In this week’s issue …

Principal’s Message

Continuing Learning

Stop! Do Not Enter

The Premier’s Sporting Challenge

Virtual Cross Country

Staff Learning

Canteen

Bug Hotels

Kinder Dragons

Brighten Someone’s Day

P&C Meeting Tonight

Virtual Assembly Award Recipients

Classroom Learning Photos

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tues 12th May P&C Meeting, 7:30pm

Fri 29th May Virtual Cross Country

Fri 5th June Assembly – Item Yr 2/3, Leading Yr 3/4

Fri 3rd July Assembly – Item Kinder, Leading Yr 5/6 Emus

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Welcome to Week 3 of Term 2. It is wonderful to have the energy and smiling faces of students in the school again. As we move into Phase 1 of the Managed Return to School, our aim is to have 25% of students attending each day. Yesterday we had 40% of our students at school. The good news is that we were able to cater for these students within the existing teaching and learning spaces.

The teachers carried extra wide smiles as they were able to interact with the students with whom they normally interact with continuously throughout the school year. They were indeed glad to have that face-to-face contact. Students, were keen to see their friends and catch up on the events of the past weeks.

We appreciate the amazing effort you have made in recent weeks to support your child as they continue learning remotely, and whilst that remote learning has not finished, we look forward to engaging your child in learning both at home and more frequently at school in the coming weeks. Please contact the school if you have any questions, concerns or comments about your child’s engagement in learning.

Last week Mr Marsh held parent-teacher meetings with families to discuss the results of

2020 NSW Term 2 Week 3 Newsletter T: 03 54 532 133 12/05/2020 F: 03 54 532 972 E: barham-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.barham-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

BARHAM PUBLIC SCHOOL

the Best Start Assessment. If you were unable to speak with Mr Marsh, please contact him to discuss how we can work together to support your child in making progress in their learning.

At the end of term 2, written reports are shared with parents and carers. This term we are unsure of what they will look like as we wait for direction from the Department of Education. We will share with you this information as it comes to hand.

Stay safe and wash your hands

Roslyn Buchanan

CONTINUING LEARNING You can help your child to continue their learning successfully by ensuring they bring to school their learning pack and school laptop (if they borrowed one) every day they attend.

STOP! DO NOT ENTER Do not come into the school grounds unless it is absolutely essential. Whilst we know that you are not sick, we need to limit social contact. We are incredibly keen to see school continue and this is one way that you can help us to keep everyone safe.

THE PREMIER’S SPORTING CHALLENGE The NSW Premier's Sporting Challenge (PSC) encourages all students in public schools to be more active, more often by increasing their participation in sport and physical activity.

This year our school is being involved in this challenge. Students will be getting log books to fill in as they track and monitor their progress. Please see the note sent home to families for more information or head to the website. https://app.education.nsw.gov.au/sport/psc

Teachers will be sharing information with students in the week ahead as they learn about this challenge.

VIRTUAL CROSS COUNTRY On Friday 29th May we will be holding a virtual cross country.

• Kinder – 500m • Yr 1 – 1000m • Yr 2 – 2000m • Yr 3 & 4 – 3000m • Yr 5 & 6 – 4000m

There will be no prizes only the feeling of a sense of achievement and belonging as you join students across our school in our annual running event. To enter – mark out a track at your place. Run the race and send in a photo of yourself and your time (if you record it) to our school email: barham-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

STAFF LEARNING Since the beginning of 2020, our school staff have engaged in 126 hours of professional learning courses. Since COVID-19 struck, the focus has changed slightly to develop the skills to teach remotely. However, we remain focused on our school plan and the goals we have set to achieve our targets. This year, we are developing a school instructional model

that will help us to have consistency in the way we structure our lessons and give us a language to engage in professional dialog about teaching and learning practices. Staff have an allocated lesson off each fortnight in which they are able to observe their colleagues teaching of mathematics so that we can adopt effective teaching strategies to improve student outcomes. Our professional learning sessions in staff meetings this term will focus on diving deep into multiplication and division so that we can understand students’ conceptions and misconceptions, select and conduct diagnostic assessments to determine where students are now and plan teaching and learning to meet the needs of all the students in the class to move them forward.

CANTEEN The school canteen will not be operating during term 2. When your child returns to school, it is important that they bring with them their recess and lunch. We recommend that students do not use the bubblers. They should bring a water bottle that they can refill during the day. BUG HOTELS Whether you like them or hate them, they are part of our world and play an important part in our ecosystem.

Like any creature living on our planet, whether that is a human or a bug, we all need somewhere to call home. Creating somewhere for these critters to live will introduce you to the nature that we live side by side with. It will also hopefully begin to teach consideration and awareness about how we treat nature and for the life forms that live in it. These are important lessons to learn, at any age.

Building a house for bugs is important in any season, as it will give them somewhere to shelter from the elements. Insects encourage

pollination of flowers and vegetables and help defend the land from unhelpful bugs that would damage them.

The 3/4 and 5/6 classes made Bug Hotels for their Garden lesson in week 2. Their creations were totally amazing and I can see that a lot of thought went into their designs. I am sure that the bugs in their gardens are ready to move into their newly created /homes. All students who completed this task enjoyed making the Bug Hotels and you are all to be congratulated on the awesome effort that you put in at home. I am a very proud garden teacher!

Mrs Mathers

KINDER DRAGONS For Library last week, Kindergarten listened to a Book called “When a Dragon moves in”, written by Jodi Moore. After reading the book, students were asked to make a dragon out of something they had at home (Eg; paper, glue, stapler, sticky tape,egg cartons, cardboard, paint etc). Thank you so much to the parents who sent pictures in for me to see their creations. The students and their families came up with some really creative ways to make a dragon. Well done Kinder students, I was really impressed with what you all came up with and a big thank you to all the parents and carers who assisted. Mrs Mathers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7aSNUCkiM&vl=en

BRIGHTEN SOMEONE’S DAY There are many elderly residents isolated in their home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Home and Community Care are looking to brighten the day of some of these isolated people and are hoping that students in our school can help. If your child would like to draw a picture and write a letter to an elderly citizen, Home and Community Care workers will deliver them to people living alone in Barham. Send in drawings and letters to the school email address, Barham-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au, with the subject HCC drawings and letters. They will be printed and delivered to citizens in Barham. P&C MEETING TONIGHT The P&C will be holding their next meeting tonight Tuesday 12 May 2020 at 7:30pm.

VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY AWARD RECIPIENTS

Congratulations on your Term 1 awards.

CLASSROOM LEARNING PHOTOS

Anti-bullying information for parent and carers - Fact sheet and tips - English antibullying.nsw.gov.au

Anti-bullying

Parents and carers tips

Fact sheet

What is bullying?Bullying has three key features. It:

■ involves a misuse of power in a relationship

■ is ongoing and repeated, and

■ involves behaviours that can cause harm.

Bullying can also occur online. This is known as cyberbullying, which is using technology such as the internet or mobile devices to bully someone. It can include sending abusive texts and emails, posting hurtful messages and putting inappropriate comments on pictures of others.

Bullying of any kind is not acceptable in NSW schools, whatever the reason. Schools are committed to working with parents, staff and students to prevent bullying and respond quickly and effectively if it does occur.

What can you do if your child has been bullied?Listen calmly and get the full story Your child needs to know that they are being heard. Their feelings matter and their concerns should be taken seriously. Encourage your child to talk about what happened. Explain to your child that reporting the bullying is okay.

After listening to their concerns, ask questions to get more details if needed: who, what, where, when.

Reassure your child that they are not to blame Children may blame themselves and this can make them feel even worse. Say supportive things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with’, or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should feel safe at school’.

Ask your child what they want to do – and what they want you to do It is important to help your child to find their own solution as this will help them feel that they have some control over the situation.

If your child is not in any immediate danger and they feel confident, they could try these strategies:

■ Ignore the bullying.

■ Turn their back and walk away.

■ Act unimpressed or pretend they don’t care.

■ Say “No” or “Just stop!” firmly.

If the bullying happened at school, support your child to tell a teacher. If your child wants to talk to someone other than the school or you think added support would help, you could tell them to go to the Kids Helpline website. They can also call for free on 1800 55 1800.

When do I contact the school? Your child may be reluctant for you to speak to school staff. Discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help.

If needed, make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher. You could also ask to talk with the principal.

Contact the school immediately if you have a concern about your child’s safety.

Support for parents and carers Kids Helpline also has a parent line with trained teams who provide support, information and counselling for parents of children aged 0-18 years. You can call them for the cost of a local call from 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 4pm to 9pm on weekends on 1300 1300 52.

Telephone interpreter serviceIf you would like to contact the school or Parent Line NSW and need assistance with English please call the telephone interpreter service on 131 450, tell them what language you need and ask the operator to make the call. The operator will get an interpreter on the line to assist you with your conversation. You will not be charged for this service.

Tips for School + Work Home Desk Set Up FROM NDCH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST – ZOE TREACY

Choose a nice chair: Try and use a chair that supports

your spine. Support around your lower back can help

you sit up straight. If you have a chair without support,

try rolling up a towel and placing it in the lower curve of

your back. A height adjustable chair is also good. If you

don’t have one try using a firm cushion to sit higher.

Position: When sitting at your desk keep your wrists

straight and your arms at or below elbow level. Have

your knees in line with your hips and your feet touching

the floor. Adjust your chair to your desk - if your feet

don’t reach the floor, put a box or books under them.

Most used items: Keep your most used items close by so

that you don’t have to keep reaching. Pen and paper,

phone, keyboard and mouse. Stand up to reach

anything that cannot be reached while sitting down –

use this time to go for a walk around the house, pretend

it is the walk to the printer or scanner in the office.

Elevated computer screen: You don’t need a fancy

stand. Use something from home – a ream of paper, a

box or a folder. Stretch your arms in front of you, and

that is where you want your screen to sit. The top third of

the screen should be at your eye level. If you are using a

laptop you will need to have a separate keyboard and

mouse so that you are not reaching up.

Creative Ways to be Active at Home

Dance: Play some music and just dance to it. Your kids

could make up dance routines to perform for the rest of

the family. You could also Youtube Zumba classes. If you

have neighbours you could all do dance or Zumba classes

together on the street - making sure to social distance. You

can connect and stay active at the same time.

Break up Screen Time: Many of us – both adults & children

are now spending more time using technology. Try to

break up this time with some exercises. For example, you

could do 20 sit-ups after each Netflix episode. See how

many sit-ups (or any exercise) you can do during each TV

ad break – see who can do the most in your family. You

could also do a Zoom call and workout with friends or

have exercise challenges.

Room Exercises: Make up a different exercise for each

room of your house – every time someone in your family

goes in that room, they have to do that exercise. For

example, star jumps, sit-ups, push ups, lunges, crunches –

anything! Set a time limit for example, 1 minute, and see

how many you can do. Make a score sheet for your family

and see who can do the most at the end of each day or

week.

Obstacle Course: Make an obstacle course around your

house or outside with things that you already have. You

could use chairs, tables, pillows, blankets, pot plants, drink

bottles, a broom, sporting equipment such as a skipping

rope or hula hoop – anything that you can find! You can

made it as hard or as easy as you want. See who can do it

the quickest.