Braidwood Central School Primary Newsletter Term 1, 2019

B C S

BRIEFING 15 March 2019

2 / 3 B, “But Why”

“But Why”, is a show led by kids! Students ask the questions

and they find the answers. It's a big interesting world out

there. On “But Why”, they tackle topics large and small,

about nature, words, even the end of the world! This activity

is to promote students to listen to reading. We establish a

sense of urgency in students that it is important to listen to

others to help them become better readers and to learn

and understand new words. Reciprocal reading is

scaffolded talk about a text in a small group setting that

develops comprehension strategies. It may be completed

with the teacher, but often independent of the teacher.

Reciprocal reading has been shown to increase both

reading and listening comprehension and has

demonstrated that students transfer the learning into other

contexts. It teaches predicting, clarifying, questioning, and

summarising skills, with additional comprehension strategies

— giving opinions, making connections, and visualising.

Reciprocal reading encourages students to read, talk and

think their way through the text. Each student is assigned a

specific role within the group before reading, these are

indicated using small icons. When a student's coloured icon

appears on a page that student leads the discussion using

the prompts on that page.

Upcoming Events

Term 1

Week 8

19 March 2020 Student Information Night

for Kindergarten 2020 at 4.30 in the

school Library

Year 7 2020 enrolments 5.15pm in

the secondary Quad

Maths Pathways Parent Information

session 5.15pm Science Room 24

21 March K-12 Recognition Assembly

9:30am in school gymnasium

Harmony Day

Week 10

28 Mar Year 7 Immunisation

1 April Big Veggie Crunch Week

3 April Primary Cross Country

4 April Secondary Cross Country

Week 11

12 April Easter Hat Parade

Last Day of Term

Term 2

29 April Teachers and Staff return to School

30 April Students return to school

Please note that dates and events may

be subject to change.

Please see our website

braidwood-c.schools.nsw.gov.au or the

calendar on our SkoolBag App for more

details and the most up-to-date

information.

Braidwood Central School Briefing Term 1, Week 7 2019

Page 3

Aboriginal Studies

Emma Munnings

Braidwood Central School is now running

Aboriginal Studies as an elective subject in

Stage 5. This exciting and important subject

addition allows students to study and

appreciate both traditional and contemporary

Aboriginal culture. Students have the

opportunity to focus on a range of topics,

including ‘Aboriginal Identities’ which explores

the diversity of Aboriginal identity,

perspectives and culture. The course also

concentrates on Aboriginal cultural production.

This looks specifically at how film, television

and music respond to land mark

socio/political/legal events and issues such as

The Mabo Native Title ruling, and The Bringing

Them Home Report. This subject explores a

shift in the representation of Aboriginal people.

Students have shown great interest in, and

enthusiasm for the subject and have eagerly

shared their own stories about identify. It is a

great privilege to be teaching students about

the oldest and continuous living cultures in the

world.

Clean Up Australia Day

Students in class 4/5S, our SRC and school

Captains spent time collecting rubbish from our

school grounds and the public laneway besides

the Court House.

Thanks to Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional

Council for supporting us with equipment to

support the event!

What if my child has to be away from school?

If your child has to be absent from school, you must tell the school and provide a reason for your child’s absence. To explain an absence parents and carers may be required to:

send a note to the school, or contact the school via electronic means such as SMS text message, fax or email, or

telephone the school, or

visit the school.

A small number of absences may be accepted by the principal. For example, if your child:

has to go to a special religious ceremony

is required to attend a serious or urgent family situation (e.g. a funeral)

is too sick to go to school or has an infectious illness

Braidwood Central School Briefing Term 1, Week 7 2019

Page 3

Big Vegie Crunch

Did you know that currently only 5% of NSW

children are eating enough vegetables? In

order to work towards improving this

percentage, we need to increase children’s

knowledge, exposure and positive attitudes

towards vegetables.

Keep watching Skoolbag, Facebook and our

website for more information on big Vegie

Crunch week 10.

Math Pathways

This year sees our teachers and students in

middle school (Years 5-8) re-imagining

mathematics, with a new way of teaching and

learning, called Maths Pathway. This research-

driven program combines a range of teaching

methods and classroom practices with an

online learning environment to support

individualised learning for each student, giving

teachers the tools and the time to address each

student's individual learning needs.

Our students are developing their problem

solving, independent learning, and group work

skills, and developing a growth mindset

towards their mathematics learning. As

students complete their second round of

diagnostic testing, they are demonstrating up

to a 400% growth rate – meaning they’ve

achieved the equivalent of four months’ worth

of progress in just one month!

Business Studies Yr 12

Ruby Gurling

On Tuesday of week 5 the HSC Business

Studies class along with Miss Dimity Borra

went to Moruya to receive a tour of Southern

Phone. We were given a complete tour of the

business and were even able to have

conference calls with various members of the

board of directors. We will use what we have

learned from this business in a case study for

our HSC.

Mr Simon Wheatley

Mr Simon Wheatley

will be teaching

Geography, History

and English with

our stage 4 and 5

cohort. Mr Wheatley

currently resides on

the South Coast,

where he was

previously

employed at Carroll

College, Broulee. He is an avid sports fan and

also enjoys engaging in extracurricular

activities within the school community.