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BULAHDELAH CENTRAL SCHOOL

A PRIDE School Strive to Achieve Term 2 Week 8 Issue 8 16th June 2014

Strive to Achieve

BULAHDELAH CENTRAL SCHOOL

A PRIDE School

Strive to Achieve Term 1 Week 4 Issue 2 18th February, 2013

BULAHDELAH CENTRAL SCHOOL

A PRIDE School

Strive to Achieve Term 1 Week 4 Issue 2 18th February, 2013

On the 2nd June Hayden Crawford, Phillip Johnston, Blake Bridge and Jordan

Powell from the MC (Multi Category) Class travelled to Oakvale Farm at Salt Ash.

Accompanying them were Miss Nicole, Mr Johnson and Ms Newton who drove

the bus. A special visitor was Mr J’s mum, Mandy – it was her birthday.

GREAT NEWS INSIDE * Secondary School Captains

* Chris Hoare Cup

* Captain Nominees

* GATS Day

* Chaplain Report

* Help your child with spelling

BCS SCHOOL PROGRAMS VALUE OF THE WEEK

Determination. Work towards

quality, success & recognition in a

persevering manner. Do you keep

on working towards your goals?

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The MC class has been studying animals in

Science and going to Oakvale Farm allowed us to

learn about lots of different animals. The farm is

home to alligators, snakes, goats, ducks, dingoes,

donkeys, miniature ponies, kangaroos, koalas,

pigs, wombats, loads of birds and heaps more.

Favourite highlights from the day:

Phillip: “When the young goat ate Ms Nicole’s

cardigan (twice) and kept following her around

the farm.”

Blake: “The snakes, their colours, the way they

move and we could hold them.”

Jordan: “The snakes and the wombats.”

Hayden: “A duck trying to eat my shoe and the

goat trying to follow us onto the bus.”

Mr J: “When we fed the baby animals and Jordan

milked the cow.”

Miss Nicole: “Going inside the koala enclosure,

being able to touch and pat them.”

Miss Newton: “Watching the boys feed the

animals and laughing at Phillip grabbing the baby

goats off the picnic table where we were having a

BBQ. They wanted to eat our lunch.”

On our excursion the students enjoyed learning

aspects of the Lifeskills Syllabus such as bus

safety, appropriate social behaviour in public

places and managing their money.

We all had a great day and are already planning

our next excursion.

The Multi Category class.

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RESUMING DATE

FOR STUDENTS

K-12 TERM 3 IS:

TUESDAY

15th JULY

Secondary School Captains I would like to thank Deb Gilbert for

organising and running, over the past few weeks, the selection process for our school captains. The process included a written application followed by an interview with a panel of school staff. The candidates then had to present a 2 to 5 minute speech to the school assembly. All students and staff present on Tuesday then had the opportunity to vote for their preferred choice from the eight (four male and four female) very strong candidates. Six will be appointed as Captains/Vice Captains for 2014-2015. The process and procedures for the election of student leaders has been refined to ensure that students considering running for a leadership position have the right personal qualities and have demonstrated the necessary commitment to the school and fellow students prior to being nominated. We expect all our student leaders to display the necessary qualities and continue to demonstrate them in their roles throughout the year. This includes the following:

Their devotion to school and taking their education seriously through commitment and application to all areas of school life.

Behave appropriately and respectfully not just among friends, but with other students or peers and staff members.

Connect with students, staff and the wider community in a positive way as displayed

through their social skills, attitude, and self-esteem.

Involvement in life outside the classroom including volunteering and community service.

Willingness to learn, and to learn from mistakes.

As role models, act with care, courtesy and reliability.

We will continue to strengthen the selection process for our secondary leadership team to ensure the best candidates are selected and run for the captain/Vice-Captain positions. At the end of the process we want the best student leadership team and one that can add significantly to Bulahdelah Central School and our student voice.

Year 7-11 Reports Staff are finalising mid-course reports and these should be sent home late next week although we hope to have Year 11 reports out by the end of this week. These reports should provide parents with information on how their child is progressing at school, their strengths and weaknesses in each course or subject and any concerns the teacher has about the student. We know that the best interaction is a direct conversation with your child’s teachers which can provide even more details, so I recommend that you contact your child’s teacher if you require more information or wait until the next parent teacher interviews which will be held on Tuesday 29th July (Week 3 next term).

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT:

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It has been 10 years since the first Chris Hoare Cup Challenge in 2004 between the High Schools of Bulahdelah and Gloucester. The cup honours the memory of Chris Hoare who was a former student of Bulahdelah Central School. Chris represented our school in many sporting areas. He was a talented allrounder and very passionate about his football. The Chris Hoare Cup will be held on Friday 20th June at the Bulahdelah Sporting Complex and BCS. 10.20 - Open Girls’ Touch, Boys’ Soccer, JNR Netball (school) 11.20 - JNR Rugby, Girls’ Soccer, SNR Netball (school) 12.00 - Whole school walk to town oval 12.20 - SNR Rugby 1.30 - Presentation

2004 Gloucester 2005 Gloucester 2006 Bulahdelah 2007 Bulahdelah 2008 Bulahdelah 2009 Bulahdelah 2010 Washed out 2011 Gloucester 2012 Gloucester 2013 Gloucester

CHRIS HOARE CUP:

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There are a number of sound reasons for you to ensure that your child attends school regularly. Firstly, attending school every day makes learning easier. For younger students, missing the basic skills often leads to learning problems later on and for older students, absenteeism often interferes with academic progress. Friendships with other students are also easier if your child attends school regularly. The law in NSW states that all children between the ages of 6 and 17 years are required to attend school. Sickness or injury, attendance at a special religious ceremony, or some serious family situations are satisfactory reasons for non-attendance. Please let the school know why your child is not at school and provide an explanation on your child’s return to school Birthdays, haircuts, pension days, Mondays etc are not satisfactory reasons for absence from school. Also try whenever possible to arrange your holidays in school vacation times. Please contact your school principal if you need any help or have any questions. If arranging a holiday of 5 or more days an Exemption Form for each child needs to be completed and returned prior to the holiday.

Celebrate Attendance

Hints and Tips No 4: Good Attendance

“Dreamt” is the only

English word that

ends in “mt”.

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BCS DEPUTY PRINCIPAL:

This week all students and staff voted

for school captains and vice captains. As you will see in this newsletter, we have eight worthy students who applied to be leaders of our school. Each student has completed an application form, been endorsed by a student, staff member and executive member and been interviewed by a panel of executive members. The students involved will be informed next week and the appointment of the role will be at the formal assembly in Week 9. At Bulahdelah Central School we appoint our Captains for the start of Term 3. This allows our previous Year 12 Captains to concentrate on their studies in the lead up to their HSC. I would like to congratulate several of our students who attended a Rotary Dinner in Tea Gardens recently to thank the club for the opportunities and sponsorship given to them.

I spoke to a couple of the members who were very impressed with the maturity and confidence of our students. I am very thankful for their working partnership with BCS.

This week, staff are busy marking, providing feedback to students and writing reports. We are trying to publish reports by the end of the term, however we are being challenged by the shorter term length.

June 17 Yr3-9 Writing & Spelling Comps

18 Yrs5-6 P J Tierney (Author Visit)

20 Chris Hoare Cup Bulahdelah

Yrs8-10 Rugby 10’s Challenge Taree

23 K-6 PRIDE Assembly

24 K-12 Royal Aust. Navy Band

26 Term 2 Assembly

27 Yrs9-12 Timber & Woodworking Expo

Last Day of Term 2

IMPORTANT DATES:

LtoR Meagan Terry, Cordel Murphy, Karl Price

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BCS CAPTAIN CANDIDATES 2014/15:

Joshua Collins Last year I ran for the SRC (Student Representative Council) and even though I was unsuccessful I still went on the camp for nominees. If I am elected as a school captain, whether it’s Vice Captain or School Captain, I would help clean up our area, bring back some respect to our school, raise the morale, help in the fight against bullying, represent our school with PRIDE at all sports carnivals, as I have done every year.

Tegan Davis I would be honoured to be School Captain. I have demonstrated my leadership through my participation in the SRC (Student Representative Council) and display good school spirit throughout my involvement in many school activities. I believe this opportunity would give me even more self confidence and determination to strive in what I want to achieve.

Jaimii Gardner-Carroll I believe I would make an excellent School Captain because of my ability to unite the student body and inspire the masses with my rallying cry of “I am the walrus” (demonstrated by the surge in school spirit and participation in the belly flop competition at every school swimming carnival since 2010). I think that with charisma and infectious school spirit I can

help make a positive change to the attitudes of Bulahdelah Central School students, as is the duty of a Captain!

Ellie Gooch I believe I have the qualities to be a Bulahdelah Central School Captain. I am approachable, willing to listen and show respect to fellow students and staff. I believe I am a good role model for other students and can work well as a team member. I view the role of School Captain as an honour and believe I can carry out this role in a respectful, dignified and mature manner.

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Jaxon Harris I work at Coles Tea Gardens and I have been working there for about two years. I have demonstrated leadership at work. My boss called in sick one day so I had to take charge of the shop. I had to write and send away important information and documents, make and receive important phone calls and a lot of other serious stuff. I would like to be a School Captain because it would give me the chance to show what I’m really capable of.

Emma Lyall I have been Sport Captain in Primary school and have organised fund raising events. I would love to be School Captain to help make the school better and represent the school at school functions. I would also like to do weekly and formal assemblies. I am a kind, caring student and I would help any student with any problems they may have.

Karl Price I would love to be School Captain as I believe that being School Captain is a great opportunity to improve my leadership and public speaking abilities, the later of which I am not very good at, but wish to improve. Last holidays I participated in a leadership and teamwork camp that showed me that I’m a

good leader in a team. Two years ago I coached a junior soccer team then I was a member of the SRC (Student Representative Council) and really enjoyed both.

Carl Williams I would be a suitable School Captain as I have got attributes of a leader and I make the most of those. I am representing the school from 25th to the 30th of May at the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy where my skills will be put to use. I am willing to take part in activities as I have already taken part in the Lions Youth of the Year. Being School Captain would also help me improve my leadership skills which I can use in my future work of which I aspire to become a leader in a group such as YFC.

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GO

FOR

2

&

5

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I would like to begin this report by

congratulating our debaters for their participation, innovation, determination

and excellence in their debate against Bungwahl, last week. Although they didn’t win the debate, they applied themselves to the task with great enthusiasm and skill. I am super proud of their efforts and I am looking forward to working with them to prepare for the next debate, which will be against Tea Gardens Public School. The topic is “That Our Sports Stars Make Good Role Models.” We will be arguing the negative side of the case. Good luck team!

Last week we also hosted a Gifted and Talented Day, for students in Year 6, on behalf of the MLC (Myall Learning Community). Students from Bungwahl and Tea Gardens joined with students from Bulahdelah to participate in a range of history based learning activities. The day focused on: What is history, archaeology and ancient Egypt. I caught up with the students on a couple of occasions, throughout the day, and they were really engaged in the activities. They were enjoying not only their learning but the opportunity to work with their peers from other schools in the MLC. This activity is an important event in the MLC transition calendar. I would sincerely like to thank the secondary English staff; Rosyline Caro, Heather Moncrieff, Casey Connell and Leonie Newton for their efforts and enthusiasm in providing quality learning experiences for our Year 6 students. We are very lucky to be able to utilise the skills, knowledge and experience of our secondary staff to engage and enthuse our younger students prior to commencing high school.

Thank you! We appreciate your efforts in the support of our transition program. See student report and photos in this edition of the newsletter. Our PSSA (Port Stephens Sport Association) boys’ soccer team was convincingly defeated by a much stronger Foster outfit, last week. From all accounts the boys played hard and never gave up. Well done boys! They are now out of the competition. I would like to thank Miss Adam for coaching the boys.

Our Year 6 students once again have the wonderful opportunity to visit the University of Newcastle for their annual Discover Uni Day. We have participated in this program for the past few years and it is one of the best learning experiences for Year 6 students, and their families, that I have been involved in. The day is designed to enable family members and students to see and hear about university together. They will participate in engaging hands-on activities, presentations by University staff and students and tours exploring the Callaghan Campus in Newcastle. Your Year 6 student has received an information and permission note. We request that these notes be returned to school by the end of this term so that numbers can be forwarded to the University. There is no cost for this excursion. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

All students K-6 will participate in a 5 week gymnastics program, commencing Week 1, next term. A note will be sent home shortly outlining program content and cost. Gymnastics is a mandatory component of the PD/Health/PE syllabus and the program will be expertly delivered by Taree PCYC (Police Citizens Youth Club) Gymaroos.

BCS DEPUTY PRI. PRINCIPAL:

ARE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS UP-TO-DATE?

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GIFTED & TALENTED DAY:

On Thursday 5th June, some Year 6 students from

Bungwahl and Tea Gardens school came to

Bulahdelah to participate in a History day. We

studied about Native Americans, Ancient Egypt

and Undiscovered Cities. We made Dream

Catchers which the Indians believed caught

nightmares which would evaporate in the

morning. We also made World War I planes.

After recess we learnt about Egypt. We leant

how to mummify someone and how to write our

names in hieroglyphics.

After lunch we did an archaeological dig. We

pretended to look for lost civilizations. We found

lollies in the long jump pit. It was a great day and

we had lots of fun. Finlay O’Connell

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“What I realised

is that the

process of

succeeding at

small achievable

goals is where

we find the

courage to work

towards harder,

more complex

goals in the

future.”

CHAPLAIN’S REPORT: The importance of having goals I recently participated in a seminar for Year 9 students which focused on the importance of setting goals that align with our personal values. Identifying our values The first step in the process was to ask ourselves what are the things in our life that we find most important, or that we value most. It was interesting to listen to the students’ choices such as family, health, friends, fitness, pets, etc. Almost every student identified family as one of the most important things in their lives. Identifying past achievements We then moved to ask ourselves what some of our past achievements were. Students gave examples such as winning a soccer match, doing well in a maths test, winning a competition, etc. What I realised is that the process of succeeding at small achievable goals is where we find the courage to work towards harder, more complex goals in the future. Setting goals for the future After this we were asked to set goals for the future. Many students found this quite hard. Indeed I, too, struggled to come up with three personal goals ‘on-the-spot’. It was when the leaders told us to name the things we’d like to achieve in the next six months, that the process became a little easier for the group of students I was working with. Because we had already identified the things that we valued most, we were then asked to use these values to make goals that would help us move towards our future goals.

Some of the students’ six month goals were to exercise more frequently; to eat less junk food; to finish Year 9 well; to improve at their preferred sport; etc. Some of the students found it difficult to identity three goals, but most were able to list one or two quite easily. Helping young people set goals The seminar made me think how important it is

for us to encourage our children and teens to consider setting their own goals, especially

short-term goals that are achievable. When I first started as Chaplain, I

used to ask students what they would like to do when

they left school. I found, however, that this question was far too confronting for most students: the future was too far away for some to even think about. Now, I ask them to talk to me about the things they’ve achieved in the past that they are proud of. Then they can use these past achievements to work towards harder ones. I encourage you to have a chat with the young person that you care about to encourage them to be courageous in

identifying the things that are important to them. Then

using this, help them make one or two short-term goals for the future. It

may well motivate them to pursue the future with a sense of adventure and hope.

Don’t forget, I’m always available for a coffee and a chat. Miss Melinda McMahon, Chaplain.

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PJ Tierney grew up in the Blue Mountains where

every day was an adventure. When PJ left school

she enrolled at the University of Wollongong in

the Creative Arts Department and majored in

Writing. It was there she discovered the magic of

theatre and producing concerts became her goal,

and to quote PJ: “I have worked with some of the

world's biggest artists. I sat in the truss beside

Madonna as she descended on her mirror ball, I

executed the world's worst follow spot cue for

U2, and for the Eagles I was responsible for a pin

spot pickup so precise it made the Lighting

Designer applaud. I have been pushed aside by

Elton John's security and was called 'babe' by B.B.

King.”

PJ will be visiting BCS on Wednesday 18th June for

a one hour session comprising of a 30 minute talk

followed by a 30 minute creative writing

workshop. We look forward to her visit and I am

sure the students will too!

Say G’Day the

Red Nose Way!

Red Nose Day

27th June 2014

SIDS and Kids is urging all Australians to ‘Say

G’day the Red Nose Way’ and support Red Nose

Day on Friday 27th June.

Supporters can get involved by purchasing a red

nose, any Red Nose Day product or participate in

the new Dare to Care project. Dare to Care is a

unique fundraising experience calling for people

to take on a personal challenge while raising

funds for Red Nose Day.

It could be bungy jumping or taking on a fun run -

anything to raise money for this great cause!

This year the Red Nose Day campaign has an

Australian theme and SIDS and Kids is introducing

new merchandise – a plush koala (Kevin),

kangaroo (Rooby) and snake (Charlie). There will

also be an exciting collaboration with four of

Australia and New Zealand’s top fashion

designers – Manning Cartell, Trelise Cooper,

Nicola Finetti and LIFEwithBIRD. Each designer

will be creating an exclusive, limited edition t-

shirt for the 2014 Red Nose Day campaign which

will be available to purchase online.

AUTHOR VISIT P J TIERNEY:

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At a glance Use everyday opportunities to draw your

child's attention to words. Talk to your child about how you spell and

what you do when you don't know how to spell a word.

When your child comes to words they can't spell, encourage them to look at the new words, say them, cover them with their hand, write them from memory, and then check them.

When learning to spell an unknown word, first talk about what the word means.

When your child is taught spelling at school, they learn to understand:

how words sound how words look how words change form, eg from ‘jump' to

‘jumped' where words come from.

At school, kids:

usually spend time each day studying words learn that spelling is a tool that is closely

linked to writing and reading learn that accurate spelling matters and that

it's important to check their writing for mistakes.

What you can do to help your child with spelling Explain to your child that some words can be sounded out, but not all English words can be spelt correctly by ‘sounding out', eg the words ‘you' and ‘said'.

Talk to your child about how you spell, and what you do when you don't know how to spell a word.

Encourage your child to write at home on paper and on the computer, eg filling in forms, writing notes to family members, writing phone messages and reminder notes, making lists, replying to letters and emails, and sending cards.

Provide a dictionary and use it together. Remember that dictionaries are more useful if your child knows about the alphabet and how a dictionary works.

Encourage your child to first try spelling unknown words themselves, and then praise the parts of the word that are correct and suggest what else is needed.

Say, cover, write, check When learning to spell an unknown word, first talk about what the word means, then try learning to spell it using the following technique:

look carefully at the word say the word cover the word write it from memory uncover and check your attempt against the

correct word repeat as needed.

Should you correct your child's spelling?

First, encourage your child to check their work and find any mistakes.

If they have made a mistake with a common word, ask them to try to fix it without your help.

It's always useful to show your child the correct spelling of a word.

HELPING YOUR CHILD TO BECOME A GOOD SPELLER:

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UNIFORM PRICE RISE

All Primary & Secondary

School Shirts are now $25 each

BCS distributes the Tall Timbers newsletter by

FAMILY EMAIL. Please ensure that your family

email is entered correctly on our records. We also

place a copy of our newsletter on our website;

Next Newsletters for Term 3: 21st July; 4th & 18th

August; 1st & 15th September.

http://www.bulahdelah-c.schools.nsw.edu.au

HOUSEKEEPING INFORMATION:

REMINDER: If your student will be absent from school for 5

or more days on a family holiday, an EXEMPTION FORM (one for

each student in your family) should be completed and returned to

the school PRIOR to the holiday for Principal approval.