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
Notice Board