Junior

School

Weekly

A Message from our Head of Junior School

Ms Harold

Assalamu Alaykum

Dear Parents and carers

It has been another wonderful week here at Bellfield

College Junior School. This week I have had the pleasure

of joining 5A, 5/6M, 5P, 6K, 6O and 4T. I have been very

impressed with the focus, determination, engagement,

and participation of all students in their lessons. I thank

the students and teachers for welcoming me into your

classrooms.

One of my key responsibilities as Head of Junior School,

is to drive continuous improvements in student learning

and teacher quality. Lesson observations are one of the

best ways to ensure improvement happens. Observations

will become a regular activity here at Junior School, to

encourage staff to collaborate, provide feedback to one

another, innovate and commit to delivering the highest

quality education to our students.

Car line

Parents are reminded to remain in their vehicles when

dropping off and picking up their children from the

carline. This ensures we are still adhering to social

distancing guidelines and also the flow of traffic can

continue, and parents are not waiting longer than they

need to.

Term 2, 2020

Week 6

Public Holiday

Monday 8th of June

Things to come

Uniform

Please, please, please label your child’s belongings. We can not return lost property to

rightful owners if there is no name or class on the property. All lost property that is labelled

is returned to the child. Those without labels are placed in the tub in the shelter area.

School start and finish times

School starts at 8.30am sharply. All students are expected to be under the shelter for

morning recitation before going to their classroom for roll call. Please do not drop off your

child at the junior office prior to 8.30am. Parents are to use the carline only. Students

arriving at the office after 8.30am will be marked as late to school. This has implications

for records of attendance and meeting the mandatory hours children are required to attend

school.

School finishes at 3.30pm. Parents are expected to collect their children from the carline,

not the office. It is concerning that there are still several children waiting to be collected

by their parents in the office as late as 4.15pm. Please, if you are running late to collect

your child, please notify the school immediately.

Assemblies

Students will be having their assemblies under the shelter, with social distancing measures

put in place. Unfortunately, currently, we are still unable to invite parents to the school to

join us. We will ensure assemblies and prize winners are reported back to parents via the

newsletter.

Prayer Times

As our enrolment numbers at Junior School continue to soar, our prayer rooms seem to be

getting smaller. I am pleased to announce that during Term 2 and Term 3, Junior School

Prayer time and Lunch Playtime has been swapped. Years 4 – Years 6 now have access to the

Senior school prayer room in the new building, Year 3 have a dedicated ‘transition to prayer’

room, and K-2 will now pray in the 3-6 Prayer room. Students have transitioned well to these

changes and are much more settled as they enter prayer before play time. Thank you to

Sister Julie Karaki and the Illuminations team for their thorough organisation.

Playground Behaviour

It may take some time for children to settle back into the school routine and refamiliarise

themselves with the school rules and expectations. There have been several behaviour

incidents reported to me on the playground, regarding inappropriate behaviour and children

playing rough. To eliminate problem behaviour in the playground, I have worked with my

leadership team to establish separate play areas for each learning stage. Our ‘Places and

Spaces’ team is also working on a plan to provide more activities and play equipment to

students during break periods.

I have attached a copy of the College Rules and discipline procedures to this week’s edition,

and I ask that you take the time to sit with your child/ren and read through the rules with

them. It is important that our students uphold the college ethos and understand what it

means to be a proud member of the Bellfield Community. The college does not tolerate

physical and violent behaviour, aggression, foul language, insolence, or disobedience. All

students are required to be in the right place at the right time, always respect each other

and their teacher and try their best. Parents will be contacted immediately should a child

not understand or abide by these expectations.

Semester 1 Assessment and Reports

Our teachers are working incredibly hard to adjust their programs and the learning

outcomes which will be assessed. Assessments have commenced in many classrooms, and

report writing will be well underway soon. To accommodate learning time lost during COVID,

reports and parent teacher interviews will be issued and take place a little later than usual

in Term 3. Dates to be confirmed soon.

As always, should you have any concerns or questions about your child’s learning, please don’t

hesitate to phone the office and arrange a suitable time to meet with myself or your child’s

class teacher.

Have a wonderful long weekend.

Warm regards,

Ms Harold

Building on open-mindedness

Open-mindedness is a character strength that describes one's ability to examine an

issue from multiple angles. Open-mindedness can aid the therapeutic process by

enabling one to consider evidence against their beliefs about themselves. For instance,

open-mindedness would enable one with low self-esteem to consider the opposite side

of the argument; to look at himself in a positive way. Open-mindedness helps one stay

connected to reality by rejecting bias and examining issues objectively, thus dismissing

the “my-side bias” which prevents people from considering views other than their own.

The Golden Mean

The golden mean is an Aristotelian concept that posits moral behaviour is the middle

path between two extremes. It basically refers to an imbalance of character

strengths. The golden mean for a person with the character strength of open-

mindedness would assist one in objectively examining all sides of an argument without

falling into cynicism or skepticism and protecting one against blindly following others

or being overly simplistic. Overuse of open-mindedness leads to cynicism and skepticism

and can prevent one from trusting others while underusing open-mindedness could lead

to one becoming one-dimensional and accepting things as black or white. People who

underuse open-mindedness are often labelled as stubborn.

Integration

Open-mindedness can be used with a number of other character strengths to achieve

positive outcomes. For instance, when one combines the character strengths of open-

mindedness, creativity, and curiosity he can find innovative solutions to the problems

that are in front of him.

The classic movie “The Matrix” is a beautiful example of open-mindedness. The

protagonist, Neo, played by Keanu Reaves oozes open-mindedness when he questions

the meaning of reality. Definitely a highly recommended movie. Disclaimer: this movie

is rated R for sci-fi violence and brief language, it has moderate violence and gore,

profanity, and fighting scenes according to IMBd's parental guide.

How can one improve their open-mindedness? One of the methods that I enjoy

partaking in is playing the devil's advocate. The way one can do this is reflect on an

issue that you have strong opinions about. Then, argue the opposite position to your

own while questioning the sources of information that support your argument. This does

not have to lead one to change their opinion, but rather it should make one understand

the other side's argument while, possibly, strengthening their own.

Sincerely,

Hamid Waqar

Week 6 - Illuminations

Asalamu Alaykum respected parents and guardians,

It has been so lovely to see the illuminous faces of our dear students throughout the school

once again. It was great to see the excitement on the faces of students as they saw their

peers for the first time in a long time. Their excitement was difficult to contain and in many

ways quite contagious.

During our remote learning experience, many students became quite familiar with the

internet and the World WIDE Web! In many cases this is fantastic, however there is still

reason to be closely monitoring our children’s behaviours online for their protection at all

times.

For this reason we would like to remind all parents to stay involved in their children’s’ online

interactions and safely guide them into smart online habits. There are some great tips as

well as internet filters available that may be reached through our schools website at

www.bellfield.nsw.edu.au/internet-filtering/

For many of our students today, their messages or online interactions are their main mode

of dialog. Let us all be reminded that our words should always be spoken to benefit ourselves

or others and not to hurt and disrespect our fellow peers. The holy Quran wisely reminds us

‘and speak to people kindly’ (2:83)

We look forward to fostering healthy online habits for our students at school as well as at

home when learning online through our Tri-Partnership vision.

Stay safe and may the Mercy of Allah always surround your homes and families.

Warm regards,

Julie Karaki

Illuminations Coordinator.

Arabic News

As Salamu Alaykum

As Muslim parents/guardians, one of our major concerns is that our children learn Arabic in

order to be able to read the Quran in its original language which was chosen by Allah as the

language of the Holy Quran with its precision and wisdom.

Allah (SWT) sent the Holy Quran as a blessing

and mercy for all mankind. It was sent as a

reminder and guidance for us all and for this

reason being able to understand it in its original

language is extremely important.

As an Arabic teacher, my main concern is to

teach my students how to read the holy Quran

fluently and to understand and interpret the

word of Allah through prayer and reading of the holy Quran. Year 5 and 6 this year have

made incredible progress through their commitment to Arabic especially through the

difficult transition to and from remote learning. I really appreciate the efforts parents

have put into teaching their students Arabic and Quran, hand in hand with teachers during

this time.

This term, our

students in years 5

and 6 Level B have

been concentrating on

reading words from

Quran with correct

pronunciation.

Year 5 and 6 level A

students are studying

from the book المشوقة.

Students learnt about

and worked فصل الخريف

exceptionally on these

tasks. Also, students who needed Arabic support classes last year have made incredible

improvement this year especially in reading simple words.

Our aim is to be able to read any word from the holy Quran by the end of this year inshallah.

I hope that we can together achieve the most desirable outcomes for our students in

learning Quran and being able communicate in some ways using the Arabic language.

Through patience and commitment to our students, although teaching Arabic may take time,

it will most certainly be worth the efforts.

Warm Regards,

Maysaa Balhas

Year 5 and 6 Arabic Teacher

.

3S - What have we been up to?

This term we have returned to school with a

stronger will to learn. This week we have focused

on multiplication using arrays for mathematics and

persuasive writing for English. Students are also

learning about states of matter in science. We

have been relating our class topics to our daily

lives.

One way students understand is through visual

prompts and hands on learning. In maths we have

used concrete materials to demonstrate how we

multiply using groupings and arrays. In English we

have referred to the Prime Minister’s speech to

convey and persuade an audience when it comes to

persuasive text.

Additionally, this week we have been learning about

Aboriginal history to celebrate Reconciliation Week. Students had the

opportunity to discuss the brutality and cruelty that the Indigenous

Australians faced in the invasion of the

European settlement. Students

understand why we say “Sorry” on

National Sorry Day and they have

stepped in the shoes of the lost

generation. 3S students took the time

to create posters to empathise with all

of the Indigenous Australians.

In our class we have implemented the D.E.A.R

which stands for Drop Everything And Read where

we spend ten minutes every day to read. This will

further strengthen students’ fluence, enhance

their vocabulary and enrich their creativity and

imagination.

Finally, in 3S we are very positive bunch, we think

positively and try to begin and end every day with

a positive mindset, we have reminders in our class

to help us remember that we need to keep a

positive outlook in whatever we do, there is no challenge too big for us!

Ms Safi

Bellfield Community

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