Messages from Mrs Inglis

Hello everyone.  I hope you are travelling well.  As we sit in winter, it can certainly challenge our mental and physical wellbeing with the cold, dark days and not having as much opportunity to get outside.  I know I can gravitate to the comfort food more than I do in the summer months.  One of our students uses affirmations to support her mental wellbeing and they are great.  I have asked her to provide me with some so I can share them with the community through the newsletter, assemblies and we might even put one out on the front sign.  Here is one she has chosen for us today:

‘I’m choosing to have an amazing day.’

Book Week

We are holding our Book Week celebration on Thursday 18th August.  On this day we are asking all our students to dress up as a character from a book.  This year’s theme is ‘Dreaming with eyes open’.  We are using this week to celebrate and encourage all our students to engage in reading.  We will have special whole school activities to promote visualising and connecting to the text.  The SRC are also organise a fundraising day on this date and more information about this will be coming soon – I will let them introduce it to the community first.

At Beacy, we love all our students to be able to and enjoy reading.  We know that we can read for pleasure and open up our world to great ideas.  We also know that we can read to learn about new concepts and topics.  Have fun working with your child to choose an outfit for the dress up.

Tree Planting

On Tuesday we hosted Brad Battin at our school.  Brad provided our school with trees to plant in our school grounds.  We selected some of our grade 6 students to meet with him to plant them near our grade 1 portables – under the coverway.  The plants are all indigenous to Beaconsfield.  The students had a great time planting and then spent some time asking Brad questions about looking after our planet, what we can do as a community and at school level, and renewable energy.  He was put under a bit of pressure with the questions, and I reflected that if this is what is on the front of the minds of our young people, our future looks good.

Thank you to Trish for organising this for our students. Here is a recount from our school captain, Tahlia:

“On the 26th of July the school captains, science captains, SRC captain, Max, Caleb and Sophie met up with Brad Battin, our local minister, to do some planting.  It was a really fun time planting all the beautiful indigenous plants and asking Brad Battin questions we came up with.  Overall, it was a really fun day and now have some new plants in our school.”

eSafety – Parents support

Last week the leadership team listened to Susan McLean speak about cyber safety.  Susan was a member of the Victorian Police for 27 years and is widely known as the ‘cyber cop’. She was appointed to a position involving cyber safety and young people.  She now spends her time educating parents, schools, businesses and sports clubs on cyber safety.

We all know that the internet and smart phones have changed the way we live and have provided us with many benefits.  However, we also know that they have made our lives more complexed and challenging – and we are adults.  When we put these devices in the hands of our young people while they are still forming their brain to know ‘right from wrong’ and what is safe and unsafe practices, we need to tread slowly and cautiously.  We are often told of analogues such as ‘you wouldn’t send them to Westfield on their own and encourage them to speak to strangers, why are we sending them the message that it is acceptable to do this online?’

To support your parenting and making educated choices about your child’s online activity, I have provided some websites that have great support for parents.

The first is an article from the eSafety Commissioner site.  This site is a great resource but it is also where you can go to report if someone has put anything inappropriate online about you or your child.  My understanding is that you first need to report to the platform where it has been uploaded to ask them to take it down.  If they do not comply, then you can report to the eSafety Commissioner.  The link is to an article titled, ‘Are they old enough?’

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/are-they-old-enough

The second link is to Susan McLean’s site and the article is titled, ‘Internet Safety Tips for Parents, Teachers & Carers’.  I hope you find some of her strategies supportive.  Her website does contain a lot of information about cyber safety and tips in other areas.

I hope you find this information useful.  You may be in a situation where your child is just beginning to use these devices and apps, and looking into how to introduce, what and when.  Or your child might be heavily using these devices and apps and you are looking into how to manage, reduce and support your child through their experiences.  One message that Susan asked us to make sure all our community is aware of, was that many of the social media apps do require all users to be 13+ years of age.  This is a term and condition that is agreed to when signing up.  This is required due to the nature of the content that is accessible and people that are using these platforms.  Our young people are still forming their adult brain and if in the inappropriate environment, could potentially place themselves in harm.

Jeff Wallace

We acknowledge the recent passing of former Beaconsfield Principal Jeff Wallace.  Students attending BPS during 1974-1977 when Jeff was Principal will remember him fondly. 

We send our condolences to his wife Helen and family. 

As the Commonwealth Games have started today, it is great opportunity for our students to see our athletes and what they go through to achieve success – personal bests or medals.  There are always great stories that come out of the games and I am interested to see who we are all talking about as the fortnight evolves.  I will be watching the women’s cricket team closely and hoping that they achieve a gold medal.  What event or athlete are you following?

Heidi Inglis

Office News!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Saturday 30th July – HPV Casey Fields

Monday 1st August – Preps 100 days of school

Monday 1st August – Gr 6 Water Safety Swim lessons

Monday 1st August – DUE Gr 5/6 Hooptime payment and permission

Tuesday 2nd August – Gr 6 Water Safety Swim lessons

Tuesday 2nd August – DUE Gr 5/6 Community Waste Project permission

Wednesday 3rd August – DUE Prep Swimming payment and permission

Wednesday 3rd August – DUE Gr 5/6 Camp payment balance

Thursday 4th August – Gr 5/6 Community Waste Project

Monday 8th August – Gr 6 Water Safety Swim lessons

Tuesday 9th August – DUE Gr 1 Dreamcity payment

Friday 12th August – Gr5/6 Hooptime

Friday 12th August – DUE Gr 3/4 Camp balance

STUDENT ABSENCES:

If your child has received an unexplained absence letter this week, can you please go on to your Sentral App and update these absences. Thank you for your assistance with this.

CLOTHING:

With the cooler months upon us it may be a good idea to keep a spare change of clothes in your child’s bag as they can come back from play times 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.

Messages from Mrs Inglis

Welcome to term 3.  I hope that you and your family had a nice break from school and the routines.  The weather was very kind to us and I know I was able to get out and about – in my new warm coat.  Talking to the students we had lots of different experiences happening – camping, traveling interstate, going to the movies, watching sports, shopping, parties, sleepovers and lots more.  It felt on Monday that students were happy to be back and had an opportunity to reset and are ready to learn.

NAIDOC Week (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee)

This week we acknowledged NAIDOC week at our school.  It does fall in the last week of the school holidays so you may have seen or been part of activities that were happening in the community, but we have acknowledged it this week. NAIDOC week celebrated the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  It is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Students have participated in many activities this week to learn more about the culture.  Take a moment to ask your child what they did and learnt about.

Grade 6 garden

This year I was approached by Mia, our Science Captain, with an idea.  She wanted to plant a succulent garden outside the grade 6 classroom to solve a problem and have every grade 6 student be part of it and leave it as their legacy to the school.  What a fantastic idea!  We and our community supported Mia with making her idea happen and it was a great success.  Below is an article from Mia.  Well done, Mia – what a great example of leadership.

“On Wednesday the 22nd of June, the Grade 6 students volunteered to plant succulents near the Grade 6 classrooms for a Science Captain project.  The idea started from a proposal to stop students running through these garden beds and the science captains thought “How about we put resilient plants in these beds”.  Thank you to the families who donated plants.  We can look back on the experience of planting the garden as a legacy, and future students can benefit from watching them grow.”

Mia M, Science Captain

Professional Practice Day

(Apologies for pushing out the notification twice).

For Semester 2, the Department of Education has allowed schools to take a day to provide teachers with their allocated Professional Practice Day.  Traditionally this day was covered by replacement teachers but due to staff shortages, all teachers are receiving their time on the same day.

Monday 15th August – students are not to attend school.  OSHClub will be available if you require their services.  Please book on their site.

We have one more Curriculum Day in Term 4.  We are just finalising this date and I hope to have it by the next newsletter.

Excursions and Camps

We have camps being organised at the moment for grade 3 to 6. We also have excursions being planned for grade 1 and 2 and swimming for our Preps.  We are excited that these events are happening this year, after two years of cancelling them.

We are aware that costs have increased – petrol/bus hire being one of the biggest to impact.  If anyone is experiencing financial difficulties with paying for camp or excursions, we encourage you to come to speak to either the office staff or the leadership team.  We are happy to work with families to make sure you are accessing all your entitlements through CSEF or can work out a payment plan.  If we know you need support, we are then able to help so please let us know.

Due to the change in restrictions, vaccination requirements are no longer needed to be a parent helper.  However, you do need to hold a Working With Children’s Check that has Beaconsfield Primary School listed as an organisation.

Wellbeing Program

We have made a change to our Wellbeing Program.  Liz Kay will now be the staff member responsible for the program.  Liz has been a teacher at Beaconsfield Primary for many years.  She has held many roles at our school – classroom teacher, specialist teacher and has assisted the leadership team.  Most of our current students will know Mrs Kay as the art teacher.  Liz has been part of our wellbeing team and student wellbeing has always been her passion.

Liz will continue to work with students individually and in small groups but she will also work closely with teachers and cohorts to provide the best support for all our students and community.  Liz will work Mondays and Thursdays.

If you have concerns about your child’s wellbeing, please speak to their classroom teacher.  They will then work through if your child needs to be referred to the Wellbeing Program.

If you feel your child needs more intervention and support, please speak to your doctor as your child might need to access support through a Mental Health Plan and see a psychologist.  We are hearing that there are long waiting lists, so we encourage you to be proactive to access these services as soon as possible.

We also have Parenting Ideas articles on this newsletter blog site that are written by psychologists to support parents raising children.  They have many useful strategies for you and your child.

Please take a moment to ensure that your child has a change of clothes in their bag – especially socks and pants.  We love having our students active over lunchtimes but understand that we have muddy parts of the playground where students may slip and need to clean themselves up.  Students always prefer to wear their own clothes and we have a very limited supply of spare clothes.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Heidi Inglis

Office News!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Wednesday 27th July – ORDERS DUE Bookclub Issue 5

Monday 1st August – Prep 100 days at school

Wednesday 3rd August – PAYMENT DUE Gr 5/6 Camp Coonawarra

Tuesday 9th August – PAYMENT DUE Gr 1 DreamCity excursion

Friday 12th August- PAYMENT DUE Gr 3&4 Camp Philip Island

Wednesday 17th August – Gr 1 DreamCity Excursion

CLOTHING:

With the cooler months upon us it may be a good idea to keep a spare change of clothes in your child’s bag as they can come back from play times 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.

BOOK CLUB:

Book Club Issue 5 has gone home this week. Orders are due back by Wednesday 27th July. Online orders only please. Happy reading!

July Birthday’s

Harrison S, Sophie H, Freddy P, Jonty S, Mily Q, Riley B, Ava F, Harry S, Alexis F, Grace H, Max O, Alex M, Alex F, Benjamin S, Mia M, Ashly M, Olivia R, Brooklyn L, Aaron K, Jacob D, Kai O, Amelia W, Jack O, Olivia S, Jack M, Anna P, Lily B, Luca C, Oliver C, Ella M, Leo F, Stella B, Stephanie N, Isla M, Hugo R, Sienna R, Amelia S, Ella H, Mason G, Logan S, Edward P, Fletcher S, Braith J, Seabert X, Lucy H, Sofia B, Jasmine T, Dexter H, William A, Jimmy B, Noah B, Layla D, Ivy P, Bailey P, Mileah D & Ebony L.