Month: March 2021

Hello everyone, 

I hope today is a good day.  Can you believe that we are at the end of term 1 – 10 weeks of learning onsite, only requiring to be offsite for 3 days for the Circuit Breaker Lockdown.  This time last year we were faced with so much uncertainty and changes, it is nice to be in a place of consistency.  Whilst we expect that we may still have challenges and changes, I believe we will all be able to work through this together.

With the relaxing of restrictions that came into place on Friday, this does not change any of our practices.  We only require you to wear a face mask if you are unable to physical distance or when on buses with an excursion.  We had already begun to welcome parent helpers onto our site and your teachers will continue to communicate with families when opportunities arise for helpers.

Progress Interviews

Last week we held Progress Interviews for grade 1 to 6 on Zoom.  They were very well attended, and we thank everyone for their patience when we experienced some internet issues.  Hopefully this was an opportunity for you to hear from your child’s teacher about how they have transitioned into the new grade, how the learning is going and their next steps.

The booking site is currently open for Prep families to book in their interviews for week 2 of term 2.

School Council

Last Monday we held our Annual General Meeting.  It was a lovely opportunity for us to reflect on 2020 – acknowledging the challenges and celebrating the successes.  We farewelled two School Councillors – Kristy Ratten and Tammy McHattie. 

• Kristy served on School Council for four years.  She was part of the finance committee and had a terrific eye for detail – which is a very useful characteristic in her role. 
• Tammy served on School Council for six years.  She held the position of President and did an amazing job with her excellent leadership skills.

We welcomed three new parents to our School Council (Carly, Nicole and Shaun) and voted in a new president.  School Council comprises of the following:

President – Peter Raja (Parent rep)

Vice President – Catherine Pattison (Parent rep)

Treasurer – Linda Amos (DET employee)

Committee: Parent representatives: Nicole Hanseen, Rob Harper, Shaun McEachern, Jason McKenzie, Amanda Read, Sarah Reidy, Narelle Scott, Carly Welburn

DET employee – Shoana Carey, Heidi Inglis, Gary Methven, Sonya Nori

Prep 2022

We will be holding an Open Day on Saturday 8^th May from 10:00am to 12:00pm.  This is an opportunity for new families who would like to enrol their Prep child into our school for 2022.  If you know of any families who would like to join our Beaconsfield community, please let them know of this day.  On this day we will have staff available to answer questions and show families our facilities. 

Enrolments for Prep 2022 will open in term 2.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful community of Beaconsfield Primary School for the great work we have achieved together in term 1.  We have welcomed new families to our school, returned to consistent onsite learning and are continually looking after everyone’s wellbeing.  I hope the break is an opportunity for families and friends to come together and celebrate.

See you in term 2,

Heidi Inglis

Easter Raffle

What a success our Easter raffle was! It looks like the Beacy community was ready to celebrate after the interesting year we have had. We had so many families contribute to our prize pool and so the committee ended up making up 48 fabulous prizes. The children were also excited about celebrating and purchased lots of tickets in the hope that they would be a lucky winner. The raffle raised a massive $2278.50! A big thanks to the Beacy community for making the Easter raffle fundraiser a big success. The Parents and Friends committee have been very busy planning some fun fundraisers, and were also kept busy with the Easter bun deliveries. Thanks team for the work that you do to contribute to our school community. We appreciate it!

• 

Regional Swimming

Well done to our Regional swimmers who went to MSAC on Monday to represent our school. It was great to see our children leaving school ready to take on the challenge of competition. Congratulations to Olivia D, Max H, Zoe M, Billy R, Tahlia S, Jack S, Matilda T, Jye W and Zofia Z for representing our school at this level. I believe that our students swam well with some personal bests being achieved. Thanks to the parents who were able to drive the students to the event and support them.

School Leaders

On Wednesday the 24th of March, our school captains attended a leadership planning session in association with the Cardinia Shire Council. This was run to build relationships with leaders from other schools and develop a platform for children to have a voice in their community. Our captains completed group tasks and heard from the Cardinia Shire CEO Carol Jeffs and the Mayor Brett Owen. Thanks Mr Buckingham for taking the students.

I hope you all have a relaxing holiday and a hoppy Easter!

Upcoming dates:

Thursday 1st April – Last day of term, 2:30pm finish

Monday 19th April – Term 2 begins at 9:00am

Friday 23rd April – School photo day

Friday 30th April – Sibling and absentee photo day

Reminder:

No canteen this week being the last week of term. Canteen will resume on Wednesday 21st April 2021

QKR! Payments:

All payments will stay on QKR! until the payment due date. Regardless of whether it has been paid or not. Please check your receipts if in doubt regarding a payment before potentially paying for a second time. Please see below instructions on how to keep track of your receipts

Sickbay:

Melissa in sickbay will be sending emails to parents where medication has expired. Could we please ask that you use the holidays to replace this medication and return it on the first day of Term 2.

Traffic Cones:

When there are orange traffic cones placed along the carpark on the Princes Hwy, can we please ask parents to not park there as the space is reserved for excursion buses. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Parents and Friends Committee are overwhelmed by the generosity shown by our community and wish to say a very big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our Easter raffle. We were inundated and had an amazing 48 prizes raffled on Monday which raised $2278.50. 

We hope you have all enjoyed your delicious hot cross buns.

Today was treat day and some of our children have enjoyed their biscuit (cookie) and milk. 

Thank you to all the volunteers and committee members for your help,  without you our events would not run. 

We would also like to thank Kemp and sons electrical,  Subway and Darrell Lea for their donations to our Easter raffle.

Save the dates for term 2! 

3rd May – Mother’s Day raffle 

6th May – Mother’s Day stall 

We hope you all enjoy the holidays and see you back next term safe and sound. 

Alison W 

Hello families,

I hope you enjoyed the extra long weekend last week and had the opportunity to spend some time together as a family.

Curriculum day

Last Tuesday the staff at Beaconsfield Primary School spent the day listening to their fellow colleagues and Kat Stephens (Regional Professional Learning Communities Co-ordinator).  We listened to presentations about Koori culture, the Big 6 in Reading, Student Voice and Agency, Respectful Relationships and peer observations. It was great to spend time together to reflect on our practises, look at current research and set ourselves goals for our teaching and our students.

I had many highlights from the day but I am going to take this moment to talk about Respectful Relationships. Respectful Relationships is a program designed to address gender inequality and violence towards women. At Beaconsfield Primary School we hope that everybody interacts with each other in a respectful way. A Respectful Relationship looks like:

• Be a good listener.
• Understand someone’s point of view.
• Express your needs and wants in a direct, calm and respectful way.
• Respond in a timely manner if someone requests something.
• Acknowledge what other’s do well.
• Let people know you appreciate them.
• If someone shares something intimate and personal with you, keep it private.
• Emphasise someone’s strengths, not their weaknesses.
• Ensure your humour is sensitive to others’ feelings and avoid embarrassing them.
• Speak directly with others, don’t talk behind their back.
• Allow someone space if they need it.

For myself, I liked the point about emphasising someone’s strength.  It is nice to acknowledge the good attributes of our friends and the people we care for.

If you do require support, please contact the following agencies:

Buddies Program

Our Grade 5 students finally met their Prep buddies.  This is such an exciting time for all our students.  We choose to have grade 5 students as part of the program so they can still support their buddy in grade 1 as well as their Prep year.  It gives the students an extra year to have this support at our school.

The grade 5 students wrote beautiful, personalised letters to their Prep buddy, introducing themselves.  These were wonderful pieces of writing.  The grade 5s then visited the Preps in their classrooms and begun to get to know each other.  The Prep area was buzzing with many excited students.

COVID-19 practices

Thank you for your continued support with our covid-safe practices.  We appreciate all the effort that our families are making to ensure the safety of our community and to keep our school open.  I know restrictions seem to change often so I thought I would just clarify our latest guidelines:

• Parents/carers are allowed in the yard before school (from 8:30am until the bell) and after school (from 3:15pm).
• Masks are not required unless you are unable to social distance (keep one nearby).  Masks are required on buses if you are attending an excursion as a parent helper.
• Parents/carers are only allowed to enter the classroom when invited by the teacher.
• Parents/carers are allowed to enter the office.  Please take note of the numbers of adults – we would only like two people at a time.

Remember, if you have any symptoms to stay away and get a COVID test. This supports our community.

Swimming

Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed in Division Swimming.  All our students were extremely successful and all came first!  Therefore, they all now move on to Regional Swimming.  Thank you to all the parents that drove our swimmers to the event. We wish them all the best for Regional.

Gook luck!

Mrs Inglis

World’s Greatest Shave – Well Done Josh!

A big congratulations to Josh in Grade 6 who has shaved off his hair in support of the World’s Greatest Shave. Josh raised $652.75 for this great cause, and his funds go straight towards helping families who are dealing with blood cancer. We love it when our children think beyond their own situation and actively do something to help others. Thank you Josh for caring, we are very proud of your efforts!

Speaking of good samaritans – A big thanks to the good samaritan, who noticed that a lot of mud had washed down onto the pathway near the top boom gate in Lyle Ave. Word has it that the good samaritan, came back with a shovel, broom and wheelbarrow and cleaned up the path. We are very grateful and say thank you for your act of kindness!

Have a great week!

Office hours:

8:30 – 4pm Monday to Friday

Dates to remember:

30th March – Grade 4 Gumbuya World Excursion

– Treat Day

1st April – Last day of Term 2:30pm finish

19th April – First day of Term 2

23rd April – School photos

Winter is coming:

With the cooler months approaching it may be a good idea to keep a spare change of clothes in your child’s bag as they can come back from playtimes with wet socks and/or other items of clothing.

Please ensure all items of clothing are clearly labelled so any lost uniforms can be returned to their rightful owners.

CSEF:

If you have a current health care card you may apply for CSEF (Camps Sport Excursion Fund). Applications must be in by the 25th June. Contact the office for more informtaion.

Canteen:

Bellbrook Catering would like to wish all our students and families a safe and fun Easter Break. Your last canteen day for Term 1 2021 is Friday 26^th March and your first canteen  day for Term 2 is Wednesday 21^st April.

I hope the Easter Bunny comes your way.

School Photos

The garden club took advantage of our beautiful weather this week and planted 100 bulbs with Trish and Pete. A great time was had by all…adults and children!

Dear Beaconsfield community, as we all know there have been many challenges for us all recently, including our school community.

As you know the primary role of the parents and friends is fundraising for our children’s benefit.

The Parents and friends committee would like to thank all families for their donations towards the Easter raffle, it’s very much appreciated.

We would also like to thank Emerald Bakery for the much needed support with our Hot Cross Bun drive.

If anyone within the school community has a business or knows of a business that would like to support our school, no matter how small it’s always greatly appreciated as it supports our kids.

Please contact me via the school if you can help.

Coming events:

Thursday 25^th March 2021 – Hot Cross Buns will be delivered.

Monday 29^th March  2021 – Easter raffle. Tickets $1.00 each. Money will be collected that morning in class.

Tuesday 30^th March 2021 – Treat Day – Biscuit and Milk. Treats will be delivered to the class rooms before first lunch.

Thank you