Newsletter – Term 2, Week 7, 2022

As we head into the last few weeks of Term 2, I hope everyone is keeping warm as the weather keeps getting colder! This Winter (after two previous Winters in lockdown) we are more susceptible to illness than we have been for many years. We have had a lot of students and staff with colds, throat infections, chest infections and more. Please take care and use this long weekend as a little recharge before we head into the final nine days of Term 2.

TERM 2

• Monday 13^th June – Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
• Monday 20^th June – School Council Meeting 6.30pm
• Wednesday 22^nd June – Reports published on Sentral
• Friday 24^th June – last day of term 2pm Assembly (including Students of the Week), 2.30pm dismissal

TERM 3

• Monday 11^th July – First day of Term 3
• Monday 18^th July – Friday 22^nd July – Year 1 and 2 Swimming
• Tuesday 26^th July – Wednesday 27^th July – Year 3 Camp
• Friday 29^th July – District Athletics (selected students)
• Tuesday 2^nd August – Parent / Teacher Interviews
• Monday 8^th August – Wednesday 10^th August – Year 6 Camp
• Monday 15^th August – Wednesday 17^th August – Year 5 Camp
• Tuesday 6^th September – Division Athletics (selected students)
• Tuesday 13^th September – School Concert, The Arena – 6.30pm
• Friday 16^th September – Last day of Term 3

Last week, I attended the state-wide Principals’ Conference held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. The event, hosted by the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Learning, brought together Principals from around Victoria for the first time since 2019.

The theme of the conference – Stronger Together. Every Student, Every School – deeply resonated with me and with many school leaders as we strive to be stronger together in our own school contexts and in our communities and networks.

I look forward to sharing new learning with our staff and leadership team in the areas of Mathematics education, differentiated instruction, and approaches to inclusion, mental health reforms and reconciliation.

We are calling on all families who wish to enrol their child into Bellaire in 2023 to enrol as soon as possible to assist us with our planning for 2023. If you wish to book a school tour or know someone who is interested, please phone the school office.

We are excited that several different opportunities have arisen for our students during lunch play times. Some have been organised and facilitated by students and supervised by our wonderful teachers. Some are purely teacher-led. These include STEAM Club, Art Club, and different activities. Watch this space for more exciting lunchtime activities for our students.

The Victorian new Child Safe Standards come into effect on 1^st July. Updated policies reflecting these new standards will be uploaded on our school website at the start of next term. Our teachers will complete training around the new standards. The new standards will be discussed at our next School Council, who will also undertake training in Term 3.

Just a reminder that students are required, as directed to schools by the Education Minister, to hand in their phones to the teachers at the start of the school day. Students will have their phones returned to them at the end of the day. We ask for parents’ assistance with this. We understand some students have phone for their safety when walking to and from school or for other reasons, however we ask these are handed to teachers. We cannot take any responsibility over phones that may go missing or break during the school day if they have not been handed in.

Just a reminder that as per our uniform policy ‘Shoulder length or longer hair is to be tied back to help restrict the spread of nits and lice and for student safety’. This applies to all students and is not gender specific.

We have been asked to remind parents that the Highton Kinder car park is not to be used as a pickup / drop off area for our students.

This year Bellaire PS has employed Katie McArthur, Speech Pathologist and Casey Hawkins, an ex-teacher of ours and counsellor to work with selected students. We have been fortunate to have these valuable resources in our school. Katie has also work with our staff, holding professional learning sessions with our staff to assist them in the classroom.

Thursday 26 May 2022 was National Sorry Day, which led into National Reconciliation Week from Friday 27 May to Friday 3 June 2022.

The theme of National Reconciliation Week this year was – ‘Be Brave. Make Change.’ – and gives us all the opportunity to do more for reconciliation in our daily lives.

For National Reconciliation Week this year, all Australians were asked to be braver on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

National Sorry Day gives us the opportunity to acknowledge the injustices of the past and the strength of Stolen Generations survivors and to reflect on how we can all be part of the healing process. The first National Sorry Day was on 26 May 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) was tabled in Federal Parliament. The report was a result of an Australian Government Inquiry into the past policies that resulted in children being forcibly removed from their families and communities from the 1910s into the 1970s.

On behalf of the Bellaire community, we would like to wish Poppy M a massive congratulations for being selected to represent Victoria for gymnastics in Level 7. Poppy will fly to Queensland in the first week of school holidays to compete. Good luck Poppy!

This week I sent out information to our families via a Sentral email, Seesaw post, Instagram / Facebook page. Please find the information below.

We are excited to be able to share with our community the draft plans for our new school build / refurbish. It seems to have been a long time coming, with many delays to the process for various reasons.

Attached is the link to the You Tube video which shows a ‘fly through’ of what the new build would look like and a copy of two plans. One plan is what we will be hoping to achieve with this build, a refurbishment of ‘Block B’, which is our current Year 1 and 2 area, and the new build. The new build will be built on the current staff gravel car park, where the canteen currently is (don’t worry, we have a plan in place for that!) and the blue basketball court. We also have a plan for the shade structure – we are hoping to get confirmation from the Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA) within days so we can begin landscaping works down on our current terrace and old tennis court to ensure we have a new, updated space available for students to use – watch this space! The new build includes new toilets, a new staff room and eight learning spaces as well as a refurbishment of our current Year 1 and 2 building.

The second plan is the school Master Plan. This includes what we hope we will get funding for after these works are complete. A school gym, including a canteen space and an art / STEAM space and a refurbish of the administration area and what will become the new Prep learning space.

At this point in time, things may change, we anticipate the build beginning during the Term 3 school holidays. We will be sending home more information regarding the upcoming build as we receive it next term. Watch this space!

LINK TO THE YOU TUBE FLY THROUGH – https://youtu.be/LQoTQWVplos

Principal

View the Whole-School Calendar to subscribe

Dear Families,

Currently, Bellaire OSHC uses a variety of payment options to pay your OSHC account.  To simplify accounts for families, Bellaire is migrating our current payment method to Automatic Billing (Direct Debit) in our OSHC Software.  This means that, once you have set up the direct debit following the instructions below, your weekly OSHC account will be paid from your nominated bank account or credit card automatically.  Statements will still be sent weekly on a Friday, however payment will be made from your nominated bank account/credit card on the same day.

Until the end of 2022, current OSHC families may choose to continue with their existing payment method, or change to Direct Debit.  All new enrolments for 2022 and all 2023 enrolments will be required to complete the Direct Debit payment arrangements as part of the enrolment process.

What does this mean for you?

We need families to log in and fill out a direct debit request via the MY FAMILY LOUNGE app.

1. Select Payment Details
2. Select Set Up Direct Debit
3. Select Contact
4. This will be the Billing Contact – Click on Next
5. The next screen shows your Centre , Contact Information and the Terms
6. Then you will need to Agree to the Terms and Conditions of Automatic Billing
7. Select whether you want to use Direct Debit or Credit Card
8. Add Details
9. Then you will set up and ready to go!

Hours OSHC operation

• Before School Care: 7.30am – 8.50am
• After School Care: 3:30pm ‐ 6:00pm. Late fees will incur after this time.
• Pupil Free day / Curriculum Day: 7.30 -6.00pm

Parents please note: The program is not licensed before 7.30 AM OR after 6.00pm

Fees

Fee Structure:

• Before School Care (includes breakfast) $11
• After School Care (includes afternoon tea) $16
• Pupil-free Day             Full Day 7.30 am – 6pm $55
• Late pick up after closing time (6pm) $1 per child for every minute or part
• Non-cancellation of booking: Full session fee applies, as the program is staffed based on theanticipated bookings for that
• Notification of fee changes will be made in writing to the OSHC
• Fees are charged for the whole session booked regardless of the number of hours used and forabsences where no cancellation has been

Fees are subject to change depending on economic factors. Further details of Fee Policy are available inthe OSHC Policy Manual in the OSHC Office.

Payment of Fees

Invoices are emailed out each Friday. Payment may be made by Cash, Credit card at the school office or QKR! App.  Direct Debit now available.