Month: May 2022

Today we had Walk Safely to School day.  Thank you to all our families who joined the staff from Beacy, our local police officers, and our mascots.  The turn out was amazing and it felt like half our school was there.

The initiative is a way of developing exercising routines in children, promoting improved diets, positive environmental action through decreased dependency on cars and most importantly, familiarising children with important road safety rules such as “children aged 10 years or under must always hold the hand of an adult when crossing the road”.

Responding to flu and cold season

Flu and cold season is upon us, with some people from the Beacy community impacted.  We know how easily it can spread so it is important that we all work together.  To help keep your child and our school community safe, please take the following steps if your child has any cold or flu-like symptoms:

• take a COVID-19 test and follow the current Department of Health isolation requirements if a positive result is shown
• keep your child at home until their symptoms pass
• common flu-like symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, loss of appetite, body aches and feeling extremely weak and tired
• diagnosis of the flu can only be confirmed by a doctor after a nose or throat swab
• encourage your child to wash their hands regularly and ask them to cover their nose and mouth when sneezing and coughing.

Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs)

RATs will continue to be distributed to you as they have been throughout this school year for the remainder of this term.  However, from Monday 23 May 2022, students will no longer be recommended to undertake twice weekly RATs.  RATs however will continue to be required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7 day period) or who have symptoms.

The ongoing supply of RATs to families in our school will ensure that parents and carers will have them should they need them if their child is a household contact or has symptoms.

Families must continue to notify the Department of Health and the school if their child returns a positive RAT result. Additionally, you should inform us if any of your children are household contacts.

Parking around school – Kiss ‘n Go

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 (the sign is very hard to see). The area flows really well when everyone follows the rules. We do have Council officers and the police visit from time to time and will issue fines.

A couple of handy hints that could help:

• Make sure your child knows if you will be at Kiss ‘n Go at 3:30pm and tell them to come straight out to the car.
• Pay attention in your car and keep moving up as cars leave Kiss ‘n Go.
• If someone new is picking up your child in Kiss ‘n Go, make sure you have explained how the pick up works.

Please remember to abide by the road laws – drive really 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. 

Thanks for considering the safety of our students.

Sentral For Parents app

We use the Sentral for Parents app to communicate with our families.  The app will push out notifications of events and information about the school, allow you to notify the school about absences, list dates on the calendar and allow permission to be given for excursions.  Please make sure you have downloaded it and are familiar with all its features.  If you require any assistance, please speak to our office staff.

We have been having some issues with the app lately, which we have passed on to the provider.  It is good practice if you have not received a notification in a few days, open up the app regularly to check – it has been known to log people out.  We apologise for the inconvenience.

Don’t forget that our staff have their Professional Practice Day on Thursday 26^th May so students are not required at school.  If you require care for your child, OSHClub is available.

Enjoy the weekend.

Heidi Inglis

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Monday 23rd May: EXCURSION DUE – Leaders Lunch (Permission only)

Thursday 26th May: Professional Practice Day, No students at school

Thursday 6th May: EXCURSION DUE – Gr 5&6 City Experience $13.00

Monday 13th June: Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday

Tuesday 14th June: Curriculum Day, No Students at school

Thursday 16th June: EXCURSION DUE – Prep Dino World excursion $35.00

Friday 24th June: Last day of Term 2, 2:30pm dismissal

CLOTHING:

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 muddy, wet clothing. We have very limited spare clothing at school, phone calls to parents will be made requesting dry clothing to be brought to school.

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

EARLY LEAVERS:

Could we please ask parents that if you need to collect your child/ren early could you please ring the Office on 9707 1510 if it’s a collection for the same day, as an email may not be seen in time. If the early collection is for coming days please email the school.

Tahj A, Zara V, Louie W, Chelsea J, Lexie W, Jaida H, Abbey L, Tanner C, Kane M, Blake B, Tahlia S, Benjamin G, Kaden H, Jimi S, Kade H, Jozsef T, Tiarne F, Radha C, Sophie D, Nate B, Mackenzie H, Emily H, Arabella C, Harper C, Scarlett P, Muzzie S, Emelia D, Jake C, Tori H, Brooklyn G, Shilah P, Eva P, Ella P, Charlotte P, Audrey R, Zac H, Zoe J, Oakley B, Asher J, Tyson L & Lewis S

Welcome to term 2.  I hope you and your family had some great times over the break and took advantage of the amazing weather we had – especially over Easter.  There is a lot to cover in the newsletter this week – happy reading.

Cross Country

In the last week of term, we were able to run our cross country for our whole school.  On reflection, this was the best attended I can remember by our students from the past few years.  All students put in such a great effort at showing their resilience and giving long distance running a go.  Those students who have made it through to represent our school at District will be running in a couple of weeks.  We wish them all the best. Ayden, our sports captain has written a recount for our senior cross country and Ivy, in grade 1, has written about the junior cross country.

“On Tuesday the 5^th of April, the seniors made their way down to Holm Park.  The grade 5s and 6s ran 3 kilometres and the grade 3s and 4s ran 2 kilometres.  Coming first is Lohan, then Cooper, coming third Rankin and last but not least is Morgan.

It was a super fun day, the sun shining but it wasn’t too hot.”

Ayden

“In cross country I came 13^th.  I felt nervous starting the race.  The Prep teachers were cheering for us.  I felt happy.”

By Ivy

Pink Stumps Day

The last day of term finished with our school turning pink and raising money to support the McGrath Foundation.  We thank our community for their support.  Chloe, our SRC captain has written for our newsletter.

“This year Pink Stumps Day was certainly one we will never forget!  On the 8^th of April, our school celebrated the event that happens every two years – Pink Stumps Day!  On this special day, students came to school wearing pink to raise awareness and money for the McGrath Foundation and breast cancer.  In total, the money we raised was $960.28, which is amazing.  As tradition, we held a teachers vs students cricket match and annoyingly, it was a draw.”

Chloe

Senior Athletics day

Last Wednesday we held our Senior Athletics Day.  Due to the pandemic, we have not run this event for the past two years so it was great to finally be back on the track.  We had also moved the event from Cranbourne to Berwick and I am hearing great feedback about Edwin Flack Reserve.

Here are two reports from our Morgan House Captains:

“On your marks, get set, beep!  Running for Lohan is Jack, running for Morgan is Zac, running for Cooper is Nate and running for Rankin is Austin.  They passed on their battons to the female teachers which were for Cooper – Miss Spratt, for Morgan – Miss Percival, for Lohan – Mrs Carey and for Rankin – Mrs Cayford.  Then from that they passed their battons onto the grade 6 girls who were Lohan – Niamh, Cooper – Lily, Morgan – well me, Stephanie and Rankin – Reina.  Then us girls passed it onto the male teachers and they are, for Cooper – Mr Burke, for Lohan – Mr O’Brien, for Morgan (the best) – Mr O’Shea (who tried his hardest) and for Rankin – Mr Jeffries.  Mr Burke took the lead, then from nowhere Mr O’Shea zoomed straight past him.  But wait, Mr Jeffries was catching up and soon passed Mr Burke and at the end, Mr O’Brien was pushing through the pain (and Lohan should be proud) but it was not enough and the race was won by Morgan house!”

Stephanie

“On Wednesday the 27^th of April 2022 was House Athletics. Grade 4 to 6 classes competed in track and field events that were hurdles, 100m sprint, 200m sprint, long jump, triple jump, shot put and discus.

On the day, students came to school and collected their hats from their classrooms.  They then hopped on the buses taking them to Edwin Flack Reserve where they competed in events.

For the events students were placed in groups with the following considerations – their year level, their gender and their class.  Put basically the boys in grade 6T and 6B working as a double class were put in to one group.

Sadly to this date of writing we still don’t know who won the house Athletics of 2022.  Maybe Morgan or Cooper, it could be Lohan or Rankin.”

Zac

COVID Term 2 restrictions

We returned to school this term with some restrictions having changed.  Here is how the restrictions look at our school:

• Face masks – are not required in any school setting. They are only required when a student aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption. When travelling on a bus for bus staff, adult travellers and students (grades 3 to 6).
• Household contacts – Students who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are not required to quarantine. They may return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times during their 7-day period. They are required to notify the school that they are a household contact. Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption. 
• Vaccination requirements – only required for visitors or parents performing work at the school and must meet the third dose requirements.  This includes parent helpers. 
• RAT screening program reminder – RATs will continue to be supplied for the first 4 weeks of Term 2 to support the early detection of COVID-19 in our school. 

Enrolments 2023 and Open Day

On Saturday 14^th May, we will be holding our Open Day from 10:00am to 12:00pm.  This is an opportunity for new families to come and see our school, ask questions from our staff and collect enrolment packs for Prep 2023. 

If you know of a family that would like to attend Beaconsfield Primary School for Prep 2023, please encourage them to come along.

For siblings who are attending next year, enrolment packs are available for collection.  Our sibling enrolments are due at the end of term.  At the beginning of term 3, we start offering places to people living outside our zone so it is imperative that all siblings’ enrolment forms are returned by the end of term 2.

School Uniform

As the cooler weather has arrived, it is a good time to ensure that your child has a jumper or two to wear.  Please make sure that their jumper is clearly labelled with their name, and it is either a school jumper or a plain black jumper.  It is to have no writing or motifs on it. Our school colours are black and yellow.

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy)

 We will be administering NAPLAN to our grade 3 and 5 students from Tuesday 10^th May to Friday 20^th May.  They will participate in 4 assessments using an online platform except for grade 3 writing.  Information regarding NAPLAN was sent out last week.  If you have any questions regarding the assessment and your child, please speak to your child’s teacher.

At Beaconsfield Primary School, we treat this as a normal day.  We try very hard to minimise the anxiety levels of your child and not to put pressure on them.  It is a snapshot of one day in their life as to what they know.  Our teachers value the everyday classroom work, where we are able to see and ask a child about their thinking and understanding as a better reflection of your child’s learning.

My advice to parents to best support your child is to not increase the anxiety of our child about their performance and participating in NAPLAN, just encourage them to ‘have a go’ and answer all the questions, make sure they have good routines at home and are receiving a good nights’ sleep.  This will ensure your child is able to do their best work – but we also understand if they have a bad day.

Mother’s Day raffle and stall

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and how lovely to be able to celebrate the special women in our lives. On Monday, the P&Fs conducted our Mother’s Day raffle and Tuesday was the Mother’s Day stall 

• I would like to thank our school community and the Beaconsfield community for their generous donations – the prizes were fabulous. 
• I would like to thank our school community for supporting the raffle and purchasing lots of tickets and sending their children along with money to buy gifts.
• Lastly, I would like to thank P&Fs for giving up their time to receive the donations, make the prizes, write all the raffle tickets, set up the stall and selling the gifts.   You are an amazing group.

I wish all our mothers and grandmothers a lovely day on Sunday with your family and I hope you are all spoilt by your children.

Heidi Inglis

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Saturday 14th May – Open Day 10am-12pm

Thursday 26th May – Professional Practice Day – Student Free Day

CLOTHING:

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 muddy, wet clothing. We have very limited spare clothing at school, phone calls to parents will be made requesting dry clothing to be brought to school.

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

EARLY LEAVERS:

Could we please ask parents that if you need to collect your child/ren early could you please ring the Office on 9707 1510 if it’s a collection for the same day, as an email may not be seen in time. If the early collection is for coming days please email the school.

Ellsie A, Sophie C, Ellie A, Bentley M, Seren D, Tristan L, Connor H, Leo R, Emily W, Taylah W, Eli A, Jaxon R, Shashini K, Jackson B, Beatrice H, Etan M, Kaleb W, Parker J, Robbie P, Austin J, Charli M, Caleb M, Noah H, Josh F, Lukas P, Arian G, Ilir G, Laila H, Lacey G, Koby K, Isabelle M, Lucas H, Rocco D, Shae A, Bella S, Jacob R, Milly P, George W, James T, Charlotte B, Millie G, Courtney F, Zander B, Izzy S, Sara M, Elliot B, Tyler M, Jay G, Ruby H, Will O, Kaiden S, Ben A, Jye B, Mitchell S & Holly F.