NEWSLETTER - TERM 4 WEEK 7 - 2015

BERRIMA PUBLIC SCHOOL

Oxley Street Telephone: 02 4877 1262

BERRIMA NSW 2577 Facsimile: 02 4877 1041

E-Mail: berrima-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Events at a glance:

Monday 16 Last week of library borrowing

Friday 20 Friday run

Whole school PBS reward “Games with a twist”

Intensive Swimming Lesson conclude

Saturday 21 Photography Exhibition

Sunday 22 Photography Exhibition

Berrima Schoolyard Markets

Monday 23 P & C Meeting

Wednesday 25 Captains Speech for 2016

Year 1/2 Thanks Giving lunch

Remembrance Day / Pozieres Project Our students raised a total of $ 86.50 which will be passed on to the Pozieres vil-lage school project to help provide new classrooms and facilities. In the light of the tragedy that took place in Paris over the week-end it is pleasing to be able to pro-vide a positive in what is a very sad and distressing time for the people of France.

Staff Development Staff recently took part in an initiative aimed at improving teaching and learning practices leading to improved outcomes for students. The activity was peer observation of teaching lessons with a particular focus on student engagement. The feedback following the observations was very posi-tive as to how beneficial the activity had been; Useful for examining how groups interact and apply themselves to tasks or how some take

on leadership roles. Personal realisation from observations extrapolated to own lessons Children liked the opportunity to showcase their work to another adult Developing the nuances of management style required in the multigrade situation Will help with teacher’s goal setting process for next year’s Professional Development

Plans. My recent significant birthday caused me to reflect upon the experience of our staff. Cumulative-ly, we amount to over 180 years of teaching experience. It is no wonder we are going to learn so well from each other. This is now being backed up by current research that has found that teach-ers find the greatest professional developments have come from working along-side their peers or in professional discussions within school. I do feel this augers well for the future direction of education at Berrima Public School. Bookclub

Today your child/ren will receive their bookclub pamphlet. All orders and money will need to be back at school by Tuesday 24 November. If you’re wishing to purchase books secretly for xmas please see Belinda. Late orders will not be accepted after Tuesday.

For Sale The office has just undergone a recent makeover. We have 1 filing cabinet and 1 1 tote tray cabinet for sale. If you think these items would be useful please see Mr Ryan or Belinda and make an offer.

OUR FAIRY DAY Last week we enjoyed dressing up as fairies and making calming

potion and fairy houses but, most of all we enjoyed our fairy feast!!!

We all looked amazing with our costumes poor Mrs Young-Whitford

couldn’t recognise us!!

School Market, 22nd November —Secondhand Clothing Stall This month we will try again to have a P&C stall selling good quality secondhand children’s cloth-ing. If you have anything to donate please bring goods into the office in the next few days so they can be sorted. All money raised from the stall will go to the P&C. Thanks, Megan

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Clothing Pool

Please be advised the last day of clothing pool for the year will be Monday 14 December. It will

reopen Wednesday 27 January from 9 - 10am for new starters and collection of paid orders that

were not picked up prior to the end of term. The normal term trade will continue to be Monday

8:30 - 9:30. We hope you all have a safe and merry Christmas. Julia and Alesha.

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A BIG day this Sunday: My Highlands Home photography exhibition AND our Schoolyard

Markets.

- every entrant's photo/s are exhibited : 9:30am - 2:30pm alongside those of leading local

photographers.

- a ceremony celebrating the children's creativity will be at 12:45pm with special awards

for those photos selected by the judges.

- calendars are on sale (they make the BEST Christmas gifts)

- a raffle for a beautiful print

Tell all your friends and family to come to Berrima Public this Sunday!

Come along to enjoy and applaud the children's efforts: even if your child was not in-

volved, this is a community event not to be missed!

STUDENT WELFARE: Keep Calm & Breathe!! Excerpt from Parenting Ideas Newsletter with Michael Gross Want an easy way to stay calm when all hell is breaking loose at home? Well the solution is liter-ally a breath away. Pausing to take some deep, nasal breaths is the key to regulating your emo-tional state when you’re under duress – your heart is racing; your thoughts are running haywire and your body is tense. That’s when you’ve got to breathe. Breathing affects the heart, the brain and the immune system. Here’s the technical stuff on how breathing calms you. It is the only visceral process that over-rides conscious thought. When voluntary, controlled breathing replaces out-of-control metabolic breathing the area in the brain that is in charge shifts to the cortex, which is where self-regulation occurs. Slow, deep nasal breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system – responsible for calming us down. There are three basic breathing exercises that I recommend to regulate your emotional state: 1. Belly Breaths: Hold your breath for one, breathe out through your nose for three, hold for

one, breathe in through your nose for three, hold for one. Repeat. 2. Breathe into parts of your body: Focus on tense parts of your body such as your shoulders and direct your breathing to these parts. 3. Guided breathing: Use a simple mantra such as “In/out”, “Calm/Peace”, “Smile/release” to guide you into a rhythmic breathing pattern. Relax!! It helps in really difficult situations to move away from the trigger to give yourself the space and opportunity to breathe. Stopping to breathe is one of the six steps in the Meta-Moment Process. Parent Well with the Meta-Momentonline course is the third course in Michael’s Emotional Intelli-gence parenting series that he has conducted this year. You can check online www.parentingideas.com.au if you are interested in enrolling in this course. Netty Dubokovich. Chaplain…SpeakLife