Nerae Preece Principal
From the Principal’s seat
We have got through Hump Week. Another half of a term has flown by, and we can see that everyone is starting to get tired. So, now more than ever we all have to put our wellbeing first. Do you remember Maslow’s pyramid that talked about our basic needs, sleep, food, water, shelter, love? As our new Covid lives come into effect and as we find ourselves getting busier again. It’s time to make sure we are getting all of our basic needs met so we can be the best that we can be. One thing I am going to keep working really hard on is drinking enough water. It can make such a difference to my mood and my overall health.
You may find that if your child is coming home angry it may be due to not drinking enough through the day. Making sure that your kids bring water bottles to school is so important. Kids can refill their bottles in their classrooms/buildings as needed, and their teachers always encourage them to drink water.
Now, let’s keep you up to date, with what is happening over the next little bit…
NAIDOC Week
This week we have been celebrating NAIDOC week with activity afternoons and a trivia assembly. Our school has an interesting history for our First Nation people. I am not going to tell their story, as I don’t know the experiences and what it was like through their eyes, I don’t think it’s fair that I pretend. What I do know is that the stories I have heard, such as the Coranderrk Community and their commitment to caring for the land, and the fact that one of our first principal’s of the school was a First Nation leader, tell me that our kids have rich story telling opportunities.
Coranderrk School also know as Badger Creek Primary School Always was, Always will be…
Photos
I cannot believe we have been able to get school photos this year. After 5 reschedules, on Monday the 16th we will have school photos. The photo’s that will capture a very interesting year. Hopefully we can all find a fairly nice looking school t-shirt, and that most of us can book in for a haircut. If not, that’s okay too. It will be lovely to have a memory of our students in 2020. Remember photo envelopes are available at the office for single photos and sibling photos. Get in touch with Brogan in the office if you haven’t got one of these.
Book Fair
There is nothing like the buzz of the Book Fair at school. It has been a little harder this year, not being able to have parents onsite to browse, but we are so grateful for your contributions to the Book Fair. It helps us raise money for our own libraries at school. I look forward to letting you know next week, how much money we raised.
Book Packs and School Fees
Early next week we will be sending home details about your child’s book pack and fees. We are trying to streamline the process and make it easier for families. We are following the footsteps of other schools in the area and working with a company who will provide a centralised place for paying for books and fees. They can support you with payment plans, and also deliver all of the students items to school so you do not have to collect them.
You will notice that there will be some items that have to be purchased, and others that are needed, but you do not have to purchase them if you already have a similar item or can find it for a cheaper price elsewhere.
We are also introducing some new voluntary contributions such as an ICT levy, to help us with maintaining devices for our students to use at school.
These changes are in an effort to help create more transparency for you to know where the money you are spending on your child’s learning is going. We are open to constructive feedback, so please let us know through email, or sharing with our School Council members.
That’s it for this week… Please take the time to look after yourselves. If you are heading away for a short break, please take care and travel safely.
Nerae Preece
Principal
IMPORTANT SCHOOL DATES
Whole school dates to remember:
School photos – Monday 16th November
Last day of school – Friday 18th December, 1.30pm finish time
Student lunches – Recommencing early 2021
Junior School dates to remember:
Body Safety incursion (Prep students) – Monday 7th December
SCHOOL PHOTOS FORMS
For anyone who needs a new school photo form, please see below.
NAIDOC Celebration Day
THIS WEEK IN ART
Hello Badger Creek Community,
This week in art we have been experimenting with new techniques and materials.
Our 5/6 classes tried their hand at screen-printing onto fabric. They are creating a cushion which will be a combination of screen-printed designs and a range of sewing and craft applications. It was a messy and slightly chaotic process, but the students were happy with the results.
The Grade 3/4 classes began covering their puppet armatures with Plaster of Paris bandages this week and they are really starting to take shape. We discussed using different mediums such as plaster to make artwork and students gave their opinions about working with a new material. Some students loved the feel of the plaster bandages and found the process relaxing, while others said they found the texture unusual and preferred to work with less tactile materials. I can already see my future sculptors versus future painters!
As part of NAIDOC week our Prep and Grade 1/2 classes read Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy and drew a landscape inspired by the story. Students identified the lines, shapes and patterns the artist used in the illustrations and our Aboriginal students shared their knowledge of the symbols and their meanings with the other children. Badger Creek Primary School is on Wurundjeri land and we recognise the Wurundjeri as the traditional custodians.
Enjoy your week.
Vanessa Imberger
Art Teacher
THIS WEEK IN P.E
P.E
This week in PE, our junior students faced a warmer day than usual, and did a fantastic job in the beautiful summer weather. Our Foundation students have started to learn a new skill from the fundamental motor and movement skills, the two handed side arm strike. They practiced these skills during modified activities that involved hitting off a cone.
Our grade 1/2 students are building on their knowledge from the strike last year, and are putting together more components of the strike into practice. It has been great to see the continual improvement of their skills as they build these skills into more sport specific activities in grade 3 and beyond.
Our 3/4 students have just started a Kanga cricket unit! This week we focused on batting and fielding. Next week we will incorporate some competitive games and bowling into our lessons!
Our grade 5/6s have been involved in learning a new sport…. Golf! We were lucky enough to be able to purchase some new equipment from a government grant to allow all our senior students an opportunity to try their hand at golf hitting with our very own Badger Creek Driving range! The students are looking forward to creating their own golf tournament next week, along with a putting competition .
Reminder:
A reminder that all students need to bring their hat and drink bottle to PE every week. It is recommended for students need to wear runners and sport shoes to school on their allocated PE days!
If your child is injured or cannot participate in PE due to injury, please forward on a quick note to provide to me at the start of their lesson.
Around the Year Levels
IN PREP THIS WEEK
This week in Prep we have started looking at Narratives in writing. We have been looking at Character Traits and the interesting, describing words (adjectives) for these. We all decided that the Gingerbread Man was brown, fast and cheeky! In Maths we have been using our addition skills to solve problems. We are so proud of our Preps and the kindness they have shown to all members of the Badger Creek community. Over the coming weeks we look forward to celebrating these Random Acts of Kindness! Stay tuned!
IN GRADE 1/2 THIS WEEK
Always Was. Always Will Be!
Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2020
This week in grades one and two, we have been investigating the changes to our delightful silk worms. It has been incredible to watch the differences between each grades batch. The silkworms in Prep A have all cocooned. In 12B, they are only just starting to spin their cocoons.
In other news, students have explored creating a setting as part of a puppet play based on their own narrative texts. Next week we will be drafting scripts and beginning to perform our puppet plays. We look forward to sharing these with you in the next few weeks.
Subtraction strategies have been a focus for most of our students this week. While some are ready for this, others have been working very hard on counting forwards and backwards, recognising numbers before and after a given number and practising writing digits correctly. We are enjoying PONT (Point Of Need Teaching) which caters for individual learning goals. So if your child happens to come home and say “I had math with Mr A today!” you will know why. J
Here are a few snaps of our week.
IN GRADE 3 / 4 THIS WEEK
The 3/4s have had an exciting week at school. Continuing our units in Inferring, we have used our inferring brains to make inferences about text types and made sure we have evidence to back up our thinking. In Numeracy we have continued our renaming and applying this to vertical subtraction with renaming. With a focus on appropriate punctuation, we have begun our drafts of a story, we look forward to exploring more about dialogue, revising and editing in the coming week.
IN GRADE 5 / 6 THIS WEEK
As we pass the midway point of the term, the learning is heating up in 5/6. Writing classes have seen students dive into grammar as we learn how a range of sentence types can affect our audience and keep them tuned in to our texts. We’ve continued to explore the comprehension strategy of inferring, with a focus on non-fiction texts and how we can make inferences from the text features we encounter, such as headings and captioned images. This week has seen our three-week investigation into patterns and algebra draw to a close, with students investigating missing values and developing algebraic equations to prove their solutions to real-life problems. And finally, to mark NAIDOC week we looked at the lessons that can be learned from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples when it comes to looking after country, in addition to learning about the life of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue and how the Mabo decision brought native title into Australian law.
BOOK FAIR LUCKY DIP WINNERS
These students have been selected to win a $10 gift voucher from the book fair.
Their names were picked form a lucky dip.
Aden F
Violet H
Wyatt E
Louis K
Audrey M
William H
Archie G
Josephine F
Sarah W
Noah D
LUNCH TIME ACTIVITIES
This term some of our senior students have decided to organise lunch time activities for the whole school.
A list of the amazing activities can be found below.
There are different activities on different days, which I know all out BCPS students will love.
Enjoy your activities!
Happenings in the Garden
Bee Friendly
What is the purpose of a garden, and what considerations do we make when designing and creating a garden space? For many, aesthetics play a vital role in determining the layout of a garden and the choice of plants, and this naturally has a huge bearing on the look and feel of a garden. However, if aesthetics become the overriding concern in the design of a garden, other important aspects have to give way. Formal gardens, like those of the Chateau de Versailles in France, take the concept of aesthetics (and grandeur) to the Nth degree. I’m not a big fan of formal gardens, although they do appeal to my sense of aesthetic in terms of symmetry, proportion and uniformity. But for me, that style of garden misses the point (sorry Monsieur Andre Le Notre). I don’t see the point of a garden unless it creates habitat and food for wildlife, particularly the often-unsung heroes, the insects.
Without insect pollinators, there would be (amongst other things) a lot less food on our tables. To support our wondrous six-legged friends, there are a few things the students and I have been doing of late in the junior and senior school gardens. Of critical importance is the inclusion of a diverse range of flowering plants in our garden design. These will attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects, and include Sunflower, Borage, Cornflower, Cosmos, Marigolds, Californian Poppy, Nigella, Chives and Lacy Phacelia. We will be building a bug hotel to provide shelter, and have positioned shallow bowls of water around the garden to provide the bees with a drink, something that will be most crucial with summer just around the corner. We have many existing flowering plants in the gardens which the bees and butterflies find particularly attractive, such as Sage, Rosemary and Mint, and I allow many of the vegies, such as Kale, Parsley, Herb Fennel and various Mustards to go to flower to provide a food source over an extended period.
Flowers give in so many ways. The next time you look at one, delight in it’s colour and hue, it’s unique shape, it’s intricate design, and if you’re lucky, it’s amazing perfume. But see it as more than that. See it as a vital, life-sustaining entity, and a little bit of magic that performs a critical role in the wondrous web of life.
Just letting you know issue 7 of the scholastic book club is now available.
Closing date will be 30/10/20
Please see link below for all details:
https://www.scholastic.com.au/media/5667/bc-620.pdf
School uniform orders:
Please find below the link for the school uniform orders.
http://www.aplusschoolwear.com.au/SearchResult.aspx?Labels=BADGER%20CREEK
All orders are to be completed through the website
EGGS
Here at Badger Creek we are lucky enough to have our very own chickens, chickens which have been busy laying lots of eggs.
Eggs are available for purchase at the office at $5 a carton.
Eggsellent news for all you egg lovers.
WE WANT OUR PARENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!
Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents think of our school. The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst all parents. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.
All parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parent Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 12th October to Friday 13th November.
The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.
Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information.
Badger Creek – Turtle comic
For the next few weeks we will seeing the adventures of Turtle – The most fast animal in the world. Turtle has been created by one of our students, Charlotte. Please come on the story with turtle with us.
We hope you enjoy!
JOKE OF THE WEEK
Q. Why was the broom late for school?
A. He over swept.
