Welcome back to a new school year. Our hope for 2021 is that we again reconnect as a school and community to improve the learning outcomes for all the students at Beresford Road Public School. We know that the strength of a community comes from our shared vision and shared values.
As a staff, we have been working towards the development of a shared vision for our school, one that encompasses our hopes and dreams for all students.
We believe it is essential to ensure that every student develops the skills and capabilities to shape their own future, making the best of every opportunity and building the resilience needed to cope with life's ups and downs as they navigate their way through a rapidly changing world.
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” ― Gever Tulley
American writer, speaker, educator, entrepreneur
The power to shape your own future comes from within, yet is often formed by the world around you. The challenges children face have the potential to provide the opportunities in which skills are tested and strengthened. Those significant others in their lives who, through honesty, love and kindness, hold up a mirror that helps a child see themselves as they truly are, the good and the not so good, yet maintain their sense of self-worth, is vital to their growth as a whole person.
To achieve our shared vision for the students of Beresford Road Public School, we all need to work together towards the goal of empowering students. Together we can recognising challenges as opportunities. Together we can be honest, kind and loving mirror for others.
#Road to Excellence #ShapeYourFuture
Gratitude Week
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and having a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
It is a quality we value at our school and seek to instill within our school culture. It is also something we too easily forget.
Today, on her birthday, we celebrated Mrs Akhurst. This morning, the Beresford Road Public School community turned out to remember how Mrs Akhurst touch their lives, share stories that brought laughter and tears, and comfort each other.
Having been at the school for only a short time, some things were very clear from the moment I started. Mrs Akhurst was full of life, and people were drawn to her for her warmth and energy.
During the time Mrs Akhurst faced her health challenges, she remained grateful. Grateful for the people she shared her life with. Grateful for the kindness she was able to share with others. Grateful for the kindness others shared with her.
The 18th of February has taken on a special meaning for many staff. The memory of the flowers and shared love for one of our own is something we will treasure.
In memory of Mrs Akhurst, and her bravery to be grateful in the face of life’s challenges, the 18th February will now mark our annual Gratitude Week at Beresford Road Public School.
Welcome to 2021. Thank you for a wonderful start to the year. All the students have settled in well to their new learning environments and new year level. Students have quickly built relationships with their 2021 teacher. It has been a different start to our school year when compared to previous years. We thank all of our families in trusting us with your children. Not being able to walk to your child’s classroom and greet your child’s teacher when classes were first announced can create a sense of distance. Just like you, we are looking forward to the day we can open our gates freely to all. Having said that, it was wonderful to see all of our gates open to you at Meet the Teacher Morning. The teachers enjoy getting to know the families and continuing to build positive learning relationships with you throughout the year. We thank you for taking time out of your schedule to attend our school events.
Building strong learning relationships between schools and parents improves student learning. We aim to build professional learning relationships, where we support and help you foster and nurture your child’s learning at home. If you would like to work alongside us please attend our upcoming parent workshops and join us in P&C meetings held on the first Tuesday of every month at 7:30pm. An easy way to support learning at home and be an effective school learning partner is reading to your child every day. See below what reading with your child for 20 minutes a day can do for your child’s learning.
On Thursday the 18th it was a privilege to acknowledge the school leaders during our leader’s badge ceremony. During this ceremony, we celebrated the ‘above the line’ behaviour that these students have demonstrated throughout their time at Beresford Road Public School. All of our school leaders are elected by their peers for their leadership qualities and how they uphold the school values. They are safe and respectful. They participate and strive for excellence. Our school community is proud of these students. Thank you to the parents who attended this ceremony, not only for your involvement pinning the leadership badge on your child, but for working with us to nurture leadership qualities among these students. I would personally like to congratulate all of our elected students in the 2021 Student Representative Council and the students elected as 2021 House Captains and Vice Captains across all four sports houses. It was an honour to award the only school leaders that were elected by the whole school community with their badges. The School Captains and School Leaders. On Friday 19th February these school leaders led their first infant’s assembly with pride and professionalism.
Congratulations to all of these students. Leadership is an important skill that need to be nurtured. To quote Mr Herbet’s principal address form the leadership ceremony “Our task as parents, teachers and role models, is to nurture these skills, just like we would nurture plants in a garden. At the same time, we need to allow the wind and rain of daily life challenge them and allow them to grow the strong roots that will sustain them throughout their life.”
Leadership is important and just like a plant it needs to be grown and nurtured. The executive team participated in growing and developing their leadership skills specifically in the area of educational leadership, during a course titled Growth Coaching in week 4. This valuable course led the school’s leadership team in how to effectively coach all teachers to set and action goals. Teachers set three professional goals every year as a Department of Education expectation. Beresford Road Public School also fosters goal setting and achieving targets for all students. Research shows that goal setting improves performance for students and teachers. Seven staff members are now specifically trained in coaching staff to reach their own professional goals. Teachers are also supported in nurturing the attainment of all student goals. Striving for excellence is not just a value in our students but it’s also a value in our staff.
Beresford Road Public School is working tirelessly to set cohesion and consistency in understanding and meeting all four school values. The school wellbeing team has been analysing community, staff and student feedback to create clear and consistent behaviour expectations for all students. Children across the school have been introduced to the BRPS behaviour system consisting of below the line and above the line behaviour. This was explained in detail in the Meet the Teacher meetings. We have now clearly identified three levels of below the line behaviour. Yellow behaviour, orange behaviour and red behaviour. Research shows creating clear expectations of our behaviour for all students to follow, with clear and consistent consequences, increases above the line behaviour. It also creates a happy harmonious school, where students are supported to make appropriate choices. This process will be under review throughout the year to refine and improve this system. Please email the school if you are able to provide us with your feedback to improve this process. Together we can ensure all students at Beresford Road Public School are support to achieve their best.
Jade Leverett
Deputy Principal.
Save the Date: Parent Workshop – (Years 1 & 2) Tuesday 2nd March
We are really looking forward to conducting a parent workshop in reading. In this session you will be shown how we teach reading at BRPS and how you can support this at home. If you come to the morning session, you will also be able to visit your child’s classroom to see reading in action. Please return the RSVP by Wednesday 24th February.
A note will go home with students, but the invitation is also in this newsletter. We are planning to do another session for Kindergarten students later in the year.
Home readers
Readers will begin being sent home starting from mid next week for all Stage 1 students and identified students in Years 3 – 6. We are changing up some of the readers we send home to target students reading goals. For students who are still learning to blend and segment sounds we are now going to be sending home decodable texts. These are mainly A4 sheets that the student can keep in a folder and reread as many times as they want. Students who are able to use sound knowledge to read words, will be given levelled PM readers that the students have been using since Kindergarten. Kindergarten will not be involved in home reading at the moment. More information about the home readers will be discussed in the reading parent workshop on Tuesday 2nd March.
Learning Connections
Every 3 weeks we will be sending home an update on the learning that is happening in the classrooms, as well as some ideas you can use to support your child's learning at home. This will occur in Week 1, 4 and 7 of each term. We wanted to ensure clear communication and encourage stronger learning connections between school and home.
Pemulwuy Learning Community Induction
Mrs Leverett and Mrs Stephens led two induction workshops for the five school’s in our learning community. This focused on the journey that our schools have made together in the area of ‘Assessment for Learning’ and ensured that our shared goals are clear for new staff.
