DATES TO REMEMBER

Tuesday 15th December Prep MOPA Excursion

Tuesday 15th December 1/2 Supaworld Excursion

Tuesday 15th December Grade 6 Graduation Night

Wednesday 16th December 5/6 Beach Excursion

Wednesday 16th December 3/4 Movies Excursion

Thursday 17th December 2:30pm 2021 Meet The Teacher Grade Swaps

Friday 18th December 1:30pm finish Final Day of Term 4

Thursday 28th January First Day of Term 1 for 2021

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK Congratulations to the following students whose efforts, behaviour and attitude have been recognised

Aliya D Prep C For being such a superstar student who is constantly trying her best. Aliya, your efforts in writing have been amazing and you are making great spelling choices.

Isla P Prep G For doing an incredible job on your reading. You are fantastic at sounding out words and have lots more confidence when reading! Well done Isla!

Isla D 12L For her hard work and determination with her spelling this term. She has been making sure to slow down in order to hear all the sounds in a word, and then use her Soundwaves knowledge to try and spell it. I’m so proud of you Isla!

Milla R 12M For making huge comeback to Belmont and wowing her grade with her work. We are glad to have you back Milla, thanks for sharing your knowledge! Great stuff Mill!!

Mustafa A 12S For a fantastic presentation of his class news. Well done for sharing your information about dragons in a clear, confident voice. Super work Mustafa!

Hilali L 12T For working extremely hard and trying her absolute best, especially when counting money in Maths. Amazing effort Hilali!

Bonnie M 3/4C For her creative and challenging ‘symmetry’ image that she created on GeoBoards.

Kai H 34E For making a huge effort in his reading this week. Kai has shared his understanding of Jeannie Baker texts and has shown a high level of determination in all tasks. Super effort Kai!

Maia F 34M For displaying persistence and positivity during Bike Ed. You grew in confidence each session. Super work Maia!

Surry B 56L For willingingly taking on extra duties and demonstrating terrific leadership as Belmont’s school captain. Well done Surry!

Chanulya K 56R Chanulya has finished off this year with such a beautiful and positive attitude. She arrives at school every single morning with a lovely ‘hello’ and always asks her teachers how they are. Keep it up Chanulya.

Sophie N

56T For always being such a reliable and dedicated student. Your attitude towards your learning is outstanding. You have also completed many extra activities being School Captain in an efficient manner. Well done!

Summer K Art For her excellent printmaking in art this week.

Billy M Italian For consistently working well in all Italian classes.

Juniper L P.E For having a red-hot go during our mini basketball matches and implementing all of the skills we have been practising.

Mackenzie W Performing Arts

For a fantastic Ring Master performance and introductions of the acts in her group's Puppet-Circus performance. Great job Mackenzie, well done!

BELMONT PRIMARY SCHOOL Mt Pleasant Road, Belmont

Phone 5243 2972 Fax 5241 1182 www.belmontps.vic.edu.au

e-mail: belmont.ps@education.vic.gov.au Facebook: www.facebook.com/belmontpsvic/

Principal: David Houghton Assistant Principal: Sharon Liddle

BELMONT BULLETIN

No. 38 10th December, 2020

Students of the week Prep – Grade 2

Students of the week Grade 3 – Grade 6

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

School Captains were announced this week at a small assembly for Years 3-6. Year 5 parents were invited to this and in 2021 we are hopeful of a full assembly to recognise our new School Captains. We look forward to seeing them represent our school and all of our students over the next 12 months. We congratulate: from left Captains - Ollie Watson and Lily Stewart and Vice Captains - Mila Rush and Ned Buchanan.

We would also like to acknowledge our departing School Captains and thank them for their service over a difficult year they have given to the school and their peers. A great job.

From left- Captains: Sophie Nolan & Surry Burch and Vice Captains: Isobel MacPherson & Billy Manderson Great news The Minor Capital Works Fund supports small-scale priority building projects to improve the learning environment, condition or character of Victorian schools. Our Buildings and Grounds sub-committee of School Council submitted a detailed application and were successful in being granted just over $57,000 to provide for greater shade and outdoor covered areas. This additional funding is part of the statewide building blitz to help Victoria's economy rebound from the coronavirus crisis. This fund will deliver projects that will make a big difference to local schools. Projects will commence from early 2021. 328 schools will benefit. Other projects included funding for:

58 projects to upgrade existing ovals and other sporting facilities

58 projects to provide new or upgrade existing playgrounds or sensory play spaces

43 projects to refurbish school toilet facilities to improve amenity, cleanliness and hygiene

24 projects to upgrade and refurbish roofs and other external building works

30 upgrades to fences, and;

15 projects to provide greater shade and outdoor covered areas at schools. (BPS)

This is an example of one of the proposed structures for outside one of the 1/2 classroom areas.

Respectful Relationships Last week, our Well-being team came together to plan Belmont Primary’s Well-being program. We are excited to implement the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning, growth mindset, gratitude and mindfulness, to develop our students’ confidence, social skills and healthy life habits.

Intervention finishes this week for 2020 The school made a very strong investment in providing additional intervention which we rolled out across the term in years Prep (Foundation) through to year 4. Our thanks to Lisa Hickey, Kerrianne Hobbs and Dylan Rhodes for the work they have completed with many of our students whose progress was most affected by isolation experienced with COVID. Thanks too for the continued work of our regular intervention teacher Naomi Barnes. We saw some wonderful progress made by students who worked hard in these individual and small group sessions.

(For privacy not our students pictured here)

2021 School structure The school has finalised the class structure and has almost finalised staff placement for next year based on current enrolment numbers. It is the first year for some time that the school has been able to maintain the same staff at the same class levels. This stability will further enhance our schools growing and successful PLC Team approach. Worth noting also, is that next year, we will be adding a further specialist area in STEM. This will be an exciting addition to what we are providing our students beyond regular classroom provision. The continual advances in technology are changing the way students learn, connect and interact every day. Skills developed by students through STEM provide them with the foundation to succeed at school and beyond and many schools are working to include this approach more widely. STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Next Thursday students will be told which grade they will go into and spend part of the afternoon with their teachers for 2021. For the most part, students will have a change of teacher but for a smaller number, some students will remain with their current teachers for a second year. Foundation 36 students 2 classes (18/18) Shanelle Craven (PLC Leader) / Phoebe Gowers Years 1/2 87 students 4 classes (21-22) Susie Lewis (PLC Leader) 4 days / Adelle Preston Paul Mc Ardle / Jemma Treloar / Megan Leishman Years 3/4 85 students 3 classes (28-29) Craig Corker (PLC Leader) / Lorann Elkington Maddison MacDonald Years 5/6 88 students 3 classes (29-30) Grant Thompson (PLC Leader) Sharon Long 3 days / Georgina Edgar / Amy Ralph Specialist Programs: Visual Arts F-6 (all year) Kerrianne Hobbs # / Yvonne McDonald Physical Education F-6 (all year) To be confirmed LOTE (Italian) F-6 (all year) Helen McNabb Performing Arts Half year (P-2, 3-6) To be confirmed STEM Half year (3-6, P-2) Julie Keating # Provisional appointment Graduation – Great news! The school has managed to secure a late booking for an alternate venue, which will allow up to two adults (no siblings) to attend this year’s 2020 Graduation.

Details will soon follow but we have booked the One Hope (Church Centre) centre in Barrabool Hills which can legally accommodate up to 150 people. This is a wonderful outcome for our Year 6 students and their families.

Year 6 Graduation – next Tuesday 15 December 2020 from 6.00pm.

Belmont PS – Out and About! With so many of our usual school events and activities cancelled this year and guidelines now allowing excursions and incursions, our staff have been planning some special experiences and celebrations for our students. Please add these dates to your calendars and be sure to have completed the appropriate permission form and payment through compass as soon as possible.

Tuesday 15 December 1/2 Celebration Day - SupaWorld

Tuesday 15 December Prep Celebration Day

Museum of Play and Arts (MoPA)

Wednesday 16 December 3/4 Celebration Day - Movies

Wednesday 16 December 5/6 Celebration Day – Torquay Beach

Coming Up next week

End of Year Dismissal The final day for all students at Belmont Primary School is Friday 18th December. School will finish at 1.30pm on this day. Please make a note of the earlier collection time for this day. Some snaps of our 5/6 Tabloid Sports Day last Friday organised by our House Captains. The outdoor swimming pool had advised us very late last week that school groups were not permitted after our early booking in the weeks prior had been accepted.

Parent Opinion Survey In past years a random sample of our parents were surveyed to seek their views and provide useful feedback to the school. This year all of our parents were invited to the survey and 49 surveys were completed or 25% of our families. Forty nine surveys means that roughly a 2% result in the data is representative of one person and 4 % two people and so on. Parent comments were not part of this years survey. Our staff will review this data in the early weeks of 2021 with a view to discuss and perhaps action elements identified by our parents where they believe we could improve or do better. This is always our journey and intention to improve on what we do as a school. Previous parent and student surveys have led to changes to many elements of our school including Swimming, Performing Arts, STEM, OHSC and reporting. We value and act on feedback. Our Network (Barwon South Western) includes 609 schools so data collected so widely can help support all schools in their journey for improvement. This week we focus on School Ethos and environment

Strongest results in this area

Overall I am satisfied with the education my child receives from this school.

-88 % positive 10 % Neutral 2% Negative

The school has clean and well maintained facilities and grounds -92 % positive 8% Neutral

I feel confident that the school provides a good standard of education for my child

-92 % positive 8% Neutral

Lowest result in this area

The school has clear understanding of its strengths and areas for improvement

- 69% positive 27% Neutral 4 % Negative All results appear here below and can be enlarged on your chosen device to view all elements in this section. More results next week.

State Schools Spectacular Did you get a chance to spot our nine superstar dancers in the opening item of the Victorian State School Spectacular on Saturday night? Hundreds of State school students showcased their singing, musical and dancing talents as the individual filming of

each student singing or dancing was clipped and edited to create each performance. The moment in the spotlight for Tyler, Billy, Riley, Eva, Joe, Caitlin, Autumn, Grace and Nick was brief but we are very proud of their overall efforts, enthusiasm and performance. The telecast is available for 30 days on the 7plus app or you can view it via this link: https://7plus.com.au/2020-vic-schools-spectacular

We have registered our interest for the VSSS21 which will once again be presented in an extended online version, but as the program has been over subscribed we will not know if we will be offered a place until late next week. With just one week of school remaining, we look positively to the future for our school and wider community. We have intentionally postponed many of the typical Christmas themed activities until next week so that we could maximise the learning time available to all of our students in week 10. Our students remain our key focus as we finish the year strongly and plan for a more ‘normal’ 2021. A reminder that we finish early Friday. Kind regards and continuing thanks for your valued support. The Principal Team David Houghton Sharon Liddle

FROM THE ARTROOM

This has been the last week of art lessons for the year and what a year it has been. The students have been magnificent and created some amazing artwork both at school and during remote learning. The disappointing part of it all is that with so few people allowed on site no one really got to see much of it. So, as your children bring their artwork home over the next few days, please take the time to have a look and marvel at how wonderful they are. In my last newsletter for 2020 I am sharing what the students in Years 1/2 have been waiting for all year. SPLATTER PAINTING !!! All students love doing this, I wonder why? It’s a good reason for an art smock but if your child didn’t have one don’t panic, it does come out in the wash. Some of us, me included, finished the session with fluoro freckles. Did we care? No, because it is so much fun. See for yourselves. Merry Christmas from me and have a good break.

Yvonne McDonald Art Specialist

LIBRARY The library has now closed for the year. Thank you to the families who have already returned their books. If you haven’t had a chance to return yours yet please have a look at home and return them all as soon as possible. Thank