Newsletter – Term 4, Week 10 2020

We are heading into our final week of the strangest school year we have ever experienced. We have had a year in and out of Remote Learning and our students, teachers and families have been so resilient during this time. We cannot thank you enough for the community support we have received, particularly during the Remote Learning period.

We look forward to moving into our last week of school and celebrating with our students as well as packing up our classrooms and learning spaces. Our Senior students celebrated at Adventure Park last week and our Year 6 students have graduation on Wednesday. Our Prep and Junior students are going to the movies on Monday and our Middles to Supa World on Thursday.

This newsletter contains a lot of information. Next week there will be short newsletter produced on Thursday.

LAST DAY OF THE YEAR FOR OUR STUDENTS – is Thursday 17^th December. School will end at 3.30pm (normal time).

CURRICULUM DAY / OSHC – Friday 18^th December is a Curriculum Day for our staff. Our Out of School Hours Care is open on this day. Please book now if you require this service.

2021 – The first two school days of 2021, Wednesday 27^th and Thursday 28^th January, are Curriculum Days. Once again, our Out of School Hours Care will be running on these days.

The first day for ALL students will be FRIDAY 29^th JANUARY.

 BABY MIA – Congratulations to Mr Canny, Lee and Tommy on the birth of Mia!

GRADUATION – Our year 6 Graduation will be held at school on Wednesday 16^th December at 5.30pm (students first) and then we welcome the parents. The Year 6 families have been contacted with further details.

REPORTS – This week a letter was sent home via Sentral around changes to the report system this semester. Due to the unprecedented year we have had there are changes to how we will report this semester. Please refer to the letter if you have any questions. Reports will be sent out via Sentral on Wednesday 16^th December.

BUILDING WORKS – Thank you to those parents who completed the building works survey. Our students and teachers have also participated in the survey. This information will help form STEP ONE in our building works process. After we have completed the feedback and educational rational the next steps include appointing an architect and undertaking planning. This is a process coordinated by the Victoria Schools Building Authority (VSBA).

THANK YOU and GOODBYE – We would like to thank Miss Morris and Mr Chapman for their time at Bellaire PS. They are leaving us at the end of this year and will be missed by both staff and students. We wish them all the best in their new ventures.

NEW STAFF IN 2021 – Today we welcomed our new staff on site for our 2021 ‘Step Up Day’. Our new staff include Mrs Abbey Loney (Assistant Principal), Mrs Heather McArthur (Year 1), Miss Chloe Burns (Year 2), Miss Taylor Crompton (Year 4), Miss Ellie Down (Year 5) and we welcome back Mrs Alex Forsman (Year 3). Below are our year 1 – 6 classroom teachers for 2021 (Prep teachers have already been posted). We will post photos of our specialist and leadership teams at the start of 2021.

BOOK LISTS – Your child’s booklist for 2021 is now available online through WINC via the link below. Your access key is: 6WU8S.
There will be no hard copies distributed this year. Please order promptly to ensure delivery via Australia Post.

https://www.wincschools.com.au/VIC/Highton/Bellaire-Primary-School

SENIOR CHRISTMAS FAIR – On Thursday our Senior students held their Christmas Fair. Every student in the school got to visit the fair. It was AMAZING and everything sold out! The students raised $1600 that will be donated to the Kmart Wishing Tree and $55.25 donated to GAWS (to cater for non-Christmas celebrating families). Congratulations to all our students on their efforts.

LOLLIES / FOOD – Due to the situation we are in we are requesting that the students do not give out food (candy canes etc). We appreciate that it is a lovely thought, however we would prefer if this did not occur. Thank you or your understanding.

Have a wonderful weekend – enjoy the warm weather!

SCHOOL COUNCIL UPDATE

TERRACE – PLANNED WORKS 

Over the course of the past 18 months-2 years, the school council (comprising the Principal, and teacher and parent representatives) have been focused on ways to maximize Bellaire’s outdoor spaces.  This has involved engagement with students, teachers and the school community, to understand their wants and needs and ensure any design is fit for purpose.

With the assistance of a landscape architect, school council has developed a plan to revitalize the bottom oval (the Terrace) into a dedicated sporting play area designed for use and access by all students.  The proposed space maximizes the existing outdoor space and natural slope by creating theatrette style seating, a running track, AstroTurf soccer pitch, ‘Gaga Pit’, 4 square courts and storage areas.  This is demonstrated in the attached sketch.

The School Council had intended to complete the Terrace in stages, with stage 1 commencing this year, however as we moved to finalise the design, the State Government announced a Minor Capital Works Grants Program.  We felt Bellaire would be a prime candidate for receiving funds under this grant and submitted an application, with the view that if we were successful, we would be able to complete the landscape design all at once.  The assessment of applications took much longer than anticipated due to the volume of applications, and we have only last week been advised that unfortunately Bellaire was not successful in receiving the grant.

The revitalization of the Terrace will be completed in stages (due to cost) and school council will prepare for commencement of Stage 1 when we meet again early next year.

I would again like to acknowledge the hard work of school council in bringing this concept to life – particularly Paul Di Stefano and Suz Prendergast, who spent many, many hours with the architect in the planning stages.

We hope you will all be as excited about the design as we are and we look forward to sharing updates as we move to turning soil!

Angela Sormaz

School Council President

Principal

SCHOOL BANKING ANNOUNCEMENT

From Term 1, 2021 the Victorian Government has ceased school banking programs in Victorian government schools. As a result, the CommBank School Banking program will no longer operate at our school after the end of this term. If you are unsure of other methods of depositing to your child’s account, please feel free to contact the Bank’s general enquiries hotline on 13 2221 or alternatively visit your local CommBank branch.

We would like to thank you for your participation and support throughout the School Banking program.