Burwood BUZZ
Aiming for the Stars

Friday, 1 July 2022 Term 2 Week 10

Thank you to parents and teachers for another successful term despite some of the ongoing challenges we are facing. Despite a large surge in illness amongst staff due to COVID, flu and the increasing lack of new teachers available for casual work, we have managed to organise casuals so that no classes have had to be split up on any days. This is because of our strong organisation but also because Burwood Public School is a desired school to come to. 

This week I was sent some excellent writing done by students in Stage 2. Some of this work is in this newsletter and I urge you to read it to see the high level that our students are working at. These three girls received the first Principal Letters. This is a letter that I will send home to parents to inform them of good work that their child has been sent to show me.

All students will return on Tuesday 19 July. The school will be non-operational on Monday 18 July, due to Staff Development Day. Teachers will be working on: 

• Quality teaching in reading and effective questioning to promote high level student thinking 
• Wellbeing

Attendance at school is a focus for the Department of Education. Each school has an attendance target as part of our School Plan. Attendance data and research shows that there is a strong connection between high attendance and student performance. Every minute at school counts. 

The NSW Department of Education School Attendance Policy and Procedures require parents/caregivers to provide an explanation for their child’s absence from school. We are required to follow up with parents and carers if an explanation is not given. This is monitored by our Deputy Principal, Mrs Mourad and the Department Home School Liaison Officer. In term 3 we will be refining our attendance practices and implementing the following processes:

• If your child is absent please complete the absent notification via School eNews or by calling the office or sending a note to the classroom teacher.
• If an absence explanation is not received you will receive an automatic email to provide an explanation. If you have changed your email address please contact the office and provide them with your updated details.

We anticipate some teething problems as we move to the automated process and appreciate your patience in advance as we implement this new practice. If you receive an email and you have already sent us an explanation, please ignore this email. If we do not receive an explanation about your child’s absence from school within 7 days, the teacher is required to call to follow up. 

Education Week is being celebrated during Term 3 Week 3. The dates are Monday 1st August to Friday 5th August. On Tuesday 2nd August, we would like to invite parents and carers to speak to our students about their careers and occupations. If you are available on this day and interested in participating, please click on the link to fill in the form: https://forms.gle/YQDubEibcy2diPwt5  

NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. NAIDOC Week was celebrated during week 10 of Term 2. Dion Drummond (“Moogera” meaning storm) shared stories from his culture with students from Years 1- 6. He showed the students artifacts such as boomerangs and handmade items. Dion taught us about traditions and language from both the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islands culture. Students and teachers went up on stage with Dion to learn some of the dances. He also performed songs and dances. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from an Indigenous performer. Students continued to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, language and culture, in their classrooms during the week and throughout the year.

Mrs Birchley - Coordinator

Students in Kindergarten and Year 3 to 6 participated in Burwood Council's Primary School Waste Education Program. Stage 3 learnt about Food For Thought,  Stage 2 learnt about Biodiversity and ES1 learnt about Worms!  

A few comments from ES1 students:

 The worms were sooooo long.

I loved holding the worms.

They wiggled.

 We are continually improving our sustainability systems at school.  Ask your child what they learnt about at these workshops.

This week I was lucky to have three students visit me from SP Ikara to show me their excellent persuasive texts. I was so impressed with the level of writing. As you can see below, they included strong arguments backed by research and evidence. Congratulations to Justina, Charis and Tanusha and to Miss Prasad for her excellent teaching.

There were many aspects where it was very challenging and many aspects where it was more easy, like when trying to cut a circle out of the cardboard which was truly hard even with the assistance of Jonathan. And a genuinely straightforward element was when I had to connect all the boxes together using tape.

Purpose:  The purpose was to learn about angles by doing this assignment and taking a 2D golf course and bringing it to life by making it 3D.

My most used material was probably cardboard, tape or paper.

My favourite part of making this golf course was when I added the obstacles and decorations.

In conclusion, this was a great and enjoyable activity and really taught me and everyone else a lot! 

Atharv

 We created a mini golf course which is playable, some of it was challenging such as, making walls, measuring angles in places which are hard to measure in, making the golf clubs and more. The purpose of this was to learn more about angles, I think it has shown us that angles are everywhere, even in places we don’t expect as well. Even though this was educational it was also a very fun activity, and it also let us be creative.     

Azalia

We made this project based on our imagination and creativity. We did this and we just threw in a bunch of ideas and it turned out very good. Mrs Stefanou even approved of it. (we feel very flattered 😊) this is based on our personalities and we think it shows it really well. We added many figures and decorations to make it fun and interesting for others and ourselves. It was challenging to cut the cardboard into specific shapes, to cut holes into the cardboard for the 5 goals and to maintain the use of every bit of our imagination to create unique obstacles.

Annabella & Miu

Mrs Stefano - Coordinator 

Thank you to the students and teachers for the wonderful surprised performance!

To celebrate this year's NAIDOC Week Theme, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! we are inviting Kindergarten to Year 6 students to design their own message stick and write a message to the Parliament of NSW. 

Four (4) lucky winners will each receive a Parliament of NSW gift pack. 

Burwood Council invites you to come and celebrate the newly commissioned artworks in Wangal Park for NAIDOC Week by Maddison Gibbs and Jason Wing. Inspired by the 2022 NAIDOC week theme, Council invites the community to come and engage with First Nations culture through the following events. 

• Mobile Playvan with First Nation’s Arts and Craft activities from 10.00 am onward, for aged 0-6 with parents / carers
• Jannawi Dance Clan Performance with Smoking Ceremony from 11.00 am
• Welcome to Country and formal speeches
• Light Bush Tucker refreshments served from 12.00 pm onwards

When:   Friday 8 July 2022, 10.00 am – 1.30pm

Where:  Wangal Park - Royce Ave, Croydon (next to the Basketball Court)

 This project is funded by the NSW Government under the Parramatta Road Urban Amenity Improvement Program (PRUAI P).

The P&C is inviting all parents, carers and students to a free BBQ on 29 July at 3pm. This is a chance to meet other families, have some fun and share your ideas with the P&C team. If you are able to, please RSVP to burwoodpublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au by 22 July to assist us with catering. Stay tuned for our next fundraising event as we have many more planned! If you have any ideas or would like to join the fundraising team, please contact Wendy Tu via email at miss.wendy.tu@gmail.com.

After discussions with the School, the P&C is looking to implement an online uniform shop alongside our physical store to better service the needs of the school community. The P&C would like to set up this online shop as efficiently as possible since proceeds from uniform sales ultimately go back to supporting the students and school community. If anyone would like to provide their input or expertise to this discussion, please contact burwoodpublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au. 

Ethics classes are set to continue in Term 3 with classes in Stages 1, 2 and 3! Ethics classes are held on Wednesday mornings from 9:00-9:30am and help children to think logically, disagree respectfully, support arguments with evidence and think about decisions that affect them and people around them. Ethics classes explore these fundamental issues through reasoned discussion about values and principles. If you would like to know more about Primary Ethics or would be interested in helping, please contact Anuya at anuya.velpanur@primaryethics.com.au. For more information, visit www.primaryethics.com.au.

The next P&C Meeting is on Friday, 22 July at 9:00am in the Staff Room (entry via the Front Office). All are welcome!  

If any parent or carer has any comments, concerns or feedback 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 to share your thoughts: 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 - burwoodpublicschool@pandcaffiliate.org.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://burwood-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/family-information/p-c-uniform-shop.html.

• The first day of trading in term 3 is Tuesday, 19 July.
• The Uniform Shop has received new winter stock (long sleeve blue polos) and are now available for purchase.
• 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.

Dancing Reciters is a weekly program run by an experienced instructor who is certified in Speech, Drama and Ballet for students in Year 1 to Year 4.