Newsletter – Term 3, Week 10 2020

We are here – the last day of Term 3 and the last day of Remote Learning 2.0. I am so proud of our entire school community – our wonderful students, our supportive parents and our dedicated teachers!

MRS WESTON – last day! Today is Mrs Helen Weston’s last day at Bellaire Primary School after 11 years of service. Today the staff farewelled Mrs Weston and thanked her with a morning tea and a gift from the staff as well as the School Council. We wish Mrs Weston all the best as she moves to Coburn Primary School as substantive Principal. Thank you Helen, you will be missed!

TERM 4 – I am incredibly grateful to our school community for your support and patience as we continue to navigate these challenging times.

The scale of what we have all been asked to do has been enormous. Despite these challenges we should all be very proud of what we have achieved together. The staff and I are extremely grateful for all of your kind words after another seven weeks of remote learning and we continue to be amazed at the quality of work being posted by our students in all areas of learning.

Dealing with COVID-19 will continue to be a day to day prospect and I will continue to keep updating the community via Sentral, Seesaw, Facebook and Instagram, particularly if there are further announcements in the upcoming holiday period that impact on our return to school date.

Once students have returned onsite, all students will be expected to attend school as normal. This means if you choose to keep your child/children home after their year level has returned to on-site schooling, we can no longer support their learning from home.

This of course does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons. For those families, please contact us so we can make an appropriate plan. This same approach is being taken by all government schools in Victoria.

To support the health and wellbeing of all our students and staff, our school will continue an enhanced cleaning routine all throughout Term 4 and will encourage frequent hand washing, the use of hand sanitizer at regular intervals and the wearing of masks for all adults on site, when not involved in direct teaching.

The same process to support the health of all students and staff will apply in Term 4 and If you child is ill or is feeling unwell, they must not attend school. They must remain home and seek medical advice.

DROP OFF TIMES IN TERM 4 –

Prep – 2 – 8.45am – 9am through the front gates of the school (Larcombe Street)

3-6 – 9am – 9.15am preferably through the back gate (Bellevue Ave)

We understand this may be difficult for siblings. We ask if you do need to drop the students together, please drop them via Larcombe Street and as close to 9am as possible. OSHC is available for all students.

 PICK UP TIMES IN TERM 4 –

Prep – 2 – 3.15pm – 3.30pm

3 – 6 – 3.30pm-3.45pm

Siblings – 3.20pm (ish)

A reminder to parents to be respectful of social distancing while waiting for students at the school gates and leaving with your children, once they have been collected.

More information about the return to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) can be found on the Department’s website, which will continue to be updated:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

If you would like health information from the Department of Health and Human Services, you can visit dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus

Thank you for your continued support and patience during this time.

DATES – Our calendar on Sentral has been undated for term 4. We will continue to add to the calendar throughout the term. The calendar is also available on our website.

Please be aware that in week three  Wednesday 21^st October is the Geelong Cup Public Holiday. The Victorian Government has also deemed Friday 23^rd October as the revised Grand Final Public Holiday.

THANK YOU EVERYONE – personally I would like to thank our whole community for their support during Remote Learning 2.0. To be as successful as we have been during Remote Learning certainly takes a team effort – I feel very grateful to be part of such an amazingly supportive and hardworking team.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday break – we can’t wait to welcome back all of our students on Monday 5^th October!

Principal

Farewell from Mrs Helen Weston

Thank you and stay safe these school holidays

In the lead-up to school holidays, it’s a great time to stop, breathe, reflect and practise gratitude.

The following questions are designed to help you reflect and think about your experiences at the end of term. Reflecting on what you’ve learnt and how you’ve grown personally can help you recharge and thrive when school returns. Consider sharing your answers with your trusted friends or family members.

• What was it like for you?
• What was good about the experience?
• Who are you thankful for during remote learning?
• What new skill(s) did you learn?
• If you were to experience this term again, what, if anything, would you do differently?

For this week’s edition, I am going to ask my fellow Assistant Principal, Helen Weston, to answer share her responses to the above questions. On a personal level, Helen has been a significant mentor and sounding board for me on my first year at Bellaire. She places emphasis on building strong connections with people and supporting the development of all whom she works with.

• What was it like for you?

“Remote Learning for me was definitely a new experience. It was challenging in the beginning but became a very natural space to be in the second time around. At the end of it all I can look back with pride because I believe we have achieved success for our students in many different ways through our remote learning program”.

• What was good about the experience?

“From a Leadership perspective, I believe the experience taught us to slow down, to take a breath and not ‘react’. We got caught in a rapid-fire decision-making cycle in the first period, which left us exhausted. The second time around, we reflected on our first experiences and made a conscious effort to slow ourselves down, gave ourselves time to think and then provided clear answers to questions being asked of us.”

• Who are you thankful for during remote learning?

“I have to thank myself firstly for my resilience, my persistence and the importance I placed on staying connected with others. I am thankful for the team I work with because together we provided a space that was safe and happy. We laughed out loud every day. I am thankful for Mr Weston for his unwavering support. I am also thankful for my puppy, Ella Fitzgerald Weston, for her cuddles and love of walking and getting outdoors.

• What new skill(s) did you learn?

“I learnt how to be physically active online, using Zoom to complete my personal training sessions. I learnt how to be patient with Mr Raidme – his mask wearing (or lack thereof) certainly challenged me. I also learnt that I have the patience of a saint – my husband would be shocked to hear this! I learnt how to use the Google Suite of apps and programs, which have become part of my everyday practice.

This period of uncertainty absolutely reinforced my belief that the staff here at Bellaire go above and beyond every single day for our students and families.”

Assistant Principal

Poster Competition – Barwon Water Sustainability Grant – CLOSES TODAY

Barwon Water’s  National Water Week poster competition is about to close…deadline for submissions for schools is officially today – Friday 18th Sept. Entries are accepted in 5 categories, Prep, Yr 1/2, Yr 3/4, Yr 5/6 and special needs.

If your child would like to enter, they could go into the running to win a sustainability grant for our school. The benefit of the low entries so far this year is that Bellaire PS would have a much greater chance of being randomly selected to win one of the 5 x $500 sustainability grants.

Further information, and the entry form can be found on our website:

https://www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au/community-and-education/teachers-and-students/national-water-week

SAMARTIAN HOUSE SUPPORT –

Samaritan House still need our help, arguably more than ever to support their residents through these challenging times.  This non-for-profit charity provided much needed food and overnight accommodation for those in our community sleeping rough.

Over the coming weeks until the 16 October, we are encouraging those in our community that are in a position to help to either make an item or financial donation.  Every little bit counts and makes a genuine difference to the lives of homeless men in the Geelong community.

Because we are unable to accept donations at school at the moment, Bellaire Parents have worked with Samaritan House to set up donation bins at the Highton and Belmont Bendigo Bank branches.

Items in need this year include tinned goods, biscuits, tea, coffee, sugar and toiletries.

The Junior School Council had already been advertising and supporting this event, learning along with Mr Thomas’ fundraising to form part of the school community’s contribution to Samaritan House this year  and will continue to do so when we return to on-site.

Please support Samaritan House over the holidays.

Team Kids School Holiday Program will be returning to Bellaire these school holidays.  Contact Team Kids if you are interested in enrolling your child/ren in the program.

I am looking forward to seeing our students back in the Library in Term 4, and hearing all about the wonderful books they have been reading during Remote Learning 2.0. During the Remote Learning period over 500 new books have been catalogued, covered, and put on the shelves for students to enjoy when they return.

All students are asked to please return their Bellaire Library books in the first week of Term 4, as they will go into quarantine and be back on the shelves for week 2.  Please have a look around the house to find any library books – there will be a library tub in each learning community for students to return their books any day, there is no need to wait for their designated library day.

Happy reading over the school holidays – don’t forget that the Geelong Regional Library is now offering a Click and Collect service to all library members from Monday 21st September – visit the Geelong Regional Library website to find out more!