Newsletter – Term 2, Week 1, 2022

Welcome back to Term 2! It was fantastic to see so many smiling faces on day one and hear all about the wonderful holiday break families had. This term is and nine-week term. Like every other term there is a lot going on within the school. Already, we had our Year 5 students travel up to Sovereign Hill to what was from all reports a fantastic excursion.

DATES FOR TERM 2 (that we know of so far) …

• Tuesday 3^rd May – Prep 2023 Information Night – 6pm
• Monday 10^th May – NAPLAN begins – Year 3 & Year 5 students
• Friday 13^th May – Assembly 3pm
• Monday 16^th May – School Council Meeting 6.30pm
• Wednesday 18^th May – Year 3-6 Athletics – Landy Field
• Monday 23^rd May – Education Week Begins
• Friday 27^th May – Reconciliation Week Begins
• Friday 27^th May – Lightning Premiership – Year 5 & 6 students
• Friday 10^th June – Assembly 3pm
• Monday 13^th June – Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
• Wednesday 22^nd June – Student Reports Published on Sentral
• Friday 24^th June – Last day of term 2 2.30pm finish

HOLIDAY WORKS

Over the holidays we had some maintenance works completed on all our playgrounds. There are still some things to be completed. The shade sails are currently being cleaned and repaired. They will be reinstalled in the next few weeks. We will also have a delivery of soft-fall surfacing in the next few weeks to top up our playgrounds.

PREP 2023 INFORMATION NIGHT

We will be holding our Prep 2023 Information Night on Tuesday 3^rd May at 6pm. We have advertised this at local kindergartens and day care centers. However, if you know anyone who would be keen to attend, please feel free to pass on this information.

Please note – if you already have children at Bellaire PS then this information will not be new. However, feel free to attend if you wish.

NAPLAN 2022

This year is the first year that NAPLAN testing is being completed online. NAPLAN will take place over a week (week beginning Monday 10^th May) for our Year 3 and Year 5 students. While NAPLAN is an important aspect of schooling in Australia, it is important that we remember it is one test on one day. We endeavour to make the experience as stress-free as possible for our students. All students in our school have different strengths and weaknesses and we like to celebrate all their achievements, not just academic achievements.

Principal

This week our shout out goes to our parent community. School holidays are an amazing opportunity for students, families and staff to reset, reenergise and relax after busy terms of learning. That said, they can sometimes present a challenge in that students can be somewhat unsettled and out of routine upon returning to school. However, we have noted a really smooth transition to the start of this term, and no doubt that is due to the wonderful support families have provided their children. Our parent community at Bellaire are incredibly supportive, invested and nurturing, and we consider ourselves extremely privileged to work alongside you all. So thank you! Team work makes the dream work.

Assistant Principals

Dear School Community,

Welcome to Term 2!  I hope you all enjoyed the school holidays and subsequent long weekends/short work weeks and took advantage of some of the lovely warm Autumn days we had.

The School Council held our AGM and initial school council meetings in March, where we welcomed three new councillors – parent representatives Erin McHugh and Cameron Knell; and staff representative Miss Matilda Fitzgerald.  Office bearers were also appointed at the AGM and I am excited to be representing the school as Council President for another term.  Supporting me as fellow office bearers will be Kristy Lazic – Vice President; Olivia Johnstone – Treasurer; and Ben Raidme – Secretary.   We look forward to another busy and productive year.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise our outgoing school council members, whose tenures finished in March – Leigh McCorkell and Jamie Westhorpe after 4 years of membership; and Mrs Kate Esam after 2 years. Through their professionalism, knowledge, and dedication they supported the vision of our school, supported families, and maintained and built on the school’s facilities, continuing to make our school a fantastic place for all our students to learn.

The school leadership team and council have continued to work with the architects and school building authority on plans for the new school build, and we hope to be able to share the design with the community soon.  At this stage, we are hopeful that building will commence in Term 4.

We also continue to develop plans for an upgrade of the Terrace, again working with the school building authority, and will commence physical work on this space as soon as we are able.   A huge thank you to Steve Knuckey for his support with this.

We will endeavour to communicate with school community after each council meeting, to keep you updated with policy changes, building works and other key initiatives.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you wish to discuss any of the above or raise a topic for consideration.  I can be contacted via email at Angela.Sormaz@education.vic.gov.au or feel free to leave a message with the office and I can get in touch.

School Council President

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