Newsletter: Term 4 - Week 1

A Message from the Principal

Reporting student achievement in the ACT 2023

ACT public schools are expected to provide a formal written report to parents and carers of students from Preschool to Year 12, twice a year. These formal reports form part of the suite of relevant and purposeful opportunities schools use to communicate student learning to families throughout the year. In addition, our school shares student learning and progress throughout the year through informal processes including, three-way interviews, parent teacher interviews, assembly performances and Seesaw portfolios. The upcoming written reports for the end Semester 2 will be the same format as those of semester one. The inclusion of written comments in semester reports remains a school-based decision and is not compulsory. Neville Bonner Primary School will provide a short written comment. This general comment will include information relating to student’s general work habits and give particular emphasis to their progress in Reading, which is our main focus area for this year.

Bookpacks – As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, we will again use WINC as our supplier of bookpacks for 2024. You will receive an email over the next two weeks from the school regarding the purchasing of student bookpacks for next year. We have worked closely with WINC, our stationery supplier, to keep prices for these at a minimum. In terms of purchasing, families will be required to order online and pay directly to WINC. DO NOT PAY THE SCHOOL. If they are ordered before the end of the school year, they will qualify for free shipping, where the pack will be delivered to the school in January ready for use on the first day of school. Families purchasing after this would need to pay the delivery cost of $12.95 and the pack would be delivered home. We have made the decision not to reengage with Reading Eggs and Mathletics next year, to reduce costs to our families. As a school, we weren’t seeing enough use to warrant the continuation of these products. Both Mathletics and Reading Eggs offer subscriptions to families who may wish to continue. We will continue to adopt Seesaw as our approach to regularly sharing student work and this subscription has been included in the bookpack cost.

Peer Selections – Term four is a busy time of the year where we consider logistics for the following school year. In the first half of the term, your child will complete a peer selection sheet which will be used in our class formation process later this term. We will ensure that each child has at least one of their selections in their 2023 class. Teachers are aware of dynamics that may not work in the classroom and will consider these when formulating classes. If you have any strong concerns about 2023, please contact the executive teacher of your child’s area. Please be aware we will try to take these concerns into consideration, but may not be able to satisfy all requests. As a reminder they are;

· P-K – Brittney Phillips – Brittney.phillips@ed.act.edu.au

· 1-2 – Kelly Dunstan – kelly.dunstan@ed.act.edu.au

· 3-4 – Janet Hagan – janet.hagan@ed.act.edu.au

· 5-6 – Lynette Eddowes – lynette.eddowes@ed.act.edu.au

Colour Run – I mentioned at the end of last term that we will be holding a Colour Run fundraiser during Term 4. This event will be a fundraiser for the school and information will be sent out at the beginning of next week. In terms of fundraising for the event we would love to see as many of our families possible supporting this. However, if your family is not in a position to support, participation in the event is of course open to all students. The only prerequisite will be a signed permission note.

Mura Award – This year the school nominated one of our Year 6 students for a Students Aspirations Mura Award. We are delight to announce that our nomination was successful, and Levi O from Year 6 is a recipient. As part of this award Levi will receive a $400 bursary to support his future educational pursuits. Levi was presented with his certificate at this Wednesday. Congratulations Levi.

Dates to Remember

Monday 16 October - P & C committee meeting
Thursday 19 October - Kinder ACT fire & rescue visit
Friday 27 October - Loud shirt day
Tuesday 24 October - Year 6 raiders tag excursion
Tuesday 31 October - Preschool reptile zoo excursion

Friday 3 November - Preschool reptile zoo excursion
Friday 17 November - Market day
Friday 24 November - Colour run

Tuesday 12 December - 10th anniversary art show
Thursday 14 December - Year 6 graduation
Friday 15 December - Year 6 movie day excursion
Friday 15 December - Last day of term 4

2024 Dates to Remember

Tuesday 30 January - First day for new students, kindergarten and M/T preschool groups
Wednesday 31 January - First day of school (returning students)
Thursday 1 February - First day for T/F preschool groups
Monday 26 February - Competitive swimming carnival
Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 May - School photos

Communications Sent Home This Week

Notes and Emails Home

P & C portrait fundraiser - email
Year 6 Raiders tag excursion- note
Year 6 Term 4 information - note
Kindergarten fire and rescue - email

SMS Texts Home

Absences

Student Wellbeing at NBPS

Kindness-Tenacity-Resilience-Empathy-Equity

Safe - Respectful - Learner

This term we will be continuing to have a fortnightly focus for PBL as well as continuing with our acknowledgement system. Many more students have qualified for a certificate for getting PBL tokens. The students must get 30, 50 or 100 of a specific expectation/colour token. So if they get 30 learner (orange) tokens they receive a bronze learner certificate, if they get 50 learner tokens they receive a silver learner certificate and if they get 100 learner tokens they receive a gold learner certificate. If the students receive all three gold certificates they are eligible to get a PBL medal. Ask your child how many tokens they think they have recieved so far?

Last term our teachers completed training on the Zones of Regulation. The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum that has been created to support students with self-regulation and increase their social and emotional skills. The Zones provides an easy way to talk about how we feel on the inside and sorts emotions into four coloured zones which are experienced in life. There are no bad zones or good zones. The students are taught how to identify which zone they are in and what strategies might support them when they are in that zone.

Fortnightly Focus Week 1 & 2- The focus is on revising our learning space agreements and our three key expectations.

School Hours

Learning programmes begin for children at 9am each morning.

Children in Kindergarten to Year 6 are welcome to arrive from 8.30am for minimal supervision on the river only.

Once the bell rings children are to go directly to their classroom.

Any arrivals after 9am need to sign in late at reception even if the gates are still open.

The school day ends at 3pm. Parents/carers that collect their children are expected to meet their children promptly at 3pm.

Arrangements are in place for children who attend the after school program or catch the bus.

If you would like to enquire about bookings for before or after school care please contact communities at work Neville Bonner Primary School - Communities at Work (commsatwork.org)

Passion & Purpose Dance Club

Passion & Purpose Academy - Years 2-6 - Wednesday Lunchtime Dance Program

Passion & Purpose Academy is Gungahlin’s fastest growing and only multicultural dance school, providing Canberra families with the most affordable hip hop dance classes for kids outside school hours.

Passion & Purpose is again very excited to offer Neville Bonner students from years 2-6, the opportunity to participate in their recess dance program every Wednesday from 1:30pm-2pm. This helps parents as they don’t have to worry about transport after school or over a weekend!

The dance program will allow students to participate in interactive and beginner friendly Hip Hop and Afro dance routines, with a strong focus on building confidence, teamwork and staying active!

Dance classes will be held in the hall every Wednesday from 1:30pm starting Week 1 Term 4 (11th October).

Payment is $85 per child for the 9 week program starting in Week 1 and going until Week 9.

All students enrolled in the program for this term will also have the opportunity to perform at our school program concert in week 9 at Gungahlin College Theatre. More information will be sent out to parents early in the term.

Please enrol online to register your interest. Spots are still available! https://www.passionandpurpose.com.au/enrolment-page

You will receive confirmation of your place in the program and payment details once you have registered online.

Please contact Passion & Purpose below if you have any enquiries.

passionandpurposeinfo@mail.com

0416558452

www.passionandpurpose.com.au

Colour Run

Get your colour on, Neville Bonner Primary School is hosting a Colour Explosion School Fun Run fundraiser!

The Colour Explosion School Fun Run will be on Friday 24 November 2023. Colour runs are great fun and will be an enjoyable afternoon for our students. See an example of how much fun in the Colour run video

Not only are we hosting an awesome explosion event, students can win up to 15 awesome automated incentive prizes by fundraising via online sponsorship donations.

Students will shortly receive a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes.

Extra Incentives to Fundraise!

Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit.

Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes.

$10,000 JB HI FI Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student – it could be you!

Our school will win an extra $5,000 if we have the highest average fundraised amount per student in 2023.

A Play Station 5 Gaming Bundle – see your child’s sponsorship booklet for more!

For more information, please contact nevillebonnerps.pandc@gmail.com

Happy fundraising!

Kinder Fire Safety

Firefighters from our local Fire Station are visiting our Kindergarten on Thursday 19 October to teach our students about fire safety. The visit is part of ACT Fire and Rescue’s ongoing commitment to fire safety in the Canberra region.

In conjunction with the visit from the firefighters, it is important that our whole school community is reminded of some key fire safety messages. These include:

Smoke Alarms Save Lives:
Don’t Stop Looking While You’re Cooking:
One metre from the Heater:
Have a home escape plan:
Make sure that doors and windows are easily unlocked in an emergency
Stop, Drop, Cover and Roll
Get Down Low and Go, Go, Go!

Should you want to find out more information from ACT Fire and Rescue, or be linked to fun activities for your children, visit: https://esa.act.gov.au/cbr-be-emergency-ready-resources-plans/educational-resources/fire-ed-program

Assembly Schedule Term 4

Update Household Details

If you have moved house or changed phone numbers, please be sure to update your details with the front office.

You can do this in person at the office or via email: nevillebonnerps@ed.act.edu.au

It is important to keep this information up to date in case we need to contact you in an emergency as well as for when the new parent portal is released next year.

Thank you, the admin team.

The Smith Family Saver Plus Program

The Smith Family (ACT) offers a range of programs to help families and individuals to stay engaged with education. Saver Plus is a program with a specific focus on supporting families and individuals with low incomes to meet their education expenses.

Saver Plus is a matched savings and financial education program that aims to help people on lower incomes to strengthen their financial skills and to develop a savings habit. The program provides financial skills education and motivates participants to save by matching their savings dollar for dollar, up to $500. These savings can be used to pay for education costs such as computers, books, uniforms, extracurricular activities and school excursions. To fill in the online enquiry form; Saver Plus enquiry form | Brotherhood of St. Laurence (bsl.org.au)

Contact Saver Plus on 1300 610 355 or saverplus@bsl.org.au.

Parents' and Citizens' Association

Neville Bonner Parents and Citizens Committee

Our P&C provides services to the school such as canteen, second hand uniform shop, disco and other activities. Without a P&C, we cannot continue to do these things.

For more information on our committee and event notices and updates, please head to the P&C Facebook or the Neville Bonner P&C page We are always happy to accept new members into the P&C and event volunteers as well - send us an email.

More information about our canteen; lunch orders with flexischools, over the counter sales and birthday cupcakes, as well as the uniform shop can be found on the P&C component of the school website.

Want to touch base with your P&C? You can email us at nevillebonnerps.pandc@gmail.com, or connect through FB at https://www.facebook.com/NBPS.PandC.

P&C Referendum BBQ

Sorry, we will not be hosting a Referendum BBQ, this Saturday. Amaroo School and Ngunnawal School both are if a democracy sausage is required to satisfy your palate.

P&C Committee Meetings

Our General Committee meetings are held in Week 2 and Week 7. Our next meeting is Monday 16th October 2023 at 7pm. We are always happy to have new people come along. We meet in the staff lounge for just over an hour, sometimes quicker. Come along and see how we are looking to support the school and students.

Second Hand Uniform Shop

Neville Bonner Primary School P&C Second Hand Uniform Stall is hosted under the school hall covered area.

** Term 4 - Week 2 - Wednesday 18th October, from 8.45am to 9.45am. ** We have had to close the afternoon stalls.

Volunteers for uniform shop wanted
We would love to host another morning stall on another day, however, our current volunteers are unable to assist. If you're able to volunteer an hour of your time, on any other day of the week, we can provide the training and assistance to run the stall for the hour.

Please email us at nevillebonnerps.pandc@gmail.com

P&C Family Portrait Fundraiser
Dates: Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October 2023

Professional family portrait to be taken at Yerrabi Pond (weather permitting, here at school in the event of wet weather). You will receive a: 10x13 inch Family Portrait + Wallet Photo for $20 You will have the option to purchase more photos, with additional poses and digital images, if you wish. See QR code and link in image.

*Limited offer one voucher per person/family
*Parent/guardian to view own portraits or p&h applies
*No refund for failure to keep appointment

P&C Colour Run
Towards the end of Term Four the P&C and School are working together to host a colour run fundraiser for P-6. Students will have the opportunity to fundraise for this event, where monies raised will be shared between the school and P&C. Colour runs are great fun and will be an enjoyable afternoon for our students.

Date: 24th November (during the school day).

Consent forms, posters and more information will be shared through the school.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 7, will be coming out in Week 2. Keep an eye out for the catalogue.

Don’t forget 20% of every sale is given to the P&C in ‘rewards’ that the school can use to purchase resources from the catalogues.

Thanks to your support, we were able to purchase $1574 worth of books, at the Scholastic Book Sale, for the school library. It filled a car boot!