From the Principal’s Desk

Student Achievements – Victorian Schools Sports Awards Celebrating student achievements is certainly a regular occurrence here at Balwyn North Primary School. Our students are very active and focussed both at school and in their co-curricular activities. It was my absolute pleasure to represent Balwyn North Primary School at the Victorian School Sports Awards at the M.C.G on Tuesday afternoon and witness Otto Zhao (Year 6, 2015) receive the Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award. Otto was the only student representing primary schools across Victoria to receive this award. Otto is a wonderful ambassador for our school and hopes to represent Australia at an international level one day in Badminton. Otto and his family have kindly offered for the school to borrow his certificate which will be on display at the main office for a couple of weeks. Congratulations Otto and we wish you every success for your future endeavours.

Student safety We are all aware that Buchanan Avenue and Maud Street are particularly busy thoroughfares both before and after school. The safety of our school community is paramount and I would therefore like to take this opportunity to remind parents of the need to follow traffic rules, particularly at the busy drop off and pick up times. Please remember that students should only disembark from cars in designated parking spots, pulling over in other areas places children at significant danger. Please also be extra vigilant around the two crossing zones. Most children do not develop peripheral vision before the age of eight and it is therefore essential that drivers are looking out for young children.

Student Free Days for 2016 A reminder that next Thursday 24th March is a Curriculum Day at Balwyn North Primary School. The staff will be continuing work with Educational Consultant David Anderson to strengthen our work in the teaching and learning program at the school. Please note also that the Thursday 14th and Friday 15th April will also be student free days. On these days staff will participate in a two day workshop to further enhance understandings and application of the International Baccalaureate – Primary Years Program. Camp Australia are now taking expressions of interest for child care on these days. Please register your interest at www.campaustralia.com.au or phone 1300 105 343.

Balwyn North Bookworms This week we have hosted two sessions for our BNPS Bookworms events. These sessions are an opportunity for local children and families to come in to our wonderful library space to enjoy reading a book together. It is also a great opportunity for our school to showcase what is happening and support the transition to school. Our wonderful Foundation teacher Sue Lyness has provided some very engaging activities for our visitors, who seem to have enjoyed themselves very much! Our next BNPS Bookworms event will be happening on Tuesday the 3rd of May and Thursday the 5th of May. Please recommend these events to friends and family with preschool-aged children.

Thursday 17th March 2016

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Friday 18th March House Lunch

Monday 21st March Uniform Shop 2:30—3:15pm Assembly 2:45pm

Tuesday 22nd March School Banking Due Aeroschools Training Second Hand Uniform Sales 8:30—9:00am and 3:30—4:00pm

Wednesday 23rd March Uniform Shop 8:45—9:30am Last Day Lunch - Free Dress Day ASSEMBLY 2:00pm DISMISSAL 2:30pm Hot Cross Bun distribution

Thursday 24th March Curriculum Day - No School Today

Monday 11th April Return to School Uniform 2:30—3:15pm Assembly 2:45pm

Garden development

There have been some students involved in the early stages of designing a new play space in the grass area near the World Map. The focus is on making this a more welcoming area for guests to our school, as well as having a great play space. During the week electricians removed the light pole near the World Map outside the administration building and replaced them with LED lights which will provide a safer environment at night time. It is a very exciting prospect for our school where student voice will set the direction for this project. Watch this space!

Erika Bienert Tony Stokes

Principal Assistant Principal

Captain’s Corner

Hi, This coming Friday is the House Lunch! Make sure to wear your house tops. There is going to be music and icy poles. If you would like an icy pole, they will be selling at 50c each. Sturt will be in the year 5 area, Find-er in the year 6 area, Hume at the art sales/room and Mitchell will be inside the hall. Hats lotto is up and running. Make sure you are wearing your hat to school every day, with your name clearly labelled on it. If your name is called out through the loudspeakers, please go to the hall to receive you icy pole. Our suggestion box is now in the office. Please don’t forget to drop you suggestions into the box. Pun: I got a can thrown at me, luckily it was a soft drink. From your School Leaders Hannah, Sophie, Aaron and Pasandul.

Chess Report

Last Tuesday our brave young enthusiastic chess players went to the first tournament of 2016. For some like

Owen Cai, it was their first tournament, for some like Henry Law, it was one of their many tournaments. No

matter if it was their 1st or 17th tournament, everybody did well.

Overall, our school came 1st, narrowly winning by half a point ! Also, Pasandul De Silva got 2nd place in the

entire tournament .

In the end I would like to thank Mrs Dimond for organising the tournament. I would also like to thank Sarasi

De Silva, Jenny Law, Feng Fang and henry Chau for supporting and driving us to the tournament.

By Andrew Ngodinhson, BNPS Chess Leader

B.N.P.S. Stars of the Week

Term 1, Week 8

Class Name Achievement

FA Akeyla Jayasinghe For being a Communicator by always sharing her thoughts and

ideas with the class.

FL Itara Pathirana

For being a Communicator by confidently talking to the whole

class and putting her hand up to answer questions clearly. Great

job!

FS Lina Salem For being Caring by always showing empathy for her classmates

and being a positive role model in our classroom.

1F Catherine Zhang For being Balanced by challenging herself both intellectually and

physically.

1G Lotus Schmidt For being a Thinker by using initiative and thinking skills to

make excellent choices.

2A Xander Bakopou-

los

For being Principled by following classroom routines and mak-

ing some good decisions in the classroom.

2K Alessandro Pallot-

ta

For being a Communicator by always enthusiastically sharing his

ideas, thoughts and feelings and contributing to class discussions.

3B Joe Lim For being a Knowledgeable student by demonstrating in-depth

knowledge and understanding in the field of Mathematics.

3C Amber Moon For being Caring by helping her classmates and making positive

relationships within the classroom.

4J Diana Bao For being a Communicator by confidently expressing an opinion

in group discussions.

4M Luis Bettinsoli For being Open-Minded by demonstrating curiosity and deep

thinking when exploring cultures in our inquiry learning.

5C Melody Gokoglu For being Caring by using empathy and enthusiasm when inter-

acting with her Foundation buddies.

5L Tash Coles For being Balanced by engaging enthusiastically in the inter-

school sport Volleyball competition.

5T Nikos Detsis For being Balanced by showing a positive attitude with his learn-

ing and acting with integrity.

6M Ariadne Vakkas For being Knowledgeable in her research and investigation of

local and global conflicts with the environment.

6R Hannah Kennedy

For being a Communicator, Caring, Knowledgeable and a gen-

eral all round superstar! All with such good humour and a fabu-

lous smile!

MUSIC Harmony Le (1G) For being a Thinker by demonstrating how rhythm is all around

us in the world.

LOTE Jonathan Tan (FL) For being a Communicator by participating in speaking Chinese

with enthusiasm.

Senior

LOTE

Saranya Kunasa-

garan (6D)

For being a Risk-Taker by making an excellent effort to answer

questions about new learning in LOTE.

PARENTS AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION ( PFA) NEWS

1. SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALES

The stall will be held on Tuesday 22nd March. In the morning from 8:30am till 9am In the afternoon from 3.30pm till 4pm. If you have clothes you would like to donate please do so by placing clean clothes in a plastic bag and taking them to the Office.

2. END OF TERM TREATS

To be held on the last day of Term, Wednesday 23rd March. Each class will get the chance to buy a treat from 11am till 12:30pm

3. HOT CROSS BUNS Please return your orders to the school by Friday 18th March. Deliveries of the Buns to the children will take place on the last day of term.

4. HOUSE LUNCH Each House will have their Lunch together on Friday 18th March. Students can buy a Quelch for 50c.

Cyber Safety - BNPS is an eSmart School

At Balwyn North Primary School we are committed to educating our students about appropriate and safe online behaviours, so they are better equipped to protect their own wellbeing. In class, children engage in regular cyber safety discussions and also have the chance to experience the many educational opportunities that the Internet has to offer in a safe and supported manner. At Balwyn North Primary School we col-lect and review data on Cybersafety concerns on a regular basis, in order to support our students to safely navigate the online world. Internet Safety Tip for Parents

Remind your child to keep personal information private. YAPPY is a useful acronym to remind children of the personal information they should not share on public

online spaces (blogs, forums etc.) – Your full name, address, phone number, passwords, your plans.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/parentcyber.aspx http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/parentmodules.aspx https://esafety.gov.au/education-resources/parent-resources

Stephanie Sevastas is heading up our eSmart Committee in 2016. She would welcome parent contribution to this committee. Please email Stephanie at sevastas.stephanie.s@edumail.vic.gov.au if you are interested.

SCHOOL BANKING DAY IS TUESDAY

School Banking Champion Classroom Currently 4J is leading with 33 deposits. Close second is 2K with 32 deposits. There is still one week to go. Any class can still take over the lead. Good luck From Janet and Lan School Banking Co-ordinators

Year One Day Camp

Werribee Zoo

Tuesday the 15th of March was an amazing day! The Year Ones went to

Werribee Zoo. We went on a bus. When we got to the zoo we met our Habitat

Detective guide . Then we ate our snacks. After we ate our snacks

we became Habitat Detectives. We built for the animals. We saw

and touched a . We also looked for bugs by in the

ground. Then we walked to the Safari Bus and saw the and

on the way. We sat on the bus and looked out the windows

. We saw , , camels and

giraffes. After the safari we ate our . After lunch we went to the

.

Then we went in the . After that we walked for a long time until

finally we arrived at the . First we looked at the lions. Then

we all sat on the . After the lions we walked to the African Wild

Dogs but they weren’t there. The zoo keeper said, “I’ll get the African Wild

Dogs in 2 minutes”. We waited and we saw the . Some year

ones said the African Wild Dogs were their favourite animal. After that we

saw the monkeys, and . After we saw the

cheetahs we got back on the bus and went to the park to and

eat dinner. Finally we went home. We had an extraordinary day and learned

so much about animals and their habitats.

Written by the Year One Students

Bookings for the pupil free day (24th March 7am-6:15pm) are now available on the parent portal;

simply book your child in as you would any other day for before or after school care.

The session will only run if there are sufficient bookings by the 17th of March.

The cost for the day will be $51.20 before the 50% rebate.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Katie and the Camp Australia Team.

Hello everyone!

We’ve had a busy week at OSHC, with lots of new routines and activities put in place.

We now have an activity called ‘Term Teams. ‘The children made their own groups and thought up a team

name. Every day there will be a new challenge/opportunity to get points added to their team’s scoresheet.

The challenges focus on working together in teams and inclusive behaviours (teams are always changing as

different children are in everyday)

So far this week we have had: tower building, word unscrambles, a decoration contest and a playground race.

Important Reminders

Please make sure you are booking your child to the service; as our staffing ratio is based on number of

bookings. You can make casual bookings through the parent portal or by calling customer service on

1300 105 343 Make sure you are signing your children in and out on the roll. This is an official document and needs to

be filled out every session.

Program Details To find out more about our program, view fees or to register visit www.campaustralia.com.au or call us on:

0402 350 478

Holiday Club

To find your closest Camp Australia holiday club you can search on www.campaustralia.com.au/Holidayclubs

Give your child the best gift – “CREATIVITY” New Star Art School (欣欣美术学校) will conduct art classes after school at Balwyn North Primary School

beginning term two, 2016. This is a great opportunity for all children to develop their creativity and artistic skills. New Star Art School is highly recognized in art education with a strong reputation for quality teaching. It combines Eastern and Western art concepts designed to rapidly develop artistic skills in children of all ag-es, whilst expanding on their natural imaginative expression. Art class time: Thursday 4:15pm – 5:45pm, (during school terms) Location: Classroom (TBA) Balwyn North Primary School BOOK NOW to ensure a place in the class For more information, please check the school website: newstarart.com For enrolment please contact Ms Jiang on 0417 104 975. John 0411 491 201 Email: yaping.jiang@gmail.com

Hot Cross Buns.

The envelopes from Baker’s Delight have gone out to the students.

ALL ORDERS MUST BE RETURNED BY

FRIDAY 18TH MARCH.

For every sale of a packet of 6 Hot Cross Buns the school makes

$2. Deliveries will take place on the last days of the Term.

Bakers’ Delight have always supported

our School with free bread at our Twilight Fun Festivals and many

other school events.

DELIVERIES WILL BE MADE ON

WEDNESDAY 23RD MARCH 2016