2022 Term 3 Week 3

Principal's Pen - Robyn Hutchins

Hello!

I am thrilled to have started as Principal of Bellevue Park State School and have felt so warmly welcomed by the entire school community. The staff and students have opened their classrooms to my daily walk-throughs, and all the students are very quick to say hello as I walk around the school grounds at break times. My first impressions of Bellevue Park SS have been incredibly positive and I’m looking forward to settling in further over the coming weeks. For those interested, I am doing a weekly video update on the BPSS Facebook page to stay in touch with the community. Be sure to look out for them!

Building update

Our new classrooms are really beginning to take shape and are almost entirely enclosed now. The Year 1 classes are doing an exceptional job of maintaining their focus and working well with a LOT of noise underneath them every day. At this stage we are on track for a September handover, which is very exciting!

Winter illnesses

As we regularly hear in the news, we are nearing the peak of the third COVID wave. In addition, this has been a particularly bad flu season and there are a number of other bugs and viruses also circulating in the community. If your child is exhibiting ANY covid or flu symptoms, we strongly encourage you to keep them at home until they are well. In addition, we remind our families to maintain social distancing and follow all recommended health guidelines. More information and current recommendations can be found here: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19

Deputy Principal - Liz Watt

DP – Liz Newsletter Item Week 3 Term 3

Celebrating Student Achievement

Recently four of our Year 6 students, Mason, Bettina, Eleanor and Blair, competed as a team in the Kokoda Challenge, along with 129 other student teams, trekking through 18km of the Gold Coast Hinterland. This is our inaugural Kokoda Challenge Team at Bellevue and Mason is hoping this is a new tradition for the school for future years.

The students shared that this challenge took courage, endurance, mateship, mental toughness and sacrifice to complete and that through this challenge they have become better friends. Together, they have raised well over $1,000.  Congratulations to Bettina, Eleanor, Blair and Mason who did themselves proud and came in fourth overall. A huge achievement!

Upcoming Events

We are very excited by the range of activities coming up this term for our students. Two in particular are the annual STEM Competition and Science Week activities, and the Book Character Parade. Please check the following details for both events:

• STEM Competition and Street Science Incursion

All STEM Competition entries are due next Friday, 5^th of August, as stated on the competition information that went home last term. Students can bring their completed projects into the STEM-o-sphere on that day from 8am. We are looking forward to another wide range of entries this year from Prep up to Year 6.

The best entries will then be selected and entered into the Griffith University Science competition.

Also, payment for the Street Science Incursion is due by next Tuesday, 2^nd August. Parents, please return the permission form as well as making the payment. As the show will be presented by an external organisation, we are obliged to have those forms returned for students attending. Thank you for your help with this!

• Book Week Character Parade   

It’s that time of year again to sort out costumes for our Book Character Parade. We are excited that we will be able to welcome parents back for this event! See below for the details for this event, being held on Thursday, 25^th August. To celebrate Book Week this year, Mr Young, our very talented Performing Arts Coordinator, has written a new song which students will perform on the day.  Look out for more details prior to this event.

Deputy Principal - Sam Birch

Our Four School Expectations

Belly and I have been incredibly busy reminding the students of our four expectations: I am safe; I am respectful; I am considerate and I am a learner. At assembly, the students were able to spot the expectations that Belly was following, or shockingly, not following! It is always a great time of the term to remind our students of our expectations, all aimed at providing a safe and happy atmosphere for learning.

I am so grateful to be leading the Prep - Year 3 team. The early years is my passion, so am always so excited to be part of the learning experiences.  So far this term, I have managed to get into every classroom to read a story and feel so proud of the enriching learning experiences that are occurring. See below for some highlights!

Let’s Shellabrate Year 1!

1A Duran, have welcomed two new friends into their class to assist in learning about living things.  Meet Timmy and Pixie our Hermit crabs! The students are learning all about how to care for them and their environment.

Timmy and Pixie have certainly got the students engaged and has provided a real incentive for their writing. They are eager to learn new things about these crustaceans and has provided a great platform for their English and HaSS units. 

100 Ways to Count!

In Year 1 Maths, we have been ensuring we can count forwards and backwards from 100 (and beyond!). We have used many activities to help build our skills. Some of the favourites have been walking forwards and backwards 100 steps across the oval, marking off the hundred chart charts as a partner bounces a ball, hula hoops or skipping 100 times. Who knew Maths could be so exhausting!

Sort It Out Prep!

In Prep A we have been busy learning about sorting collections in Mathematics. Students sorted a variety of objects by colour, size, shape and number. We also discussed the ways we could sort pictures of objects into categories, supporting rich language and conversations between the students about their likes and dislikes.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

We are learning to be safe, respectful and considerate by communicating with others positively and politely including cyber communication. 

Our school works to support students to develop positive and safe online behaviours in partnership with parents and carers.  Internet experiences at school are highly monitored and regulated, but this can be different when children are online outside the school hours (depending upon the internet controls that are in place).  Please see below for useful links for parents and carers to be aware of: 

• Office of the eSafety Commissioner – Provides cyber safety related information and services for parents and students, including mechanisms for reporting concerns.  Primary Resources – This link will take you to a range of activities to help primary age children to learn more about how to be safe online.  These are best when completed under the guidance of an adult, so that you can discuss the important messages within them.

G.O. Community News

Support Dog at Bellevue

This term we welcome our very own support dog, Luna. She is looking forward to meeting all the wonderful students at Bellevue Park State School. Support dogs have many benefits and we expect her to become a very popular member of our community. Luna’s role will be to provide social, emotional wellbeing support for students and eventually become part of our academic learning. Luna is in training so will be working with the Guidance Officer, Mrs Hunt-Romero one day a week in the office. As Luna is in training, it is important for us all to resist running up to her and patting her and follow the protocols when meeting her. Students will be shown a PowerPoint of how to help Luna with her training and safety tips and rules around her visits, key points are to wait and ask the handler to pat her and keep 1.5 metres away until invited closer . Luna will only be in her designated spaces so as not to interrupt the learning and ensure work health and safety guidelines are followed. Families of students who will have contact with Luna will receive prior notification. If your child has any particular fears or allergies to dogs please notify Jodi on jhunt50@eq.edu.au so she can be aware and avoid any incidental contact. We look forward to your support in including Luna into the amazing Bellevue Park community.

Sports News

Senior Sports Day (Yrs 4-6) will be held on Friday 12^th August 2022.

Parents/caregivers are reminded that students are to be dressed appropriately as this is a sporting event. (i.e. enclosed footwear, shirts with sleeves, hats, NO jewellery etc.). Students are encouraged to wear their house colours.

                                                          ARCHER – red                                                   

                                                         GUNSYND – green

                                                         PHARLAP - yellow

Family and friends are very welcome to come along and join the fun but are reminded to socially distance.

Performing Arts - Strings

Performing Arts - Disco

‘B’ for Bellevue Themed DISCO!!!

Dress in items starting with the letter B.

Examples: Basketballer, ballerina, builder, blue clothing or accessories!

Get creative!

Prizes for best dressed!

Friday 9^th of September 2022 – BPSS hall

P – 3 Disco 4:00pm – 4:45pm.

Y4 – 6 Disco: 5:00pm – 6:00pm.

Cash Only Canteen will be open for students to buy drinks and snacks.

Tickets are available to purchase at a cost of $5.00 via QKR.

Sales commence - Monday 8^th of August and closes Wednesday 7^th of September 3pm.

Cash Only Canteen open for parents and caregivers to buy popcorn and drinks during the last 10 minutes of each disco (side roller door of hall).

*Students supervised by BPSS staff and P & C volunteers.

*Only BPSS students are permitted entry.  Students please wear appropriate closed in shoes.

See you there!

Performing Arts - "Movie Melodies"

P – 6 Filming of Movie Melodies

Your child will receive a costume note with all the costuming requirements.

STUDENTS TO WEAR COSTUME REQUIREMENTS TO SCHOOL ON THEIR FILMING DAY

(NO UNIFORM REQUIRED ON THIS DAY).

Movie Night: Friday 28^th of October 6pm (BYO blankets and cushions.  If you require a chair, some hall chairs will be available.  Please do not bring your own chairs as this may mark the new flooring)

• Registration (free event) for the movie night will open via QKR, Monday 29^th of September 9am.  Families must register due to hall capacity.  Registration will be open until the day of the movie night or until it reaches capacity.
• Our P & C will be selling bottled water and snacks on the night.

USB’s:

• USB’s will be available for purchase at a cost of $10.00 via QKR.
• Sales for the USB will open on Monday 29^th of August and close Friday 4^th of November 3pm.
• USB’s will be given out to students during week 6 of Term 4.

We thank you for your ongoing support of our Performing Arts program and we look forward to showcasing the amazing talent of the BPSS students!

Kind regards

Mr Young and Mrs Theuerkauf