JASON’S JOURNAL – The Principal’s Message In our last newsletter I mentioned our school focus on improving absenteeism and lateness.

Be on time, school starts at 9! The expectation is that at 9am, when the two minutes of music finishes, all educational programs begin on time and without distractions. The start of the day is a highly important social time for students and being here before 9am allows them to start the day with their peers and this can reduce anxiety and stress related to understanding the day’s program and the activities that start at 9am. It is fantastic that many informal parent / teacher meetings happen before the bell and I encourage parents who need to speak with our teachers at length to please organise a time that doesn’t interrupt student learning time. (This can be done via student diaries or teacher email addresses). Please support your child by ensuring that they are in class and ready for the school day on time.

To randomly reward children who are punctual to school – and not missing vital teacher instruction in the morning – listen carefully for the music of Get Smart. Kids, if you hear this television theme song and your name, you must make it to my office before the song finishes. Your reward will be ‘Pancakes From The Principal’ – a voucher for the Pancake Parlour. (Congratulations to Catherine 3A, and Bridgette 4M - punctual pupils this week randomly receiving a voucher earlier this week).

Despite reminders about student safety, we have had a number of traffic incidents again this week, with a number of infringements reported to me - whether it be parents not obeying the 2-minute zone, cars entering our school gates, or cars mounting the nature strip (with a timely reminder to ask your children to stay on the footpath). City of Whitehorse officers will be patrolling our area and I ask everyone to please drive carefully - even if you are running late - with two slogans to consider: “It’s not great to be late” along with “Wipe Off 5” as safety of community members is our priority.

And if you do arrive to school after 9am please remember to sign in at the office and drop your child off at their classroom door. AusVELS CURRICULUM Last week myself and Loisia attended a briefing for school leaders to explain how Victoria’s state school curriculum will change next year to incorporate National standards (AusVELS). AusVELS is the Foundation (Prep) to Year 10 Curriculum for Victorian Government and Catholic Schools for implementation from 2013. AusVELS outlines what is essential for all Victorian students (up to year 10) to learn and includes the Australian Curriculum F-10 for English, Mathematics, History and Science. It provides a single, coherent and comprehensive set of common achievement standards which Blackburn Lake PS will use to plan learning programs for our students, assess their progress and report this improvement to parents. Curriculum in the four subject areas mentioned above is now ready for implementation. States other than Victoria have started with the implementation process already, as their existing state based curriculum was generally out of date. In other words, Victoria’s schools have the least amount of work to do in meeting the new National standards, as the curriculum taught presently in state schools is already considered to be world class and way ahead of the other states and territories. Agreement has been reached by collective State and Territory Education Ministers that all students across Australia must learn the four areas above, as their ‘democratic right’. This will be the first time in our nation’s history that every child is learning about and working towards the same standards, which I believe is very exciting!

No 27

30 August 2012

AEU PROTECTED STRIKE ACTION A majority of classes at BLPS will not operate on Wednesday 5th September 2012 due to protected AEU Industrial Action. If you have any queries regarding the letter sent home to families yesterday, please see me.

FAMILY MATHS NIGHT Last night we celebrated Literacy and Numeracy Week with a Family Maths Night. There was a huge demand for this event, with many families last night enjoying the competition of numeracy games. Games are an engaging way to practice Maths and enable teachers to differentiate for all skill levels. Thanks to presenter Sandra Knox as well as Stacey Clark and the staff Maths team for their organisation and participation. We also apologise to the interested families who missed out on this opportunity and we hope to hold similar events in the future. CLASS VISIT - PREP A On Tuesday morning I spent time with Prep A, assisting the students during their Literacy Block. As well as being impressed with the standard of work – the children starting the day predicting compound words using the clues on the interactive whiteboard - I was also rapt by the independence of the group and the way they managed to focus on a variety of different literacy tasks. I noticed that Prep A are an extremely cooperative group, not only sharing resources but assisting each other with ideas and strategies to improve their learning. Conversations between students about how they learn are incredibly powerful and are often the catalyst for new learning. Lending someone an eraser, giving a hint as to how to properly use an ipad app (such as Reading Raven), a prompt to figure out reading a new word, taking turns when playing “o” bingo, giving a classmate a clue to solve a compound word, celebrating task completion and sharing work with the teacher and peers in a supportive environment, are only a few examples of the great successes of collaborative learning I witnessed during the Literacy Block. I enjoyed my time in the Prep A classroom, again seeing firsthand the nurturing nature of Alana, who has been a wonderful addition to the caring Prep teaching team this year.

On Tuesday afternoon we held our second ‘Launch Pad’ session for 2013 Preps, with a pleasing turn out. If you have friends or neighbours who are looking at enrolling their child in a school for next year please encourage them to visit us for a Wednesday morning ‘Tour of the School’. Any families who are intending to enrol for 2013 are encouraged to do so, as early enrolment assists with our planning and provision. THANKS TO OUR EDUCATION SUPPORT STAFF August has been ES Recognition Month where we have the chance to formally thank a group of people who make an invaluable and indispensable contribution to our school. Most parents will have met some of our support staff, who are:

Lyn Ford - Office Manager Chris Larkin - Bursar Caroline Knight - Office Assistant Anita Andic - Teacher Aide Clare Mellody - Teacher Aide Duncan Wise -Teacher Aide Gay Burnett - Teacher Aide / First Aid Lisa Mynott - Teacher Aide Nicole Dewberry - Teacher Aide Nicole Pietersen - Teacher Aide Ros Lean - Teacher Aide Robyn Hazlett - Library Technician

Whilst their roles are diverse, the one thing they have in common is a desire to support the school and to help our children and our school community. They are dedicated, hardworking individuals who will do whatever it takes to meet the school and children’s needs. They really help to make Blackburn Lake Primary an excellent place to work and learn. Quite simply, we could not operate without these people, so on behalf of the children, parents and teachers … thank you to our fantastic ES team! PARENTINGIDEAS Blackburn Lake is blessed to have supportive parents, today’s Fathers’ Day stall an example of this - with many thanks to Robyn, Simone, and all the wonderful Parents Association volunteers.

Knowing firsthand the demands of being a parent in our ever-changing and demanding world I attach a ‘ParentingIdeas’ article from Michael Grose about. Being a Great Dad - Modern dads want to be close to their kids. They want to know what’s going on in their kids’ lives and they want to be hands on. This article has practical ideas to help dads build strong relationships with boys and girls of all ages. I look forward to hearing parent’s feedback about these articles, and will include further articles from Michael Grose and ParentingIdeas in future editions of The Lakeside News.

I hope to see you at our whole School Assembly tomorrow @ 3:00pm to acknowledge our ‘Students of the Week’ and wish all our dads and grandpas a great Fathers’ Day this Sunday. Regards, Jason Walker – Principal walker.jason.r@edumail.vic.gov.au

‘STUDENTS OF THE WEEK’

We congratulate the following ‘Students of the Week’ – to be presented at Friday’s Assembly

TERM THREE DATES

Friday 31 August 9:00 – 11:00am

Parents Association Morning Tea / Information

Session in DJC

Wednesday 5 September AEU Industrial Action (various classes affected)

Wednesday 5 September 7.30pm Parents Association Meeting - staffroom

Sunday 9 September PA ‘Sausage Sizzle’ @ Bunnings Nunawading

Thursday 20 September JSC - Cancer Council - ‘True Colours Footy Day’

Tuesday 18 September 2:30 – 3:15pm ‘Launch Pad’ (2013 Prep Transition) (No. 3)

Friday 21 September 2:00 – 2:30pm Assembly (Term 3 concludes - early dismissal)

OTHER IMPORTANT 2012 DATES

Monday 8 October 9:00am Term Four commences

Wed - Friday 10 – 12 Oct Camp Morton - Year 4

Wednesday 10 October 7.30pm Parents Association Meeting

Tuesday 6 November Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Wednesday 14 November 7.30pm AGM Parents Association Meeting

Thursday 22 November JSC - Melbourne Zoo - ‘Endangered Animals’ Day

Friday 21 December 1:00 – 1:30pm Assembly (last day of 2012 - early dismissal)

Principal’s Award Riley B – 5/6M Excellent organisation and participation during an outdoors Maths activity

Assist Principal Edward R Excellent questioning and comments during his Socratic Seminar

Prep A Jack B His kindness towards others in our class, ensuring everyone is included

Prep B Billy G Showing great thinking and sharing your knowledge during our visit to the Life Ed van

Prep E Catherine Z Remembering capital letters and full stops in her writing – well done!

Prep K Nicholas W Wonderful Reading of ‘My Friends’ – well done Nicholas

1/2D William M Working ‘on task’ and making ‘good choices’ during learning time!

1R Millie C Always helping and caring for other classmates

1S Ripley P Putting an enormous effort into improving his handwriting with excellent results – well done!

2D

2L Matthew S Always showing a positive attitude towards learning and seeking new information on all topics

2M Nicholas C Demonstrating how to use paragraphs in his recount writing – great work Nic!

3A Olivia D Working hard at improving her narrative writing skills

3J Eliza C Contributing thoughtfully to our Life Ed incursion discussion

3S Reva C Correctly demonstrating her understanding of a narrative – great Duck story Reva!

4E Ryleh K Kindness and Care towards other students

4K Luke S Excellent work when trading in subtraction

4M Madison G Consistently outstanding work in particular a detailed & insightful book report

5/6C Hasti S-R Promoting a ‘Learning Never Stops’ philosophy and learning about history with Mum!

5/6M Jade F Her fabulous start to narrative writing this week – well done Jade!

5/6N Josh M Displaing great thoughtfulness & maturity in voicing his opinions in the Socratic Seminar on Foreign Aid – well done!!

5/6S Jack M A great improvement in spelling – well done!

Italian Jasmine S – 2D Fantastic work on animals and for being a fantastic monitor in the Italian room

BOOK CLUB BOOK CLUB IS DUE BACK ON

MONDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2012

GET YOUR ORDERS IN ASAP AS

NO LATE ORDERS CAN BE PROCESSED

ART ROOM ARTICLES

PARENT HELP NEEDED FOR PREP ART PREPARATION I would like some square hessian and cotton cushions that the Preps have made, to be sewn together. There are about 70 Preps and the art work will be ready by Friday. Thanks a lot for your help. Pia C Art Teacher

MAGICAL MUSIC MATTERS

JAMES H MUSIC CAPTAIN’S QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Music happens to be an art form that transcends language” – Herbie Hancock (Jazz Musician,1940-present)

‘ACCORD Music Festival’ The BLPS Choirs have been invited to perform at the ‘ACCORD Music Festival’. The Australian Children’s Choir host the event and it provides the opportunity to showcase a number of Choirs and for the children to share their beautiful music with a large audience.

It is on Sunday 9th September at 3pm and is held at Tintern School in Ringwood East.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

State School Spectacular

“It’s All About the Love!” Saturday 8 September @ 11am & 5pm

Hisense Arena Melbourne Park

With just over a week until our 2 big performances on Saturday the 8th September our group of 2012

State School Spectacular participants are hard at work rehearsing the choreography and eagerly

anticipating next Thursday and Friday’s full cast rehearsal at Hisense Arena. The students are looking

forward to stepping on the arena with the other dancers, choirs and soloist performers and seeing how

truly ‘spectacular’ the whole show is.

Tickets for the matinee and evening performances next Saturday the 8th of September can still be

purchased by visiting www.ticketek.com.au/spectacular

DONATIONS NEEDED: To keep all our costumes ‘safe’ we’re asking for donations

of unused suit bags. If you have any at home that you no longer need we’d love to

have them! They can be dropped off at Bec’s classroom (Prep B) before

Wednesday 5th September.

Thanks everyone, Jo Myers Music Coordinator myers.joanne.j@edumail.vic.gov.au

SUPER SPORTS REPORT

“MORNING MOVERS” Numbers have been a bit low – maybe the cold mornings!! Come along and get those bodies warmed up and ready for the day. INTERSCHOOL SPORT District Athletics (track events) - Monday 17 September Will be held on Monday 17 September, at Box Hill Athletics Track, during the last week of this term. A catch-up day is booked for Wednesday, 19 – hopefully not needed!! District Summer Sport - Tuesday 9 October We have a date!! Our Summer Sport Round-robin will be held on Tuesday 9 October. This is the first Tuesday in Term 4. More information to follow. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for COLLECTING THE COLES VOUCHERS We managed to fill five 5kg bags and have taken them to the Post Office, who said we were the first school in the area to post them. Let’s hope our sports equipment comes as quick too! Phil Lumsden Sport Coordinator lumsden.philip.a@edumail.vic.gov.au

PARENTS ASSOCIATION NEWS

President: Andrea P Vice President: Lynne W Treasurer: Rebekah R Secretaries: Nicole R & Lisa C

So show your support for the PA and or drop us a line via the PA mailbox in the school Foyer or send us an email at blps.pa@gmail.com

Come for a ‘Cuppa’ tomorrow Our Morning Tea / Information Morning is being held tomorrow morning. Feel free to drop by to say hello and have a chat to some PA members to learn more about the PA in an informal setting. We’ll have some delicious treats to enjoy as well. When: From drop off until 11 am, next Friday 31 August Where: DJ Centre We’d love to see Mums, Dads and Carers of children from all year levels there along with any littlies you have in tow! (Colouring in pages and Lego supplied!)

PA Meeting Wednesday: grab a mate & come along Our PA meeting is on next Wednesday, 5 September. Venue will likely be the multipurpose room (due to the strike). If we’re not there, we’ll be in the staff room. Grab a friend and come along to see how we do what we do. Contact Lisa on � 0409 773 849 / waz.lisa@bigpond.net.au

Keep the Chocolate money coming The Chocolate Drive proceeds are now due. Please return all money (notes preferred if possible)

and any unsold chocolates ASAP. If you would like more time, please get in touch with Carolyn on � 0432 88 77 51 or email cberton@bigpond.com

Last Milo Friday tomorrow Our last Milo Friday is tomorrow. Give your kids $1.00 at recess to enjoy a warm Milo at school. (Please note: the Milo will be made with full cream cow’s milk.)

No bread for Monday morning? We know the feeling! This was one of the reasons why our Canteen was so fabulous. We are still hoping for a new Coordinator, or a Canteen Coordinators Group to come out of the woodwork and get our Canteen back in action. If you take on this role, or be part of a group, you will be in charge of the day(s) of operation, the menu, rosters etc. If you are interested, please contact Jason either in person or via email. A position description is in previous newsletters, or email Lisa at waz.lisa@bigpond.net.au

Uniform shop Opening times:

Monday 3.30 – 4.00 pm and Thursday 9.00 – 9.30 am.

School Banking Wednesdays REWARD ITEMS REWARD ITEMS NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE: The handball, watch, wallet and lunchbox are no longer available as stocks have run out. If you have 10 tokens saved you can redeem them for the following reward items:

• Money box - choose from 5 characters • Drink bottle • Handball • Book light • PEN POD - metal case holder with 2 blue ball pens and 3

highlighters DOLLARMITES ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATE Congratulations to the following students for their great saving this year: BRONZE certificate for making 10 deposits: JOSEPH B SILVER certificate for making 20 deposits: ANNA L, CATHERINE L, TIFFANY Y

2012 Commonwealth Bank Australian MATHS Challenge The Mathletics team in partnership with Commonwealth Bank are excited to present the 2012 Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge. All Australian schools and students are invited to take part in our national lead up event to World Maths Day 2013. The Challenges will run over two days from Tuesday 4 September to Wednesday 5 September. Some exciting additions to this year’s event include:

• State versus State! • A Special Challenge Curriculum course • Amazing school prizes

This is a free event and if your students already have Mathletics accounts, then there is no need to register. To participate, students can log in viawww.mathletics.com.au/challenge with their Mathletics user names and passwords on the day of the Challenge. For more information, please visit the Commonwealth Bank Australian Math’s Challenge website: www.mathletics.com.au/challenge Thanks everyone for supporting the School Banking Program

Regards Vickie L - School Banking Coordinator � 0419 773335

COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARD Any advertisements in this newsletter are in no way endorsed by Blackburn Lake Primary School

BLACKBURN LAKE

SANCTUARY Meet @ the Visitors Centre Central Rd Blackburn 3130

Sunday 9 September - 2pm – 4pm ‘Fighting Extinction’! Zoos Victoria volunteer talks about Conservation of ‘Endangered Species’!

Saturday 15 September - 10am – 12noon ‘Working Bee Amongst the Wildflowers’ Tools provided, BYO gloves

ALL WELCOME!

For information: email: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~blsac

Or Education Officer � 9262 6211

Junior Naturalists Juniors Group of FNCV Inc

The group meets at 7.30 pm on the

last Friday of each month (except

Dec) at the rooms of the Field Naturalists Club of

Victoria Inc, 1 Gardenia St Blackburn 3130.

AUGUST MEETING – Friday 31 August @ 7.30pm ‘August Birthday Party’ – theme – Desert Life’

SEPT EXCURSION - Sun 16 September ‘Serendip Sanctuary’, Lara.

SEPTEMBER MEETING - Fri 28 Sep @ 7.30pm ‘Life at the Water's Edge’ Speaker - Leon Altoff,

FNCV Marine Group Leader For further information & bookings contact:

Clare Ferguson � 8060 2474 or

FLAT OUT ATHS! Hit the track at full tilt this school holidays with Flat Out Aths! If you’re aged between 5

and 12, Flat Out Aths is a great chance to improve your athletic skills, meet new friends

and have some flat-out fun. Just like an Olympian you will get to speed down the track as

fast as you can or launch yourself into the air and touch the sky. Book your spot now!!

When: Thursday 4th October 2012

Where: Lakeside Stadium, Aughtie Drive, Albert Park Age Groups (ages taken as at 31/12/2012) 5 – 6 Years Old

Athletes born in 2006 & 2007

7, 8 & 9 Years Old Athletes born in 2003, 2004 & 2005 10, 11 & 12 Years Old Athletes born in 2000, 2001 & 2002 Age Groups & Sessions: A.

9:30am – 10:30am

5 & 6 years old

$15 per athlete

B. 11:00am – 12:30pm 7 ,8 & 9 years old $20 per athlete C. 11:00am – 12:30pm 10, 11 & 12 years old

All athletes will receive a Flat Out Aths Show Bag and there will be a free BBQ (12:30pm – 1:30pm) for

everyone! For further information visit www.athsvic.org.au or contact Athletics Victoria on � 03 8646 4500

Click the ONLINE ENTRIES button to book your spot! Registrations close 5:00pm Friday 21st September.

Get in early, places are limited… ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

IGA BLACKBURN SUPPORTS BLPS THROUGH A REWARD SCHEME