BELMONT PRIMARY SCHOOL Mt Pleasant Road, Belmont

Phone 5243 2972 Fax 5241 1182 www.belmontps.vic.edu.au

e-mail: belmont.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Principal: David Houghton

Assistant Principal: Sharon Liddle

BELMONT BULLETIN NO. 30 17th October 2019

DATES TO REMEMBER

Mon – Fri 21st Oct – 1st Nov Prep – Grade 2 Swimming Program

Monday 21st, 28th October & 4th November

Grades 3-6 Gymnastics Program

Wednesday 23rd October Geelong Cup Public Holiday – No students required at school

Thursday 24th October 9.00am Book Club orders due

Friday 25th October, 1st, 8th, 15th November

5/6 Puberty Information Sessions

Friday 25th October, 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd Nov

Grade 3/4 Bike Ed Program

Friday 25th October Greatest Showman Sing A-Long Movie Night

Tuesday 29th October Grade 5/6 Cricket Blast for selected students

Wednesday 30th October 7:00pm Prep 2020 Prep Parent Information Session

Wednesday 30th October 7:15pm School Council Meeting

Friday 22nd November Grade 4 Girls Afternoon Tea – More info to come home soon

Friday 29th November Curriculum Day – No students required at school TENTATIVE

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Staffing Recently the school completed an internal application process to appoint an on-going staff member to the Belmont PS team. This vacancy was created as result of Mr Steve Westley resigning from the Victorian Education Department. Steve was a popular teacher here at Belmont PS and in his later years our PE teacher. Steve created many opportunities for our students connecting with local sporting groups and contacts resulting in increased activity and involvement of our students in so many sports.

Student of the week Congratulations to the following students whose efforts, behaviour and attitude have been recognised

Roy E

Prep G For trying his best when learning sharing in maths! You did such a good job sharing out ‘gems’ into two groups! Keep up the great work!

Hamish G Prep V For his excellent contributions to our class discussion about living and non-living things.

Blake T

1/2 C For excellent attention and enthusiasm in maths sessions this week when telling the time. You’re such a time Wizard Blake, keep it up!

Mustafa A 1/2 M For working incredibly hard on his time telling skills, having a great crack at half past and quarter past. Excellent work Mustafa!

Djaran L

1/2 P For terrific recall of times and filling in his time diary during a maths session this week. Super effort Djaran, keep it up!

Elijah H

1/2 T For settling in so well to Belmont Primary School! You have such a positive attitude towards your learning and we are so happy that you have joined our class. Well done on a great week Elijah!

Libby M 3/4 C For having the most amazing start to the fourth term. I have been so impressed with your effort with all learning tasks. Keep up the sensational work Miss Libby.

Will

3/4 E For his enthusiasm and interest in our Integrated Studies Unit. You asked such wonderful questions about our world. Well done Will.

Billy M

3/4 L For such an amazing start to Term 4! You have really impressed with your efforts this week, especially in Maths. You have put in 100%, and should be proud of yourself. You superstar!

Milla J 5/6 L For a SUPER start to the term. Well done for your enthusiasm for learning, participation in class discussions and the excellent effort you put into all tasks. Keep it up Milla!

Ben P

5/6 S For starting the term with a great attitude and ready to take on new challenges. Ben’s participation in class discussions and thoughtful insights have added value to everyone’s learning. Well done Ben!

Eva S

5/6 T For always being a courteous and respectful member of 5/6T. Your caring nature is appreciated by us all. Keep up the great work!

Bella L ITALIAN For taking great pride in the presentation of her Italian work.

Steve has successfully gained an on-going position as a PE teacher in Queensland where he moved with his young family at the end of 2016. The school has appointed Lorann Elkington to this on-going position here at Belmont. Lorann came to us from Shelford Primary School at the beginning of 2018. We congratulate her and welcome her continuation here at Belmont for many years to come. The school has recently had a number of other positions on-line which have now closed. Any position offered by Belmont is strongly sought by applicants from areas including Melbourne and beyond. All schools work hard in this period to arrange their staffing needs which routinely change every year. Our school will see the return of some familiar faces but more on this at a later time. Last week in assembly I showed some Bird of Paradise flowers in assembly and talked about its country of origin, it’s links to the bird species and how it develops. The theme this term will be things we can find in the garden. Perhaps you have something in your garden that is unusual or of interest that I can use to create interest or curiosity for our students?

100 Kilometre Surf Coast Century run recently involved one of our very own school dads- Steve Cunneen. Steve remarkably completed this run in under 12 hours which included a whopping 154,822 steps. Pictured here Steve with his boys Luke, Henry and Joe. We congratulate him for this outstanding result and the model he is setting for us all in setting and reaching a personal goal. Pictured below the start and finish. Well done Steve !

YOGA at Belmont PS. Kylie Corn has just begun some Yoga sessions with Year 1/2M which will continue for most of this term. Kylie is one of our parents and is a qualified Social Worker having worked with children and families in the Social Work field, in various roles for 18 years. Kylie has also completed further formal training in Life Coaching (Certificate Course), Counselling (Diploma) and most recently, Children’s Yoga Teacher Training – Flow Child Yoga (50 hour Teacher Training). Pictured here our students beginning a session in the Arkinstall Hall space.

Staff at work Most weeks staff meet twice after school in the larger staff team or smaller area teams. This past Tuesday we examined a proposed structure for 2020 and how our staff can be best utilised to provide the richest school program that our resources, timetabling and expertise can provide. Last Wednesday evening we learnt more about Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) as a method to foster collaborative learning among staff within a particular work environment, field or team. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups of practice-based professional learning where a need is identified, researched and a plan put in place for new learning or new approaches to address this need. Sharon Long our Learning Specialist led this work.

Buildings and Grounds news Several projects are still planned for completion this term including planting out behind the new retaining wall. The vision for this area was to allow students to move out of their adjoining classroom spaces to use newly created attractive spaces like these.

Plans have been drawn up and completed for a further stage in the development of our Playpod area. With improving weather we will see the Playpod open again each Thursday initially. Additional retaining wall work we hope can be completed to solve an on-going problem we have with the pathway beside the Mod 5s near the oval. Plans have also been drawn up and quotes are being finalised. We are likely to replace further drinking taps which routinely play up. We have completed around half already last year. My thanks particularly for the hard work behind the scenes from our School Council sub-committee members on Buildings and Grounds. Please note we have a tentative Curriculum Day planned for Friday November 29th. This is yet to be approved by School Council. Coming up this term We have much to look forward to this term. Here is just some of the events and activities planned. Be sure to watch and note our dates on the front page of this newsletter.

Swimming P-2

Bike Education (3/4)

Puberty Program (5/6 and Yr 4 girls)

Graduation

Transition (Kinder and Year 6)

Blue Light Disco (5/6)

Junior Cross Country (on-site)

Junior Athletics Day (on-site)

Preps to the Zoo

Gymnastics 3-6

Curriculum Day 29th November Regards from the Principal Team David Houghton Sharon Liddle Principal and Assistant Principal

SPORTS SINGLETS

Can all families who have borrowed a sports singlet form the PE department please check and see if they still have one at home. If so please give it a wash and hand it to your class room teacher.

PIANO/TRUMPET LESSONS & CHOIR

Due to study commitments, Samantha will be absent for three weeks during TERM 4 2019. Please see below for details of how this will affect your child/children’s music activities:

Monday piano/trumpet students – NO LESSONS IN WEEKS 3, 4 and 5. Next lesson 11th November.

Friday piano students - NO LESSONS IN WEEKS 2, 3 and 4. Next lesson 8th November.

Friday Choir students – No Choir in weeks 2,3 and 4. The next rehearsal will be 8th Nov.

Could all choir members please prepare the song “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

Our school has been approved to attempt to set a Guinness World Record! At the end of Term 4 the Parents Club will be working with the students to make the Longest Line of Cereal-Based Treats by cooking and assembling a long line of Honey Joys. For this record attempt we will require a lot of cornflakes so we would like to ask our families to help by buying a box of cornflakes or a packet of patty pans and send them into school so we can prepare for this exciting event. More details to come soon..

FROM THE ART ROOM

What’s been happening in the art room this week? Years 5/6 These students have been investigating the artworks of LIN ONUS. (1948-1996) He was a Scottish-Aboriginal painter and sculptor born in Melbourne. A particular artwork that we are looking at is “Fruit Bats”, an installation with fibreglass bats hanging from a backyard clothesline. The bats’ wings are decorated with a technique called Rarrk which is crosshatching. The students are using this technique to decorate their own bats which we are hanging on a makeshift clothes line of our own.

Years 3/4 We are learning about topographical maps and contour lines. We are mixing Cartography, the study of maps, with our art. We are making a model of a mountain or hill showing contour lines. We had to choose between a 3D model using corrugated cardboard or a 2D model using cover paper. Each contour line represents 50 metres. When complete we will be able to tell our classmates how many metres above sea level our mountain is.

Years 1/2 TREASURE MAPS There’s a lot of treasure to be found ... the only trouble is that it’s all buried on pretty scary islands.

PREPS After sneaking around the school with pirate spy glasses last week, this lesson we are staying in the art room to make simple maps of the streets where we live.

Yvonne McDonald Art Specialist

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

Book Club orders are due 9am Thursday 24th October please. Did you know that you can easily order and pay online? Just go to scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the app. You can preview books and, once you've registered, you will also be eligible for special offers throughout the year. Happy reading!

The Scholastic Book Club paper order form has changed. It is a much simpler design but please take care when writing out book numbers and always include the title as well please!

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