Child safety and wellbeing at Badger Creek Primary School: Information for families and the school community

As we informed you in 2022, The Victorian Government announced new Child Safe Standards to further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.

Badger Creek Primary School has reviewed and updated our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. These are available to view on our school’s website https://badgerps.vic.edu.au/

Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students: The policies that you will find on our website https://badgerps.vic.edu.au/policies/ are:

• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• Child Safety Code of Conduct
• Child safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure
• Complaints Policy
• Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy
• Bullying Prevention Policy
• Volunteers Policy
• Visitors Policy
• Digital Learning Policy

We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.

As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at Badger Creek Primary School we welcome and encourage your feedback. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact our principal or assistant principal via phone (03) 5962 4019 or email badger.creek.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Badger Creek Primary School is committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where students are safe and feel safe.

The Department of Education (the department) values your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal and health information that schools collect.

All school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law and the Schools’ Privacy Policy. This notice explains how the department, including Victorian government schools (schools), handles personal and health information. On occasion, specific consent will be sought for the collection and use of information, for example, for a student to receive a health service. Our schools are also required by legislation, such as the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, to collect some of this information.

Throughout this notice, ‘staff’ includes principals, teachers, student support service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners, and all other employees, contractors, volunteers and service providers of the school and the department.

On enrolment, and during the ordinary course of a student’s attendance at a school, schools will collect information about students and their families for the following purposes:

• educating students
• supporting students’ social and emotional wellbeing, and health
• fulfilling legal obligations, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law
• communicating and engaging with parents
• student administration
• school management
• supporting policy in relation to student education and wellbeing.

If this information is not collected, schools may be unable to provide optimal education or support to students or fulfil legal obligations.

For example, our schools rely on parents to provide health information about any medical condition or disability that their child has, medication their child may take while at school, any known allergies and contact details of their child’s doctor. If parents do not provide all relevant health information, this may put their child’s health at risk.

Our schools also require current, relevant information about all parents and carers so that schools can take account of safety concerns that affect their children. Parents should provide schools with copies of all current parenting plans and court orders about or that affect their children and provide updated copies when they change.

When parents enrol their child in primary school, they will be asked to provide personal and health information in several ways, including via the Enrolment Form, the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and the Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) Transition Form.

The Enrolment Form is used to collect information that is essential for the purposes listed above, and requests information such as:

• Emergency contacts – Individuals parents nominate for a school to contact during an emergency. Parents should ensure that their nominated emergency contact agrees to their contact details being provided to the school and that they understand their details may be disclosed by the department if lawful, e.g. in the case of emergency communications relating to bush fires or floods.
• Student background information – Information about country of birth, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, language spoken at home and parent occupation. This information enables the department to allocate appropriate resources to schools. The department also uses this information to plan for future educational needs in Victoria and shares some information with the Commonwealth government to monitor, plan and allocate resources.
• Immunisation status – This assists schools to manage health risks and legal obligations. The department may also provide this information to the Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to assess immunisation rates in Victoria, but not in a way which identifies students.
• Visa status – This is required to process a student’s enrolment.

All schools may use departmental systems and online tools such as apps and other software to effectively collect and manage information about students and families for the purposes listed above.

When schools use these online tools, they take steps to ensure that student information is secure. If parents or carers have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact the school.

School staff will only share student and family information with other school staff who need to know to enable them to educate or support the student as described above. Information will only be shared outside the school (and outside the department) as required or authorised by law, including where sharing is required to meet duty of care, anti-discrimination, occupational health and safety, and child wellbeing and safety obligations. The information collected will not be disclosed beyond the school and department without parent consent unless such disclosure is lawful.

When a student transfers to another school (including Catholic, independent and interstate), personal and/or health information about that student may be transferred to the next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of the student and assists the next school to provide the best possible education and support to the student. For further detail about how and what level of information is provided to the next school, refer to the: Enrolment: Student transfers between schools

Schools only provide school reports and ordinary school communications to students, parents, carers or others who have a legal right to that information. Requests for access to other student information or by others must be made by lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

To update student or family information, parents should contact their school.

IMPORTANT SCHOOL DATES

Important school dates to remember:

10/3 – Kayaking on the River – Grade 5 / 6 students (optional)

13/3 – Labour Day public holiday

17/3 – School curriculum Day

27/3 – School assembly – 2.45-3.30pm

29/3 – School Celebration Night – 4.30-6.30pm

31/3 – School curriculum Day

7/4 – Last day of term 1 – assembly 1.30-2.30pm – 2.30pm school finish

It has been a wonderful start to the year in the BCPS art room. Our students are exploring printmaking, drawing and collage this term and have been experimenting with a range of printmaking processes.

In prep, our students have been mark-making with found objects. They have been using a stamping technique to find out what marks objects make when dipped in paint and have created a range of textures and patterns in their work. They are now exploring monoprinting, focusing on how to use this technique to print a self-portrait. They are looking at what shapes our faces make when we show different expressions and are using these findings to make a funny face portrait.

Our grade 1/2 cohort are looking at the contemporary artist/illustrator Gareth Lucas. Inspired by the textural component in Lucas’ work, students have been making papers using a range of printmaking techniques including stamping and monoprinting. They will then use these beautiful papers to collage their own bird into an artwork. They are focussing on texture and colour, exploring how colour choices such as warm/cool colours and complementary/analogous colours can create different outcomes in their final piece.

During our grade 3/4 art classes we have been looking at the work of artist Keith Haring. The students have noticed that he uses a lot of movement and colour in his work and are using this to inspire their own characters. These final silhouetted characters will be collaged onto a background that students have created using collagraph printing. They have made two print plates, one using geometric shapes and the other organic shapes. They will print these on top of each other to create contrast in their artwork.

In 5/6 students have been making prints using a Gelli print plate. They have been exploring the later work of Henri Matisse during his cut-outs period and making shapes inspired by his work. They will then layer these shapes onto the print plates focussing on both positive and negative shapes. Students will make a series of prints that they will display in a folding booklet. Using this type of print plate, allows the students to focus on creating layered and textured artworks.

Have a wonderful weekend and feel free to pop into the art room to say hello.

Vanessa Imberger

Art Teacher

Science has been such a joy the past fortnight.

All our learners have continued their explorations on living things in so many interesting ways. We’re so excited to see what discoveries come as we continue our different investigations.

The Prep Scientists had their first Science lesson this week. What a ball this was! We were learning to identify living things in the environment. We went for a walk around the school grounds, with our binoculars, observing all things living. Some amazing examples we spotted included: flies (these were easy to find in the classroom!!), chickens, horses, magpies, ants, trees, grass, plants and oh so many wriggly worms in the sticky compost! We then were able to record these ideas with some beautiful pictures and used our pictures as visuals for a game of ‘I spy..’ where the children used the features of those living things as clues.

The 1/2 Scientists have started their exploration of germination! You might have seen our wonderful little greenhouse bags that have been placed on our window. Each student has put together a zip lock bag with few beans and a wet paper towel inside. The process has started to take effect in as a little as a week, as we’ve already seen our beans sprout! Over the next few weeks, we will be continuing to record our observations and start to discuss the variables that may or may not be helping our beans grow.

On top of this, we have jumped into learning about mini beasts. We tuned into the different features of little creatures and discussed the different purposes of each part.

The 3/4 Scientists have delved into learning around life cycles. We started this journey off with an egg experiment. This was a great opportunity for the students to practise key skills such as recording predictions and observations and then comparing their findings with their initial thinking. (This also gave them the exciting experiment they were all begging for…) We jumped from thinking about the egg in the experiment to the egg in a chicken lifecycle. We then all chose one life that we would like to research and carry over into a booklet. We have our front covers ready to go and are feeling excited about starting our personal research next week.

The 5/6 Scientists have started their projects on a chosen animal. They’re working towards creating an informative poster that has information around the animal’s habitat and features which help the animal survive in an extreme environment. This is a stepping stone towards future learning where the students will be creating their own unique animal with specific adaptations targeted towards an interesting environment.

Kind Reminder: This coming Sunday is Clean Up Australia Day. This is a great opportunity to reflect with your family on the practical actions you currently take to conserve our environment and any goals you might have to contribute to a cleaner, pollution-free Australia.

We encourage you to get out into the community and clean up where you can.

Next week, the whole school will be focusing on the origins of Clean Up Australia Day and contributing by getting outside and picking up rubbish around the school.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend full of discoveries!

Mrs. C

Can you believe the preps are already half way through their first ever term of school?! This term is flying by so fast and we are loving seeing the preps learning the daily routines of school, developing relationships and of course doing lots of learning.

This week was our first full week at school with preps attending full time, including on Wednesdays now! The preps enjoyed being at school on Wednesday for their first Science lesson with Mrs C where they learnt all about living and non-living things. Well done scientists!

Our ‘Smart Spelling’ word of the week this week has been ‘tap’. Students showed us their amazing dance moves when we tried our hand (or should we say feet) at tap dancing as a part of our learning. The preps loved having a go at this active activity and found out that both Miss H and Miss R have two left feet.

This week in Reading, we have been focussing on rhyming words. We have loved finding all the rhyming words in books like Macca the Alpacca, Edward the Emu and The Wonky Donkey. In writing this week, we have been focussing on the formation of lowercase letters. Preps have practised their letter writing on whiteboard templates, on paper and with chalk outside.

During Numeracy, we have been learning all about mass and capacity. We have looked at different objects around the classroom and compared their weights using scales. We have also looked at containers of all different shapes and sizes and compared their capacity using water and sand. We love taking our learning outside in Foundation.

On Tuesday we had a visit from our wonderful Grade 5 buddies who helped us draw a map of our school as a part of our Inquiry unit. It was so nice to spend time with the kind big buddies again and it has been so lovely to watch these relationships blossom.

Reminders:
– Please make sure that all items that come to school are clearly labelled with your child’s name. We have had lots of lost property lately and would love to be able to return jumpers, hats, etc to their rightful owners.

– On Monday please bring to school any type of cloth bag that can be used as a library bag.

– Nurse Jody is vising on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th of March (if you haven’t already, please return your nurse form ASAP).

Many thanks from the Foundation Team,
– Miss H, Miss R and Lis

Hello Families,

After disappointing start with the weather this week, the 1/2 students have had a very positive and productive week in the classroom. We have been busy creating text to text connections in reading, building adjectives for writing and measuring length during maths.

Looking ahead to next week.

In reading, we will be creating text to world connections and learning the difference between writing simple and compound sentences. For maths, we will be collecting data and creating graphs to represent data.

SMART Spelling News.

This week is review week and we’ll be checking our knowledge of the sounds…

Well done to everyone who has  been changing there take home reading books on Monday. Thank you for sharing your reading success by showing your reading diary to your teacher.

We are looking for to some drier weather, so stay posted for news of our next trip to the sanctuary.

In partnership with you,

The 1/2 Team.

What a busy, busy week it has been.

MATHS: In Maths, the students have been practicing the use of some choice words, such as Edges, Vertices and Faces; occasionally we might even hear the word Apex. So instead of asking you to pass the box of Weetbix, they might say, ‘Can you please pass that 3D object that has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 vertices?’ They might even go into suggest that the Weetbix box is made up several 2D shapes such as rectangles.

We have had fun in Maths with making 3D objects using straws and playdough. Not as easy is it might seem at first, because we had to get our straws to be the same lengths, as well as using blobs of playdough that weren’t too heavy for our object. As you can see from their smiley faces, it was awesome fun.

MEN’S SHED: A few of our students have the wonderful privilege of visiting the Men’s Shed every week and today they returned to school carrying Tissue Box holders that they had made. A wonderful experience for them. Thank you, Men’s Shed staff for being part of the BCPS journey.

WRITING and READING: Our Year Threes have started their preparation for NAPLAN, and our Year Fours have had some time working together with Mr J. Our wonderful students continue to explore their writing skills, and are learning to respond to quick prompts, as well as working from a plan, with more time to add extra details.

For reading, we continue to move through the CAFÉ menu of strategies. This week, our students have been encouraged to consider what personal experiences, or what prior knowledge they may have that helps them to connect to the book they are reading.

Please encourage your children to read each day, with the goal of reading for at least 20 minutes. Practice, practice, practice.

Every day is fun filled in the three/fours and it is a privilege to be part of your children’s journey.

Gwen, Andy and Matt.

We’ve had another fantastic week in Grade 5/6!

We started our week with our fabulous Grade 6 Leadership badge presentation at assembly.

We cannot wait to see what this group of leaders can achieve across the year!

In the classroom:

Reading – We have continued to dive deep into the text Fox by Margaret Wild, making inferences and supporting them with evidence from the text, synthesising information about what we first knew about our characters and what we know now. We have critiqued the author’s use of theme and summarised our text. We are looking forward to diving deep into our next mentor text!

Writing – We have begun exploring narrative texts, with a focus on generating ideas, planning our work and hooking in our reader with a Sizzlin’ Start. Students have enjoyed free choice writing and practising all their writing skills.

Numeracy – We have continued to challenge our knowledge of place value, working with decimals, ordering them and placing them accurately on a number line. We will be moving into adding and representing decimals over the next week.

Thank you to all families who booked a 3 Way Interview on Wednesday, it was wonderful getting to discuss how your children have settled into grade 5/6 and what our goals are for the year. If you would like to speak to your child’s teacher, please contact them via Compass, or the school.

Upcoming dates

10 March: Kayaking on the River (opt in event)

13 March: Labour Day public holiday

17 March: school curriculum day

27 March: school assembly (from 2:45pm)

29 March: school celebration night (from 4:30pm)

Have a fabulous week!

Grade 5/6 Team

School preparedness and pre-emptive actions for the bushfire season

Fire danger ratings indicate how dangerous a fire would be if one started in those conditions and provide clear direction on the safest options for preserving life. They can be a trigger for action in community and for school and household level fire plans.

Schools and children’s services listed on the Department of Education and Training’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR) and those at some lower risk of bushfire or grassfire on the Category 4 list will be closed when a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast in their Bureau of Meteorology district. 

Schools and early childhood services listed on the Department of Education and Training’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR) and those at lower risk of bushfire or grassfire on the Category 4 list take pre-emptive actions on elevated fire danger days to minimise the risk of being caught in a fire in these conditions. The category of risk (per the BARR or Category 4 list) determines the actions that the school or early childhood service will need to take on days of elevated fire danger.

Our school has been identified as being one of these schools at high bushfire or grassfire risk, and is listed on the Bushfire at Risk Register (BARR)  school.

Our school will enact its pre-emptive action plan for closure on a day forecasted as Extreme fire danger rating in our local government area (LGA), The Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Our will enact its pre-emptive action plan for remote learning on a day forecasted as High and Extreme fire danger ratings in our local government area (LGA), The Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Our school will close on a day forecasted as Catastrophic fire danger rating in Central fire district.

The department will advise our school of the potential for a Catastrophic fire danger rating as information becomes available, however the pre-emptive closure will be confirmed by 1pm the day prior to Catastrophic fire danger day. 

Fire danger ratings are forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology up to four days in advance. Should a Catastrophic day be forecast, we will notify you of the potential closure by an email or hard copy letter and a Compass message.  Closure of the school due to a forecast Catastrophic day will be confirmed on the day prior and we will provide you with advice before the end of the school day.

Once confirmed, the decision to close will not change, regardless of improvements in the weather forecast.  This is to avoid confusion and help your family plan alternative care arrangements for your child.  It is also important to note that:

•         No staff will be on site on days where the school is closed due to a forecast Catastrophic day.
•         Out-of-school-hours care will also be cancelled on these days.
•         School camps will be cancelled if a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast for the Bureau of Meteorology district in which the camp is located, or if the travel involves passing through areas that have Catastrophic fire danger.
•         All bus routes that travel through the Catastrophic area will be cancelled.
•         Depending on which fire weather district is impacted, bus route cancellations may affect our school.

Families are encouraged to enact their Bushfire Survival Plan on Catastrophic fire danger rating days. On such days, children should never be left at home alone or in the care of older children.

For those of us living in a bushfire prone area, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) advises that when Catastrophic days are forecast, the safest option is to leave the night before or early on the morning of the Catastrophic day.

As part of preparing our school for potential hazards such as fire, we have updated and completed our Emergency Management Plan and reprioritised any maintenance works that may assist in preparing for the threat of fire and cleared our facility’s grounds and gutters.

What can parents do?

•         Make sure your family’s bushfire survival plan is up-to-date and includes alternative care arrangements in the event that our school is undertaking remote and flexible learning and/or closed due to elevated fire danger or a Catastrophic fire forecast. Further information can be found on the CFA’s website.
•         Ensure we have your current contact details, including your mobile phone numbers.  Keep in touch with us by reading our newsletters, by talking to the principal about our emergency management plan.
•         Most importantly at this time of year, if you’re planning a holiday or short stay in the bush or in a coastal area, you should check warnings in advance of travel and remain vigilant during your stay.
•         If your child is old enough, talk to them about bushfires and your family’s Bushfire Survival Plan.
•         You can access current information about school and early childhood services closures, including those due to elevated fire danger, on the Department of Education and Training’s website – see http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/pages/closures.aspx

Multiple sources that offer information on emergencies are listed below:

•         VicEmergency app – that can be downloaded on your android and iOS mobile devices
•         VicEmergency Hotline (1800 226 226)
•         Website https://emergency.vic.gov.au
•         Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vicemergency)
•         Twitter (https://twitter.com/vicemergency)

·         ABC local radio, Sky News and other emergency broadcasters