newsletter - blackwood primary...

Department for Education and Child Development T/A South Australian Government Schools CRICOS Provider Number: 00018A

NEWSLETTER Week 9 Term 2 2019

An IB school valuing, supporting and inspiring a community of lifelong learners

As Term 2 draws to a close and families look forward to the holidays

and spending valuable time together I think it is important to

acknowledge something wonderful happening in our community.

Generosity. A simple word, but a word that can make the world of

difference to others! We have so many examples of generosity

across Blackwood Primary School and we are lucky to be part of such

a wonderful community. Generosity is closely linked to the Learner

Profile of Caring which we promote and teach on regular basis.

Our biannual Quiz night was held on Saturday the 15th June and this event would not have

been possible without the generosity of many people. Firstly, the Parents and Friends

who generously gave their time and effort to assist with the planning, preparation and

running of the event. Next the generous donations of community members who willingly

gave prizes. Then we had the school community who bought tickets and came along to

the wonderful evening. Thanks to the generosity of all, we managed to raise over $1500

to go towards the development of our five year grounds plan. We also had some very

generous parents who ran our recent school disco which is also contributing to our

fundraising efforts.

We often see occasions of students showing generosity to others both at school and in the

wider community. They give their time to help and offer services to others. Currently

some of our Year 7 students are giving up their time to work with students across the

school at lunchtime, through offering lunch time clubs. Well done to these students who

have taken the initiative and are generously giving up their lunchtimes to provide extra

opportunities for other students.

Our Staff show their generosity daily and are always there to help wherever they can.

Many of our staff also give up their time to provide extra-curricular activities for students.

Our debating team is supported through the generosity of teachers, our school discos,

BBQ’s and whole school events are a few more that are part of a long list of things

generously attended and run by staff outside of their usual duties.

The Blackwood Community Clubs often assist our school too! Thank you to the Rotary

Club of Blackwood who has just donated money for us to be able to plant the new car

park area.

Thanks to the generosity of many, we have a wonderful school community and with these

ideal role models I know our children a becoming equally as generous. A little generosity

goes a long way! Enjoy your break with your family.

Principal: Kris Robson 4 Seymour Street, Eden Hills 5050 Phone: 8278 5355 www.blackwoodps.sa.edu.au

Acting Deputy Principal: Amanda Gulliver

Important Diary

Dates

Monday 1 July School Closed due to

Industrial Action

Friday 5 July Mud Day

Mid Year Reports sent home

Last Day of Term 2 3.20pm dismissal

TERM 3

Monday 22 July First Day of Term 3

Friday 26 July

Zoom Excursion R/1

30 July-17 August Korean Study Tour

Tuesday 6 August Governing Council

6pm staff room

Debating 6.30pm Pulteney Grammar

Friday 9 August

Student Free Day

http://www.blackwoodps.sa.edu.au/

Blackwood Primary School

Japanese Teacher assistant

My name is Yuki Arimoto. I’m from Okayama Prefecture, Japan. I am a middle school English teacher in Japan, but I came to Australia to teach Japanese for one year. I will work at this school and Blackwood High School for Term 2 and Term 3 and then I will go to Seacliff Primary School. I like the natural setting of Blackwood Primary School. I am still waiting to see a Koala at school, so please tell me if you spot one!

I live near the beach here in Adelaide. I love walking to the beach every day, because in Japan my home is at least two hours from the ocean.

At Blackwood Primary School, the smiles of the children every day make me happy and want to teach them more Japanese. I have been to the Adelaide Oval twice already, I still have to decide whether I become a Crows or Port Power fan…

Youth Environmental Leadership Program On Thursday the 13th of June, Blackwood Primary School’s Green Team hosted the Y.E.L.P. There were 42 students from other schools. Our first activity was a school tour, we took the visiting students around the school showing them our school grounds and listing the fun facts of our school. We showed them the butterfly garden, trees for life planting, grey box gum trees and how we manage our compost bins. We also talked about our buddy garden club and our vegetable gardens. The rest of the day was planning and reviewing our own school projects. Our project is, “Sow Plant Eat Repeat”: With our buddy classes each year 6/7 class is responsible for sowing seeds, planting them in the garden beds. Each class has a garden based around a meal, one garden bed is the pizza garden another curry and also a salad garden. Once the plants are ready to harvest we will make/cook pizzas, curries, and salads. Once these are ready to harvest we will be able to sit down at a pizza, curry and salad lunch with buddies.

School Information

Student Absence If your child will be absent

from school, please send a txt through the

School Star App

or

SMS Text to 0427 016 460

*** Banking Day Banking day is Wednesday

*** Term Uniform Shop

Opening Hours Monday 8:15 – 9:15 Wednesday 12:45 – 1:30 Friday 8:15 – 9:15 3:00 – 3:45

Ph: 0401 913 830 ***

KickStart Breakfast Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday 8:30am

Outside the Canteen ***

Lost and Found Ensure all items are clearly labelled so we can return

them to you and check the lost and found cupboard

for missing items. ***

BPS Playgroup Thursdays

0 – 4 year olds 9am to 11am OSHC Room

*** School Tour Days

We offer school tours for new families & new

students. Contact Reception on

8278 5355 for the next tour date and to book.

*** To join, search for

Blackwood PS Scene in Facebook and click on

the Join button.


Governing Council Report So we are well on our way through the school year and I can safely say that lots of great things are happening at Blackwood Primary School. We have our new Principal. This is excellent continuity for the school to have Kris Robson appointed, being a critical part of the previous leadership team she has most certainly hit the ground running and is very keen to continue to take our great school onto the next chapter. I am sure you will join me in congratulating Kris. With the appointment of Kris into the Principal role, BPS now requires a replacement Deputy Principal. I can confirm that the DP role will be advertised state wide this week and a panel will be run early next term. We have our sports stars performing in Netball, Soccer, Basketball, Cricket, SAPSASA Athletics and Cross Country, on behalf of all the parents I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the the volunteers of each of the teams who dedicate their free time to help our children. Without your help our children would not be able to participate in the activities they do. A great evening was had by all at this year’s BPS Quiz Night, a massive thank you to the P&F team for organising such a fantastic event. What a super night and all for such a good cause raising money for improvement projects within the school grounds to enhance our children's learning environment. Unfortunately on a sour note, there is still an issue with some Parents thinking it is OK to park in the Kiss and Drop area before the school day has finished, I personally witnessed the Kiss and Drop full of parked cars at 2.30pm on a nice sunny afternoon. I cannot stress enough, this area is NOT for parking, it is a pick up zone only. By parking in the Kiss and Drop it blocks the through traffic, which has a knock on effect and blocks the car park that ends up queuing out onto Shepherds Hill Road, I strongly feel this is creating a potentially dangerous situation and is unacceptable. Most parents are thoughtful enough not to park in the Kiss and Drop, but it is disappointing that a small minority of parents are making it difficult for everyone, this also applies to the no stopping (at anytime) in the turning circle at the end of Seymour Street and the no parking (during school drop off and pick up time) on the left hand side as you exit Seymour Street. A few parents think the council parking rules do not apply to them and by ignoring the parking restrictions it makes it very difficult for every other person. We are very lucky as there are numerous drop off and pick up locations surrounding our beautiful school grounds and the GC with the School Leadership team are hoping to add another to the list shortly. Currently we have the car park, Kiss and Drop zone, Seymour Street Kiss and Drop (mainly for the High School), and a few additional side roads at the front of the school. We have Beaconsfield Road and Trevor Terrace utilising the gully entrance at the rear of the school grounds, and if you want to increase your step count why not use the Karinya Reserve Car Park and have a short walk to either the front or rear entrance? If you are a parent who is not parking in the correct manner or not using Kiss and Drop appropriately, please stop and spare a thought for other parents who are. They are just as busy as you. After careful consideration by the teaching staff, I am pleased to inform you that the school is advancing with its technology to help with STEM learning, BPS are purchasing a 3D printer and we are eagerly waiting for its delivery. At some point our children will have an opportunity to use this amazing new piece of equipment as a part of their learning development. I don't think I am too old, but it is incredible how far technology has developed in our life time, I remember waiting for my dot matrix printer to finish a report and now we have this incredible piece of kit in our kids Primary School. I look forward to updating you again later in the year.

Craig Seckerson Blackwood Primary School Governing Council Chair


Class Report – Room 4

Numeracy: Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans task

How many Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans would fit into this box?

Who doesn’t love jelly belly beans? This task helps students practise the behaviours that great mathematicians do (such as take risks, give evidence, try different strategies, communicate their thinking and work collaboratively). Students needed to predict their too high, too low and just right answers, as well as questions that they needed to be more accurate? Students were then given the dimensions of the box, an actual jelly bean and then the weight in stages to see if they could refine and come up with the most accurate answer they could. The final answer to how many beans that fit was 210. Sharing the Planet

Throughout term 1 and 2 we have looked into how humans make choices and take action that impact on our natural environment in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry. Students have been inquiring into issues such as oil drilling, deforestation, coral bleaching, fast fashion and micro and single use plastics. Students have asked questions and started researching an area that they are interested. Here are some of our questions and inquiry topics.

How did global warming start? - Yo Why does nobody care about plastic pollution? – Alex

How can we stop coral bleaching from happening? – Chrishalya If we stop littering will there still be plastic in the ocean? – Ava How will we protect bees so that they don’t all die? – Caelan

Where we are in place & time: 1915 School day experience

In Week 4 this term, we entered our classroom only to be told to line up in straight lines in girls and boys. We did not know what to expect when we entered room 5. We saw that all the chairs and tables were arranged in rows and both Mrs Allard and Miss Herbert were both elegantly dressed in clothes that most teachers wore in the early 1900s. That’s when we started to work out what we were doing…The boys sat on one side and the girls on the other. During the day we learned how students would have experienced school a 100 years ago. We started the day by reciting the National Anthem ‘God Save the Queen’ (which we had no idea how it went) and also repeated a poem aloud as a class over and over. During arithmetic, we repeated our times tables after the teacher. It was pretty boring! We also were told which books to read the girls their own book and all the boys had their own. We were asked to read aloud in front of the class too. Written by Riley & Inaya


Single Use Plastic Free ASMS Incursion On Thursday the 13th of June the Australian Mathematics and Science School came to our class to talk to us about single use plastics. First, they brought a jar with sand and water in it then they put smarties in the water. The smarties went white. So that shows how plastic doesn’t break down and it turns into tiny micro plastics. The plastic that was made 10 years ago is still floating around in the world. We had to go into groups. We had to sort things in to compost, recycling, garbage and soft plastics. 18 billion tons of plastics enters the ocean each year. Lots of animals are getting hurt because of the plastic in the ocean. For example, turtles eat clear plastic bags because they think its jelly fish. Written by Jade & Amy

Congratulations to Cynthia in Room 5 on her amazing entry in a national art competition to promote National Brain Awareness Week. She won 2nd place in her age group. There were 1200 entries.

Lost Property

Our lost property cupboard is bursting at the seams!

Next week (week 10), a trolley will be placed out the front of the reception office with items of uniform, lunch boxes and drink bottles. Please look through to claim any lost items.

Any unclaimed/unnamed items will be sold as second hand, or given to Vinnies at the end of the term.


R to 5 Swimming Lessons In week 6 this term all of our Reception to Year 5 students went swimming at Sports and Swimming Centre at Westminster College. This program is facilitated by qualified swimming instructors employed by Department of Education and forms an important part of our PE program.

The swimming lessons had a strong focus on water safety and this educational experience allowed our students to learn how to save themselves in potentially dangerous situations as well as ways they can help to keep others safe. Students practiced thinking for themselves and making good decisions in the water.

Billy, a Year 2 student in Room 20, wrote this reflection about his swimming lessons.

Monday Today was the first day of swimming and I felt excited. We were put into groups. I am in the red group. On the bus on the way down to the pool I sat with Louis. I found out that you need to put your goggles up when you are not in the water. The best thing about swimming was everything. The other people in my group are Louis, Annabelle, Kristen and Mackenzie. My instructors name is Erika.

Tuesday Today on the way to the pool I sat with Albarr. I listened carefully to my instructor when they told me to dive to the bottom. One thing that I practised today was saving people. I have enjoyed practising saving people. I think I am getting better at freestyle.

Wednesday Today on the way to the pool I sat with Annabelle. Today my instructor talked to me about how to keep warm in the water. I practised breast stroke. I learnt that to keep myself safe I need to wear a life jacket when you are on a boat. At the pool I can call a life guard if I am in trouble. If someone is in danger I can use a noodle to help them. On the way back from the pool I sat with Rhys.

Thursday Today on the way to the pool I sat with Rhys. At the pool I learnt about sun safety. What might make it dangerous for me when I was swimming in the ocean? The answer to this is rips, waves and whirlpools. Today the safety thing I practised was sun safety. My water skills and knowledge have improved during swimming this year. My favourite thing so far has been saving people. On the way back on the bus I sat with Hunter.

Friday Today on the way to the pool I sat with Max. My favourite thing that I did at swimming today was the obstacle course. During swimming week I think the most important thing I learnt was floating on my back. I feel confident in the water. Amanda Gulliver

Please note No School Banking in Week 10


Assembly Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received the recent Primary Years Program (PYP) IB Learner Profile Awards.

Room 1 Grace Thinker Thinking deeply about her learning and always being ready to share her ideas with the class.

Arnav Balanced Making good choices in the classroom that allow him to have fun and learn at the same time.

Room 2 Rhett Risk Taker Standing up for others who were being excluded in play time.

Kaajal Communicator Contributing frequently to class discussions and expressing her ideas clearly.

Room 3 Mia Caring Being responsible, respectful and considerate class member with a willingness to help others.

Hamish Principled Being honest and never giving up in PE lessons.

Room 4 Room 4 Students

Risk Taker Being courageous to perform a dance in front of the school.

Wamui Principled Working hard in learning time and resisting distractions.

Room 5 Connor Knowledgeable Showing more interest in class topics and sharing more ideas with the class.

Aden Principled Always being open to new ideas, applying himself in class and by leading his peers positively.

Room 6 Ava Risk Taker Getting very involved in our school community.

Esther Thinker Putting a lot of thought and care into all areas of her schooling.

Huw Principled Being well organised and independent with class routines.

Nduati Balanced Improving his focus during lessons this term.

Room 7 Kimiya Thinker Using her own time to collate ideas about the littering of plastics and email her ideas to her teacher.

Mia Caring Helping students who don’t understand tasks, and helping students to organise their learning.

Michael Risk Taker Stepping out of his comfort zone to do his book talk, and actively trying to distance himself from others in the classroom.

Owen Caring Encouraging others, even if the student doesn’t think they did well, Owen will say positive things.

Room 8 Lucy Risk Taker Showing grit and determination in mathematics and conquering two step algebra.

Skyla Risk Taker Running a highly successful lesson based on student agency.

Cara Caring Providing and running a netball club at lunchtime for interested students.

Cassie Risk Taker Showing grit and determination in mathematics and conquering two step algebra.

Room 9 Oscar Communicator Explaining his learning clearly and sharing his ideas thoughtfully.

Cathy Principled Displaying a consistent effort and working hard to learn new concepts.

Kristin Thinker Thinking deeply about her learning and offering thoughtful ideas.

Pim Inquirer Asking relevant questions and seeking ways to discover the answers.

Room 12 Gracie Knowledgeable Appling her mathematical thinking to new concepts and successfully applying them and supporting others.

Ginger Reflective Asking clarifying questions after thinking about the tasks to produce ever-improving results across her learning.


Assembly Awards cont.

Emily Communicator Adding valuable insights when she is expressing herself in class discussions.

Lua Knowledgeable Expanding her vocabulary by acquiring new words in literacy.

Room 14 Matilda Principled Always showing integrity; making the right choices and encouraging others to make the right choices through her actions.

Bethany Knowledgeable Using all her known reading strategies to improve in her reading. Fantastic Improvement.

Sebastian Thinker Solving challenging maths problems independently and showing perseverance when solving them.

Maya Risk Taker Being much more willing to take risks and knowing mistakes are a part of learning.

Room 15 Fox Reflective Always looking for ways to improve his learning.

Mia Communicator Sharing a new colouring technique with the class.

Room 16 Charlie Communicator Speaking in front of an audience and answering questions confidently.

Lawson Thinker Planning, designing and constructing a detailed model town for Maths inquiry.

Ryan Reflective Reflecting on your plan for Maths inquiry and making appropriate changes when needed.

Room 17 Jacquelyn Thinker Using her reading strategy of the Eagle Eye to discover new words in Daily 5.

Lily Courageous Jumping into the Learning Pit and taking risks during oral language and writing.

Room 18 Zoe Inquirer Asking others questions to further her understanding about Earth and Sun.

Norah Risk Taker Using a sound card and having a go at writing a sentence independently during Maths.

Room 19 Akeilah Risk Taker Having a go at new things and working with others to solve challenging work.

James Risk Taker Always having a go at new work, especially in reading harder books and sight words.

Thomas Risk Taker Persevering with his narrative planning to choose ideas and then write his story.

Ben Communicator Preparing a talk to inform the class of his recent holiday, showing a map and various items to support his speech.

Room 20 James Risk Taker Being more prepared to take risks with his learning by giving new learning a “red hot go”.

Billy Inquirer Always showing curiosity and independence with learning tasks and seeking to find out more.

Ethan Caring Always considering the feelings of others and supporting them in their learning journey.

Tiffany Risk Taker Being prepared to give new learning a go with a positive attitude.


Assembly Awards cont.

Congratulations to the following students who received the recent BPS IB Action Award.

Room 1 Tristan Furthering his understanding of Japanese by researching the numbers 11-100 at home.

Room 2 Maia Bringing Japanese coins in for sensei to share as part of their studies about money.

Tyson Bringing in a special ‘volunteer’ themed coin to share as it linked to our unit of inquiry.

Room 4 Sabine Being principled and picking up rubbish at a park.

Room 9 Eli Creating a kindness calendar with many ideas and inspiring others to also create a kindness calendar.

newsletter - blackwood primary...

Documents