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 N0.03
17TH FEBRUARY 2011
DIARY DATES Monday 21st February Tuesday 22nd February Thursday 24th February Friday 25th February Friday 4th March Tuesday 8th March Tuesday 15th March
NOTICES DUE BACK BY
Gr 5/6 Start Smart Visit Gr 5/6 Start Smart Visit Second Hand Uniform Shop School Photos School Photos BLPS Beach Disco National Young Leaders Day Amy‟s Amazing Adventure You Be The Star Visit
Friday 18th February Friday 18th February Monday 28th February Friday 4th March Friday 11th March
BLPS Beach Disco Singapore Deposit National Young Leaders Day Amy‟s Amazing Adventure You Be The Star Visit
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT SCHOOL ASSEMBLY Our Prep children attended their first school assembly on Monday – I think they had a most enjoyable time and it was great to see so many parents in attendance. Monday morning assemblies are a feature at our school and if you have time your attendance is always appreciated.
occasion and we had a most enjoyable time. I am very proud of the fact that our school has one of the highest numbers of students banking money weekly at school. As I said at the assembly, there are many valuable learning experiences that schools provide for children – developing a good saving habit is one of them. Thank you for your support in this important initiative, simply because as parents, you are most influential. „Pat the CBA Dog‟ will be visiting our school in the coming weeks and touring our classrooms on STUDENT BANKING banking day to meet our children At last Monday‟s school assembly „Pat the CBA Dog‟ came to present and encourage them to take up our school with a cheque for $300 saving if they haven‟t already done from the CBA in recognition of the so.
level of student saving via our school banking program. „Pat the CBA Dog‟ came dressed for the
our precinct more often in the near future and book offenders. Please be warned.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’s) Q. What do I have to do if I bring my child to school after 9.00am? A. You are required to bring your child to the front office. Depending on the time of arrival, you will be directed to the classroom or specialist area to which you should take your child or required to fill in a late to school form. Late forms are required to be completed if your child presents to school after 10.00am.
QUOTABLE QUOTE TRAFFIC ISSUES ‘Speaking out, of itself, is no more A number of parents have drawn heroic than remaining silent. It’s the our attention to the fact that some reason that matters.’ parents are still parking their cars in the bus zone outside the front of HENRY GROSSEK our school in Mansfield Street before and after school. We will pass this information onto the City of Casey Bylaws Officers who I am sure will patrol
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT PERSONAL ITEMS BROUGHT TO SCHOOL Personal property is often brought to school by students, staff and visitors. This can include mobile phones, electronic games, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. Neither the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development nor our school provide insurance for personal property brought to school and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property. This is one of the reasons why it is our policy to discourage students from bringing mobile phones and other electronic equipment to school. We feel that students do not require them during the school day and they present a range of security issues and the potential for misuse. However, we do understand that some of our senior students who travel to school independently may have a mobile phone for security. In these situations the school’s policy requires students with mobile phones to bring a note from their parent/guardian indicating the reason for the child having a mobile phone at school. The students are then asked to hand their mobile phone to their teacher at the commencement of the day so that it can be securely stored and returned at the end of the day. While the teacher will take care of the phone handed to them, the school will not take responsibility for loss, damage or theft of the phone. In recent days we have dealt with some problems which have arisen as a result of children bringing phones and valuable electronic items to school. To avoid further issues we would
School Photos Additional forms for family photos are available from the office. School photos will be taken on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th February 2011.
appreciate your support in this matter. period between 3:30pm and 3:45pm, and all students in the yard after this STUDENT WELLBEING NEWS time are called to the office entrance YEAR 6 MENTOR PROGRAM area to wait until they are picked up After the great success of last year‟s from school. The parents of students staff/student mentor program, we have who are not collected within a decided to continue this popular reasonable time frame are then initiative. All Year 6 students are contacted by our office staff to confirm allocated a staff mentor for the year. the pick-up arrangements for that day. Staff involved in the program include all Children who are not collected by teachers, integration aides, 4:00pm will be signed in to the Out of administration staff and Principal Class. Hours School Care Program and Both the staff and students are very families will incur a fee for this service. excited about the opportunities this program will provide for staff and our SCHOOL LEADERS senior students to create stronger At our first school assembly on connections. Tomorrow the staff are Monday morning we announced our hosting a special morning tea for the Student Leaders for 2011. We Year 6 students to enable students to congratulate the following students and meet their staff mentors. are confident that they will be effective leaders and positive role models for MEET THE TEACHER NIGHTS the other students. All families should have received School Captains: Michaela 6N, Ethan notification of the arrangements for 6N Meet the Teacher Meetings to be held School Vice Captains: Jorden 6P, Jake st on Tuesday 1 March and Wednesday 6N nd 2 March. We remind families that Buchanan House Captains: Morgan 6P, these are due back at school Shannon 6N tomorrow. Casey House Captains: Leida 6P, Liam END OF DAY MESSAGES 6P Since the commencement of school, Langmore House Captains: Jodie 6K, the number of phone calls to the office Delaney 6K requesting that messages be passed Wilson House Captains: Stuart 6P, onto students has escalated to an Sarah 6P almost unmanageable level. Many of Sports Captains: Marnie 6P, Tiarne 6N these phone calls appear to be ICT Captains: Nithiya 6P, Jemma 6N reminders for children regarding after Library Captains: Elizabeth 6K, Selma school routines or minor changes to 6P pick up arrangements. While we Visual Arts Captains: Sophie 6N, Troy recognise that some of these messages 6N are unavoidable, we feel that many Performing Arts Captains: Maddison could be dealt with through prior 6P, Alanah 6K planning with the children before school. Please note that our yard duty LYNNE BRENNER & DEBBIE CUSACK supervision after school covers the
Art Smocks reminder Thank you to the children who have already remembered to bring their art smock to the art room. If you have lost your smock, or it no longer fits, you can bring an old shirt along to protect your clothes from paint, glue, pastel etc. Thank you Ms. McLeod & Mrs. Zammit Visual Arts.
Student Banking Student banking is on every Tuesday! Application forms are available at the office. Please do not send money with the completed application form.
Introducing Our Specialist Teams Over the next few weeks each of our Specialist team will be introducing themselves through a brief description in the newsletter. We are very excited to have a new team this year with Miss Tahnee Planner, Miss Sarah Vine, Mr Nick Pryor and Mrs Olivia Cook joining us. Hello, my name is Julie McLeod and I have been at Berwick Lodge since 1991. I returned to teaching after having Family Leave, with my three daughters, on a part time basis. I have had various roles at the school over the years ranging from Specialist roles (Additional Assistance, PMP, Visual Arts, Performing Arts) to shared classroom teaching roles (Grades 1-4). I am excited about teaching Visual Arts with Jo Zammit again this year as the children always seem energised and enthusiastic about the activities. The preps have made a fabulous start, experimenting with the varying types of lines that they can make with pastel and enjoying the wonders of finger painting. The Grade Ones are having fun with watercolour paint and the Grade Threes and Fours are experimenting with blown ink designs. The Grade Five and Six children are creating self portraits, some of which look amazing! Look out for our marvellous displays of imaginative Art works throughout the school over the next little while!! Julie McLeod Visual Arts Teacher Hello all, my name is Nick Pryor and I am the P.E. specialist for 2011. This is my eighth year teaching at BLPS and in the previous seven years I have been an ICT specialist and a grade 5 and 6 teacher. I enjoy the specialist role as it gives me the opportunity to work with all age ranges at the school. I am very excited to be working in P.E. as I am a passionate sport lover. Over the years I have participated in a variety of sports including basketball, football, netball, tennis, cricket, squash and more. I have also coached successful junior basketball teams. My priorities for teaching Physical Education at BLPS are to give the children an appreciation of the amazing capabilities of their bodies, and to encourage all students to give their best efforts in the subject. I also feel that it is important that the children understand that success is measured only against their own goals, not necessarily the standards of others. The BLPS sport calendar is a very busy one so keep an eye out for all the upcoming sporting events and remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or just want to say hi.
Nick Pryor Physical Education Teacher
BLOSHC NEWS Hi All, We had a great week learning all about our world and how some families came from other countries to live in Australia! We would like to welcome a new staff member, Emma to our team. Emma is in her final year of studying to become a teacher! NEXT WEEK: Nutrition and Fitness M– Making a food pyramid T– Athlete Profiles W– Apple Print painting T– Healthy Cooking F– paper Plate Watermelon
Our opening 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 OHCS Team
PREP NEWS On Tuesday we learnt how to line up at the canteen and how to use our manners to ask for food items. We handed over our pretend money and the canteen ladies (Mrs Lim and Miss Woskoboenko) gave us a Zooper Dooper. Of course, we said thank-you when we got it! The Preps
SCHOOL BANKING 2011 Rewards Program Welcome to School Banking for 2011! This year the School Banking Rewards Program has launched fantastic new reward items. Each reward item is worth 10 tokens each. Once your child has individually collected 10 tokens they need to include them in their deposit wallet along with the coupon for the reward item they would like to redeem. The coupons can be found on the redemption card that was included in the pack you received. Please remember to get your child to write their name and class on the back of the coupon. Although it may be tempting for children to pool their tokens to redeem them for reward items faster, the Rewards Program has been designed to reward children for their individual basis only. If your child does not have a Youthsaver account, please visit the Admin Office for the School Banking pack which includes an application form to get started with School Banking. If you are an existing Commonwealth Bank customer with access to NetBank you can apply for your child‟s Youthsaver account online. Simply log into NetBank, Click “Offers and apply” tab, then select “Accounts” and “Youthsaver”. Please have your child‟s birth certificate handy. School Banking day is Tuesday. School Banking Co-Ordinator: Denise Aurish
Parents and Friends News Next Meeting:
Thursday 3rd March at 1.30pm in Room 16. Everyone is welcome, including toddlers. The PFA welcomes anyone wanting to join the fun and help make a difference.
2nd Hand Uniform Shop: Our next 2nd hand uniform shop will be open in the school canteen on Tuesday 2nd February 2011 from 2.30pm until 3.15pm.
CURRENT EVENTS BEACH THEMED DISCO - Friday 25th February 2011 from 4:30pm: We are having a disco so the kids can get to know their new classmates and have some fun with their old classmates. It is a beach theme, but no bikinis please. There will be great music kindly provided by Traceye Rapinett as well as dancing games. There will also be prizes awarded for great dancing as well as for best costumes. Drinks will be pre-sold. Places are filling fast, if you haven‟t returned your form already then please do so, there are only a limited number of places for each session so get your form back quickly for a fun time!!! If you are able to help as a parent helper on the night please complete and return the form below. Please note that Friday is the last day for forms so be sure to get in before then, there are going to be loads of games and entertainment for everyone! DRIVE-IN MOVIE NIGHT - Friday, 25th March from 5:00pm: We will be screening “TANGLED” at Akoonah Park on Friday 25th March 2011. Please come and enjoy our movie with your school community and friends. Bring your picnic rug, chairs or some pillows or get comfortable in or outside your car and celebrate the start of a new school year with a great night out. There will be a sausage sizzle and popcorn as well as a coffee van, an ice-cream van and a slurpee stall! There will also be a jumping castle for $2.00 per session as well as free face painting. This is going to be a fantastic fun-filled night for everyone!!! Family tickets cost $20.00, with some tickets available on the night if you decide to come at the last minute, everyone is welcome!!! Sausages in bread, with or without onion, will be $2.00 each, drinks will be $2.00 each. There will also be a sunscreen available for purchase for $6.00 per roll. Coffee and gelati will be available at the van‟s prices. Please feel free to also bring your own food. Sunscreen: The PFA still has roll-on sunscreen available for purchase at the office for $6.00 per stick. They are very useful for all children to have in their bags now that the weather is hot and sunny! WE ARE STILL IN URGENT NEED OF 2ND HAND UNIFORMS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE YOUR OLD UNIFORMS OR HAVE US SELL THEM ON YOUR BEHALF PLEASE BRING THEM TO THE OFFICE. WE ARE STILL OFFERING $1.00 VOUCHERS FOR THE CANTEEN FOR EACH PIECE OF CLEAN USEABLE UNIFORMS DONATED TO THE SCHOOL. The PFA would like to thank you for your continued support.
Beach Theme Disco Parent Helper Form Child’s Name:
Grade:
I am able to help with the: Prep-Grade 2 Disco 4.30—6.00pm Parent/Guardian Name: Contact Phone Number:
Grades 3-6 Disco 6.30—8.30pm
Back to School Asthma Checklist Back to school time presents a phenomenon called the ‘Back to School Spike’, which is a well-documented occurrence of an increase in asthma hospital admissions in children. This trend occurs two weeks after school goes back, with the spike generally occurring in mid to late February. Ensure your child with asthma is prepared for the new school year by following this simple back to school asthma checklist. o Doctor Review o Updated Asthma Action Plan (advise the school of any changes to their plan) o Medication Review o Preventer medication scripts o Technique Review (good device technique will ensure more medication reaches the small airways) o H1N1 Vaccination (A person with asthma who gets any type of flu has a greater chance for developing serious health complications from the infection. Anyone with asthma is recommended to get both the seasonal flu vaccine and 2009 H1N1 vaccine.) o School Asthma Action Plan returned (This needs to be updated at least annually or as required) o Blue Reliever Medication & Spacer (ensure your child has their blue reliever medication and spacer device available at all times. Remember to check the expiry date and amount of medication left in the canister) o Your child is aware of their asthma triggers
For further information please contact the Asthma Foundation of Victoria on 1800 645 130 or email schools@asthma.org.au
Floods and Asthma In the aftermath of the recent floods, most people will be focusing all their energies on the clean-up. However, it is important to protect your health in the process. Mould and your Health - Mould thrives in the damp, still environment of a flooded building - People are exposed mainly by breathing in the mould spores - Inhaling mould spores can trigger asthma and worsen other respiratory and allergic conditions - Many people are sensitive to mould and may experience a stuffy nose, irritated eyes, wheezing or skin irritation - Asthma symptoms such as coughing and wheezing often worsen after exposure to damp and mould - Rarely, people with chronic lung disease may develop mould infections in their lungs Stay in control of your asthma There are several things you can do to ensure you stay in control of your asthma during this time: - If you suspect your medications and/or spacer were affected by floodwaters, replace them as soon as possible - Always carry your blue reliever and keep taking your preventer medication as normal - Visit your doctor to receive a thorough check-up and update your Asthma Action Plan - Be familiar with the signs of worsening asthma and the 4 step first aid procedure
For further information please contact the Asthma Foundation of Victoria on 1800 645 130 or email schools@asthma.org.au
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Tutoring Program Prep to Grade 6 Specialised Numeracy, Literacy & Reading Programs
Private Lesson Group Lessons ASD, ESL & Koori students catered for
0432 127 119
COMMUNITY NEWS For Sale Timber Cubby House 1.9m wide x 2.4m long Colourbond roof, 3 sliding windows & accessories $450.00 Call Sharon on 9705 1302
COMMUNITY NEWS Casey Hockey Club Hook in2 Hockey is Australia's national recruitment program and is designed as a fun and safe introduction to the sport of hockey. Four week program commencing : Monday 14thth Feb until Monday 14th March 5.30pm to 6.30 pm Berwick Secondary College, Manuka Road, Berwick Cost: $50.00 For Further Information & Bookings: Jeff Reidy: jefreidy@bigpond.net.au
Art Classes
Artopia in Beaconsfield runs fantastic children art classes every Tuesday after school from 4 – 5.30pm. Helen Harman has a studio at her home and is familiar with many students from Berwick Lodge when she worked with our 5/6 students last year on our Mosaic Wall. You can find more details about special workshops, adult classes and more on Helen‟s website www.artopiamosaics.com
TAKE HOME A BIG BROTHER OR BIG SISTER Give your children the wonderful opportunity to have an international big brother or big sister by hosting one of our exceptional international students arriving in Australia in July for their 5 or 10 month programs. Our international students from France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain, Japan and the Scandinavian countries will live as a local, attend a local secondary school, arrive with their own spending money and comprehensive insurance cover – all arranged by Southern Cross Cultural Exchange. Visit us at www.scce.com.au, email scceaust@scce.com.au or call us toll free on 1800 500 501, request our little booklets of international student profiles, and capture the spirit of family and friendship!
Haileybury Scholarships If your child is interested in sitting for scholarships for Year 7, 2012 at Haileybury, please have a look at the following link. www.haileybury.vic.edu.au Click on enrolments and select scholarships for 2012 and follow the process. All applications for scholarships are to be made on line by Friday 18th February 2011