Newsletter 16 - 21 October 2021


Welcome back to school for the final term of the school year. We trust families enjoyed their time together over the holiday break and everyone is refreshed and recharged ready for an exciting and extremely busy Term 4.
The last term of every school year is packed full of learning opportunities, consolidation of the year’s curriculum and an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the school year, and this year is no different. So while students are having assessments and finalising the years’ work, teachers are preparing student reports and already planning for 2022.
Primary School Staff Development Day
The School Development Day on the first day back this term was invaluable for primary school staff who analysed this year’s NAPLAN data, commencing Learning Areas Plans for 2022 and continued to develop a whole school ‘Lesson Design’. The notion of a whole school lesson design brings consistency to all classes, with more consistent language, a clear expectation of the learning to take place, through a common understanding of the lesson structure. It is also intended that adequate feedback is given to students about their learning so they can continue to demonstrate improvement in learning outcomes.
ESC Staff School Development Day
Congratulations to ESC staff on a very, collaborative, productive and worthwhile School Development Day. Term 4 is time for reflection on our progress against 2021 operational plan and 3 year business plan targets, as well as preparing for our upcoming school review visit.
We were appreciative of Ms Melissa Gillett, Collegiate Principal, facilitating sessions on the day. All staff are now aware of the school review process and the evidence & self assessments we will submit.
Thanks also to staff who presented various sessions. Acknowledgement of country was key word signed by Mrs Harney to start the day. Mrs Joseph led the school vision and positive culture sessions. Ms Thaung and Mrs Harney created Kahoot quizzes to highlight SBESC health and safety processes. Mrs Rowe and Mrs Salerno provided us with FitBall drumming and chair yoga movement breaks. Mr Hume led a review of our Aboriginal Cultural plan and our ICT scope and sequence and iPad strategy. We will use collated feedback to create improvement action plans.











In-term Swimming
Over the next four weeks Swimming Lessons will dominate our school days, as our students learn one of life’s all important skills – learning to swim. Thank to Ms Ngatia who has put together a timetable catering for all students across the campus while navigating the challenges of limited space and time availability at the aquatic centre. We really hope all students make this most of this opportunity over the next month. As students tend to get worn out towards the end of the fortnight’s lessons, we seek parent’s and carer’s support ensuring their children get plenty of rest and recuperation each night, before the next day’s lesson.
NAPLAN
Towards the end of last term Year 3 and Year 5 primary students brought home their 2021 NAPLAN Assessment Reports. The reports outline students’ achievement in all areas of the NAPLAN Assessments - Reading, Spelling, Writing, Punctuation & Grammar and Numeracy. The report also indicates the school’s achievement in comparison with the National Average. All schools set targets for all areas of NAPLAN and while some schools work towards achieving a target where the school’s results are at or above the National average, most schools set targets to achieve at or above ‘Like Schools.’ A ‘like school’ is a school which has a similar social demographic to our school. We are extremely pleased to say that in all areas of NAPLAN in Year 3 and Year 5 this year we achieved above ‘like schools’ and hence achieved our targets. While we are extremely pleased with this result, we will continue to work towards achieving even better results in 2022, as we embark on a process of ongoing and continuous improvement.
2022 Student Leadership Positions
Next week our Year 5 students, who have nominated and have been accepted, will present their election speech for either a 2022 Prefect and Faction Captain position. While many students demonstrate an interest in holding one of these positions, it is a reality not all will get the opportunity to be elected into a position. To those students who will not be moving into the next phase of the election process, we wish to sincerely thank your child for putting themselves forward to become a student leader, and while they were not successful on this occasion, we would like to remind you that there are other student leadership opportunities available in 2022, which we encourage students to nominate for, at the beginning of the new school year.
Remember, you don’t have to wear a badge or have a special title to be a leader.
SBPS School Council
The School Council’s last meeting for the year will be held on Monday 1 November. The council is very keen for interested parents/carers and community members to come and join us to find out some more about what we do in the view of joining us in 2022.
So, from 4.00pm – 4.30pm on Monday 1 November, we invite you come for an informal gathering, in the school Library, to find out some more about the School Council. Light refreshments will be provided.
If you would like to come along can you please let the school office know, by Friday 29 October, just so we have an idea of how much food we may need!
The School Council is formed with the fundamental purpose of enabling parents and members of the community to engage in activities that are in the best interests of students and will enhance the education provided by the school. The School Council meets each term. Through the meetings the Council provides oversight of:
- School funding and resourcing reported through various reports
- School Strategic Directions and Operations through Principal’s report and Strategic Planning documents
- Monitors school performance
- Endorses policy and procedures
- And provides advice and support as required
World Teachers' Day
World Teachers’ Day will be celebrated across Australia on Friday 29 October, a bit later than the international day due to our school holidays. And, at South Ballajura we are celebrating it this Thursday 21 October.
It’s a chance to celebrate teaching and for communities to thank teachers. When referring to ‘teachers’ I mean every adult that works at South Ballajura PS, as they all have a significant part to play in the lives of educating our children.
There are many ways to thank our teachers and we encourage our school community to do so. Teachers (with support from parents and carers) have ensured education continues across the country this year, despite major challenges. It’s reinforced the significant role teachers play in the lives of children and students, their families, and communities.
This Thursday we will be holding a special morning tea, just to say Thank you!
TA 19 Assembly
Many thanks to the students from Year 4/5 in TA19 who hosted this Tuesday’s assembly. Ms James certainly knows how to ensure her students are full of extremely interesting facts and anecdotes. Their quirky information was entertaining and informative. Many thanks to Ibu Francis for her support with TA19’s item. Again this clearly demonstrates the strength of our specialist teachers and how fortunate our students are to experience the learning opportunities provided by all our specialist teachers. And, Mrs Southerland’s conductorship of the whole school sing along, to conclude out assembly, was uplifting and a great way to finish before we headed back to work!
Thank you TA19 and all the staff involved who made the assembly so enjoyable.
Swimming lessons begin this coming Monday 25/10/21. We ask that each family makes sure that their child’s swimming items are labelled and ready for each day they go swimming. The lesson will happen daily as per the attached timetable.
Students in the first lesson are required to be at school by 8.40 am and ensure that they are not left behind as the bus leaves the school at 8.50 am sharp.
We hope that we will reach a wonderful milestone of zero items lost this time round.
Thanks again
Copies available in the school office.
Winners announced at Assembly
- Bushra TA10
- Marlee TA14
- Joshua TA3
- Hermione TA9
- Theo TA3
- Marcelo TA17
Learning another language helps develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Welcome back everyone!
All classes have been revising and completing unfinished Term 3 work in their student portfolios, as I was away the last three weeks of Term 3.
For the next fortnight,
Year 3s will begin learning about Indonesian food and drinks.
Year 4 students will learn how to describe the weather and compare Australian weather with the weather in Indonesia.
Year 5s will work on various sport and games played in Indonesia through a Language Learning Space challenge and
Year 6 students will learn to name the various parts of the body.
Happy Learning! Selamat belajar!
Salam
Ibu Francis
Term 4 Community Access
Term 4 Community Access pool familiarisation started very successfully last Friday and will continue on this Friday. Interm swimming will commence on Monday 25 October and every day for 2 weeks.
Our end of year Parents and Carers Picnic in the Park takes place on Friday 26 November at Pia’s Place playground Whiteman Park. Stay tuned for the invitation later in the term.
Bright start to Term 4!
Spring has sprung. Thank you to TA11 for the lovely flowers from their floral & edible classroom garden and Mr Mike, our campus Gardner, for the fragrant roses to brighten up the front office. Environmental learning can certainly brighten up our school days.