Newsletter 15 - 23 September 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

We will soon be going for our whole school campus swimming lessons at Bayswater Waves. We suggest that each family spends some time preparing their child for the fortnight of swimming in Weeks 3-4 for students in Years 2-6 and Weeks 5-6 for students in Pre-primary and Year 1, by buying your child everything they need from the list sent home and labelling all your child/ren’s swimming items. We hope to be able to reach a wonderful milestone of zero items lost due to no names.

Thanks in advance

This term South Ballajura Campus has been looking at Resilience and Happiness. Students have been learning about different emotions and the power of being positive.

Over the next two weeks, discuss with your child how simple techniques can help us through difficult situations.

For example if something doesn’t go to plan, we can do the following:

 1.       Breath in and out until we feel calm

2.       Try again

It is important that we teach each other that we don’t always get it right and it’s ok to try and try again until we accomplish our goals. Have a safe and happy holiday everyone.

Regards Cade Donegan

Please advise us if your child/ren in Kindy to Year 5 are leaving at the end of the 2021 school year, by advising the school office in writing as soon as possible. This is vital for 2022 school planning.

This term our school STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) focus was to create a Rube Goldberg machine to solve a problem.  Some of the problems included using simple machines to turn a light on, ring a bell, land a marble in a jar… The students had to work in teams to create their models and problem solve to create simple machines that performed the task.  We emphasised that failure is ok and that we learn from failure.  There was lots of testing and modifying before success!  Yesterday their creations were showcased to the rest of the school through a Gallery Walk.

The athletics season is now over with our final event completed on Friday 17 September at Kingfisher Oval. South Ballajura joined our network schools for a day of Interschool athletics competition.
The weather held out beautifully and our students were absolute champions in behaviour and sportsmanship. We even had teachers of other schools comment on how wonderfully well-mannered they were all day. The sprints and long distance running were exciting to watch with many of our students winning podium finishes! Unfortunately, it was not our year for the outright shield with Ballajura earning more points. All students should be super proud of their efforts. A big thank you to all the parents who came out to show their support, and all teachers who assisted with morning training sessions as well as carnival day helpers.

                                                 Final results:
     Outright Shield                                                 Handicap Shield 

Ballajura Primary School  461                             South Ballajura Primary School  479  
Illawarra Primary School  312                             Ballajura Primary School  461
South Ballajura Primary School 271                     Alinjarra Primary School  413
Alinjarra Primary School   229                             Illawarra Primary School  361

The winners of our Recycling Campus Collection Competition for this term are TA1 (with 14 Kg) and TA3 (with 11.2Kg). Congratulations to the winning classes and big thank you to everyone for  contributing to make the environment friendlier. All together our two campuses have collected close to two full bins of recycling stuff.

Please encourage your class to collect bottle caps and bread tags during the school holiday and bring them to school in term 4.

WOW! What a spectacular show. On Wednesday, September 15th, we were immersed in music performed by the students from Ballajura Community College Junior Band, Vocal Ensemble and R&B Band. It truly was a magnificent performance with something for everyone.

Some students were keenly interested in learning about different concert band instruments like the higher and lower pitch of the alto and tenor saxophone, and the clarinet and bass clarinet. We saw some familiar instruments like trumpet and trombone and those from the percussion family. 

The expressions of surprise on our students’ faces and gasps of recognition indicated the popularity of the vocal group’s ‘Wellerman’ sea shanty. Many of our students know the song from TicToc and it was heart-warming to hear the low hum of the audience softly singing along with the music overflowing from within. 

The student and staff audience participation added an extra element of fun for all, with a dance-along opportunity to the R&B band’s ‘Uptown Funk’. 

It was heart-warming to see the familiar faces of some former South Ballajura students and many of our year 6 leavers expressed an interest in following in their footsteps by applying for the specialist music program at BCC. There are information forms with the year 6 teachers and application opportunities coming up in October and November.

 Mrs Southerland

This year’s open night was a well-attended affair, it was pleasing to see all the families that came to join us for the open night and to hear the positive commentary from our teachers who indicated that they were greatly encouraged by the interest parents displayed as their children excitedly demonstrated their learning journeys across the Campus. Thank you to all the parents who filled out the parent communication survey, the results indicate that majority of the families are pleased with the content of our newsletter and that they have also embraced our electronic methods of communication using Class Dojo and the school zine App. We continue to encourage all families to be actively involved in their children’s education by attend as many events as possible, this will help us to build a vibrant school community that represents our diverse cultures and backgrounds.

TA 5 Swimming Preparation

As part of our preparation for in term swimming in Term 4, TA 5 learnt about water safety with Mrs Green. We learnt that we need to swim with an adult, listen to our teachers and be aware of our surroundings. We had fun practicing to blow bubbles and perform rescues! The photos below have been chosen by students Kiden, Seth, Xavier and Elijah, showing their favourite moments. 

Meet the Board

Hi my name is Stanley Crabbe and this is my 3rd year on the SBESC Board. I worked for the Department of Defence, I have been married for 20 years and 2 out of 3 children attend South Ballajura Campus.

Chatterbox Time with Ms Capelli

Chatterbox tip of the week:

Daily routines at home and school are a helpful way of developing communication and language for younger children. Some examples are brushing your teeth, getting ready for school, going to the park or going on an outing. Focus on narrating what your child is doing or what you see in simple sentences e.g. “first you get your toothbrush, then the toothpaste and then you brush your teeth. Up, down, up, down. All clean.” You may want to try this strategy over the holidays!

Please note that the P&C meetings for Term 4 have changed their meeting days and dates. They are now being held on Thursday 21 October, 3:30pm - 4.30pm and 18 November, 3:30 - 4.30pm

We have a enormous amount of lost property in our lost property basket.  Please come and check to see if anything belongs to your child.