Pigeon Post

Congratulations to Ms Sophie Parsons and husband Michael,

on the safe arrival of gorgeous Violet!

Violet was born on Friday 3 April at 1:46am, weighing a healthy 3.68kg.

Mum and baby are already at home and doing well.

Ms Parsons is currently on maternity leave from 1/2 Banana Palm.

For those of you who have been part of the Balmain Public School community prior to our Friday canteen going online, you would most likely have experienced the amazing dumplings that Blue Eye Dragon have to offer! You may have seen Odin's 1/2B video in last week's Pigeon Post, making dumplings like a professional...maybe he can share Blue Eye Dragon's secret to this absolutely scrumptious dish!

My conscious effort to give back to our community, as well as to support businesses that have supported our wonderful school over the years, made me decide to surprise our fabulous staff with Monday lunch. Every single dumpling was devoured within minutes of the delivery to the ConneXion Hub! https://www.instagram.com/blueeyedragonpyrmont/

The question for me is, now that my staff are working on a rotating roster, what will I organise for our last week of term...hmmm, I'll have to get creative!

The current advice, as per the NSW Department of Education (DoE) website is that parents and carers are strongly encouraged to keep their children home if possible. Any student whose parents or carers are not able to appropriately supervise their children at home should continue to attend school.

As Balmain Public School prepares to enter our third week of learning from home, teachers would like to commend all students and parents for their flexibility, resilience and commitment to learning during this unique time.

As we await further advice from the NSW Department of Education (DoE) regarding Term 2, we would like to advise students and parents that there is the potential that our learning from home environment may continue into the new term.

We are very mindful of the varying home learning environments within our school community. 

Therefore, to ensure that all students and parents feel that this learning approach from home is sustainable, we would like to advise that we do not want families to feel pressured to complete every activity assigned. As every family is different, teachers are trying to provide an achievable amount of work, while still following the NSW syllabus.

Additionally, we would like to share some guidelines from the DoE, regarding a recommended daily timetable for remote learning:

Early Stage 1 - Students to engage in learning activities for approximately 3 hrs/day

Stage 1 - Students to engage in learning activities for approximately 3 hrs/day

Stage 2 - Students to engage in learning activities for approximately 3.5 hrs/day

Stage 3 - Students to engage in learning activities for approximately 4 hrs/day

Teachers will continue to provide learning activities that fill a normal 6 hour school day, however, we encourage students and parents to determine what is tenable for their own home learning environment.

We appreciate the continued support of all students and parents during this time. We will continue to keep families updated, via SkoolBag, once we receive further advice regarding Term 2.

For more information, you can visit the DoE website here - NSW DoE Daily Model

A huge SHOUT-OUT and CONGRATULATIONS to each and every one of you who are currently supporting your children' learning from home...it's not easy and many of you are juggling supervision with working from home.

The Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell has '...urged parents struggling to balance jobs and their children's lessons not to expect too much from themselves, saying younger students don't have to complete all the lessons every day.'

'Thank you so much for the article yesterday and for all the communication and hard work from you all. We have only been at BPS since the beginning of the year and we are grateful to be in such a committed, caring and supportive community.

I’d like to compliment and commend the staff for the incredible way you have all adapted to these crazy times. Your flexibility and response to parent feedback is very apparent.

As for us - after reading the article, (which really resonated with me after a big day of juggles yesterday) we will be having a very relaxed days of cuddles, some fresh air and some more low key style learning. Thank you for the timely reminder. Our little ones are dealing with so much and really are such amazing little humans.'

- Isla's Mum

'Hello Maria, Sarah, Annabel and Lauren,

I hope you are having a nice rainy evening... feels good to be indoors. I just wanted to say, as a parent of children at Balmain Public, as a staff member under your leadership and as a friend, you are doing a really good job. You and the Executive are just incredible. The way you have coordinated online learning, the communication and the concern for everyone’s well being and the capacity to direct staff remotely is in order to bring that sense of connectivity and continuity.... I just want you guys to know that, I am super duper grateful. I know how different this could feel if I were staffed somewhere else or had my children enrolled somewhere else... I just know, I take great personal comfort in knowing I am part of the team and that my children are receiving incredible support. 

Thank you super ladies xxx Felicity'

- Lola KG and Nina 1/2L B's Mum/Mrs Bowman - Visual Art teacher

'I am writing to pass on a very sincere THANK YOU... and let you know how much we appreciate the amazing two weeks of Google Classroom schooling BPS has delivered for our three girls.

While I understand that this is not the ideal model of teaching (not for you as teachers nor for us as parents! :)) but I am actually really enjoying the new partnership we have all had to form so quickly. To suddenly find ourselves homeschooling our three girls, I can only describe it both as a dream come true...and a nightmare come to life! Some days I feel like I move between these two states several times a day! We are gradually finding our groove though and appreciate the once in a lifetime opportunity we have to be so involved and hands on in their learning right now.

Although we did submit a leave form for the girls (for the period 23rd March-9th April), I just wanted to let you know that our girls have been fully on board and engaged with the online schooling since it was launched and will continue to do so. We feel very lucky to be offered this as a way forward for now. Please pass on our gratitude and thanks to Lauren Goodridge, Nancy Ferguson and Rose Reedy, along with Kate Tamplin, Felicity Bowman, Ms Biggins, Ms Whelan and anyone else working behind the scenes :) they are all doing such a amazing job.'

Esme KG, Silke 3/4R & Rose 5/6F McC's Mum

'Another successful week of online learning for us!

I realise Greta is older so a little easier than for those with younger ones. Have definitely been keeping in mind your advice to not put pressure on ourselves or set expectations too high. So far Greta has been self organised and motivated and seems happy to work through the tasks set. Thanks to you, the teachers and staff at BPS!'

Greta R's Mum 5/6C

'Thank you so much for an amazing Pigeon Post! It is such a great idea to reflect how everyone's home learning looks like!! Kids were very inspired by looking at others and it gave all of us a strong sense of community. Thank you!'

Yasna K's Mum 1/2M

'Thank you for the dedication and hard work in setting up the online curriculum so quickly. I'm sure it's no mean feat in a short space of time. It's working really well! Avery is really enjoying it.

Appreciate you keeping the kids inspired.'

Avery L's Mum 5/6Y

'Thanks for helping us all feel connected. It’s a challenging time for us as working parents, confined in our home working with demanding jobs and trying to home school 2 young children, but we are trying our best as I’m sure everyone else is!'

Elizabeth W's Mum 1/2B

'Thank you for all of the things you are doing, big and small to build and grow small people and school spirit!'

Aitan M's Family 1/2M

'Thank you so much Maria x

You and your teachers are so inspiring!!'

Jessica R's Mum 3/4R

'I cannot begin to imagine the sudden change you have all had to go through. As a change management consultant I know from years of experience how hard it is to turn a large ship around. The fact you are seemingly doing so in the shortest of time frames is commendable. Keep up the communication to the school community as it the only way to bring everyone along for perhaps this involuntary ride.'

Luca G-W's Mum 5/6F

Being on line at a specific time can be a challenge and an additional stress which I’m very happy not to have to deal with! Thank you to you all for the wonderful job you are doing. It’s very very much appreciated. Paul and I are surprised at how much we are learning along side the kids :-)'

Oliver KK & Madeleine 3/4B C's Mum

'Hi Sarah,

You, Miss Yau and the broader BPS  staff are to be commended on providing such an excellent resources and learning continuity for our kids. I cannot thank you enough for making life just that little bit easier for us as working parents in these difficult times. Keeping our children connected to their school community and actively learning is so critical to their ability to embrace uncertainty and get through.

All the best and keep safe.'

Ricky S' Mum 5/6W

'Hi Sarah

Dennis C's Mum 5/6W

There is a Plato quote that states, 'you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a lifetime of conversation.' Our STEAM lessons at BPS have provided an inquiry-centric space to explore this. Each week I continue to be amazed by how intuitive, curious and determined our students are. Whether it be a team-based design challenge, creating algorithms to operate robotics, investigating hypothetical scenarios or conducting a hands-on experiment, Balmain students demonstrate collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking.

I will be leaving my role as the STEAM Specialist to take up a 12 month contract at the Department of Education. This is based in their Education Futures and Governance division, to work with the Innovation team, something I am very passionate about. The INCREDIBLE Miss Kimberley Barcenilla will be continuing and advocating for STEAM education at BPS. We have been collaborating on some top secret projects for Term 3 and 4 that I know you will all enjoy!

I want to thank the Balmain community for being so supportive over the past two years. Creating a space for STEAM has been a crazy journey and something we should all be proud of. In saying that, I could not have accomplished this without our dedicated team of staff and fabulous P&C leaders; thank you for believing in the vision! My BIGGEST thanks go to our students. Your smiling faces eager to get into the STEAM Lab each session make my day. Remember to keep asking questions, share your stories and stay curious! 

Hello Balmain parents/carers, staff and students! Thank you very much for welcoming me into your school and your community. I am beyond excited to step into the role of STEAM Specialist and while Ms Tamplin has left big shoes to fill, she has also supported me greatly during the transition into the role and has dropped many pearls of wisdom along the way! 

I have a background in film and digital art, with experience as a freelance post-production editor and digital artist, alongside the rewarding experiences of being a youth worker. I have been a casual teacher across the Inner West, mostly teaching at Marrickville PS, Newtown PS and Balmain PS. My interests are the visual arts, mathematics, any documentary series, tennis, athletics, cooking and secretly, Pokémon.

I am passionate about encouraging and supporting all students holistically to ensure that every child is given equitable access to their education, sparking their curiosity and individual love for learning. I look forward to getting to know you all better in the Balmain School community!

Ms Kimberley Barcenilla

National Gallery of Victoria

"It was a busy and messy week but good thing is that Ellen and her sister Isabella were quite enjoying the online study. Thanks a lot for the teachers and the excellent management of our school to make the home learning success. We tried to keep everything as normal as possible but reduce to go somewhere with large population. Remind the girls keeping social distancing, washing hands and be positive. Both girls enjoyed their online learning and music so far. They still keep on doing excise for 1 hour everyday as normal - riding bikes, dancing with youtube, running ..." 

- Ellen D's Mum 5/6W

'Yasna from 1/2Mangrove and her family spent Sunday in the national park near the water with no people around and no screen. It was wonderful!'

Yasna K's Mum 1/2M

"I asked Lizzie what she missed most about school and she said she missed her friends and investigation time. So I let her have it, much to her destruction she produced some fantastic creative art. Before and After shots provided. This afternoon we are FaceTiming some friends."

- Elizabeth W's Mum 1/2B

"Millie spent most of day time at her study room now. She loves google classroom as well as blackboard!"

- Millie W's Mum 3/4M

'Another week of fun and learning at home. Some of our highlights!

Thank you again for all the great lesson plans each day. Emily is really missing school, has been listening to all the bell songs.'

Emily K's Mum KG

'Phew, we all made it through another week, hope all at BPS are going OK, super job everyone! Couple of photos of Oliver doing footsteps this morning and then the slime he made this afternoon in Ms Tamplin's class (with a bit of help from his clever older sister Charlotte, as opposed to his Dad who is not so experienced in making slime....).'

Oliver P's Dad 1/2L

Congratulations to the class of digital citizens that is 5/6Willow. Over the last two weeks we’ve completed a range of learning activities inclusive of quizzes, assignments and online conversations. Whilst engaging in this learning, students have followed The Balmain Way by being respectful, responsible and safe online learners.

On top of all of this, students have managed to adjust to new bell times, new expectations and focus on their own wellbeing. To say that 5/6Willow have taken ownership of their learning is the understatement of the year!

So, what has 5/6Willow been up to?

‘The Gathering’ is a short meeting in the morning that we would usually participate in at school. The intention is to touch base, raise any concerns and learn about current world events or unpack topics of interest.

Despite being online, 5/6 Willow still engage in a morning session of ‘The Gathering’. One of our class meetings involved unpacking E=mc². We engaged as a class and learnt a lot. Here are some comments made by students in response to this online learning session.

5/6 Willow have engaged in many writing opportunities inclusive of the ‘What Matters?’ Writing Competition, creative writing (writing from the perspective of a train during this self-isolation period), journal writing and informative texts through geography.

One activity that was a favourite in our Google Classroom was research on Galileo. Students constructed an informative text on Galileo’s contribution to society, information of Galileo's life and how he made an impact on our knowledge of astronomy and space. Students included research on the heliocentric model. See below for some extracts from student work:

Galileo Galilei was an Italian man sometimes described as a polymath. He had many professions. Galileo was an engineer, a physicist and an astronomer. He is the first KNOWN person to study space in detail with a telescope. Some of his most significant discoveries include the Phases of Venus, discovering four of Jupiter’s moons (Ganymede, Io, Callisto and Europa). He also helped to prove that the Earth revolved around the sun. Galileo also invented a pendulum clock and was the first person to discover sunspots and craters on the moon.

- Asha S

The heliocentric model explains that the sun is presumed to lie at or near the middle while the Earth and other bodies orbits around it. This was created by Nicolaus Copernicus and was first published in 1543 in Nuremberg. This theory was supported by Galileo Galilei, and he made a number of observations to make people believe them. One of these observations was the discovery of the four moons in orbit around Jupiter. I believe that Galileo made a pretty big impact on our knowledge of astronomy and space by supporting the heliocentric model and inventing the celatone to discover four of Jupiter’s moons.

- Dennis C

As Galileo became older he studied astronomy and made an improved version of the telescope letting him discover 4 new “stars” orbiting around Jupiter, it’s four largest moons. He quickly published a short treatise outlining his discoveries, “Siderius Nuncius” (“The Starry Messenger”), which also contained observations of the moon’s surface and descriptions of a multitude of new stars in the Milky Way.

- Eddie H

When it came to a job, Galileo first wanted to be a doctor but he then changed his mind. Once he began studying medicine he became interested in maths and physics. One of his first discoveries was at a cathedral when he noticed that no matter how far the lamp hanging above home swung, it would always take the same amount of time to swing back. This interested him, as his theory didn’t agree with common scientific principles. He wanted to investigate more.

- Ava M 

Throughout this learning from home experience, we are remembering to listen to our bodies and respond when necessary. Below are just some ways that we are remembering to look after ourselves:

• keep a bottle of water at our desk
• set a timer for 30 minute intervals (every 30 minutes, jump up, touch your toes, walk around the house and sit back down)
• talk to a family member at home about your online learning (even if you don’t have any questions)
• during break time, be active… move around! If you’ve already spent time being active, try closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing. 

REMEMBER: teachers aren’t aware of the times that you become restless from sitting down too long, or tired from staring at a screen. We’d like to remind you to listen to your body. Your wellbeing is very important! (Thank you to the parents who checked in to make sure I am also following the above suggestions and looking after myself!)

Please see the below photos of 5/6W. Students have set up productive online learning spaces and are participating in physical activity. I am pleased to see that students are mixing up their online learning in a variety of different ways!

This week we commenced a kindness challenge to complete with our families. We have only commenced Day 1. We will be participating in the following challenges next week. Feel free to join in! We will continue this challenge in Term 2.

Day 1: Use a whiteboard marker to write on the bathroom mirror or stick a piece of paper to the fridge to write on. Each day, each family member writes down one thing they're grateful for.

Day 2: Keep a journal for the next 3 weeks. This could be written, typed, drawn, videoed or completed using photos from throughout the day. Save this journal. Keep an individual journal or participate as a family.

Day 3: Agree on a space in the house that needs to be cleaned or organised. Devise a plan, set a date or start cleaning today! Some ideas include cleaning:

• under your bed
• the garage
• toys/games area
• kitchen cupboards

Day 4: Send an email, video call or write a letter to a loved one.

Things to include:

• 3 questions
• what you have been up to
• 3 things you're grateful for

Day 5: Listen to a Podcast as a family. Ask each other:

• "What did you learn?"
• "What are you confused about?"

Tip: a great daily podcast for parents and children is 'The Squiz Kids' by ABC.

Feedback from students

Throughout this experience, we have asked students to reflect and provide feedback.

Please see below for student responses: