Burwood BUZZ
Aiming for the Stars

Friday, 6 May 2022 Term 2 Week 2

Welcome back to term 2 and Eid Mubarak to our Moslem families. I hope the celebration of the end of Ramadan was wonderful.

I am especially glad to be back at school after a fall last term at school which resulted in an operation on a broken bone. Currently, I am back 4 hours a day and hopefully this will increase once I can place some weight on the foot. I would like to thank the staff and especially my amazing Deputy, Mrs Mourad, for all the work while I was on leave.

Staff Development Day on Tuesday 26 May focused on key targets in our School Plan. Teachers participated in professional learning around:

• the new Gifted and High Potential policy and identifying areas that we need to focus on to ensure all high potential students are identified,  challenged and catered for;
• reviewing and analysing our progress against the School Excellence Framework;
• developing and growing student vocabulary to support learning and comprehension in all areas, particularly reading and writing;
• Stage programming and assessment planning for term 2.

Thank you to the Gifted and High potential team and English as a Second Language teachers for all their work planning and leading these sessions.

I would also like to preemptively wish all our fabulous mothers a very happy Mothers’ Day! It was so wonderful to have the P and C Mothers’ Day stall on so children could purchase a gift for their mum. Thank you so much to all the parent volunteers who gave of their time to organise the stall, buy and wrap the gifts and be there on the days to hold the stall. The P and C and community are so important to the life of the school and it is a relief to reconnect in person. 

As you will be aware, the Cross Country day has been postponed until next Monday, 9 May. While this was inconvenient, hopefully the rain will hold off for the week and the grounds will be less muddy and safer. Parents are welcome to join us at Henley Park. Please be COVID safe and maintain a distance from the students.

NAPLAN will be held for Years 3 and 5 in week 4 this term (May 16 - 20). There is information in this newsletter. This year, we will be moving to testing online for all Year 5 tests and for all Year 3 tests except writing. Students have completed practice tests to ready them for this change. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or myself through the school office or email.

A few of our teachers and students have tested positive to COVID. Fortunately, we have managed to cover classes to ensure minimal disruptions. The impact of teacher shortages has been felt across many schools. We continue to implement our COVID safety measures to ensure a safe environment for our students, staff and the community.

Finally, I hope you have noticed the new sign on our school fence. We have several projects happening to improve our school grounds and facilities. I will be working closely with the P and C in this area to ensure our school facilities provide our students with an environment that enhances their learning and well-being.

Please see attached Parent Information regarding NAPLAN. 

https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/simple-english-naplan-parent-carer-information.pdf

https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf

Applications for Year 5 entry to an opportunity class in 2023 open on Tuesday 26 April 2022 and close Friday 13 May 2022. Parents apply online at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

All applicants are required to sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test to be held on Thursday 28 July 2022. 

Year 4 students who are intending to apply need to complete the ‘Intention to apply for Year 5 entry to an opportunity class in 2023 form' and return it to school.Please note this is not the application and the school can not apply on your behalf. To apply you will need to register your email and then submit an application through the Department’s website at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

The P&C News can be viewed on School Enews. Please see attached a 'How to Guide'.  

Many students have difficulty coming up with creative ideas for their imaginative stories. So, what better way to help them then to have an acclaimed children's author come to Burwood Public School to show them a few tricks of the trade !

Oliver Phommavanh has written 12 children's books since first publishing 'Thai-riffic!' in 2010. In his presentation this week to Stage 2, he talked about his life experiences as a child growing up in Sydney and how he has drawn upon many of his real-life experiences when creating storylines for his books. The children had a great time laughing at his many funny stories but also benefited from appreciating his passion for both reading and writing. Many children purchased copies of his books afterwards, which he personally signed for them.

After the presentation, Mr Phommavanh conducted a one hour workshop with selected students from both Stage 2 and 3. In this session he provided some excellent creative writing brainstorming strategies for the students. They were able to apply these in coming up with their own storylines and will hopefully utilize these with future writing tasks. Workshop members then shared these strategies with their classmates to allow all the students to benefit from Mr Phommavanh's amazing talent.

While we haven't been able to have excursions in recent years, it was wonderful to see the children so engaged during the visit by Mr Phommavanh and we greatly appreciate the efforts of Mrs Ngo in organizing the incursion. We are sure it will have a positive impact on the student's writing and further promote a love of reading. 

Mr O'Neill - Stage 2 Assistant Principal

Earlier this week, the P&C Association hosted a Mother's Day Stall to allow students to buy gifts for the upcoming Mother's Day this Sunday. We are still counting the money raised, feedback from the School has been that the stall went very well and the students were very excited and cannot wait to give their gifts to their mums, grandmother's and other special carers this weekend. 

Many thanks to the numerous volunteers who were able to set aside some time to help. The event would not have been as successful without you. The students really appreciate your help with their gift selection, and wrapping/decorations. The School also appreciates and welcomes input from the parents and carers. 

Wishing everyone a happy Mother's Day this Sunday!

The School is currently looking for parents and carers to join the merit selection panel. The merit selection panel is one way in which teachers and staff are appointed to positions at school. Merit selection panels usually include one P&C representative, and their role is to represent the interests of the students, parents and the school community in the selection of teachers and staff. 

This is an excellent opportunity for parents and carers to become directly involved in the running of the school, and to ensure that the best teachers are selected for our students. Please note that merit selection panel members are required to complete some online training, and the panel process itself can take some time (as the P&C representative is involved in preparing the selection criteria, reviewing resumes, and interviewing candidates). 

If you are interested, please email Brian Diep (P&C Secretary) at briandiep@gmail.com with your contact details to discuss the next steps.

The P&C Meeting for May was held earlier today, and an update will be provided in the next edition of the Burwood Buzz. The next P&C Meeting is on Friday, 17 June at 9:00am in the Staff Room (entry via the Front Office). All are welcome! The meeting in June will focus on developments around the school.

If any parent or carer has any concerns about the school, please feel welcome to attend our monthly P&C meeting and talk to us and other parents. The Principal and/or Deputy Principal also attend these meetings. If you cannot come to the meetings, you can contact the P&C directly: Sek-Mun Wong (P&C President) at sekmun@gmail.com. 

If you would like to know more about P&C news and activities, subscribe by emailing - service@burwoodpnc.com.au 

The Uniform Shop is open on Tuesday afternoons (2.30-3.15pm) and Thursday mornings (8.45-9.30am). Uniform orders can also be placed in the P&C Red Tin in the Front Office foyer. The order form with price list is available here https://www.burwoodpnc.com.au/orderform.pdf.  

• If you would like to assist as a volunteer in the Uniform Shop, please contact the shop's Manager, Anne Ho - burwooduniform@gmail.com. New volunteers are most welcome.  
• Second-hand uniforms are available at the Uniform Shop. Please visit the Uniform Shop during opening hours to inspect these items. The Uniform Shop also welcomes donations of second-hand uniforms. Please contact Anne Ho about delivering these items to the Uniform Shop.

This week at Burwood Library the students will be able to enjoy a wide range of activities:

Walking the history of Burwood: Come for a walk with us and begin to discover a wonderful heritage that gives Burwood its unique character.

When - Sunday 15 May 2022

Where - 2 Conder Street Burwood (Meeting at the entrance of Burwood Library)

Time - 1.30pm - 3.00pm 

Bring - Gold coin afternoon tea will be provided. Please wear comfortable shoes, dress for the weather and bring along a bottle of water. 

Open Event at Enfield Aquatic Centre on Saturday 14 May, to showcase the new state-of-the-art programs pool, new splash park and carpark. We would love to see many families attend and enjoy the free activities such sports activities, aquatic demonstrations, pool inflatables and BBQ.