From the Principal’s Desk Staffing for 2017 As we prepare for the 2017 school year, we have been finalising the staff profile. Aſter 3 years of fulfilling the role of Business Manager at Balwyn North Primary School, Karen Baker will be leaving us to take up a posion at Diamond Valley Secondary College, closer to her home. Karen has been an efficient and hard-working member of the administraon staff and will be sorely missed. We wish her every success in her new posion. Ben Leitch will also be taking leave from Balwyn North Primary School in 2017, to take up a teaching posion in Point Cook, to be closer to his home. Ben is a valued and respected member of our teaching staff. We wish him a smooth and enjoyable transion to his new school and look forward to his return. Sharon Harrison, our current English as an Addional Language (EAL) teacher, is taking up a full me posion at Milgate Primary School. Sharon is a highly skilled teacher, who is much loved by our staff and the EAL students with whom she spends a significant poron of her me. We will miss Sharon and the care and support she offers our students. We are excited to welcome five new members to our growing teaching team. I am pleased to announce that Sammi Tam (classroom teacher), Natalie Richardson (classroom teacher), Summer Chen (0.4 LOTE), Laura Parks (Performing Arts/ Music) and Michelle May (0.4 EAL) were all delighted to accept posions at our school and we believe that they will make strong contribuons to the Balwyn North Primary School community. We are currently in the process of finalising the posion of Business Manager for 2017. Here is the outline of the proposed class structure for 2017. Class lists will be finalised in the coming weeks and will be communicated during ‘Up Day’ on Wednesday 14 th December, when children will have an opportunity to meet their 2017 teachers and classmates. Thursday 1st December 2016 Foundation Stephanie Sevastas Year 4 Jan Rowe Foundation Sammi Tam Year 4 Maddie James Foundation Sue Lyness Year 4 Anna Plane Year 1 Fiona McLeod Year 5 Trevor Cotsworth Year 1 Natalie Richardson Year 5 Lisa Cuthbert-Novak Year 1 Katrina Tsopanis Year 5 Beth Newbery Year 2 Gill Healey/ Mel Yiappos Year 6 Rebekah Skipper Year 2 Sharon Russell/ Nicole McLean Year 6 Deb Murray Year 3 Chris Taylor Year 6 Matt Manuell Year 3 Alison Crawford LOTE Shu He/Summer Chen Year 3 Christina Reid Health and PE Sean De Morton Art Meghan Carter/ Jeanine Arthur Performing Arts (Music) Laura Parkes Library Bronwen Dimond EAL Michelle May
Transcript
From the Principal’s Desk
Staffing for 2017
As we prepare for the 2017 school year, we have been finalising the staff profile.
After 3 years of fulfilling the role of Business Manager at Balwyn North Primary School, Karen Baker will be leaving us to take up a position at Diamond Valley Secondary College, closer to her home. Karen has been an efficient and hard-working member of the administration staff and will be sorely missed. We wish her every success in her new position.
Ben Leitch will also be taking leave from Balwyn North Primary School in 2017, to take up a teaching position in Point Cook, to be closer to his home. Ben is a valued and respected member of our teaching staff. We wish him a smooth and enjoyable transition to his new school and look forward to his return.
Sharon Harrison, our current English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher, is taking up a full time position at Milgate Primary School. Sharon is a highly skilled teacher, who is much loved by our staff and the EAL students with whom she spends a significant portion of her time. We will miss Sharon and the care and support she offers our students.
We are excited to welcome five new members to our growing teaching team. I am pleased to announce that Sammi Tam (classroom teacher), Natalie Richardson (classroom teacher), Summer Chen (0.4 LOTE), Laura Parks (Performing Arts/Music) and Michelle May (0.4 EAL) were all delighted to accept positions at our school and we believe that they will make strong contributions to the Balwyn North Primary School community.
We are currently in the process of finalising the position of Business Manager for 2017.
Here is the outline of the proposed class structure for 2017.
Class lists will be finalised in the coming weeks and will be communicated during ‘Up Day’ on Wednesday 14th December,
when children will have an opportunity to meet their 2017 teachers and classmates.
Thursday 1st December 2016
Foundation Stephanie Sevastas Year 4 Jan Rowe
Foundation Sammi Tam Year 4 Maddie James
Foundation Sue Lyness Year 4 Anna Plane
Year 1 Fiona McLeod Year 5 Trevor Cotsworth
Year 1 Natalie Richardson Year 5 Lisa Cuthbert-Novak
Year 1 Katrina Tsopanis Year 5 Beth Newbery
Year 2 Gill Healey/ Mel Yiappos Year 6 Rebekah Skipper
Year 2 Sharon Russell/ Nicole McLean Year 6 Deb Murray
Year 3 Chris Taylor Year 6 Matt Manuell
Year 3 Alison Crawford LOTE Shu He/Summer Chen
Year 3 Christina Reid Health and PE Sean De Morton
Art Meghan Carter/ Jeanine Arthur Performing Arts (Music) Laura Parkes
Library Bronwen Dimond EAL Michelle May
End of Year Celebration
A huge congratulations to our school community on their energetic preparations for our End of Year Celebration, which will be held tonight. This will be a fantastic showcase of musical talent from our students. A big thankyou to our committed staff for organising this evening. Thanks also to our Parents and Friends group who continue to support our highly valued community events. Some important features of the night will include:
Families enjoying a picnic dinner in the school grounds from 6pm
The PFA will hold a sausage sizzle, to raise funds for the BNPS garden project
Musical performances will begin in the school hall from 7pm, including some Community singing.
A visit from a very special friend.
2016 Foundation transition
On Tuesday the school hosted the final transition session for our 2017 Foundation students, which concluded with a Family BBQ. There was plenty of excitement, as students were given the opportunity to engage in Music and Art, as well as the chance to meet their teachers for 2017. We also welcomed many new parents to the school for 2017, so if you see some new faces around the school, please make them feel welcome. We look forward to working with our new students and families in 2017!
2017 New Student (Years 1-6) Orientation Day
Next Tuesday the 6th December (9:30-3:30) we will welcome new 2017 students to BNPS. Students will have the opportunity to meet some of the teachers and students in their year level, as well as become familiar with their new school environment. New students will need a lunch, drink bottle and hat.
Student Leadership Positions
Student leadership at Balwyn North is an important opportunity for our year 6 students to develop initiative and skills and have an impact upon their school community in their final year of primary school. After a lengthy and challenging processes, the Year 6 2017 student leadership positions have been finalised. We congratulate the following students for achieving these positions and look forward to working with them in their roles.
School Captains: Catherine Jeong, Ryan Ngo, Deputy School Captains: Emma Ho, Michael Lew
House Captains: Sturt: Julia Hawkins, Flinders: Harold Moon, Mitchell: Derrick Ch’ng, Hume: Isaiah Chin Sports Leaders: Tania Batova, Nathan Coia, Ankith Sreekumar, Karthik Seevanayagam Digital Learning Leaders: Leila Subocz, Jinesh Jitesh, Katherine Nguyen, Zhi Lin Environmental Leaders: Khoi Vu, Melody Gokoglu, Joyce Ly, So Young Ha Student Wellbeing Leaders: Raida Mahmud, Terry Yu, Jananii Sukunesan, Farjad Safwan Visual Performing Arts Leaders: Abbas Hussain, Harini Balashankar, Callista Leong-La, Reeba Iywan
Chess
It seems a week can’t go by without another tale of success from our chess players. Once again students from BNPS competed at extremely high levels (both in state and national competitions). Please read Mrs. Dimond’s report for more details on our amazing chess teams! Well done to all of the students involved. Thankyou again to Mrs Dimond who has facilitated the chess program and special chess events this year.
Erika Bienert Tony Stokes
Principal Assistant Principal
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER Thursday 1st December Sausage sizzle 6:00pm
End of Year Celebration Evening event
Friday 2nd December Whole School Transition
Tuesday 6th December Year 6 Graduation New Students to BNPS Orientation Day
Wednesday 7th December Uniform Shop 8:45 - 9:30am Christmas Stall
Thursday 8th December Christmas Stall
Captain’s Corner
Hi, Tomorrow is Transitioning day for 2017. We hope that everyone will have a fantastic time getting to know your new teachers and finding out your classes for next year. Next Tuesday is the year six graduation night and all of the year sixes have been busy preparing our graduation dance and song to perform to our families.
Congratulations to the boys cricket team and Mr C. The team came 2nd at the State Cricket Cup which was held in Croydon which is a massive achievement! The Christmas stall will be running next Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th December. Make sure that you bring along a small amount of money so that you can buy a Christmas present for your friends and families to thank them for such a sensational 2016!
Pun of the week: My math teacher called me average, how mean!
Hannah, Sophie, Pasandul and Aaron
Chess National Final
This week, nine of our best Chess players made up the team to compete in the “Chess Kids” National Final, held at Mel-bourne University. This was a large tournament, held over 2 days. Not only did everyone play 7 games of highly com-petitive chess, but they were also involved in chess lectures and, after dinner on Monday night, they played in a very exciting Transfer Chess competition, which was just for fun. Our team, Aaron Chau, Andrew Ngodinhson, Callista Leong-La, Elizabeth Ngodinhson, Henry Law, James Deng, Kovida De Silva, Sean Hawkins and Victor Li, played with great enthusiasm, concentration and determination. Pasandul De Silva was selected for both the chess and cricket teams, which were playing on the same day. He played cricket during the day and then raced to play the final Monday chess game, which he won, despite being quite unwell and therefore unable to compete again on Tuesday. We started the tournament well, with a perfect score, but after a few games the competition became fierce and we settled into a position around fifth. Last year, we came 6th, so we were hoping to at least equal that result, this year. In the course of the tournament, we gradually climbed the ladder, so that by the beginning of the last round, we were actually in 1st position. However, the strong competition meant that there were several schools all within a couple of points of each other. At this point in a tournament, every game is very difficult to win and although all of our players gave their very best effort, the final result meant that we came 4th overall - just 1 point behind the winners! Aaron Chau was our top scorer, with Kovida De Silva a half point behind him. The rest of our players also scored ex-tremely well in a National competition and the future of chess in our school looks very bright, with several younger players showing great skill already. Following the tournament, our Senior Chess Coach Tino Fulgenzi, very kindly invited the team to enjoy some time play-ing a range of table games at his premises in Fitzroy. All of our students had a wonderful time drinking award winning milk shakes and learning to play new games. We would like to thank Tino most sincerely, for his generousity and his continued dedication to our players. I am extremely proud of each member of the team. They always face each challenge bravely, they accept defeat gra-ciously and quietly enjoy their victories. They have acquired a wide range of life skills from this game that they love and they have made us all very proud that they were the face of Balwyn North Primary School at this prestigious Chess event. Bronwen Dimond Chess Co-ordinator
Wesley Central Mission
“Food for Families” Appeal Many of you will remember the success of previous years’ Christmas appeals, for food for Melbourne families who do not have enough. This year we are again asking all families in our school community to buy one or two extra items, when you do your weekly shopping. Items need to be non-perishable, so cans, sealed packets and jars of food with long “use by” dates are the most suitable. Our donations will be collected by the Wesley Central Mission in the last week of this term, and will be distributed to families in Melbourne, in time for Christmas. This Appeal is for food, not toys, but toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste etc. are also excellent items to bring. Every item donated will earn one House Point, so make sure that you put your items into the correct box, in the Library. Points for the Marj Geddes Shield are very close, so the group which brings the most food could easily be the overall winning House.
Let’s try to make this our most successful year!! he Earlyact Club
B.N.P.S. Stars of the Week
Term 4, Week 8
Class Name Achievement
FA Zhilong Yao For being Reflective by always showing great enthusiasm for his
learning. Well done!
FL Emily Yan For being Caring by showing respect and empathy at all times. Well
done Emily – you’re a star!
FS Anushka Ganesh
Tiffany Zhang
For being Caring by showing respect and making FS such a positive
place to be. We really appreciate you!
1F Richard Jiao For demonstrating the PYP Attitude of Commitment by putting in
100% in everything he’s done this term!
1G Ayaan Singh Josan
For demonstrating the learner attitude of Respect by being respect-
ful to the class at all times. Ayaan is also a very respectful BNPS
student. Top job buddy!
2A Jerry Wu For being a Risk-Taker by having a go at new English words in
speaking, writing and reading.
2K Jason Qin For being a Risk-Taker by exploring new English vocabulary and
having a go at new phrases to help communicate with peers.
2S Rose Tran For being Creative by having a winning design! Congratulations!
3B Zenia Adnan For demonstrating the PYP Attitude of Commitment by showing
dedication, commitment and perseverance towards her learning.
3C Grisha Sharma For being Caring by always caring for others, showing a willingness to help oth-
ers and showing empathy to all her peers.
4J Kathryn Cher For being a Communicator by demonstrating more confidence
when expressing her ideas in class.
4M Kerry Wen For being Reflective by independently taking on board feedback to
strengthen his persuasive writing. Fantastic effort!
5C Amir Khudaie For being Caring by showing empathy and compassion towards his
classmates.
5L Rasith Welendawe For being a Communicator, by articulately sharing his views and
ideas during class discussions.
5T Gavin Xu For being a Communicator & Principled by welcoming and sup-
porting new students. Well done Gavin!
6D Adit Chaudhary For demonstrating Enthusiasm by working well in all team situa-
tions.
6M Oviya Sutharsan For demonstrating Independence in all aspects of her learning and
showing commitment and responsibility in her work.
6R Anton Huynh
For being Balanced and Reflective by being an all-round good guy
– he always provides some comic relief and commentary adding to
the positive environment in 6R. Thank you Anton!
MU-
SIC Gabriel Teo (2A)
For being a Risk Taker by always having a go at singing and per-
forming in music class!
LOTE Hrishi Dhawan
(4M)
For being a Risk-Taker by singing confidently and enthusiastically
in Chinese. Well done!
PFA NEWS NOVEMBER 24TH
It’s a very busy time of year for everyone, as there are many
activities happening to finish off the School Year.
The PFA is also busy and VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED.
CHRISTMAS STALL
WEDNESDAY 7TH, THURSDAY 8TH DECEMBER
The students get a chance to do some Christmas shopping of their own!!
