Pigeon Post

As we come to the end of Education Week, it is timely to remind us all of the expectations of all our students, each and every day. At Balmain Public School, the safety and wellbeing of all our students and staff is paramount.

NSW public schools are committed to providing safe, supportive and responsive learning environments for everyone. We teach and model the behaviours we value in our students.

In NSW public schools students are expected to:

• Respect other students, their teachers and school staff and community members
• Follow school and class rules and follow the directions of their teachers
• Strive for the highest standards in learning
• Respect all members of the school community and show courtesy to all students, teachers and community members
• Resolve conflict respectfully, calmly and fairly
• Comply with the school's uniform policy or dress code
• Attend school every day (unless legally excused)
• Respect all property
• Not be violent or bring weapons, illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco into our schools
• Not bully, harass, intimidate or discriminate against anyone in our schools

Schools take strong action in response to behaviour that is detrimental to self or others or to the achievement of high quality teaching and learning.

For more information:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/attendance-behaviour-and-engagement/student-behaviour/behaviour-code

The ubiquity of connected technologies – desktop computers, tablet devices and mobile phones – means cybersafety is an ongoing issue for our students.

The Department of Education (DoE) has a 'Student use of digital devices and online services' policy, last updated on 24/06/2020:

'4.4.1 Students' safe, responsible and respectful use of digital devices and online services is the shared responsibility of students, parents, carers and school staff'

https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2020-0471?refid=285776

During school hours, there are measures in place to support our students' online use. For example, mobile phones are required to be handed in to the office upon entry to school and are collected at the end of the day. The DoE has placed blocks on restricted sites to ensure non-appropriate browsing does not occur. Sites such as YouTube are also blocked for students.

Leichhardt Area Command's Senior Constable John Brettle is a youth liaison officer. Part of his role is to visit schools in the local area to discuss cybersafety, including cyberbullying. SC Brettle has visited our school over the years for similar chats. Although SC Brettle addressed our Stage 2 students on Wednesday, he was unable to attend on Thursday for Stage 3's chat due to illness. Hopefully, he will be able to re-schedule in the near future.

As parents and carers, there are a number of useful sites to assist you in supporting your child/ren and having discussions about cybersafety and the responsible use of digital services, including cyberbullying:

https://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/parents-articles

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/ 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/cyberbullying 

Working together to ensure safe, responsible and respectful use of digital devices and online services for our students.

As per the Behaviour Code for Students, the expectation is that all students 'Comply with the school's uniform policy or dress code'.

The majority of our students are in full-school uniform on a daily basis, unless, of course, there is a scheduled 'mufti' day or special event. A school hat is also encouraged, as the school also follows a 'no hat, stay in the shade' mantra.

As you are aware, over the last couple of years, the school has transitioned back to its original school colours - dark navy blue and gold. Some students still have a smattering of brown uniform items, from the period when our colours were brown and gold.

Please note that black is not an acceptable substitution, as black and other colours, such as pink and red, seem to be creeping in to regular daily attire at school.

The weekly house point winners are able to wear their house t-shirt on a Friday only. Students who own PSSA hoodies are normally able to wear these on Fridays only, however, due to COVID, there is no PSSA this term.

Should you need to purchase any school uniform items, please click here to order. These items will be delivered to your child's class room when they are ready to be 'collected'.

The '2nd Chance Stall' is also available for pre-loved uniform items in good condition. Please contact balmainpsuniforms@gmail.com with requests for particular items.

The Uniform Stall is still accepting donations of good quality uniform items. Please note that brown items are no longer accepted. 

NSW Health has some tips for wearing your mask correctly:

? wash your hands before and after putting a mask on

? make sure it’s comfy when you put it on so you don’t fiddle with it later

? throw disposable masks in the bin after one wear

? put washable masks in a plastic bag after one wear until you can wash them.

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We celebrate education because of our love of learning even if we are in a worldwide pandemic. Education Week is also about being in this together through a tragedy such as COVID-19, bushfires and floods. Education Week is where you reflect on how you achieve things that you thought you couldn’t do.

Remus 3/4M

Education Week is about celebrating learning together even in hard times. We can learn even with the tragic things such as the bushfires, floods and corona virus. In our class we did 3/3M has got talent. Education Week has been very good so far and I don’t want it to end.

Sam 3/4M

Education week in 2020 is about celebrating all of the tragic situations we have been through like covid-19, floods and fires. What a year it has been! Most importantly learning together. Learning together is the theme of 2020’s education week. It is about being united and being supported through all the challenges for family, friends, teacher, parents and essential workers.

Felisha 3/4M

This week was education week so, 3/4M did a talent show called 3/4M’s got talent. We could do a poem, jingle, song, comic or a drama act. We were told to do something a little different just like this year we had to face so much change.

Arabella 3/4M

Education Week 2020’s theme is Learning Together. Although 2020 has had challenges we have proved that we can learn together no matter where we are.

Emmie 3/4M

Group 1 - bushfires

Group 2 - covid

Group 3 - floods

Group 4 - resilience 

Group 5 - collaboration

For education week, the students in the OC class learnt about the planets and space. We first got into groups of four and studied the planets and their distances from the sun. We then used that information to accurately scale down the planets in preparation to draw them on the ground with chalk. After we finished researching, we went down to the playground and found a perfect spot for our group to draw the scaled down solar system. This was an extremely fun experience for everyone. We all collaborated fantastically and our personal favourite part was working together to draw the planets with colourful chalk.

- Shuhan L (5/6Y) and Emily D (5/6W)

For education week 2020, 5/6Y and 5/6W got into groups to draw an image of the solar system to scale. To do this, we had to research how far away each planet was from the sun, learn about how big the planets were and check in which order the planets were located. After we had put all the information on paper, we created a scale so we knew how far away each planet was from the sun. After this we drew a draft of the actual image that we would draw with chalk. Then on the 31 of July, Friday, we got to work. This was when our teachers gave each group a few pieces of chalk, a ruler and some got a trundle wheel. Each group chose an area to work on. We used the trundle wheels to mark the area we were going to use and the rulers to mark how far away each planet was from the sun. After that was done we drew the planets and the sun with chalk. These pictures show our progress and end product.

- Leo S (5/6Y)

This week we celebrated Education Week and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. We read Dreamtime stories and even performed a dance in front of the school.

In the classroom, K Jasmine have also been loving mathematics. Last week we learnt about fractions and decimals. In kindergarten this looks like halving objects into equal and unequal parts. We investigated this concept by creating playdough shapes and cutting them. We also looked at symmetry by creating symmetrical paintings!