Volume 23 Issue 1 Thursday 2 February 2017

W elcome A sincere welcome back is extended to all our returning staff, students and families with special acknowledgements given to our new staff members; Julia Groves; teaching Year 5, Sarah Ierfone; teaching Year 5 , Melissa Butcher; teaching Year 4; Melissa Forkgen; teaching Year 3, Natasha Cooper; teaching Year 1, Jessica Ferguson teaching Year Prep and Felicity C; teaching part-time in the Performing Arts.

Melissa Sarah Julia Natasha Melissa Jessica

Welcome also to the new families who have joined the Brentwood Park Learning Community for the first time. I trust all have had a refreshing and satisfying break and are ready for the challenges and rewards of the new school year!

S tart of School It is pleasing to report to our community, the extremely smooth start to the school year. With an

enrolment of 669 students, books were quickly unpacked, welcomes and introductions exchanged and lessons readily commenced! Thanks are forwarded to the staff who worked so industriously on the days before the students commenced to ensure such a smooth start to the year. The classrooms were organized, colourful and welcoming!

www.brentwoodparkps.vic.edu.au

TERM DATES 2017 TERM 1 31 JAN. - 31 MARCH TERM 2 18 APRIL - 30 JUNE TERM 3 17 JULY - 22 SEPT. TERM 4 09 OCT. - 22 DEC

28 JAN CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE ROOSTER 03 FEB FIRST CANTEEN DAY FOR 2017 10 FEB HOUSE CAPTAIN ELECTIONS 15 FEB SWIMMING TRIALS 21 FEB SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING - 7:00 P.M.

JIM BELL, PRINCIPAL JENNY REID, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

DATES TO REMEMBER

C.S.E.F. Application forms are now available at the office

S tart of School The efforts of the children themselves, assisted by their parents, must also be acknowledged. The manner in which they commenced the 2017 school year is commendable. Our cohort of 115 preps settled extremely well into their first year of school! With photographs taken by accompanying parents, final hugs were exchanged and the children soon became absorbed in their classroom activities. The collage of photographs has captured the excitement and engagement of our Year Prep students’ first day !

Chinese Language and Culture Our Chinese Language and Culture program which commenced in 2013 with Prep to Year 2, is now in its second year of full implementation Prep to Year 6. Given our increase in enrolment and accompanying number of classes, each class in Years 1—6 will have one session weekly under the instruction of Chunyan, our Chinese language and culture teacher, and one session of consolidation weekly facilitated by their classroom teacher. The Year Preps will have one session fortnightly under the instruction of Chunyan and one session of consolidation fortnightly facilitated by their classroom teacher. All teaching staff attend the program with their respective classes. It is also hoped that we will have greater online communication with Yangzhong Experimental Primary School, our Chinese sister school, and thus continue to enhance our intercultural understanding, increased global awareness and internationalisation within the school community!

H appy Chinese New Year of the Rooster Under the lunar calendar, Year of the Rooster comes around every 12 years, and January 28 marked the start of the Year of the Rooster in 2017.

New Year, or the “Spring Festival” as it is known in China, is the longest and most important holiday in China. The Chinese New Year 2017 begins on January 28, 2017. The Chinese New Year’s festivities end two weeks later on the 15th day of the first month of what is known as the Lantern Festival.

During the Chinese New Year’s celebrations, there are many traditional activities, some local and others celebrated universally. The Chinese believe that as they enter a new year, they should start a new beginning. They clean their houses, pay off all of their debts, purchase new clothes, paint their doors, and even get new haircuts in order to have a fresh start for the new year. Homes throughout China are decorated with special banners, many of which are red and gold; the traditional representations of happiness and prosperity.

One fun tradition of the Chinese New Year is exchanging gifts. A traditional present that is given is small red envelopes (Hong Bao, Ang Pao, or Lai See) filled with “lucky money”. These envelopes are given to children by their family and friends. The dragon is a very popular symbol for the Chinese New Year. It is a symbol of strength and good luck. A Chinese New Year 2017 celebration would not be complete without a giant dragon parading down the street. The dragon costume is always very colorful and can be up to 100 feet long. People inside the costume make the dragon move up and down as it zigzags past the spectators. During the Chinese New Year 2017 you will see fireworks and hear firecrackers! There are many beliefs about why fireworks are used. One belief is that the noise of the fireworks is supposed to scare away all evil spirits allowing the new year to begin without misfortunes. Do you know any “Roosters" in your life?

The Year of the Rooster will be a powerful one, with no middle of the road when it comes to moving forward. This year, impressions count. You’ll want to look your best and be clear on your intentions concerning love, money, and business. Stick to practical and well-proven paths to ensure success, rather than risky ventures. Remember: In a Rooster Year, all of the Chinese animals can reap great rewards by tapping into Rooster traits. Loyalty, commitment, hard work, family values, and top-notch appearances are just some of the characteristics that will be rewarded this year.

Staffing at Brentwood Park 2017 Principal Jim Bell Assistant Principal Jenny Reid Business Managers Sue Moore [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday] Robyn Boag-Martineli [Thursday, Friday] Office Manager Maree Dale Office Administration / First Aid Ros Cleversley [11:00 a.m.—2:50 p.m.] Year 6JD Room 9 Jo-Anne Doran and Mel Dennis Year 6JA Room 10 Judy Anderson Year 6JP Music Room Jessica Porziella Year 5SM Room 7 Shanitha Maharaj Year 5JG Room 8 Julia Groves Year 5SI Room 23 Sarah Ierfone Year 5LF Room 24 Lyn Forsyth Year 4MB Room 11 Melissa Butcher Year 4CP Room 12 Cathi Priest Year 4VK Room 15 Vicki Kromlidis Year 3CH Room 13 Carolyn Hilton Year 3SH Room 14 Sophie Haye Year 3MF Room 25 Melissa Forkgen Year 3LM Room 26 Leanne Maslen Year 2RG Room 16 Rosemary Gloz Year 2DK Room 19 Donna Kelly Year 2CM Room 20 Catherine Murray Year 2AD Room 22 Amy Dickson Year 1HG Room 17 Heather Ghazarian Year 1MC Room 18 Michelle Conroy Year 1NC Room 21 Natasha [Tash] Cooper Year 1BV Room 27 Beth Van Es Year 1MB Room 28 Marina Botros Year FBM Room 1 Beth McPhan Year FCV Room 2 Cassie Van Zeyl Year FJF Room 3 Jessica Ferguson Year FSM Room 4 Sharlene Marsche Year FTL Room 5 Tania Lucas Year FLP Room 6 Lyn Pearse Health and Physical Education Jim Narayan [Year 1 to Year 6] and Mel Dennis [Year Prep] Visual Arts Joi Zappia [Prep to Year 1] and Trish Shaw [Year 6] Performing Arts Linda Moore [Year 1 to Year 6] and Felicity Charrett [Year Prep] Chinese [Mandarin] Chunyan Zhang ICT / Robotics Jo-Anne Doran Additional Assistance Trish Shaw Integration Aides Mandy Scarlett, Sandra Hess, Toni Coelho, Jill Strafford, Anthea Barry, Samantha Smith, Marlene Masciulli, Joanne Morris and Elmene Setiawan Multi Media Annette Wright Technicians Jill Phillips and Damien Hawkins Buildings and Grounds Maintenance Daryl West Chaplain Glenn Douglas

P LEASE DIRECT MONEY FOR EXCURSIONS, ETC TO YOUR CLASSROOM TEACHER - NOT TO THE OFFICE. Please hand money and permission slip in sealed envelopes to classroom teacher first thing in the morning. By following this process teachers are aware that your child will be attending the excursion and mark them

off their lists. Money is collected by office staff and processed each morning and a receipt given back to teachers along with permission slips. All money is tallied and banked daily – no money is left on the premises. If you wish to pay by credit card, a proforma is available from the office. This can be filled out with details and placed in a sealed envelope and handed to your classroom teacher Please deliver cash in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and grade on the front by 9.30 a.m. If you have a number of children attending an excursion you can place all money and permission slips in the one envelope with children’s names and grades on the front and deliver to one of the children’s teachers. The office staff will be able to allocate money to the children’s particular items and distribute permission slips and receipts back to teachers. Enve-lopes are available at the office. If you have a large amount to be paid or need to process an EFTPOS transaction through a savings account you can make arrangements to pay at the office. We also have a new Qkr payment system on our Skoolbag app. If you download our Skoolbag app and Qkr payment app you can now pay for your child’s excursion on line.

All change will be delivered to the children in the afternoon. Re-imbursements will only be made under certain circumstances – they will be made by cheque (no cash transactions are made).

Notices are sent out with a final collection time – please adhere to this time. All money and permission slips are re-quired to be sent back by this date – otherwise your child will not be able to attend. This enables us to confirm book-ings and numbers with bus companies and organisations we are visiting. Also we need to send details to the Depart-ment of Education Emergency Management for all excursions, camps, etc. We also need to accommodate students who will not be attending.

We would appreciate it if parents could please follow these processes.