SASS Week
This week was School Administrative and Support Staff Appreciation Week. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our SASS staff, including our staff in the office, our General Assistant and our School Learning and Support Officers, and recognise the important role they have at Bexley North Public School.
NAPLAN results
Last week, NAPLAN results were sent home with our Year 3 and Year 5 students. While NAPLAN is a point-in-time test, we are really pleased to see a positive trend in our results. Since 2019, we have increased the number of students in the top two bands by 9% in reading. This is a significant increase. In numeracy, we have increased the number of students in the top two bands by 2%. This year, we are not able to access information about student growth as NAPLAN was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. However, our internal assessments continue to show positive growth, particularly in the area of reading and spelling which have been a focus for staff professional learning for the last 12 months. Next year, we will continue to consolidate our understanding of evidence-based practices in literacy and begin to refine our practices in numeracy.
Father’s Day Stall
We hope our families enjoyed a wonderful Father’s Day last weekend. Thank you to the many organisers and volunteers who helped organise and run the stall this year.
Presentation Day Livestream
So far, we have received minimal response to our survey regarding Presentation Day in 2022. Please find below a link to the survey if you still wish to have your say. We will make a decision about the format of Presentation Day by the end of this term.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9JBXTFC
Sign -In Phones
If your child brings a phone to school, please remind them to hand them in at the front office. This is our current policy for ensuring the safety of students at school.
Basketballs / Personal Equipment at School
Many of our students bring their own personal sports equipment to school. We would like to discourage students from bringing these as they are causing some anxiety for students when their equipment goes missing or when they don’t share it with others. Each day, our Sports House Captains put out large bins of sports equipment at each of the playground areas. There is plenty of equipment to be shared so that students are able to play the sport of their choice. If students need to bring any equipment, please negotiate this with your class teacher. Please be aware that students bringing any personal equipment to school need to be responsible for it at all times.
Feedback
As a school, we are always happy to receive feedback, both constructive and positive. You can not imagine the impact that some positive recognition can have on the morale and wellbeing of our very hardworking staff members. Equally, feedback that is constructive and helps us improve the way we do things is very welcome, particularly when it comes from a place of wanting the best for all of our students. I am aware that conversations about the school can happen at outside events or on social media platforms. The vast majority of those conversations are positive and are part of the reason that Bexley North Public School has a great reputation across the community. However, if there are conversations which are negative in nature, I encourage you to speak to your class teacher or someone at the school so we can provide more details or reasons for some of the choices we make, or take on your suggestions of how we can do even better in the future.
Student Safety
Please remind your child about the importance of safety in the mornings and afternoons while coming to and from school. Students who are riding bikes or scooters should wear a helmet. Students should be reminded to go straight home in the afternoons. Please remind your child that they should go straight to the front office if you are not there to pick them up in the afternoon.
Share our Space / Cricket Activity
This holidays, our school will once again be open as part of the Department of Education’s Share our Space initiative. We also have Cricket NSW running cricket workshops on our oval on Tuesday 27 September from 9.30-11.30am. You can register for the session using the link.
https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/24f4bb
Changes to Isolation Period
On Thursday 31 August, National Cabinet agreed to reduce the isolation period for COVID-19 positive cases from 7 days to 5 days, with the following caveats:
- this would apply only to people with no symptoms at day 5 of their isolation
- 7 days isolation remains for workers in high-risk settings including aged care, disability care, and those providing care in the home.
The change will come into effect from Friday 9 September.
Enrol now for Kindergarten 2022
Over the next few weeks, we will be connecting with our families of students starting Kindergarten in 2023. Families will be emailed a newsletter with lots of information regarding transition to school. If you have a sibling starting school in 2023, please enrol online as soon as possible.
DanceSport
Congratulations to our DanceSport team who performed at the Gala Night at Homebush last week. They were amazing and did the school proud.
Spelling Bee Representatives
Congratulations to our Spelling Bee representatives who represented our school in the Premier's Spelling Bee Regional Finals. Jonathan and Callum achieved amazing results, both advancing to a high level.
Reminder - No spectators at PSSA Basketball games this season
Please be reminded that due to our PSSA basketball games being played on courts at local schools, the decision was made by the zone that spectators would not be able to attend these games. This decision was made due to differing rules around visitors being allowed on school sites and also the fact that some of the courts do not have the space to accommodate spectators. We thank you in advance for your understanding.
