N E W S L E T T E R - Balranald Central School

Balranald Central School, We Street, Balranald NSW 2715 ׀ Phone: (03) 5020 2222 ׀ Fax: (03) 5020 2269 ׀ Email: [email protected] Website: www.balranald-c.schools.nsw.edu.au

N E W S L E T T E R STUDENT NEWS FROM BALRANALD CENTRAL SCHOOL 19th OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE 15

Farewell Year 12

On Friday, 25th September Balranald Central School staff and students farewelled Year 12. We wish Drew Lloyd, Jordan Woods-Dunstone, Dartanian Pocock, Lani Dalton, Jenae Johnstone, Faith Jolliffe, Abbie Renfrey, Isabella Scalora and Keely Gaston all the best in the HSC examinations and beyond.

I N S I D E

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Principal’s Ponderings (page 2)

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Absences

If your child is

absent you can

send an SMS to

school number

0419 420 286.

Fresh farm

eggs available

at the front

office for

$4

mailto:[email protected]

Issue 3 – Term 1 – Week 5

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Monday, 19 October 2020 Issue 15 – Term 4 – Week 2

PRINCIPAL’S PONDERINGSWelcome back for Term 4. I hope that everyone spent some quality time with their children and had an opportunity to reflect on how lucky we are to live in Australia amidst the relative pandemic pandemonium across the world. Last week our Year 12 students were involved in 3 days of study sessions with each of their teachers in preparation for their examination start date on Tuesday 20th October. They seem to be in good spirits and are keen to perform to the best of their ability in the HSC and then move onto the next chapter of their lives. The Year 12 assembly at the end of Term 3 was well organised and really captured the essence of this group through their journey at BCS. My thanks to Mrs Linnett, Mrs Nelson, Mrs Helgeland, Mrs Longford, Mr Reidy and all the staff who contributed to make this event a memorable one.

Year 11 have begun their HSC courses this term and I am confident that they will settle into good classroom practice and study habits. It is important for Year 11 to invest in their studies and develop sound routines as their HSC year will go quickly. Their investment in lessons is reflected in their BEAR scores which are reported on twice a term and have been on the improve since the start of the year.

Years 7-10 will complete their examinations during week 6 (Nov 16-20). A good indicator of their performance on these exams will be their BEAR scores, which will be published on November 5th,

which will be a snapshot of their first 4 weeks of engagement and achievement.

Book Week is upon us and a number of activities have been planned including a dress up day. The secondary students have been strongly encouraged to get on board and support the book week theme by dressing up as a curious creature or their favourite book character on Friday, 23rd October.

The school re-roofing program continues and will be finalised on the 26th November. We have also been selected to receive a Solar Photovoltaic package, which supports the Cooler Classrooms project from earlier this year. The installation of these solar packages will occur over the next 12 months, which will ensure healthy and comfortable learning environments for our students.

Some dates that are on the horizon:

Oct 19-23 Book Week

Nov 9-13 Naidoc Week

Nov 11 Remembrance Day

Nov 16-20 Year 7-10 exams

Nov 27 Year 12 Formal Nov 30-Dec 11 Year 10 Work Experience

Gus Comi


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CBCA BOOK WEEK

Each year since 1945 the CBCA has brought children and books together across Australia through CBCA Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators.

This year’s week has been moved to this term in Week Two – 19-23 October 2020. The theme of Book Week is “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds” Don’t forget to enter this year’s COLOURING COMPETITION for infants, primary and secondary students! Get your entry in by next Thursday afternoon (22.10.20) Bag a “bag o’ books” every lunchtime in the Quad. See how many books you can read between now and Christmas! The Book Fair is going virtual for 2020. We have a great selection of fantastic books on display in the library. As we are still unable to welcome visitors into school, we will bring it straight to the parents. Check the Facebook site for a “virtual showing” as well as Skoolbag for information. Books range from $5 to $30 and there will be posters for $2 and $4. One week only. Don’t miss

out… 😊

To celebrate this year’s Book Week students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character on Friday October 23. All students from Kindergarten to Year 12 are invited to come to school dressed up on the day and to celebrate their favourite book characters.


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Book Fair Books range from $5 to $30.

Don’t forget to send your child in with money next week if you would like them to purchase some books.


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Hull’s Happenings Year 8 Science Year 8 completed the Structure and Properties of Matter unit last term. During this time, students looked closely at the Periodic Table, identifying the atomic structure of the first 20 elements. They were required to undertake multiple first-hand investigations where they made compounds as well as broke compounds down into elements via various chemical reactions. Students were also able to identify elements and compounds based on their chemical and physical properties. Students were given a Minecraft Assessment where they had to build a Laboratory/Alchemist room and use scientific equipment to create elements, compounds and perform a chemical analysis on various materials. The report for this assessment is due Monday next week.

This term we have started looking at separation processes for various mixtures. This will involve a lot of practicals which will be keeping us busy in the classroom. On the 26th October, Year 8 students will be participating in the VALID8 test. The VALID8 test is a compulsory test for Year 8 students in NSW and is similar to the NAPLAN test for literacy and numeracy. It allows us to collect data about students’ knowledge and skills in Science, which we can use to assist us in teaching individual students. Year 9/10 Science Year 9/10 finished last term off with the Electricity unit. Students looked closely at different types of electrical circuits, how we are able to have electricity in our homes and how we

measure electricity. Students then had to perform a Practical Assessment Task where they were asked to build and measure the current and voltage of various circuits. They were then required to analyse their data, explaining the trends in their results and how it relates to the physics concepts we learnt about electricity. This term, we are looking closely at chemical reactions. Students will be completing many first-hand investigations on various types of chemical reactions and will learn how to write and balance chemical equations. In week 3, we will be participating in a video conference with La Trobe University, where students will be completing a practical investigation in real time with La Trobe Science Lecturers. Year 12 Chemistry With the Preliminary course complete, we now move onto Equilibrium and Acid Reactions module, where we will be examining closely reversible reactions. This builds on the previous unit, where we learnt about spontaneous reactions, enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs Free Energy theories. There will be a lot of hands on practicals, which will help to build on laboratory skills. Year 12 Biology The girls in Year 12 Biology have been studying hard over the holidays for their exam on the 28th October. They came in this week for an intensive 3-hour revision session and I’m confident that both girls will perform well in the HSC. Good Luck!!!


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AGM AND

REGISTRATION DAY

Date: Tuesday 27th October 2020

Where: Swimming Pool

Time: 5.00pm

EVERYONE WELCOME

ALL POSITIONS DECLARED VACANT

ACTIVE KIDS VOUCHERS CAN BE USED


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N E W S L E T T E R - Balranald Central School