ACTING PRINCIPAL’S REPORT NEWSLETTER N0.17 7TH JUNE 2012

FIRE SERVICE UPGRADE

REPORT

GHD have informed me that they

are approaching the finalisation of

this project, with the system

expected to be fully operational by

Friday 8th June. Following a

successful inspection of the system

the GHD team will be involved in

cleaning up and reinstating the

affected areas of our grounds to

their original condition. Hopefully

this work can be completed prior to

the commencement of our

refurbishment project. The

completion of this work will also

enable us to initiate some grounds

improvement

works in and

around the

gazebo area

between the Prep and Years 1 and 2

playgrounds.

REPORT WRITING DAY

Teaching staff are currently busy

working on finalising student

assessments in preparation for the

completion of

Semester 1

student reports.

All staff will have a

pupil free

Report Writing

Day tomorrow,

Friday 8th June, to support them in

undertaking this time consuming

task. On the completion of the

reports teachers pass them on to be

read by a Principal Class member.

When finalised, the reports will be

sent home with students at the end

of the first week of Term 3, Friday

20th July. Parents will be offered the

opportunity to discuss their child‘s

report at Student Progress

Discussion Meetings that will be held

on Tuesday 24th July and Wednesday

25th July. Notices regarding

appointments for these important

meetings will be distributed prior to

the end of this term and

appointment times will be sent

home with student reports.

PLAYGROUND AUDIT AND

MAINTENANCE

During May, Activity Playgrounds

completed the annual audit of our

playground equipment to ensure

that all equipment is in safe working

order and meets with the current

Australian Standards.

FRIDAY 8TH JUNE 2012

CURRICULUM DAY

NO STUDENTS REQUIRED TO ATTEND SCHOOL

DIARY DATES

Wednesday 13th June 5/6 Lightning Premiership

Thursday 14th June Prep Fire Safe Kids

Wednesday 13th June Step into Prep—7pm

Monday 18th -Wednesday 20thJune 5/6 Sovereign Hill Camp 5C, 6P, & 6W

Wednesday 20th - Friday 22nd June 5/6 Sovereign Hill Camp 5D, 5T, 6K, & 6N

Monday 25th June 5/6 internet Safety Presentation

Tuesday 26th June Fountain Gate Discovery Day

Thursday 2nd August Australian Mathematics Competition

NOTICES DUE BACK

Thursday 7th June Somers Camp

3/4 Camp Rumbug Deposit

Friday 15th June Chocolates/ Money

International English Competition

Monday 18th June 5/6 Internet Safety Presentation

Tuesday 19th June Fountain Gate Discovery Day

ACTING PRINCIPAL’S REPORT COMTINUED….. . This annual audit is one aspect of our maintenance and inspection schedule that includes weekly visual inspections

of the equipment and regular raking of the playground soft fall. As a result of the audit a range of maintenance

works will be carried out on Thursday and Friday of this week. These include replacement of components showing

signs of wear, topping up of the soft fall material, and replacement of the two slides on the senior play equipment.

The total cost of these works is $6105.00.

PREP BLOGS

This week I took some time to visit our website to view updates regarding activities undertaken at

school and take a look at our Prep blogs that were launched recently in celebration of education

week. This was a most enjoyable experience and I would like to encourage families to take a look

at the great work that has been highlighted in a range of photos and captions. The Prep teachers

are now hoping that they will be able to attract comments from visitors to the blogs so that they

can share the feedback with their classes.

INDUSTRIAL ACTION

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has requested we provide parents with access to

a letter from the Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession and the Minister for Education about the current

industrial action. Parents can access this letter at www.education.vic.gov.au/about/enterpriseagreements/teachers/

parents.htm

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’S)

Q: When is a good time to enrol my child for next year?

A: Enrolments for next year are accepted throughout the year including Term 4. However,

we do prefer to receive Prep enrolments by the end of Term 3 to enable us to make

informed decisions about our staffing and class structure for the next year. It is also

important that Prep students are enrolled in time to take advantage of the Prep Transition

Program that runs in Term 4 and is invaluable in preparing the children for a successful

transition to school. If you have not yet enrolled your child for Prep 2013 please do so as

soon as possible.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

‘To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.’ John Ruskin

LYNNE BRENNER

ACTING PRINCIPAL

FREE FOOTY TICKETS

The Alannah and Madeline

Foundation have contacted us this

morning and are again offering free

football tickets to the

Tigers' Round 11

clash with Fremantle

at the MCG on

Saturday, June 9.

Children (aged 15 years and under)

can register their details (http://

membership.richmondfc.com.au/

forkidsvsfremantle.html) and will be

provided with a ticket to the match

that can be picked up at Punt Road

Oval from 11am, before the game

commences at 1.40pm.

"Our young Tigers are the future of

our Club and we would love to see

as many of them as possible at the

'G when we take on the Dockers in

Round 11," said Richmond's CEO

Brendon Gale.

In addition to the free tickets for

juniors, there will be plenty of kids

and family activities running at Punt

Road on the day. Inflatable games,

'specky' machines and footy clinics

will all be running free of charge on

the oval from 11am - 1.30pm. The

Tigerland Superstore will also

provide up to 50% off selected

junior apparel on the day.

CYBER SAFETY

PRESENTATION

Are you concerned about your

child’s use of social media and

online activities when accessing

technology such as computers

and mobile phones?

Would you like information to

support their online safety?

On Monday 25th June we are

offering a series of workshops to

address these and other important

issues related to children‘s

computer and phone usage. These

workshops are being conducted by a

representative from the Australian

Communications and Media

Authority (ACMA). Student

workshops will be held for Years 5

and 6 classes during school time, the

staff will participate in a Staff

Meeting PD session and a parent

workshop will be conducted at

7:00pm.

Whilst the children in grades 5 and 6

will have already seen the Student

Workshop during the day, they are

encouraged to accompany their

parents to the parent session in the

evening. For families who would like

to attend but cannot organise care

for their children, child minding

facilities will be made available in the

adjoining library for

students for school

aged children.

We received very

positive feedback

from the families

who were at the last Cyber Safety

workshop which ACMA ran at our

school and we

encourage all

families to attend this very valuable

session. Further

information has been sent home this

week.

‘STEP INTO PREP’

A reminder that next Wednesday,

13th June is our Step Into Prep

information evening. The evening,

which will be held in our current

Prep rooms, begins at 7:00PM. In

addition to our Prep teachers who

will discuss various aspects of the

children‘s first year at primary

school we have also invited a guest

speaker, Dot Deviney, who will

discuss school readiness. If you are

aware of any families with preschool

children who may like to attend this

evening, please encourage them to

contact the school to register their

interest.

Our existing families are also

reminded that we are now accepting

Prep enrolments for 2013.

Enrolment forms may be collected

from the school office. If you would

like enrolment forms sent home

with a current student please

contact the office.

LOST PROPERTY

Our Lost Property baskets are again

overflowing with unclaimed/

unnamed children‘s clothing. This

raises two concerns. Firstly, as most

of the clothing items are not clearly

named, they cannot be returned

promptly to their rightful owners.

We understand clothing is expensive

and it is difficult to distinguish

individual ownership of similar items

and so we are asking you to please

ensure all clothing is clearly

named. Secondly, we are

concerned with the large number of

lost items that are not being

collected and ask for your assistance

in checking whether

your children are

missing items of

clothing. Lost prop-

erty will be on dis-

play in the corridor

of the main building.

We encourage you to come along

and check for those items you may

have noticed have gone missing in

recent weeks.

DEBBIE CUSACK & PAUL WHITEHEAD

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

DONATIONS

Grade 3 & 4 are requesting

donations of any wool/

knitting needles for their

social program. If you have

any spare could you please

take them to Mrs Knight’s Room 33

(BER building).

If you were unable to attend the Grade 3/4 Camp Information Evening last Wednesday night and you would like to be a parent helper, please collect an expression of interest form from the office. These forms are due back along with the Camp deposit payment by Thursday 7th June 2012.

2012 Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to all students participating in this year‘s challenge. It is great to see so many enthusias-

tic readers eagerly borrowing books from the recommended booklists.

Don‘t forget to let your teachers know when you have completed a book so it can be verified on the

Premier‘s Reading Challenge website by a coordinator. All books must be entered online and verified by

10th September 2012.

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the 2012 Premier’s Reading

Challenge.

Jackson B 6N

Josh S 6N

PROFESSOR MATHS TRAVELLING SHOW

The children were fortunate to have a visit from the Professor Maths Travelling Show. Professor Math's had so

many fun Math's games for the children to play. They

worked in groups of four and moved around as many

activities as they could. There were shape puzzles,

addition fishing, addition ten pin bowling, jigsaws, mazes,

cube building and lots, lots more. The children learnt to

work as a team in order to solve problems. They

discovered that the first answer is not always the best

answer. It was great to see all children having a go and

persevering when the activity was challenging. The

children were very excited to solve the special challenge tasks because they got to wear Professor Math's wigs

as their reward.

MATHS IN MY LUNCH BOX

Thank you to the parents who put a special effort into preparing a special lunch with a Math's focus. The

children thought about all the Math's in their lunchboxes. They found lots of different things like the shapes of

their containers, sandwiches and fruit, fractions, the numbers and weight on food packaging, the size of their

food and money we could spend at the canteen.

Grade 1 and 2 discovered that there is Math's everywhere.

Hurray We Won

During the past weeks, some of the grade six LEEP students had been participating in an

international debate called the Eracsim Debate, organised by the Flat Classroom Projects. The

debate topic was ―Governments requiring immigrants to adopt the beliefs, habits and languages of

the dominant culture does more harm than good‖.

Each speaker was given 5-7 minutes of opening their statements and presenting their points. Then,

the other team was given 3-4 minutes of time to rebut the opposition‘s arguments before opening

their case for another 5-7 minutes. The debate was international, making it hard to do live because

of the time differences, so it was asynchronous. We used a web 2.0 tool called VoiceThread but responded to each speaker

as if it was live.

Our school had 2 teams entered into the debate. In the first round, we had one team being the proposition team, and an

opposition team. The proposition team had had it easy, for the school (which was Maplewood) had forfeited, leading them

to go straight into the semi-finals. The other team had played against SMS Palumbo in Italy (who were not native English

speakers, making it hard to understand due to their accents), however they had not made it through to the next round.

In the semi-finals, our school had been the proposition team, debating against Midpark High. In the end, the judges selected

the Berwick Lodge Primary School team to go into the grand final. The opposition team who had lost in the first round had

another debate for a consolation match against Phoenix School, but still, the judges had chosen the other team to go

through.

In the grand final, Berwick Lodge PS was up against Van Avery Prep school in California. Because this was the grand final,

the debate had to be live. We had to come early to school because they were 15 hours behind us. We arrived at 8 am and

got ready for our last debate. The programme we used was Blackboard Collaborate. It was a very nerve-racking debate,

because we all hoped that we would win. Once the debate had finished, the judges had quite a while to finalise who had

won and who had come runners-up. During the time for the judges to make their minds up, Berwick Lodge and Van Avery

had a moment to ask questions, whether they be about debating, or just simple questions. One person from Van Avery had

a very amusing comment, ―I like your accent and by the way, what do you eat for breakfast?‖. We all had a crack up when

she had said that, and we all took turns to say what we ate for breakfast.

After a long wait, about 30 minutes, the judges had finally chosen who would win. All along the judges had said it was a very

close debate. However, the long hours of working and staring at a computer screen had come with an award… Winning

the 2012 Eracism debating project!

Everyone had done a great job during the debate, working together to formulate the arguments even if they didn‘t make it

through to the finals. The people involved in this debate were: Ebony 6K, Grace 6N, Ben 6P, Jemma 6N, Reshma

6P, Liam 6K, Jessica 6P, Kara 6N, Jarrod 6N, Callum 6K, Cole 6P.

Reported by Grace 6N

PHYS ED NEWS

Divisional Cross Country

On Wednesday 6th June 2012 the Casey North Divisional Cross Country trials were held at Sydney Pargeter

reserve in Endeavour Hills. Berwick Lodge Primary School had six representatives on the day and each one ran

beautifully. Every runner from Berwick Lodge PS finished in the top fifteen which is an amazing effort considering

the quality of the competition.

Congratulations to the following runners:

Tara P - 3rd in 10 year old girls

Indi A – 3rd in 10 year old boys

Sam N – 10th in 10 year old boys

Katie F – 12th in 11 year old girls

Lilli A – 11th in 12/13 Girls

Jake M – 7th in 12/13 Boys

The top 10 finishers in each race have qualified for the Regional trials. 11th

and 12th place finishers are emergencies. So well done to the above students

and good luck in Frankston on the 18th June 2012!

Nick Pryor

Phys Ed Coordinator

Parents & Friends Association

Cadbury Chocolate Drive The support for the chocolate drive this year has been simply AMAZING!! We are on track to reach our goal

of $10,000. There are only about 20 boxes left in the store room so if you can, get to the office, grab an

extra box and help us get there by next Friday ;) Many families have already sold multiple

boxes so the race for the major prize is on!!

If you have already returned your chocolate money thank you. Just a reminder that to be

eligible to go into the prize draw all money raised must be returned to school by Friday

15th June 2012. All families who sell their box and return the money by the due date will

go into the draw to win a fantastic prize. Don't forget that you can pay cash, by BPay or by

Eftpos at the office.

Ritchies Community Benefit Card Program The Ritchies' Community Benefit Program donates a percentage of the money spent by customers to their

nominated club, school or charity. Richies have kindly provided the school with a number of Comminity

Benefit Tags so you can now help raise money for our school at no extra cost to you!! If you shop at Ritchies

please collect a tag from the office and each time you shop the school will receive the benefits, too easy :)

The next PFA Meeting will be in room 31 next Wednesday 13th June at 9.30am.

The coffee is hot, the kids are welcome and we love a new face. Our next major event is the

Term 3 Trivia night so if you have experience, ideas our just want to be a part of it all please

come along and get involved, you won't regret it!!

BUSINESS ADVERTISING

HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR ADDRESS OR PHONE NUMBER?

Please ensure you let the school office know if you have changed address or updated mobile phones with new numbers.

This information alleviates stressful situations on students when they are ill and we cannot contact parents

COMMUNITY ADVERTISING

HOST A FAMILY Thousands of volunteer families have enjoyed hosting a

visiting teenager from another country. Many of them come

back every year and host again. By opening their home and

hearts, to an international exchange student, families can also:

Make a life long link to a family in another country

Learn about another culture

Share the beauty of Australia and our culture

Gain a new family member

Contribute to International goodwill

Develop a friendship that will last for many years Our students bring with them their own spending money,

health insurance and a wonderful attitude and desire to learn

about their new host country. The whole family….and

relatives and friends….will grow and learn as they all get to

know their new ‗son‘ or ‗daughter‘ from another land.

All students have at least basic levels of English, would attend

a school in your local area and live the life

of a local. Our group of students cover a

wide variety of interests and hobbies. If

you would like to provide your

students, parents or language/music

teachers with further information on our

inbound students you can also download

some student profiles in PDF Format. This is just a small

sample of all the students who will be arriving. Our staff

members will be happy to discuss which student might be best

suited to a family. Hosting an exchange student can be a truly rewarding

experience. It allows a family to experience a foreign culture

first hand, be exposed to a new language and pass on a bit of

our own culture. They might even make a friend for life!

Student Exchange Australia New Zealand is a not-for-profit

secondary exchange organisation which is registered with

education & regulatory authorities in each State and Territory.

You can find out more about our organisation by visiting

www.studentexchange.org.au.

FOR SALE

2 x Brindle puppies (1 male & 1 female)

5 weeks old (as of 4th June 2012)

Cost: $150 includes first needle & wormed

Mother Pug x Chihuahua

Father Staffy x Jack Russell

Both with great temperaments

Please call 0407 555 040