Volume 23 Issue 24 Thursday 10 August 2017

P arent Opinion Survey This week, 210 families received an invitation to

participate in the Department of Education and Training’s Parent Opinion Survey. This survey is designed to assist our school in gaining an understanding of parents’ perception of school climate, student engagement and relationships with our parent community. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

The survey will be conducted online by ORIMA Research Pty Ltd and only takes 15 minutes to complete. The survey can be accessed via desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile at any convenient time within the fieldwork period from Monday 7th August to Sunday 27th August.

All responses to the survey are anonymous. The survey results will be reported back to our school at the end of September and will be communicated back to parents through our school newsletter and our annual report. For further information, please speak to you child’s teacher or visit: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/management/improvement/Pages/performsurveyparent.aspx In past years, we were able to achieve 85% participation. We are hoping to achieve a similar response rate this year despite participants being required to complete the survey online.

C urriculum Highlights—Year 5/6 Camp From all accounts, the Year 5/6 camp to Phillip Island’s Adventure

Resort was a huge success! The weather was cloudy with breaks of sunshine and the only rain which fell was on the Thursday

evening! The children were unanimous in voting that the Phillip Island Adventure Resort camp was the BEST EVER! A two page collage of photographs features in this week’s newsletter to provide parents with additional insight into the activities undertaken! Also featured is a collage celebrating 100 Days of Schooling for our Year Preps and our Year 1’s Dental Incursion!!

I nstrumental Music Program Proposal In this week’s newsletter, there is a flyer informing parents of a wonderful

opportunity for those who would like their child to learn violin! Please take the opportunity to read the information and attend the information evening where additional information can be presented and queries addressed.

E arn and Learn! Staff, parents and friends can shop at Woolworths and

collect stickers from the checkout operator and place them on sticker cards. There’ll be one sticker for every $10.00 spent [excluding liquor, tobacco and gift cards]. Once completed, they can place their sticker cards in the collection box either at school or local Woolworths! Once the program closes, we’ll be able to compile all of our completed sticker cards and redeem them for some wonderful resources from Modern Teaching Aids—Australia’s biggest supplier of resources for schools! It’s a great opportunity for our school community to further support our school! Students can collect stickers from family, friends and neighbours [and teachers] and stick them on their sticker cards!! Let’s embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm!

www.brentwoodparkps.vic.edu.au

term dates 2017 term 3 17 july - 22 sept term 4 09 oct - 22 dec

term dates 2018 term 1 30 jan - 29 march term 2 16 april - 29 june term 3 16 july - 21 sept term 4 08 oct - 21 dec

15 aug school council meeting 7:00 p.m. 17 aug fundraising chocolate money due (qkr payments available) 18 aug district basketball tournament (selected students $17 due by 11/8) 22 aug - 01 sept life education foundation to year 4 ($9.00 due 14 aug using qkr or csef) 06 sept ‘spotlight on year five and six’ concert. Optional involvement jim bell, principal jenny reid, assistant principal

DATES TO REMEMBER

C hocolate Drive - Major Fundraising Event This is our fundraising team’s major fundraising

event for the year—our Chocolate Drive! Boxes of Cadbury chocolates were sent home with the eldest child in each family on Tuesday 27 July. Families are encouraged to sell them to extended family members, work colleagues and friends and contribute to our goal of raising $10,000 which will be used to purchase and install shade sails over our junior playgrounds! As a bonus incentive, parents who make payments through Qkr will automatically be entered into a draw for a $50 Bunnings voucher and for the family who raises the most money, they will win the 10kg block of chocolate as displayed!!

M eet some more of our Environmentalists! Most of our students are very responsible and “do the right thing - put rubbish in the bin”,

however, there must be some who don’t, otherwise, where would this bag of discarded snack wrappers have come from? Kade, David, Ifra, Prithish, Samar and Riley A as responsible young environmentalists took the initiative and cleaned up the discarded wrappers from various locations around the school yard. Thank you!! How wonderful would it be to have ALL of our students follow their example and keep our school grounds tidy by ensuring all wrappers and food scraps are placed in the rubbish bins provided.

P remiers’ Reading Challenge As of 10 August, 28,696 books have been selected and 28,612 books have been verified! Since the

Premiers’ Reading Challenge opened on 21 March, 534 students have completed the Challenge which equates to 75% of our total enrolment! With three weeks of reading remaining, we only have 25% to go!!

M ini Mathematicians at John Monash Science School It may look

like Xavier, Nithilan Ausea and Nastasija are enjoying a game of cards but there is much more to it than what these images convey!!

W e arrived at John Monash and went to the canteen to buy or eat lunch. The canteen at the high school was a lot different, compared to

the one at Brentwood Park. There was a lot more variety of food and a lot bigger. We were then guided to a room, where we were taught different mathematical skills. This involved solving number patterns which really challenged our thinking. We spent time discussing the problems and were helped by two John Monash students. We finished up and drove back to Brentwood Park. The day was very interesting and we learnt quite a few skills, which I think will be useful for us. Overall, the experience was great and this made me very excited to go to high school later in my life. Nithilan 5SM

S potlight on Years 5 and 6 Please note the change to the ‘Spotlight’ concerts for Year

Five and Six students. There will now be a combined ‘Spotlight’ concert on Wednesday, 6th September for Year 5 and 6 students. Originally we set aside two dates for these concerts to ensure that all students who chose to present an act of their choice had the opportunity to do so. However, only one concert will be required, with performances by the students who choose to be involved. The Year Five “Holka Polka” play will be presented in Term Four. Linda Moore; Performing Arts Teacher

PERSISTENCE BY 2RG

We think persistence means: Never giving up! Try, try, try and try again!

Ignore others who are not focused and complete

your work.

Do your best. Stay focused. Be positive Keep trying!

Don’t say what your can’t do.

Try your best and keep going. Finish what you start.

Keep on going even when it gets hard.

Make good choices by finishing your work.

Use self talk, You Can Do It!

Do the best you can.

PERSISTENCE BY 2RG

Riley S. always likes wants to get better at his work. Shaun is trying really hard to stay focused!

Loucy al-ways does her best work. Joel likes to get his work finished. Warisha and Audrey can stay on task for a longer time.

Riley A. is getting better at keeping his focus in class. Kade is enjoying challenging himself . 2RG want to be more persistent!

Upcoming Music Learning Program (Violin Lessons)

My name is Eun-ju, mum of a first grader in our school. I am very delighted to let you know that a string music program will be started at our school this term. Violin, one of the string instruments, will be the main focus in the beginning. You might have heard that countless studies have shown the positive effects of music education or experience. Children with a music background concentrate longer, work happily, are less distracted in class and tend to be higher achievers in all fields of study. Furthermore, it is just fun to play! I hope this program will encourage our children to develop their interests in music and to build confidence and self-esteem. Working as a group will also develop stronger interconnections by sharing and helping each other to learn. I will hold an information session in August to give you more details for the motivation of the music program, the format of the lessons, how to choose an instrument, purchasing / hiring a violin, etc. The program will be run once or twice a week as group lessons after school by myself and is open to any student in our school. Grade 2 and older are preferred only because Foundation and Grade 1 students are generally fully engaged in learning to read, write and other skills important to establishing a successful school life. The lesson would be for 45 ~ 50 minutes for a group of 8 ~ 12 students. There will be a fee of $50 each term. I hope many of you are interested in the program and the information night will be helpful. Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you. E-mail: ejlee94@gmail.com Mobile: 0430 721 784

Information session on the String Music Program

When: Monday, 14th August, 6 pm Where: Library / Media Centre at our school

Term 3 Week ending 4th August, 2017

FCV Shehbaz For sharing his great ideas with the grade! Well done! FBM Alexander For his excellent team work when making his box monster. Well done! FJF Bailey For his great handwriting when using the dotted thirds! FSM Arnav For displaying persistence in everything you do. Welcome to B.P.P.S. FTL Harvey For his enthusiastic participation in our 100 days of school activities. FLP Aarohee For being a FANTASTIC friend and helping our new classmate settle into our grade. Superstar effort! 1HG Sienna For working persistently to improve her handwriting letter formation and size. 1MC Shirin For settling into Brentwood Park and making new friends this term. Well done! 1NC Hasi For always being considerate and kind to others. 1MB Thenuk For his creativity and sharing during Investigations! Well done! 1BV Brody For always being willing to help others to get organised. Well done! 2DK Nethasha For her excellent letter writing this week, using a range of VCOP strategies. 2CM Gabriel For demonstrating your wonderful drawing skills to help us complete our class poster. 2AD Latika For a fantastic first reading journal during CAFÉ work. Well done! 2RG Om For his eagerness to answer questions and stay focussed on his work. 3CH Aarav For showing wonderful understanding for our fractions and angles this week. 3SH Punya For your marvellous narration of Spiderella! 3MF Niren For always trying his best and always being kind and respectful. Well done! 3LM Abhay For his awesome work revising his sight words. 4MB Olivia For her sensational effort in ‘Big Write’ sessions. 4CP Tiannah For quietly achieving her goals in class. Fantastic effort! 4VK Kate For being a super student in helping Olivia with her shared reading! 5SM Harmoni For approaching her learning in a diligent manner. 5JG 5JG For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all. 5SI 5SI For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all. 5LF 5LF For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all.

Term 3 Week ending 4th August 2017

Year 6 and ‘SPECIALIST’ Stars of the Week 6JP 6JP For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all. 6JA 6JA For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all. 6JD 6JD For fantastic behaviour on camp and making it a fun time for all. Performing Arts 4VK For practising having ‘telephone conversations’ and creating moves for ‘Get Lucky’. Performing Arts 3MF For making interesting shapes and using different levels in your dancing. LOTE FBM For your excellence in singing Happy Birthday in Chinese and learning the Little Apple Dance! LOTE 1BV For your excellent self-discipline when finishing your Chinese work this week! Visual Arts 1BV For their fantastic running stitch. Visual Arts 3LM For their fabulous threads & textiles hessian project.

Berwick Panthers Basketball ClubSummer Season 2017/18

Registrations are now open for the Summer season commencing on 7

October.Age groups: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16,

U18, boys and girls

For our online registration form, please visit:www.berwickpanthers.com.au

and click on Register to Play

For more information, please email:president@berwickpanthers.com.au

or call our President, Lana, on 0418-113-430

P LEASE DIRECT MONEY FOR EXCURSIONS, ETC TO YOUR CLASSROOM TEACHER - NOT TO THE OFFICE.

Please hand money and permission slip in sealed envelopes to classroom teacher first thing in the morning. By following this process teachers are aware that your child will be attending the excursion and mark them off

their lists. Money is collected by office staff and processed each morning and a receipt given back to teachers along with permission slips. All money is tallied and banked daily – no money is left on the premises. If you wish to pay by credit card, a proforma is available from the office. This can be filled out with details and placed in a sealed envelope and handed to your classroom teacher

Please deliver cash in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and grade on the front by 9.30 a.m. If you have a number of children attending an excursion you can place all money and permission slips in the one envelope with children’s names and grades on the front and deliver to one of the children’s teachers. The office staff will be able to allocate money to the children’s particular items and distribute permission slips and receipts back to teachers. Enve-lopes are available at the office. If you have a large amount to be paid or need to process an EFTPOS transaction through a savings account you can make arrangements to pay at the office. We also have a new Qkr payment system on our Skoolbag app. If you download our Skoolbag app and Qkr payment app you can now pay for your child’s excursion on line.

All change will be delivered to the children in the afternoon. Re-imbursements will only be made under certain circumstances – they will be made by cheque (no cash transactions are made).

Notices are sent out with a final collection time – please adhere to this time. All money and permission slips are required to be sent back by this date – otherwise your child will not be able to attend. This enables us to confirm bookings and numbers with bus companies and organisations we are visiting. Also we need to send details to the De-partment of Education Emergency Management for all excursions, camps, etc. We also need to accommodate students who will not be attending.

We would appreciate it if parents could please follow these processes.