Nerae Preece Principal

From the Principal’s seat

Can you believe that we are heading into Week 6! Our children are creating, making and learning. Our whole school focus has been on being friendly… and I must say, most of our kids are doing a great job of saying hello. Our grade 5/6 students have been super friendly and offering lunchtime activities which have been a lot of fun for our Prep to 2 kids. Things are feeling calm so our kids can learn.

Prep 2021 transition

Yesterday was the first onsite transition session for our 2021 preps. We divided our enrolled preps into groups of 10 and they enjoyed 30 minutes of Wombat Stew fun. First reading the book, then acting the play out with puppets, and finally a game of Dingo, dingo, whose got your spoon. I think we have a very bright and cheerful group of preps about to join us. Next week Ms Eagleton will be visiting our local kinders to become a familiar face. It is such a relief to be able to offer transition sessions.

Learning partners for 2021

As you may know, when we start making up our classes for the following year, we offer students a chance to offer suggestions around who they might like to be in a class with. Historically we have said choose 5 friends, this year and moving forward we will be asking them to choose 5 learning partners. Why is this shift in language important? Well, sometimes we might have fun with our friends, but we may not have learnt how to be productive in our learning with them yet.

We have a favour to ask of you as families. Have a conversation with your child/ren around learning partners. Ask them some questions…

  • Who is a student that helps you when you are stuck or unsure?
  • Who is encouraging and makes you feel safe if you make a mistake?
  • Who is someone that makes learning fun?
  • Who is someone who knows when to be quiet, so you can get on with your work?
  • Who is someone who always does their fair share of the work?

We would be really grateful to see some gender shifts for our kids. Often our kids pick only girls or only boys. Use this as a chance to break down gender barriers and encourage your child to think about the person rather than whether the person is a boy or girl. It would be lovely to see a mixed learning partner list from children, rather than a list of all boys or all girls.

 

Grade structure 2021

We can confirm our grade structures for 2021. It is pretty exciting to say that our largest class size for 2021 will be 22 students. We have decided to add two more grades to make sure our students get the support that they need, after such a tumultuous year. We are yet to allocate teachers, as we have to move from 11 grades to 13 grades. So we are currently going through the process of recruiting 2 new teachers to our Badger Creek team. Today is our last day for any classroom requests based on educational grounds. Note that your students will be selecting their learning partners in the next few weeks.

In 2021 we will have…

3 prep classes

4 grade ½ classes

3 grade ¾ classes

3 grade 5/6 classes

 

Year 7 Transitions

It is fabulous to see that our Grade 6 students will be able to start transition sessions with the High Schools. We will be in touch with our partnering secondary colleges in the next few weeks to see what they have planned for our kids. Of course we will keep you posted.

Continuing with the grade 6 theme, we can confirm that there will be an event to celebrate our grade 6 students leaving in the last week of school, onsite, in the evening. Parents at this stage will not be able to attend, but I am forever the optimist. So we will create a space that allows for parents to join us if the rules are changed. The grade 6 Awards ceremony will be held at the final assembly, Friday the 18th of December at 12:30pm (save the date grade 6 parents). We will keep you posted.

 

That’s about it this week. Oh, except that in our house we are reading Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. It’s a little tale about a boy that journey’s on a yacht with his family. The grade ¾ class I was teaching last year might remember this story. It’s a great one!

Have a ripper weekend!

Nerae Preece

Principal

IMPORTANT SCHOOL DATES

Whole school dates to remember:

School photos – Monday 16th November

Student lunches – Recommencing early 2021

Junior School dates to remember:

Body Safety incursion approval and payment – Monday 9th November

Body Safety incursion (Prep students) – Monday 7th December

SCHOOL SURVEY

Student Attitude to School Survey

Students in Grades 4 to 6 will be completing the annual Attitudes to School Survey between Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th November. We use this data to track our students’ attitudes and feelings towards school. It helps us get a better understanding of student wellbeing needs, our strengths and areas requiring improvement as a school. This year, there will be a few extra questions about how students felt about and faired through Covid19 and remote learning. Responses are anonymous.

If you would NOT like your child to participate, please email the school before Wednesday 11th November.

 

Parents Survey

A friendly reminder inviting our parents to participate in the Parent Opinion Survey, which also closes Friday 13th November. It only takes 20 minutes to complete and provides us with direct feedback. Please contact the school for further details. Thank you to those families who have already completed the survey.

THIS WEEK IN ART

Hello Badger Creek Community,

We have been getting our hands dirty in the art room this week exploring paint, plaster, and cardboard construction.

Our preps have begun work on their three-dimensional cardboard birds in response to the story No Two Alike. They have learnt how to blend paint and identify both warm and cool colours through applying acrylic paint to their bird and its wings.

In Grade 1/2 students have begun our Magical Mask project, exploring how and why different cultures make and wear masks. They are using egg cartons, paint, feathers and beads to construct their own mask. Students finished drawing and colouring their designs before beginning construction. They are working on developing their fine motor skills by practicing cutting thick cardboard independently to make the facial features of their masks.

Grade 3/4 classes have continued working on their puppet project. This week they made the armature of their puppet heads out of newspaper and masking tape and are now ready to begin applying Plaster of Paris bandages to their sculptures. The heads are starting to take shape and the students are feeling proud of their developing artwork.

Finally, our Grade 5/6 class has finished their mixed media collage. This has been an epic project and the results speak for themselves. They are hanging in the office hallway and the staff at BCPS are so impressed with how talented our artists are. Every student has experienced success through this project and I couldn’t be prouder of all them.

Enjoy your week everybody.

Vanessa Imberger

Art Teacher

Around the Year Levels

IN PREP THIS WEEK

This week we having been using our addition skills. Some students worked with concrete materials, ‘frogs on lily pads’ or ‘crazy hair man’, while others have set themselves a challenge to play an addition game using a deck of cards. Ask your child what addition activity they most enjoyed. 

Check out our Preps writing about what they are grateful for. Our students were so engaged and proud of their efforts!

Over the following weeks we will be looking for and showing our appreciation for Preps displaying kindness in our school community.

IN GRADE 1 / 2 THIS WEEK

The last couple of weeks have been rather eventful in the grade 1 and 2 classrooms. We have been buzzing with all the excitement from book week dress up day and Cup day festivities. To top it all was the arrival of our silkworms in the ½ classes. Wow!! These worms can eat. We are calling out for more mulberry leaves if any of our families have any to spare.

We would also like to share with you how wonderful its been to have Ms G with us. Sushma has been a wonderful student teacher, working with Mr. Anderson and 12A. This week Ms. G has introduced the concept of using earthworms to make worm farms. We have read about earthworms and have made posters highlighting our learning. We look forward to making our own bottle worm farms. Thank you Ms.G for all your help and wisdom while at Badger Creek. We hope you leave with some very memorable and treasured experiences with our students.

IN GRADE 3 / 4 THIS WEEK

This week has been a short however productive week! We have continued work on our Narrative planning and drafting, and have been focused on Inferring in Reading. In Maths, we are applying our new skills of renaming, to problem solving.

We are loving spending time with our Prep Buddies and exploring all things Inquiry! Our silkworms are a smash hit in both levels and we are loving sharing this learning together. A shout out to Sean our Gardener, for his ongoing support.

Here are some pics of Prep B and 3/4C who were working firstly on some Mindful Colouring, and then on sketching a silkworm! Thanks for visiting us Preps – we can’t wait to see you again soon!

This week we have had an exciting (but short) week in 3/4! we had our “Catching on Early” day on Thursday and the 3/4 teachers wanted to congratulate the students on their mature approach to sensitive topics. Not only did they actively contribute their ideas during challenging moments, but they also allowed others to ask questions without judgement. Great job 3/4s!

Our students have been focusing on developing their seed ideas into a piece of writing and we look forward to publishing these pieces in the next week. In reading we have continued our unit on inferring using a “Reading salad” and “I’m thinking” bubble, it’s made for some fascinating discussions and inferences across different text types.

IN GRADE 5 / 6 THIS WEEK

This week in 5/6 has been a busy few days, even with a public holiday! We continued with inquiry which is making arcade games out of cardboard and other recyclable objects. There have been some great ideas and almost everybody has started building their games.

We also started looking at algebra in maths, which means finding missing values in maths problems.

Reading has included inferring – making meaning from clues in the text.

We have enjoyed our busy week a lot and hope you enjoyed yours too.

-Lily & Charlotte

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

The Gardening Bug

‘What is it about the prospect of gardening that has got all these children so excited?’ That was the question I found myself pondering as I looked out across the throng of students who had come running from all parts of the playground to be part of the first BCPS Garden Club meet. It was a little like the scene at the local playground on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer when the Mr Whippy van pulls up. Except that there was not a soft serve in sight. Nor jingly tunes ringing out across the playground. It crossed my mind that they thought they were there for something else, like a visit to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, or a trip to the beach. But no, they were there because they wanted to garden. I was delighted.

The Garden Club is a wonderful new initiative of the BCPS ???. It is run by students, for students. The club will meet with me every Monday at the garden shed at 12.30pm to discuss and do all things gardening. It’s all about empowering children by teaching them how to grow food. Students will get hands-on experience in many aspects of vegetable gardening, including seed saving and sowing, planting out seedlings, soil science and compost making, plant pests and diseases, and general plant care. They will learn how to identify the many different types of vegies we have growing in our harvest gardens, and how they can be used in the kitchen. They will discover the joys of homegrown vegies, learn how life in the vegie patch revolves around the seasons, and delight in the many discoveries that gardening has to offer. My hope is that in time all students will be bitten by the gardening bug (figuratively speaking of course).

Stay safe and happy gardening!

SCHOOL NEWS

BOOK FAIR

Book Fair 2020

Scholastic Australia Book Fair starts today until Tuesday 4th August. We have our book selection set up in the LOFT and students will view during class time and lunch.

Students will be asked to make a wishlist with the title and cost of each book and bring their wishlist home for you to discuss.

If you would like to make a purchase go to: www.scholastic.com.au/payment

* click Book Fairs
* enter the amount and pay
* record the receipt number on the back of your child’s wishlist
* ask your child to return the wishlist to Miss Woods

Orders and payments need to be completed before 3pm Monday 9th November.

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 PS – 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!

Community news

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Q. What has two legs but can’t walk?

A. A pair of pants