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OFFICE HOURS 8.30AM TO 4.30PM
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BORONIA K12 COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
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Primary District Cross Country
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KEY DATES:
WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST: YEAR 8 WELLBEING DAY
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THURSDAY 12 AUGUST: YEAR 5 & 6 HOOP TIME
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FRIDAY 13 AUGUST: YEAR 9 GIRL BADMINTON
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TUESDAY 17 AUGUST: YEAR 5 & 6 SUMMER SPORT ROUND ROBIN
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FRIDAY 20 AUGUST: YEAR 8 BASKETBALL & TABLE TENNIS
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TUESDAY 24 AUGUST: YEAR 3 & 4 HOOP TIME
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THURSDAY 26 AUGUST: DEBUTANTE BALL
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YEAR 7 BASKETBALL & TABLE TENNIS
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PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
As I write this, I can’t believe that it is only the end of Week Three – what a roller coaster ride the start to Semester Two has been.
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As a school, we can be proud that we have continually strived to maintain the rigor and expectations of our teaching and learning programs, while maintaining wellbeing supports and connection. We applaud the resilience and flexibility of our students and families, as we navigated the third iteration of Remote and Flexible Learning for 2021.
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Feedback received from staff, students and parents has provided strong endorsement of our approaches, reflective of our experiences last year and during Term Two. The vast majority of students have been committed, engaged and have stayed strongly connected with their teachers and peers. We are also aware that some students are experiencing struggles with motivation and attendance as they deal with the fatigue of an ever-changing world. Please continue the great work you do in supporting your child/ren to engage with the college and their education. Remember that we are here to support you and your child/ren in any way we can.
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If the last 18 months has taught us anything, it is to be flexible and resilient in the face of change. Meagan Cook departing the college at the end of last term to embark on a new challenge was another change that many of us were not necessarily expecting or ready for. Meagan had a profound impact on shaping the identity of our college over the past 5 years. This included developing and shaping a strong, dedicated leadership team and staff, that are committed to a shared philosophy and vision. We are committed to continuing this work throughout this term and well beyond.
As a staff, this term we continue work on our key goals, including but not limited to:
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) PLCs are an approach to school improvement where groups of teachers work collaboratively at the school level to improve student outcomes. PLC schools start from a simple idea: students learn more when their teachers work together.
Building a PLC is a proven way for schools to increase student learning by creating a culture that is:
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- focussed on continuous improvement by linking the learning needs of students with the professional learning and practice of teachers
- committed to professionalism
- fuelled by collaborative expertise.
We have a team of staff engaging in extensive learning over the semester to share back to the whole staff.
We also continue to build on and embed our Berry Street Education Model into classrooms. The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) provides strategies for teaching and learning that enables teachers to increase engagement of students with complex, unmet learning needs and to successfully improve all students’ self-regulation, relationships, wellbeing, growth and academic achievement. The pedagogical strategies incorporate trauma-informed teaching, positive education and wellbeing practices.
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2022 Planning has Started
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The process of Subject Selection for 2022 has commenced for Senior School students and it was great to see not only the level of attendance but also the engagement from families and students, evident in the range of questions asked, at the online information session last night. The choices that students make at this point in their secondary education can have a great influence on their future education and many factors should be considered during the process. Such factors include career aspirations, aptitude and interest, Year 12 subject and tertiary course prerequisites as well as creating a program which allows for flexibility in future choice. During this time of decision making, it is important that students discuss their aspirations with parents.
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Term Three is an important planning term for us, to get ready for 2022. Understandably, the impact of lockdowns has slowed enrolment rates in schools as busy parents navigate other tricky aspects of our current life. It is important, however, that as a school we are able to accurately plan for student numbers for the following year. It impacts on staffing, programs, furniture, budgets and facilities. If you, or anyone you know, is planning on enrolling in the college but hasn’t had the time or energy to get the ball rolling, please give us a call so we can offer support to make the process as easy as possible.
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We are now accepting 2022 enrolments into 3-Year-old and 4-Year-old Kinder, Prep and Year 7. We are also accepting enrolment enquiries for all other year levels.
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The Show Must Go On! COVID-Tweaking Term 3
We had, and still have, big plans for a range of events and activities across the term. We are working through rescheduling and COVID-tweaking events and activities to ensure our students and families don’t miss out on too much again this year. Please check Compass regularly for updates and information.
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Thank you for your continued support of the college and staff. Stay safe, stay connected and stay tuned to COMPASS!
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ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Well, it’s been a tumultuous beginning to Term 3, that’s for sure. One with lots of changes, challenges and opportunities in just a short period of time. Miss Hancock and Miss Wright were excited to be able to have time to sneak into classrooms and watch your new inquiry learning focusses grow and develop, check in on a wonderful break and spend some time with you all. Instead, we have been popping in and out of WebEx sessions and doing lots of waving to our computer screens. What we have been impressed with is the resilience and determination you have shown once again during Lockdown 5.0. While they don’t get any easier, we continue to be amazed at your willingness to have a go and persist with your learning. What we do know about remote and flexible learning is that with those challenges come growth and opportunities – like being able dedicate a whole day to our emotional and physical health with Wellbeing Wednesday.
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It is really important as we continue to be flexible with Covid and the snap lockdowns that everyone asks for help when they need it. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness – in fact the opposite is true! It is much more difficult to self-reflect and be honest with yourself and others when you are finding things tough! However, it is also easy to hide away – sometimes your friends and teachers will see it but sometimes they won’t. While we may not have the answers, we are always here if you need anything.
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We would like to welcome Shelley Hopkin as our new Foundation teacher. Unfortunately, she only got to spend four wonderful days with her class before we went into remote learning, however is continuing to thrive and do a wonderful job. The Foundation students are having so much fun getting to know her, even if most of it has been via a computer screen. She is breath of fresh air and a welcome asset to the Junior School teaching team.
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After a week or so of snuggling up in oodies and slippers, this is a timely reminder about the importance of uniform at school. As a school, we can’t stress enough the importance of uniforms, including:
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- inducing a community spirit
- safety for our students when commuting to / from school and when participating in activities in the community
- distinction between our different areas of the school (Primary and Secondary)
- recognising the money spent by families on uniform
As we return to school, you will notice your teachers will become much firmer with uniform, ensuring that you are wearing the correct uniform from top to bottom (not just your school top with random shorts/pants and a jumper). However, we recognise that jumpers and jackets in winter can get wet, dirty and left in random places! We will continue to encourage you to take responsibility for your belongings. Where you have a legitimate reason to be out of uniform, it is the expectation that you provide a note / email from your parents/carers to explain the reasons behind this. Emails will be sent by teachers to parents/carers where this is not provided to seek understanding of the situation. Please let us know if you are having issues or worries about getting the correct uniform, as we can assist with this.
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Due to the ongoing changes to Covid restrictions and protocols we will aim to keep you up to date with all the information we have as we receive it. This will continue to communicated via Compass but please let us know if you have any questions or queries. We are hopeful to have our school community back onsite celebrating student learning and success as soon as possible. We love having the school community together for events and our weekly assemblies.
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We would like to finish off by saying a massive thank you to our entire school community. The support and resilience everyone continues to show throughout the beginning of this term has been amazing and we really appreciate it. We look forward to working with you all this term to ensure the best outcomes for all of our Junior School students.
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Cassie Wright and Mel Hancock
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Junior School Acting Assistant Principals
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PRIMARY ART
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This Term in Visual Art, all of our Primary School students have been creating still life artwork. To create their art, our students have used natural and man-made items that they have found in and around their homes.
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ART CLUB
We hold an Art Club each Friday Lunchtime in Room T2.
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All Primary and Secondary students are welcome!
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Students are able to work on any project they like. A great place to get creative!
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PRIMARY SPORT
District Cross Country
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EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
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Our ELC students have been having a busy and fun time this Term.so far.
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JUNIOR SCHOOL
What a turbulent start to Term 3 it has been! Four days at schools and then back into Remote Learning. Once again it has been wonderful to our school community adjust and continue to engage with their school work and teachers. The turnout to the Junior School Assembly was amazing too, as it is the fifth different type of assembly we have had in the last 18 months. It was great to see so many smiling faces!
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It was a busy start to Term 3 for our Foundation students. The first day they did a provocation for their new Central Idea ‘we use our sense to learn about ourselves to discover the world around us.’ Students were given the opportunity to move around to different stations that focused on each of the five senses. This was a great provocation that really go the students thinking about what they already know about the five senses, any questions they had about them and what they would like to learn about them. Foundation A also had a very exciting change, as Miss Hopkin took over as their classroom teacher. They have all loved getting to know Miss Hopkin and are having an amazing time with their new teacher!
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In Year 1/2 they have been doing lots of learning and have had a terrific start to Term 3! They also explored their Central Idea of ‘people create systems of measurement to meet their needs in life.’ Through this exploration, students measured their height and different objects around the classroom using a range of formal and informal units. The Year 1/2 students have been completing lots of work with Australian currency and have familiarised themselves around the net worth of coins and notes. The introduction of Fairy tales has allowed students to retell and sequence the events in order and we are looking forward to some creative writing around this unit in the coming weeks. A highlight from remote learning would be Grade 1/2s sharing their hilarious jokes during a WebEx. It was such a great opportunity for everyone to come together, see familiar faces and crack a smile or two.
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The 3/4 students loved jumping straight into hand learning for Maths this term. In order to consolidate their place value skills and knowledge they played a fun strategy game called ‘Gold Diggers.’ Through Remote Learning, the students enjoyed continuing the consolidation of this knowledge by playing cohort bingo. They enjoyed competing against all of the 3/4s. Remote learning didn’t get in the way of the 3/4s studying their Central Idea ‘biodiversity relies on the interdependence between systems,’ as it was integrated in both reading and writing activities.
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Our 5/6 students completed a challenging provocation for their new Central Idea ‘digital systems contribute to global society.’ They were presented with the Central Idea coded and had to crack the code using two keyboards. Everyone is excited to started their exhibition in this unit and inquire into a topic of their choice, related to the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry. During remote learning everyone loved being able to share their pets with their classes. Mrs Barnard introduced her dog to her class and it was wonderful seeing all pets big and small joining in with learning.
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The Year 3 – 6 students were all lucky enough to fit in District Cross Country the day before we went into remote learning. Everyone did an amazing job and represented the school proudly. I am looking forward to more wonderful events as move through the term.
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Director of Junior School/Acting Assistant Principal
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WELLBEING & INCLUSION
For those that may not have met me yet, my name is Chloe Flint and I am the Chaplain at Boronia K-12 College.
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Working closely with the Wellbeing Team, my role provides pastoral care to individuals and groups (not counselling) and group programs. As a Chaplain, my focus targets include building confidence, resilience and positive behaviours through goal setting and positive role modelling.
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On behalf of the Wellbeing Team, I am excited to introduce a new program that we will be running in our Foundation Classes through Term 3, beginning in week 5.
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Introducing Kimochis (pronounced key-mo-chee)
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“Kimochis”, Japanese for ‘feelings’ is a Social and Emotional Learning program consisting of a family of cuddly characters and a large range of smaller emotion toys.
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Using these characters, the Kimochis program teaches children the social and communication skills needed to create and maintain strong friendships, work and play cooperatively, and build resilience in difficult situations.
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Our students will also learn all about the different emotions we experience, and how to regulate and manage those feelings when they get ‘big’ and feel out of control.
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The Wellbeing Team are excited to introduce our Kimochi friends, Clover, Bella Rose, Cloud, Lovey Dove, Bug, Huggtopus, Cat and Hero!
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
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Our Year 8 Showcase took place in the final week of last Term.
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The VCAL students have been very busy over the past few weeks;
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In Senior VCAL, the students have been working on their debates in Literacy, they have chosen a partner and topic and are getting creative (and a bit serious) with their arguments. Numeracy has seen them preparing for the Father’s Day stall, designing products to sell and preparing a presentation to get funding for their projects. On top of this, they are also researching waste in the industry of their choosing and how to be sustainable, to then present to younger year levels at the college. As they are coming towards the end of their formal schooling, students have been looking at the 8 employability skills and how they can best demonstrate these in job preparations and are putting the final details into the whole school Pizza Day that they are going to run (using their pizza oven).
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The Intermediate VCAL students have been equally busy. In Literacy they are about to look closely at the Olympics, its purpose and how it connects us as a world. They’ll be working on their reading, writing and oracy for public debate. Linking into Numeracy students have been researching and investigating their future careers. They have compared wages and employment rates across different states and countries and logged the costs of tools, education and supplies for their jobs. In Work Related Skills we have been discovering and practicing our enterprise skills, such as creative thinking, global citizenship and teamwork in order to explore what is needed to run a successful business. And finally the students have continued to work in the timber room (as part of their project day) on their giant wooden yard games and puzzles and other projects around the college, including tyre planter pots. Linking into their work on health and wellbeing, students have been accessing the school gymnasium to participate in some team building activities to promote physical activity, including a game of volleyball against some of the staff. A fun time for all.
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OFFICE REMINDERS
PARENT OPINION SURVEY
WE WANT OUR PARENTS/CAREGIVERS/GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!
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Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst a sample of randomly selected parents/caregivers/guardians (previously known as the Parent Opinion Survey). It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.
Approximately 50 per cent of parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year at Boronia K-12 College, the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey will be conducted from Wednesday 29 July to Sunday 22 August.
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The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.
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QR CODE
Schools are now mandated to utilise the Service Victoria QR codes for electronic record keeping.
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QR codes will be required to be used by:
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- all parents/carers/visitors who enter buildings when on the school site.
All building entry and exit points will now display QR code posters. If you are required/invited to enter buildings on school grounds, for whatever purpose, you are now required to use the provided QR code check-in. If you are not able to check in using a smartphone or tablet, a supported check-in service is available at the General Office.
Using the QR code system does not replace the existing requirement to also sign in on the Compass Kiosk at either the General Office or Gym (when you attend for a purpose such as a parent/teacher meeting). Thank you for your support and understanding of this important health direction.
It remains important that students/staff/parents/carers remain at home if unwell and get tested if symptoms are consistent with COVID-19.
Thank you for your support!
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BORONIA K12 COLLEGE QR CODE
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