BERWICK LODGE PRIMARY SCHOOL Phone: 9707 1766 Fax: 9796 2198 E-mail: berwick.lodge.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Visit our Websites : http:// www.berwicklodgeps.vic.edu.au, Camp Australia/Out of School Hours Care: 9769 8251
NEWSLETTER N0.16 DIARY DATES Friday 11th June Monday 14th June Tuesday 15th June Wednesday 16th June Thursday 17th June Thursday 17th June Monday 21st June Tuesday 22nd June Tuesday 22nd June Friday 25th June
Pupil Free Day Queens Birthday Holiday—No School House Athletics Gr 5/6 Lightning Premiership Senior Choir Eisteddfod Gr 3/4 Soccer Gala Day School Council PFA Pie Drive pick-up Prep Kids Car Ed End of Term 2—2:30 finish
10TH JUNE 2010 NOTICES DUE BACK BY Tuesday 15th June Thursday 17th June Friday 18th June Friday 18th June Friday 18th June Monday 21st June
PFA Pie Drive form & money Gr 3/4 Camp Parent Helpers form PFA Chocolate Drive money/returns Gr 3/4 Camp Deposit Gr 5 Fountain Gate SC Discovery Day Prep Kids Car Ed
FRIDAY JUNE 11TH PUP IL FREE DAY
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT BUILDING EDUCATION REVOLUTION (BER UPDATE) Following correspondence I received last week from Anthony Parsons on behalf of the deputy prime Minister, Julia Gillard (copy attached to last week’s newsletter), I forwarded a request on behalf of our school to Julie Alliston, General Manager, BER Team, DEECD containing the specifics of our request (copy attached to this newsletter). To date I have not received a reply. I will follow this up with Julie Alliston as a matter of urgency as I have been informed by APP, our project managers that the tender for our building is being let this week with a three week time line for applications to be received and a further week for APP to consider applications. By the way, The Age newspaper published an opinion piece I wrote, titled, “Schools the pawns in a grand plan” on Tuesday of this week. A copy of that article is also attached to this newsletter for your interest. Further to the information I provided to you last week on the added costs to our school if nothing changes is the situation that the template building is designed in such a way that will necessitate the removal of our Years 1 &2 playground equipment. Because this equipment is more than 10 years old, it cannot be reinstalled. It must be replaced. That will cost about $70,000. There is no p rovi sion u n der t h e cu rren t arrangements for this cost to be borne by the project. That’s another $70,000 we will be out of pocket!
OUR SCHOOL EMBLEM: THE HELMETED HONEY EATER I am really pleased to inform you that we now have a pair of clay modelled, helmeted honeyeaters sitting on a mallee root, adorning our front office area. Paul Whitehead referred me to a Damien Santamaria, one of Australia’s foremost fauna clay model artists. His work is truly magnificent, and the pair of helmeted honeyeaters on display in our front office area showcase the beauty of these rarest of Australian birds beautifully. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’s) Q. Is homework compulsory? A. No, it isn’t. Our school policy states that it is optional – this being the outcome of two parent surveys we conducted a number of years ago. However, it is optional only for those children whose parents put in writing to their child’s class teacher their request that their child not be given homework. QUOTABLE QUOTE
‘The problem with being a pleaser is that sometimes you get left out of the equation.’ HENRY GROSSEK
SCHOOL AWARDS Congratulations to the following students who received awards over the last week:
Charlize PL Thomas PC Luke PM Matthew PT Kayla PW
Zac PL Jared PC Sobin PT Emily PM Makani PW
PFA NEWS Just a friendly reminder that all chocolate money is due on Friday 18th June 2010. If there are any partial boxes, please return the money and unsold chocolates to the front office. Prizes will be drawn Monday 21st June at school assembly. If moneys not paid you won’t be able to win a prize. Also please note that all pie orders are due by Friday 11th June as this is a pupil free day please have final orders back by Tuesday 15th June. The PFA is organising a Recipe Book to be sold in Term 4. we would like to start organising it now. So if you have a recipe you would like to share we would love to include it. Please put recipes in envelopes with your child's name and class on it and return to your child's teacher. We would love any recipes that are gluten free, lactose free etc as well. Thank you PFA
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT CARPARK ALERT Both our staff and parents have raised serious concerns regarding the behaviour of drivers and pedestrians in and around the Collins Crescent Carpark. Yesterday afternoon we were fortunate that a child was not injured when a car backing out almost hit the child who was getting into her mother’s car. The report from our staff on duty was that in the wet conditions many families appear to forget about the safety of themselves and their children in their hurry to get out of the rain. The car park access is also being blocked by drivers who park their car in a manner that blocks the through traffic and leave their vehicle to collect their children. We are gravely concerned that it is only a matter of time before someone is injured in an accident. We have put measures in place in an attempt to increase the safety of our families but we rely on common sense, cooperation, patience and consideration of all drivers to support these measures.
recently achieved third place in the junior division of Spellmaster Round 4. Nithiya will now proceed to the Spellmaster Junior Division Finals to be held on Sunday 18th July. We wish Nithiya success!
Ice Skating at Melbourne’s new Ice House (Monday 28th June - $25) Galactic Circus (Thursday 1st July - $40) Cranbourne Indoor Sports Day (Wednesday 7th July - $15) Mount Baw Baw Snow Trip (Thursday 8th July - $40) PARENTS NEEDED FOR ONLINE Bookings close on Monday 21st June and SURVEY booking and consent forms are available Researchers from the Queensland at www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/youth University of Technology are For further details contact 1300 787 624. st investigating parenting in the 21 century and the relationship between parenting CURRICULUM NEWS and children’s and parent’s wellbeing. Student Reports They are looking for parents of primary Teaching staff are currently busy working school children in Australia to complete on the completion of Semester 1 Student a fifteen minute online survey Reports. All staff will have a pupil free anonymously. Participants will go into Report Writing Day tomorrow, Friday the draw to win one of six $100 11th June. On completion of the reports Westfield or Coles gift certificates. To teachers pass them on to be read by a participate go to http://survey.qut.edu.au/ Principal Class member and then survey/169580/1ae7/ distributed to families at the end of the For more information please contact Dr. first week of Term 3, Friday 16th July. Jeneva Ohan on 07 3138 4544. Following this, teachers will conduct the Student Progress Discussion Nights on STUDENT WELLBEING NEWS Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th July. School Holiday Program The Cardinia Shire Council Youth CONGRATULATIONS! LYNNE BRENNER & DEBBIE Services are offering a School Holiday We would like to extend our Program for young people aged 11 to 16 CUSACK congratulations to Nithiya 5L who years. The activities include:
YOU CAN DO IT!
Examples of Getting Along Behaviour Being helpful when working in a group Listening and not interrupting when someone else is speaking Talking rather than fighting when someone acts unfairly Respecting important school rules Sharing materials Helping someone else with his or her work Treating teachers, classmates, and family members with respect Introducing yourself to someone new Volunteering for community service Spending time with family members or friends doing something they like to do Helping others in need Making the community a better place to live and learn (e.g. helping clean up) Being sensitive to the feelings of others
GRADE 3/4 CAMP NEWS A reminder that the camp deposit of $50.00 is due by Friday 18th June. If there are any problems with this please see classroom teacher or Jackie McLennan. Parent helper forms are due back Thursday 17th June. Thanks 3/4 Team
BLOSCH NEWS Please note: Tomorrow 11th June (Curriculum day will be run in our OSHC building 6:45am-6:30pm)Breakfast, morning tea and afternoon tea provided. Bring your own lunch. Cooking, craft, inside/outside play, games etc. NEXT WEEK M– Craft Collage (using a variety of materials) T– Craft Chain doll/people W– Craft Scratch art photo frames TH– Cooking Playdough F– Craft Talking Heads See something you’d like to join in with?? Book in and don’t miss out!! Our operating hours are: Before school care 6:45am-8:45am After school care 3:30pm-6:30pm Our direct line is 9769 8251 or you can call the admin team at Camp Australia on 8851 4160. Thank you, OSHC team
To: Julie Alliston General Manager Building Education Revolution Team DEECD 3rd June 2010 Dear Julie, Please find attached a copy of correspondence I received today from Anthony Parsons, group Manager, BER Program Team, on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard, responding to my open letter to her, dated 23 May 2010. I understand that you have previously received a copy of my open letter, both from the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and me. Anthony Parsons responds to my request to manage the BER project at Berwick Lodge P.S. by referring me to you as, “....this remains an issue for you to negotiate directly with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.” On the advice of Anthony Parsons, and on behalf of Berwick Lodge Primary School Council, I request that the Victorian DEECD enter into urgent discussions with our school with a view to enabling our school council to work directly with an approved project management firm of our choice to design and deliver a P21 facility to the total value of $3 million. Our views and research on this proposal have been extensively discussed to date with DEECD, ARUP and APP personnel and whilst I am happy to revisit the content of these many discussions, I make the following points in support of our request. (1) Expert industry advice (Sean Hamilton, Hamilton Design) assures us that firms, including Hamilton Design have the capability to redesign the template in question, prepare tender documentation, let the project out for tender and complete construction of the facility before the end of 2011, were they to commence work within the next two months. This complies with the Hon Julia Gillard’s extended time line for completion of P21 projects in exceptional circumstances. (2) Expert industry advice obtained on our behalf by Hamilton Design (from Swift Constructions) indicates that the existing template, to be constructed under the existing management and documentation requirements of the DEECD is most unlikely to be constructed for under $3 million. (3) Having examined in detail the architectural drawings of the template, received advice on these drawings from Hamilton Design and visited Beaumaris P.S. as the guest of Tony Scurrah Whitton, ARUP, the facility we would receive provides our school with appalling value for money. It would, in fact, leave us with a bill for up to $250,000 to install an appropriate level of joinery, a satisfactory cooling system, covered ways and provide adequate landscaping. (4) Hamilton Design are adamant that they can redesign the template, retaining the integrity of the concept of a library and 6 classrooms to ensure that the facility, with its current level of fit out, can be delivered for $2 million, thereby leaving several hundred thousand dollars to ensure a high class fit out and avoiding the horrendous outcome of our school facing a bill of several hundred thousand dollars to achieve this were the project to proceed as is. (5) The proposal we are suggesting in no way would jeopardise existing building regulations, as firms such as Hamilton Design, acting in the capacity of project managers are bound by the same statutory building requirements as are the DEECD’s existing pool of project managers. (6) To adopt our proposal would demonstrate a genuine commitment to provide the best value for money outcome for our school (children) under the BER P21program at a time when there is significant and increasing public disquiet over the program. In so doing, the DEECD would be taking advantage of a rare opportunity to pilot an approach to project management that would inform future policy with respect to the advisability of introducing a dual approach to major school project management. That is, schools to be offered the choice, subject to proof of capability, to manage their own projects (this requiring that they appoint approved project management firms). Alternatively, they can choose (or be directed in the event that they are unable to demonstrate capability) to utilise the project management resources and approach of the DEECD. Such an approach has a raft of potential benefits for both schools and the DEECD. (7) Our school has exceptional credentials in the area of organisational management. We are the only government school in Australia and one of only a handful in the world that has ISO 9000 Quality Management certification. We voluntarily sought this certification, internationally recognised, in 2000 and have, since achieving certification in 2001 achieved exemplary external third part audit reports annually. In addition, I have Third Party ISO 9000 Management Systems and Environmental Management Systems Lead Auditor qualifications. Coupled with my professional qualifications – Master of Educational Administration, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, our school, is extremely well placed to undertake this project. I look forward to your early reply and thank you for your time in considering it. I would welcome the opportunity to further discuss our proposal with you to ensure that all matters of importance are fully clarified. Kind Regards, HENRY GROSSEK PRINCIPAL
FROM THE AGE TUESDAY 8TH JUNE 2010
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I’m Joanne Haines, your Personal Travel Manager. I’ve worked in the travel industry for many years, with Harvey World and Travelscene, and lived overseas in Europe and Asia for 9 years. With my extensive retail and personal experiences, let me help you plan your next trip, whether it’s big, or small, near or far. Specialising in Europe, Asia, cruising, weddings, all domestic and overseas travel needs. From airfares, to car hire, hotels, attraction tickets, sporting or show tickets, I can tailor make the perfect holiday for you. I offer personal one on one service, including home and office visits at a time that will suit you. I am happy to meet with groups of friends, large families, or sporting groups planning a trip. Let me take all the stress out of helping you plan your perfect holiday! Tel: 9769 9932 or 0404 032 483 Email: joanneh@travelmanagers.com.au **15% DISCOUNT ON TRAVEL INSURANCE WHEN YOU MENTION BERWICK LODGE PRIMARY SCHOOL**
School holiday activity. Brumby’s colouring in pages are available from your school office, when complete take your page to Brumby’s Berwick to receive a free finger bun.
MODE HAIR AND BEAUTY HAMPTON PARK CATERING FORM MEN, LADIES AND CHILDREN Mention you are from BPLS and we will give you a 5% discount for yourselves and an extra 5% donation from us will go back to your school. Our prices are fantastic, you will be impressed. FOR FIRST TIME CLIENTS WILL GET 10% OFF FIRST VISIT We offer professional, quality and personalised hairdressing. 100% ammonia free colours as well as our regular colours. All hair services including perms, cuts, colours, hair ups, hair extensions etc. Waxing from $4.00 and spray tans only $25.00 (natural products used) Shop 33 Hampton Park Shopping Centre Somerville Road, Hampton Park (just up from the Cheese cake shop) Please phone for appointment on 9799 0455
FOR SALE Yamaha electric piano excellent condition. Paid $199.00 sell $70.00 Please phone 0410 112 795 Lotus Wellbeing Berwick welcomes Mums from Berwick Lodge Primary School and supports Berwick Lodge Primary School Winter 2010 Specials 1hr Massage treatment $40.00 30 min Massage treatment $25.00 See website for more affordable treatments www.lotus.id.au Phone Suzanna on 0400 990 100
COMMUNITY NEWS
An environmental school holiday program for children aged 6-10 years.
¶ Play your part in a shadowy production ¶ Make a 3D night creature that likes to hang in the darkness ¶ If you were a bat, could you find your food in the dark?
Cost:
$12.50 per child (non-transferable and non-refundable) Time: 1.30 - 4 pm Dates: Monday 5, Tuesday 6 or Wednesday 7 July 2010 Venue: Wilson Botanic Park, Princes Highway, Berwick (Melway ref 111 B6) Bookings are essential with pre-payment. To make a booking, or for more information, phone 9707 5818. Don’t forget to bring your afternoon tea (drink and a snack). You’ll need to wear comfortable, sturdy shoes and clothing appropriate to the weather (hat and sunscreen or rain coat). Wilson Botanic Park Ph: 9707 5818 / Email: wbp@casey.vic.gov.au www.wilsonbotanicpark.com.au Telephone Typewriter Service: 9707 5568 / Translating & Interpreting Service: 131 450
Kids School Holiday Golf Clinics Mon 28th June, Mon 5th July, Fri 9th July 9am-12pm $36 1 Day, $68 2 Days, $99 3 Days Berwick driving range (undercover) 295 Beaconsfield/Emerald Rd Berwick Bookings on 9796 1898 Classes conducted by PGA Professional Paul Boxall
Moonlit Sanctuary Summer School Holidays Young Ranger Program Environmental Activities, Native Animal Care, Fun and Games in Winter 2010.
Monday 28th, Wednesday 30th, June, Friday 2nd July Monday 51th, Wednesday 7th, Friday 9th July Cost: $39.00 per day, or $105 for 3 days. Bookings essential - suitable 8-14 years. Hours: 10AM – 3PM Wear closed-toe shoes and long pants and remember your hat. Lunches: BYO or available for $7.50
Moonlit Sanctuary 550 Tyabb-Tooradin Rd, Pearcedale Ph. 5978-7935 Web: www.moonlit-sanctuary.com
Open daily between 10am and 5pm
To help celebrate Air League week in the Victoria Group The Berwick Squadron would like to invite all Boys and Girls aged 8-18 to its;
OPEN NIGHT This will be held on; Wednesday night 23rd June 2010 From 7:00pm - 9:00pm At the Berwick Lodge Primary School Mansfield Street Berwick. Any Adult, Male and Female, who may be interested in assisting the development of these young people, are also invited to join us. For more information about the Squadron Call 1800 502 175 www.airleague.com.au
CRYSTAL CLEANING SERVICES P/L For all your carpet/upholstery and general cleaning needs Special Offer 3 rooms/3 seats Professionally steamed cleaned for $77.00 incl. gst Free deodorising Free stain treating Other services: Vacate clean-up/ready for sale For bookings & enquiries contact Steve 0411 752 279 $1.00 from each booking goes back to BLPS. Plus $1.00 to Royal Children's Hospital