and they will be able to deal with the outcome.
  • Be mindful of how you are feeling about it as you are their role model.  If you are nervous or anxious, this is contagious and your child might be ‘catching’ your emotions.
  • Take moments to check in with your child as to how they are feeling and see if they are able to state what they are wondering or concerned about.  Answer their questions honestly and if you don’t know what the answer is, try problem solving as to how you find out the solution – who could we ask? 

As a school, we are constantly working with our students to deal with ‘change’ in a healthy way.  As we get closer to the end of year, your child will have transition sessions in their grade for next year.  Yesterday, we held sessions for our 2024 Preps at our school.  They had opportunities to see our school and meet some of our staff.  Our grade 6 students will have visits to their secondary schools in December to have similar experiences.

If you feel your child’s emotions are making them struggle with transition, please seek support and reassurance from your child’s classroom teacher.

2024

This time of year we begin to plan for 2024.  This involves working out our workforce.  If you know that your child will not be attending Beaconsfield Primary School in 2024, can you please let the school know by sending an email to the school or coming into the office.

Often parents worry about how their children will cope in a new classroom with a new teacher and with new friends. From experience, we have found that our children are far more resilient than you think and actually revel in the opportunity presented in experiencing new things.  Our teachers benefit from being moved around the school too. 

Should you have requests for 2024 they must be put in writing and submitted to the Office by November 20th. Any requests based on sound educational reasons will be considered but this does not necessarily mean that they will, or can be accommodated. Our teaching staff always take into consideration friendship groups, social/emotional implications and educational reasons when placing students in classes. Requests for individual teachers or requests based on gender will not be considered.

The student will have or will be asked to list a group of approximately five friends. It may prove useful for parents to discuss this with their children.

Only this year’s requests are considered therefore any requests need to be put in writing each year.

For those following the Cricket World Cup ODI, what an amazing performance we witnessed from Glenn Maxwell.  The resilience and perseverance to stay at the crease and achieve a team win and personal best, is one that I do not think I will witness again.  Let’s hope the team reachs the finals and come away with a win.

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Happy Friday!  Next week we have our Curriculum Day on Friday 3rd November.  We hope you are able to enjoy the extra long weekend and my fingers are crossed that you have lovely weather to get out and about.  Our teachers will use the Curriculum Day to spend time learning about ‘How Students Learn’ – looking at strategies to engage and motivate students and Assessment and Reporting.

Grade 5 and 6 camp

Last week we held our grade 5 and 6 camp to Camp Coolamatong.  I had the pleasure of joining the grade 5s on their camp.  Both camps were fortunate to have great weather.  This camp is down on the coastline and many activities are on or near water as well as on the farm.  The students took part in working on teamwork, respect and gratitude.  The catchphrase for the camp was ‘respect and gratitude are contagious, it’s like a boomerang that comes back to you’.  We all had a great time together and the camp staff feedback to me was how respectful our Beacy students are, they were all very impressed with their behaviour.

The view at camp!

A students take on their experience of camp.
At camp Coolamatong, the staff reminded us of the value of respect and gratitude, which was their theme. Most of the activities at camp involved teamwork, for example one of the activities, we had to move some tires using certain rules, and respect played into that as you needed to respect each other’s opinions. My favourite activity at camp was the boat trip because we went to the beach and played games. Camp was a great experience, the bonding with friends, activities and the food made it the bestDom Grade 6

Village Green Playground

The Shire of Cardinia have reached out to ask for our community’s voice asking for your feedback on the Village Green playground renewal.  This is a great opportunity for you to sit with your child and have their voice heard by their local council.  They have developed design options and they would like you and your family to choose your favourite one.

I have attached the information flyer and you will need to send in your feedback by 5th November.  All information is on the flyer.

Prep transition 2024

We held our Prep 2024 Information night on Wednesday and in a couple of weeks we will begin our onsite program that sees our 2024 Preps visiting us for a few hours.  As part of the program, our grade 5 students will come down and help us with our new friends.  It is lovely to see our future leaders of our school caring and supporting our new students. 

World Teachers’ Day

Today is World Teachers’ Day.  At Beaconsfield Primary School we are so grateful to have such dedicated teachers who come to school every day to make a difference to your child.  The commitment they make to ensure they are meeting the learning and wellbeing needs of every child is amazing.

The staff at Beaconsfield Primary School would like to thank our community for the support you have shown in the past two weeks.  We knew we were part of a special community but this has been evident with the display of compassion that you have given us and each other.

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Welcome to term 4!  I hope you had a nice break with your family. 

Beacy’s Got Talent

Last Friday our school community sat down to enjoy the amazing talents of our students.  We watched performances of singing and rapping, dancing and acrobatics, instrumental pieces and ventriloquism.  What a wonderful diversity of talents we have at Beacy!  The students did a wonderful job of getting up in front of the large audience to perform their acts and the audience did a terrific job of being appreciative and supportive.

Thank you to our Student Representative Council for organising the event and introducing the items and to Mr Jeffries for working with our students to help get this event from concept to performance.

Building works on the holiday

You may have seen we had lots of workers at our school over the holidays.  We were able to resurface our basketball court, replace fencing at our wetlands, build a retaining wall and seating at the Princes Hwy gate, and extend the retaining wall along Lyle ave and plant a new garden bed.  It was very exciting to come back to school to see the improvements in our school grounds.

‘End of Year Celebration’ concert

We have decided on the date for our ‘End of Year Celebration’ concert.  We hold a concert where all our students will perform a couple of items to an audience.  Due to the size of our school we split our concert up into junior – Prep, grade 1 and grade 2 and senior – grade 3, grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6.  This year we will hold our junior concert at the end of the school day and the senior concert after school.  The day and times are:

Thursday 7th December

  • Junior (Prep, grade 1 and grade 2) 1:45pm to 3:00pm
  • Senior (Grade 3, grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6) 4:00pm to 5:00pm

The concert is held in the shed and parents and families are invited to attend.  More information about the event will be sent out closer to the date but mark it in your calendar.

Medical information

As we have changed into Spring (even though we have still experienced some wintery days), it brings different health concerns.  There is an increased risk of seasonal asthma, hay fever and epidemic thunderstorm asthma as we are in a season with increased grass pollen levels.  It typically occurs between October and December.

We are reminding our families to ensure that their child’s asthma is being managed well with visits to the doctors if requiring relievers frequently and ensuring their child is using their preventers.  Also make sure that the school has your latest action plan and a reliever in the event of an attack.

Curriculum day

We have our final curriculum day on Friday 3rd November.  This is our fourth curriculum day this year and we had one additional Professional Practice days. 

Next year the first curriculum day is the day before students return to school, Monday 29th January 2024, with grade 1 to 6 students returning to school on Tuesday 30th January.

2024

This time of year we begin to plan for 2024.  This involves working out our workforce.  If you know that your child will not be attending Beaconsfield Primary School in 2024, can you please let the school know by sending an email through to the school account or coming into the office.

Enjoy your weekend and hopefully we will see spring weather soon.

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

School holidays are here, and the weather is playing its part.  I hope you have some lovely activities planned to take advantage of the gorgeous spring weather.  A couple of ideas I might explore:

  • Cranbourne Gardens – amazing Royal Botanic Gardens.  The bushland has over 450 indigenous plant species and includes over 10 kilometres of walking tracks, six kilometres of cycling tracks, a lookout tower, picturesque shelters, barbecues and playgrounds. It is a precious remnant of the vegetation that once covered the broader region and is actively managed to control the number of non-indigenous plants and exotic weeds.
  • The Lume Melbourne – digital art gallery.  The current display is ‘Connection’ – born from an idea to celebrate First Nations art and music and give back to its artist communities, this experience tells the story of our country’s rich cultural history.
  • Melbourne Museum – Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature.  Wonder at the magic of the creatures from the Wizarding World alongside the remarkable animals from London’s Natural History Museum collection and learn about their shared abilities and behaviours that allow them to dazzle, attract and escape.

I am interested to hear from our students when we return, what exciting activities they get up to.  Make sure they get outside and enjoy the sunshine – a boost of vitamin D is great for our mental health.

Farewell Layla Baker

Today we farewell Layla as she commences her family leave.  Layla has been at our school since 2021 and a great addition to our junior school.  Her caring nature and positive disposition will be sadly missed.  We wish her all the best on the safe arrival of her baby.

We welcome back Hannah Spratt to become the teacher of 1B for the rest of the year.

Beacy’s Got Talent

Congratulations to all our students who participated in the Beacy’s Got Talent in their classroom and year levels.  Our SRC are organising this event and I have seen some of the performances that have auditioned.  I believe every year levels have held their auditions, and we have one act from each year level ready to perform at our whole school performance.  If you would like to join us, we are holding in on Friday 6th October at 2:00pm in the gym.  There will be no assembly in the first week – next assembly will be in week 3.

Well done to all our students for having a go.  It is great to see students able to showcase their talents, and for some to put themselves out of their comfort zone.

Student-led interviews

I hope you took up the opportunity to come and hear from your child about their learning.  The students did a great job preparing for sharing.  It is an important part of learning to take ownership of your learning – understand what you have achieved and your next step.  I know our grade 6 students had a go at explaining some maths to their parent and then asking their parent to solve a problem.  I have heard lots of feedback that it is a great time to celebrate.

Thank you to our staff for staying back late to provide this opportunity for our community.

Work experience

This week we welcomed five past students to complete their year 10 work experience at our school.  It is lovely to see our returning students – for our staff and students.  I hope they had a great time at our school, as I know our students have enjoyed having them in their classrooms helping out.

Building works on the holiday

When we have school holidays, we see it as a good time to complete build works onsite.  Over the two weeks we have a few works happening:

  • Trish will be working in the gardens.
  • Resurfacing of our basketball court with new synthetic grass.
  • New garden beds and retaining wall at Kiss’n’Go on Lyle ave.
  • The ramps that they Department of Education were modifying, to commencing in the holidays and will be completed as the term begins.  Please take note of signage as to where to walk.
  • We are getting new carpet in the gym and Performing Arts room – hopefully this will happen in the holidays.

As we finish up for the term, we are still very busy at Beacy.  Walking around the school there is lots happening – grade 3’s held a world cup sports morning, some grade 6 were selected for ‘Future Authors Workshop’, Division Athletics (where I heard that our students displayed amazing sportsperson ship and many were successful), Treat Day that saw our wonderful parents helping out, Koori Kids celebration day for some of your students and so much more.  Everyone has earnt a well-deserved rest.

For those passionate football supports, I wish your team all the best if they are still in the run for AFL finals.  I know we have lots of AFL supporters of the Magpies, Blues and Demons and NRL Storm fans on staff and families at our school and I am sure when we return, we will have some happy people.  As a Magpie supporter who lives in a houseful of Blues supporters, it is a tense time in my house!

See you in term 4!

Heidi Inglis

Principal

Messages from Mrs Inglis

How exciting, Spring is here!  I know I am ready for some warmer weather.  However, it does mean that the UV rating is rising and for everyone at Beaconsfield Primary School, it means we need sun protection when outside.  We have begun wearing our hats.  Can you please check with your child that they have their school hat at school.  Acceptable school hats are black wide brimmed or black legionnaire caps. These are the only hats that are part of our school uniform.

School Disco

For those students who came on Friday to our school disco, talking to students, they have reported that they had a great time.  It was very exciting to come to school at night, get dressed up, have glow sticks, be with friends and dance to the music (and maybe even have a sausage in bread).

Our Parent and Friends committee organised a great night.  Thank you to the many parents who volunteered on the night to help run this event – setting up, supervising, cleaning up, cooking and serving the food.  Thank you to DJ Stu for an entertaining evening.  We appreciate you all taking time to help out to give our school community a memorable evening.

Book Week

Well done to all the students who came to school last Monday dressed as a character from a story.  Congratulations to those lucky students who won a prize for dressing up. Hopefully everyone loved being part of our day and seeing all the creative costumes.  We saw a fantastic representation of all the wonderful rich literature that our students have access to.  It is a great way to celebrate a good book.

Coming to and from school

As the weather is getting warmer, you and your child might be walking to school.  You might also be allowing an older child to be more independent and make their own way to and from school, or have them walking to you.  I thought it might be a good time to ensure that our community is being safe and you are having discussions and modelling to your child how to be safe when walking to school. 

Firstly, there are many benefits for your child to walk to school.  It will help with their mental wellbeing, good for their mood and self-esteem, build up confidence and life skills and make connections with friends and their community.

Here are some tips to walk safely to school:

  1. Be alert and aware.

Take note of the dangers you come across on your walk and bring them to your child’s attention. Point out dangers, such as vehicles coming out of driveways. Talk to your child about being alert in a road environment.

2. Hold hands

When on the footpath, at a crossing or in a car park always hold your child’s hand. It is advised to do this up to the age of at least 8 years old and closely supervise until at least the age of 10.

3. Choose a safe crossing

Lead by example and choose a safe place to cross the road. Explain why it is the safest place to cross.

4. Set a good example

Your child watches everything you do, so if you cross at the crossing they will too. It is also important to share these messages with other carers who may walk with your child to school.

5. Stop, Look, Listen, Think every time you cross the road

Discuss this important road safety message. STOP! one step back from the kerb. LOOK! continuously look both ways. LISTEN! for the sounds of approaching traffic. THINK! whether it is safe to cross.

For those walking independently, it is important to have discussion about what strategy they would use if they felt unsafe.  One strategy we use for our community is to ensure that everyone is leaving school at the same time, so students are walking home with many adults and other students around. 

E-Scooter

We were contacted by our local highway patrol police officer to pass on information regarding e-scooters.  I am assuming that they are becoming more popular in our community and our police force would like our community to know the rules.  Please find below information regarding e-scooters and links.

E-scooter Safety and Trial FAQs : VicRoads

Rules and penalties : VicRoads

Riders of e-scooters must:

  • wear a helmet 
  • be aged 16 or over
  • ride at a maximum speed of 20 km/h hour 
  • ride on shared-use paths, bicycle paths, or roads with a speed limit of up to 60 km/h
  • have flashing or steady front and rear lights if riding at night or in low-light 

Riders must not:

  • ride on the footpath
  • use a mobile phone while riding
  • ride while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • carry passengers or animals or ride in tandem
  • ride a high-speed e-scooter – capable of more than 25km/h (this is considered an unregistered vehicle and penalties apply)
  • ride on roads with a speed limit over 60 km/h

Father’s Day

I would like to wish all our dads, granddads and special people a happy Father’s Day on Sunday.  I am hoping that your child is able to show you how grateful and appreciative they are to have you in their life. 

Here is link to an article from Dr Justin Coulson PhD. He does a lot work around parenting. His goals are ‘for parents, teachers, and those who work with children to see them for the precious humans they are; to connect with them in meaningful ways; and to guide those children to become strong, caring, whole adults.’ The link is for an article titled, ‘Busting the Myths of Fatherhood’.

Busting the Myths of Fatherhood

Thank you to our Parents & Friends committee for running the ‘Father’s Day’ stall on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  Our students had lots of fun going shopping.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend with your family, especially as I know many of our families have no junior sports this weekend as some seasons have finished.  If this is you – enjoy the sleep in.

Heidi Inglis

Messages from Mrs Inglis

We certainly had to practise our resilience on Wednesday night, when we all sat down to watch the Matildas sadly miss out on their chance to win the World Cup.  However, there is so much to celebrate about this event, that we all quickly moved on the next day and were smiling again.  What this event and this team has achieved for sport, soccer and girls in sport is amazing and I am so grateful to have been part of this history.  Hopefully they are able to win on Saturday and finish third and I am sure in the next World Cup, they will go all the way!

Student Voice and Agency

This week we had an exciting activity running at lunchtime for our grade 2 students.  Piper, our science captain, run a slime making activity with a team of grade 6 students.  Piper is very passionate about science and has worked closely with our science teacher, Ms Jacobsen, and her friends to offer our grade 2 students a fun activity to promote Science.  The grade 2 students were given opportunity to make slime during lunchtimes.  Before the activity, Piper needed to test and work out the correct recipe.  She also needed to work with a budget. Here is her recount.

“I’m Piper and I am the science captain for Beacy Primary.  Last term I thought about what I could do for a project, when the idea of slime popped into my head.  Over the course of many weeks, Ms Jacobsen, my team and I planned and tested our slimes until week 6 when we did the event with the grade twos.  It was so much fun and we had a blast.”

Piper – Science Captain

School Interviews

This morning we opened the school interview’s booking site.  This term we will be holding student-led interviews.  This is an opportunity for your child to tell and show you what they are been learning.  This is a very powerful experience for your child to share and to take on that sense of ownership of their learning – because ultimately, they are the one doing the work.  Our teachers provide the space, the opportunities, the resources, the strategies and the support but the student is the one that needs to engage and do the work.

Interviews will be running in the week beginning Monday 4th September and will be held onsite in their classrooms.  Your child is required to attend the interview.

Here is the link:

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/5dyd5

If you have any questions about booking interviews, please reach out to our office staff or your child’s teacher.

Building Works

At the end of the month, the Department of Education has employed contractors to work on our ramps at our school.  These are the ramps between the buildings and there is also some works up at the portables.  This work needs to be done to make sure our ramps comply with current standards.  This will cause disruption and we ask that you are patient and observe all signs for where you are able to walk.  We will know more once they commence as to how it will impact us.

Road Safety

As some of you may have seen, I had the pleasure of being the crossing person the other day.  Well done to all our students and families for demonstrating great road safety.  Over the past couple of weeks we have noticed a couple of behaviours that are unsafe.

  • Balls – please make sure if your child is carrying a ball, that they hold it while around roads and especially when crossing the roads.  Occasionally, a ball will bounce on the road and a child’s natural instinct is to chase the ball onto the road.  This is frightening for everyone.  Once inside our school gates, they can bounce them as much as they like.
  • Crossing at Lyle ave – I recognise that sometimes we wish to walk the shortest distance, but crossing at the bottom of Lyle ave, near the Princes Hwy, is such an unsafe option.  Cars are coming from every different direction.  Please take those few extra steps and use the crossing.  You want to role model to your child the safest way to cross roads so the day they are to do it independently, you know you have shown them the safest behaviour.  Also, when walking out our gate near the gazebo, turn right instead of left, and use the crossing.  Could I ask all our parents to practise road safety, as all our children are watching all our adults.

Casey Netball Tournament

Mrs Humphries had the pleasure of attending the Casey Netball tournament and here is her reflection:

“On Tuesday 8th August I had the honour of chaperoning 20 of our students from the 3/4 cohort at the Casey Netball Tournament held at Casey Stadium.

There is absolutely no doubt that the day could not have gone ahead without the support of our wonderful parent community who transported our children to the event, encouraged and cheered throughout the games, scored the games and finally coached the games! Special mention must go out to Kelli Staniforth and Susan Dewsnap for their coaching prowess!

A highlight of the day for me was the children’s support of each other, willingness to try different positions, encouragement of each other, listening and respecting umpires decisions, appreciation shown to the opposition and generally being good humans! A true exemplar of our Beacy spirit!”

Here are some thoughts from some students that attended:

On Tuesday the 3-4’s went to Netball. We played 5 games and everyone had fun. My highlight was getting 4 goals in the second halfMason

My highlight was playing in Wing Attack because I got the ball a lot – Holly

My highlight was getting to play with the team – Dane

Suz Humphries – grade 3 teacher

Picking up early

Just a reminder about our picking up procedures.  If your child is leaving early as you have an appointment or an unavoidable event to attend to, please let your child and their teacher know of the arrangement and we will endeavour to have your child at the office at the time stated.  Please come into the office to collect them. Please note that only adults listed on your child’s emergency contact list are authorised to collect students.

You can let your child’s teacher know by writing a note, speaking to the teacher or office staff, or emailing the school.

We are trying very hard to avoid distracting the classrooms and the learning happening, so we wish to limit phone calls to the classroom.  We will only call up to the classroom if your child has not arrived at the office 10 minutes after the stated time.  If you choose to arrive early, we ask you to wait until the time that you told your child and classroom teacher.

We do understand that some events are unavoidable but we ask that every effort is made to ensure students are attending and completing full days of school.  The teachers work hard to ensure an engaging program is provided and students do not enjoy missing out. 

We have many fun activities coming up for our students – Book Week dress up on Monday, P&F Disco on Friday after school and our SRC are organising a Beacy’s Got Talent.  I hope everyone enjoys these special events.

Heidi Inglis

Principal