Ibis Flyer

Welcome back to Term 2 everyone. And what a start it has been!

We are so grateful for the speed in which the Kirinari building has been reinstated. We now have brand new lino replacing carpet which is much more water resistant and hygienic. Our students and staff were very excited to see their learning spaces.

It has been an incredible team effort culminating in what now looks like a brand-new building. I wish to thank Nicky Walker for her determination and hard work in liaising with all necessary contacts to get the project completed. Every email, conversation and meeting that led to such an incredible outcome should be commended.

The portables were delivered and updated and nearly ready for use by day 1. There were a couple of things that needed to be completed before we could use the spaces which was surprising as we thought they would be complete before Kirinari. These portables will give us lots of flexibility in the future and we will carefully consider their best use. Watching them being craned in and put together like a jigsaw was quite amazing. It generated so much excitement across the school community.

Easter Hat Parade

There was a huge turnout of our school community as we watched our students take part in the Balnarring Easter Hat Parade on the last day of Term 1. Such care had been taken to design and make Easter Hats and we could see the fabulous creations as they paraded around. Our student leaders did a wonderful job of hosting the event and we have had many comments from parents and staff about how enjoyable the event was. A special thanks to Prue Fawke for organising the event.

Curriculum Day

Staff were very fortunate in beginning the term with a Curriculum Day on Mathematics. We had the opportunity to take on the role of the learner as we navigated through a Mathematical challenge and focused on our reasoning. It helped us to understand ourselves and others as mathematicians who may find the same answer to a problem but take different paths to get there. The importance of articulating our thinking was highlighted and this is something that our teachers have been working on in their classrooms.

Cross Country

Wow, what and event! We thank the community for coming out in force to support our young runners. The Balnarring school spirit is alive and well. It was great to see children demonstrate resilience by completing the run. Mr Shannon once again did a great job of organising the event and was assisted this year by the staff and students from Dromana Secondary College. We thank them for the wonderful job that they did in making this event one to remember.

Grade 5/6 fair

When we talk about students having agency over their learning, this is exactly what we mean. Students in grade 5/6 developed their own stalls, contacted businesses to collect prizes, budgeted, advertised and ran these stalls. The event was well attended by the community and the pride and success of the students was wonderful to see.  Roughly $4,000.00 raised will go towards robotics which is part of the curriculum for grade 5/6s and will be used extensively in lunchtime clubs.

Parents and Friends Meeting

Thank-you to our wonderful Parents and Friends Club who met to discuss the fundraising and social events for the year ahead. It has been just over a year since the club was established and there has so much achieved already with many fun fundraising events, special lunch days and school community events designed to support the school in doing great things. It is never too late to volunteer with any of the events that are on offer this year and the committee would appreciate the extra assistance. Please contact the Parents and Friends Committee [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to volunteer.

The Living Project

Yesterday was the first day of The Living Project. Twenty students were selected to take part in the project which will continue each Tuesday this term. To begin with they looked at a previous project and saw what needed to be done to get to the point of actually building. Then they went to the Reconciliation Garden where they told Anna and Rory, a landscape architect from Urban Discovery, the story of how the garden was created. Finally, they headed down to the space where they will be designing an amazing natural play space. This team of students will gather ideas from the other students, design the play space, create interest in the project through clips and flyers and find resources and budget for the project. These 10 weeks of work will culminate in a community working bee which will build the design. This is such an exciting project which will also require community involvement. Stay tuned for how you may be able to help.

Natural learning

It really warmed my heart when I was out on Yard Care the other day and I was asked by a number of very excited students to come and see cubbies, mud play and little natural stalls. Balnarring is a unique place where this natural learning in such a beautiful environment thrives. These are the engineers, builders, artists and architects of the future. A testament that great learning doesn’t always take place in a classroom.

Believe me, I can empathise with those of you that have to do the washing!

ANZAC Day

Our School Captains did a fabulous job in representing Balnarring Primary School at the ANZAC Day Service on Thursday. It was with great pride that they laid the wreath to commemorate the service people that have fought in wars and served our country to protect our way of life.

Congratulations to Sonny Webster on winning the ANZAC Day essay writing competition with the title “What ANZAC Day means to me”. Sonny read his essay to the community and should be commended on a wonderful, heartfelt essay that he read confidently and clearly in front of a large crowd. It was no easy feat.

It was lovely to see so many families and staff who attended the service.

Artworks

The Junior School Council have put forward their ideas for the artworks which we will purchase from monies that were fundraised last year. The artwork will involve ‘The Balnarring Way’ and our connection with First Nations people.

We are engaging the services of Ron Roach, who is sourcing wood for 3 thankfulness poles (Others, Ourselves, Environment). You may have seen Ron’s beautiful creations at the Emu Plains market. Through their First Nations lessons, all students will do two weeks of work to get their voice, ideas and designs as to how Ron should work with the wood.

We are also currently sourcing an Indigenous artist to create a steel Bundjil sculpture for the entrance near the office.

We are hoping to engage Willum Warrain in working with all students to design some smaller artworks for the sensory area garden where the Bundjil Nest is (seems nothing with grow there!!!)

Our vision is to create a beautiful welcoming space at the entrance to our school.

Kind Regards

Anne McDonald
Acting Principal

From our  ‘The Bridge’ BPS correspondent – Ernestine

Balnarring PS and The Balnarring Way

Lately, the students of our school are being educated on “The Balnarring Way”. Now, this idea has been with us for over a decade, in fact, it is what our school pledge revolves around. However, the teachers wished and decided to reimagine as well as improve it, because they desired to shape their pupils into good and well-mannered citizens during their schooling and through into adulthood.

Our pledge does remain the same, consisting of four promises, however now we are following through with those promises with clear actions. Each term we will delve into the depths of a separate section. This term, we are applying our focus to the red line, (see other page) though as the year carries on, we will work our way down, eventually reaching the blue.

I will next state what the values of “The Balnarring Way” are, and how our students are achieving them.

The first is to respect and care for ourselves. Our children do this by participating in saw-sharpening activities such as mindfulness colouring and yoga, during our House Activities. Another way they show this is by taking responsibility for their own learning and actions, as well as speaking up when they are uncomfortable or frightened by another.

The second is to respect and care for others. The kids do this by respecting personal space bubbles, being patient, tolerant and kind, along with including everyone in their games and checking on the wellbeing of their classmates.

The third is to respect and care for the environment, the Balnarring Primary School students never litter, they collect rubbish, and they are always given the opportunity to join our schools B.E.A.T program. (Balnarring Environmental Action Team).

The final is to do your best. Everyone; the staff, the students, all of them I can safely say are doing their best and giving everything they do a red hot go both inside and outside of the school grounds. Even when they dislike a subject, they are always showing effort, every day.

So how do students at BPS show The Balnarring Way …

• I pick up rubbish when walking home from school
• I include others in my games and check on their well-being
• I make sure I am focussed on my learning

When combining all these skills they have learnt, the children appear joyful, healthy, focussed, and engaged.

The Balnarring Way isn’t just to promote good students and learners, but good citizens too.

Perhaps you can think about how you could demonstrate The Balnarring Way at home, your school or workplace, sports club and out in the community.

What ideas do you have?