AN IMPORTANT REMINDER TO FAMILIES

We kindly remind members of our community to not enter the school grounds before or after school hours or on weekends.  There have been some examples recently where our Department-employed Security Team have informed us that students, families and members of the general public have been on school property outside school hours. Given the current climate and the restrictions in place to manage COVID-19, the only people allowed on site (as per signage) are school staff and school-employed contractors.  If you notice any suspicious activity or people on school property who should not be there, please report it to the Police on 000.  Thank you for your understanding.

A Message From The Principal

Book Week at Bellaire! – What a fantastic day we all had on Wednesday. Thank you all for your support – it was wonderful to see the smiles that Book Week brings on the faces of the students.

HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY – Thank you to all of our wonderful teachers on ‘Teachers’ Day’. This year has been a year like no other and we would also like to thank you all for your support. With your assistance we have been able to ensure that our students have kept learning during this time.

This year has highlighted, like no other, the important role that teachers play in the lives of students, families and communities. THANK YOU

STRAIGHT GRADES 2021 – As mentioned in communication last week, Bellaire PS we will be moving to straight grade structures in 2021. This has been a big decision for the school to make, particularly after working in composite classes for so long. There is much research to prove the benefits of both structures both academically and socially. This decision has been made in response to the challenges that this year has brought to us.

In 2021 the Department of Education is setting the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) goals for every school in Victoria – normally these would be crafted individually by the school. One of these goals is in regard to improving the quality of teaching practices within the school.

Furthermore, it is about improving the ability for our staff to pinpoint their learner’s needs and respond effectively, and to develop their understandings and mastery of our Victorian Curriculum. Both are seen as crucial strategies to ensure successful outcomes for our students. Various teaching strategies, such as effective grouping of learners, team-teaching and quality task differentiation have the biggest impact on student learning outcomes – rather than composite or straight level. The idea of getting our teachers to develop mastery of the Victorian Curriculum and their relevant standards can be quite challenging within a composite classroom. The current curriculum (this was not always the case) is designed by year level in English and Mathematics, our core subjects.

This week the students were given the opportunity to list down friends that they may like to be placed with next year. In the coming weeks our teachers will work to develop our classes for 2021. Students and parents will find out about their classes on our ‘Step Up’ whole-school transition day on Friday 11ththDecember.

PREP 2021 TRANSITIONS – Throughout this last week we have sent out information to all of our Prep 2021 families. Transition this year will look different. It will look different at Bellaire and will look different between schools.  There are a number of different guidelines schools must follow during this time including –

•  10 on-site at one time – some schools have chosen to have 10 students at once and no parents. We have chosen to include one parent with each child to give parents the opportunity to see the classroom and the spaces your child will be experiencing next year. Each school has chosen to run their transition structure differently. This means, in order to accommodate all our students with one parent, we are only able to provide half hour sessions. If we were to run it as 10 students only, without a parent, they would have been one-hour sessions. At Bellaire, we made the decision to shorten the time but allow one parent to accompany their child on-site.

• No mixing with other students – we have formulated our transition sessions to ensure our current Prep students are at Specialist subjects to ensure our Prep 2021 students can be in the Prep classrooms. We must ensure, as stated in the guidelines, that visitors onto the site do not mix with our current school community.

Due to the reasons above, and others given by the Department of Education, we will be holding our transition sessions over three weeks on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons. We are hopeful that restrictions may change and we will also be able to have them all on-site on Tuesday 8th December, however we will need to wait-and-see about that date! We will also be holding a session on Wednesday 20th January due to the situation we find ourselves in. We are looking forward to meeting our new students!

YEAR 6 / 7 TRANSITION  – Unfortunately, at this stage transition to secondary is not taking place. Hopefully this will change!

We will keep you posted if we hear more!

MELBOURNE CUP – Melbourne Cup is NOT a public holiday for Bellaire PS.

MISS MANSON (Juniors) – Miss Casey Manson is celebrating her wedding this weekend! We wish her all the best.

GRADUATION  – There was information released about Graduations by the Minister this week. This was already in line with the planning we were undertaking. Graduation will be held on-site with students and staff in attendance (no parents, as per the guidelines) on Wednesday 16th December. We will be welcoming parents to attend virtually. More information about Graduation will continue to be provided to families closer to the date.

END OF YEAR CELEBRATIONS – We recognise the experiences all the students in our school have missed out on during this unprecedented time in history – excursions, incursions, special days, camps – these are disappointing for all of us. Camps are one thing that have been discussed at length in School Council, and with our teachers. Many schools were fortunate to have booked their camps in Term 4 years ago – ours were scheduled for Term 3. With the re-announcement that camps are now allowed to go ahead, these schools have held bookings and other much smaller schools have been able to find ‘gaps’. As a large school unfortunately, it has been impossible to be accommodated at short notice.

We are planning exciting events towards the end of the term for every year level, but these all depend of the changing nature of our current restrictions. Whatever happens, we will be providing exciting events for the students on the school site. More information to come!

ASSESSMENTS DAYS –   Over the coming weeks all teachers in the school will be receiving one full ‘assessment day’. They will be working one-on-one with students in their class to formulate a clear learner profile which details their current levels of achievement in English and Mathematics. This information will inform teachers in the lead up to student Reports.

FRIENDSHIPS REQUESTS – Thank you for those people who have responded to make us aware of some situations outside of school that impact their thoughts around their children in 2021. Just to clarify – the students are being asked at school about their friendship requests for 2021. We would like to hear from parents if they have any specific requests or concerns that they would like us to consider in our forward planning. If you prefer not to email the school you are able to send it in a sealed envelope either with your child or in the letterbox in the kiss and drop zone. These must be received by Friday 6th November.

Suzanne Prendergast

Principal

Whole School News

Book Week Photos

Our Prep Team – Alpacas with Maraccas

Leadership Team – One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish and Blue Fish – in absentia

The Senior Team – Alice in Wonderland

The Junior Team – Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

The Middle Team – Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Virtual Assembly

Community News

ATTENTION GRADE 3’s 2021

Hi Grade 3 2021 families,

In preparation for the 2021 school year, we have again organised a Bellaire portal on the JB-HIFI website. This will allow families to purchase iPads online that are available to pick up in store or be delivered.

You can access this page by clicking on the link below and using the access code – Bellaire2021

Please be advised that we do not require iPads for 2021 to be brand new, if you have an older iPad at home then this can be used. Please keep in mind that some older iPads do not allow newer software and apps to be downloaded.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the BYOD program for 2021, please refer them to Ben Raidme or Ryan Normington.

Thanks

The MLU Team.

https://www.jbeducation.com.au/byod/

Kiss and Drop Zone Reminder

A friendly reminder that the Kiss and Drop Zone is a 2 minute stopping zone ONLY.  Parents are not allowed to park for more than 2 minutes or leave their vehicle, or they can be fined.  The City of Greater Geelong will be monitoring the situation and sending parking officers out to ensure the safety of our community.

Canteen News

Important Phone Numbers During This Time

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Students of the Week

PLU

  • PAG Vivienne S

  • PHP Cooper C

  • PJB Jasmine D

  • PKE Abigail P

  • PSP Sophia E

JLU

  • JCM Ned S

  • JCR Zohan B

  • JDD Mahly F

  • JDJ Ethan D

  • JKO Hayley P

  • JLS Charlotte C

  • JMF Claire S

  • JNL Bailey E

  • JTM Emma VB

MLU

  • MAT Tiffany K

  • MJC Neve N

  • MLD Maya L

  • MLR Quinn W

  • MMC Pearl S

  • MRN Amirali M

  • MTS Ty J

SLU

  • SAW Isabella B

  • SDP Sienna T

  • SGB Eliza G

  • SKR Luke Y

  • SML Taj P

  • SRM Ella P