2 Alesana DriveBellbird Park QLD 4300Subscribe:Subscribe: https://bellbirdpssc.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

admin@bellbirdparkssc.eq.edu.auPhone:Phone: 07 3819 7222

Fax:Fax: 07 3819 7200

21 March 201921 March 2019

From the College PrincipalAs we approach the end of term 1, it isencouraging to see both students and staffsettle into the 2019 academic year. I hopeyour child is actively engaged in this term’sschool work. To achieve their potential, allof our students need to take responsibilityfor their learning. This entails attendinglessons, actively participating in those

lessons, bringing the required equipment, completinghomework, completing both drafts and assignments andsubmitting them on time as well as sitting all scheduled tests.Please assist us by reinforcing this message at home.

I want to extend my thanks to the parent community and thosewho personally contacted me to acknowledge the email I sentto all parents a couple of weeks ago in regards to studentbehavior. As I mentioned in this email – it is only a very smallminority of our students who are not meeting our expectations,and on the whole, student behaviour and engagement atBPSSC is very positive. I need all parents to be very awarethat our staff work exceptionally hard to actively and deliberatelyteach our students’ what it means to be good a citizen withgood values; we do this every day in every lesson. However,just like adults who disregard traffic rules, some studentschoose to ignore these messages. It is important that we don’tjudge BPSSC by the few students who ‘break the rules’.Further, inappropriate comments on social media only tarnishBPSSC and the students’ reputation.

National Day of Action Against Bullying andViolence

On Friday 15 March we recognised the National Day of Actionagainst Bullying and Violence. This annual day is Australia's keyanti-bullying event for schools, and encourages all students to'take a stand together' against bullying and violence in schools,the classroom and beyond. The Bellbird Park SSC values wereon true display as our students left ‘chalk’ messages on ourpathways as well as making a pledge and commitment to say“No way to bullying”. Thank you to Ms Egan our GuidanceOfficer for planning a very successful day.

Christchurch community in our thoughts

The horror inflicted on the community of Christchurch I’m surehas both indirectly and in some cases, directly impacted onour lives over the weekend. Our thoughts and best wishes arewith the families and the community so tragically impacted onby this event. It focuses a light on our college values and theimportance of developing these attributes in all our students forour society moving forward. Our GO and support staff are onhand if students need to de-brief with anyone.

PARENTS’ AND CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATIONEXECUTIVE

Congratulations to the following executive members who wereelected at the recent AGM:

President: Julie Sibley

Vice President: Michael Wilson

Vice President: Teri Sinclair

Secretary: Kelly Parsons

Treasurer: Ursula Pitt

Our P&C is an important part of our school and all membersplay an important role; I would like to take the opportunity tothank the outgoing executive members, Lucy (VP) and Tracey(secretary) for their amazing and outstanding contribution toBPSSC.

Open EVENING No.1 – Year 7 2020

All prospective students and parents are invited to attend ourfirst Open Evening for students enrolling in Year 7 2020 onWednesday 01 May. Bellbird Park SSC is an enrolmentmanaged school and we encourage only families/students frominside our catchment area to attend. Visitors will receive aguided tour of our school and state of the art facilities, as well asan informative talk. Come early and visit the faculty/curriculumdisplays. Enrolments for 2020 will open at the Twilight OpenDay; more details about enrolment can be found on our schoolwebsite.

ANZAC Day March

In week 1 of next term BPSSC will acknowledge and recogniseANZAC day at a special assembly on Wednesday 24th April.As in past years, all students are also invited to take part in theRedbank Plains RSL Sub Branch service on ANZAC Day, whichis Thursday 25th April. Further information will be provided inour next newsletter.

Michael WestCollege Principal

Deputies CornerWith under 3 weeks to go until the end ofterm, students will start to experience anincrease in written assessments andexams. It is important students plan aroundwhat they have for school, along with anyfamily and sporting events coming up sothat they don’t leave it to the last minuteresulting in increased stress due to

workload. Everyone needs to finish strong - show that GRIT tothe end. Don’t give up when it seems like too much to do -persevere when it’s difficult, and seek support from friends,teachers, google and family.

Study club is accessible for students after school in InformationServices on Tuesday and Thursday in week 8 and 9 and won’tbe available in week 10. Just a reminder to students andparents that of late many students are coming without work to

do or study and at times are making a nuisance of themselves.If students have nothing they can be doing (which is never thecase really as they could always read through their notes or areading book) they should not turn up and may be asked toleave if they are disrupting others.

Term 1- Interim Reporting

Please note all academic reports will beemailed out on Monday 29 April (week 2 ofterm 2).

The reports will give you a snapshot onacademic achievement, effort and behaviour for eachcurriculum subject studied as well as any extra-curricularactivities partaken in and absences from school.

Parent Teacher interviews will be in week 3 on Thursday 9May after school until 7:00pm in the Sports Hall. Bookingsfor parent teacher interviews are through the School OnlineBooking System (SOBS) and this site will open on Monday 29April and close on Tuesday 7 May at midnight. The link to SOBSand how to register will be sent with the emailed reports and onour website.

Gavin GrantDeputy Principal

Administration MattersNext week is week 9 and is considered an interruption freeweek on our Term Planner. During this week students willbe completing assessment and exams. To ensure minimaldisruption to classes during this time, administration staff willnot be contacting classrooms. Should you need to collect yourstudent early, please follow the process below. Thank you foryour cooperation.

Early Departure Procedures

As the College has increased in size with the student populationover the last year, it has become evident that the College needsto introduce a process for early departures to avoid minimaldisruptions to student learning and only make phone calls tothe classrooms when it is an emergency situation. Bellbird ParkState Secondary College values Teaching and Learning andas of the beginning of next term the following process will occurfor Early Departures and the only exception to this will be for anidentified emergency. Parents / Carers who arrive during classtime without prior arrangement will have to wait until the nextscheduled break.

What do I need?

What do I do?

• A signed and dated note in your students diarywritten by the Parent/Carer

• A separate note signed and dated by the Parent/Carer

• Your student hands the note into Student Servicesby 8.40am and receives a Leave Request Pass.

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When I leave?

What else would help?

100% Attendance – Every minute counts

From the Guidance Officer

WELLBEING NEWS

Our News

Last week we celebrated the National Day of Actionagainst bullying and violence. We invited some of ourlocal police officers to come and have some fun withour students. They took on our kids in some prettycompetitive handball and have issued a challenge for apossible future touch game against us! Ms Cox took lotsof photos of the students making pledges about howthey can prevent bullying and violence in our school. Thestudents also made a large patchwork banner and wehope to display this at future events so you can take alook. In the meantime, keep an eye out for photos onFacebook!

Tips for wellbeing at home

In the light of the terrible events in Christchurch, I thinkwe are all feeling terribly shocked and sad. If you find thatyour children, friends and family members are struggling,encourage them to talk about it among supportive closefriends and family. There is no way to ‘make it better’,but standing beside each other, giving hugs, tissues anda listening ear is an important part of processing suchterrible trauma

TraceyEganGuidanceOfficer

Caleb MurrayYouth SupportCoordinator

Beth DodtYouth SupportCoordinator

Spotlight on SupportSalvation Army Employment Plus.

The Salvos have a range of support services for those timeswhen you find yourself needing a helping hand. Their Goodnasite (St Ives Shopping Centre) runs employment supportprograms. See the link.

Phone 3437-1700

Links and Documents.

HOY Report

• Your student shows their class teacher the LeaveRequest Pass at the beginning of their lesson andleaves the class quietly at the pre-arranged time.

• Your student waits at Student Services until theParent / Carer arrives at the Main AdministrationOffice. The student is then signed out and departsthe College with the Parent / Carer.

• Leave during break times

• Book appointments for before / after school or duringthe school holiday periods where possible

• Goodna Youth Service

• Headspace Ipswich

• Mercy Community Goodna

• Salvos at Goodna

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World’s Greatest Shave

This Friday is the World’s Greatest Shave and we haveapproximately 15 students who have chosen to shave theirheads for this very worthy cause. So far we have raised justover $700 which means we are very close to the $1000required for Mrs Rynne to experience the bald-look. If your childwants to shave, it is not too late; they just need to grab a formfrom Mrs Rynne, Mrs Farrell or Mrs Silvidio and return it beforethe event. Other ways to engage include wearing a silly hat orcRaZy hair for a gold coin. Staff will be out and about beforeschool on Friday with hair spray and will put colour in students’hair for a cold coin donation as well. It is going to be an amazingday!

The Importance of Breakfast

Many of our youngest students appear to be coming to schoolwithout breakfast. Research shows this can have a significanteffect on a student’s ability to concentrate. Please have a chatto your student and encourage them to get something healthyin their belly before starting the school day. Our canteen hassome yummy breakfast options; all for under $3.50 for studentswho have forgotten to break their fast in the morning.

Year 7 Camp

Packing lists have now gone home for Year 7 Camp. Pleaseread them carefully and start organising what your student willneed. Unlike previous camps, this new (and fabulous site) doesrequire students to bring their own fitted sheet, sleeping bag orblanket, pillow and pillow case. Year 7s have also created theircabin groupings now, which has meant excitement levels forcamp have significantly increased.

Full payment was required on the 15th of March; so if you havenot made your final payments yet please ensure you do thistoday.

Upcoming Events

Mrs RynneHead of Year7

Mrs SilvidioHead of Year8

Mrs FarrellHead of Year9

From the Head of EnglishAs we enter the last few weeks of the term,students should be working on assessmentboth in class and at home. In English,students will continue to work on theirimaginative writing skills: year 7s arecreating a narrative memoir of an event intheir lives, year 8s are writing a short storysuitable for a teen audience and year 9s are

writing a speculative fiction short story.

All of these tasks require students to follow the writing cycle,which means they will need to plan, draft, revise, edit, rewriteand proofread before they submit. Many students tend to writetheir first draft and forget that good writing requires effort andrevision to improve their work. During the drafting and revisingphase, students can use their VCOP placemat to assess andup-level their vocabulary, sentence openers, connectives andpunctuation. All students are expected to submit a draft totheir teacher who will provide written feedback to help themimprove. At Bellbird Park, we have an editing code, whichteachers will use to identify writing errors. The Feedback Codefor Editing is printed in student diaries and provides strategiesto help students in fixing errors.

Students will have the due dates for their drafts and finalsubmissions of assessment recorded in their school planner, soplease support them in ensuring they have completed them ontime.

• 22nd of March - Shave for a Cure

• 3rd – 5th of April - Year 7 Camp

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Melissa SeeHead of Department – English | Literacy

PBL NewsNew prizes have arrived ladies and gentlemen! So come ondown Mondays to collect:

Year 7s - drink bottles, basketballs, stationery andyo-yos, springy toys and mini hand balls.Year 8s and 9s - calculators, drink bottles, packs ofcards, headphones, stationery, and canteen vouchers.

Over the past 3 excruciatingly hot weeks, thePBL team have been ‘sold’ out of ZooperDooper ice blocks as rewards for greatbehaviour in being responsible, havingintegrity, demonstrating effort and support.It’s great to see so many students earning their way to rewardsand being able to cool themselves down because of thoserewards. Why not ask your child what they got Phoenix rewardstickers for today? Positive behaviour and rewards for positivebehaviour is something to be celebrated at home and at school!

Corinne RobertsDiversity/Mathematics and Science Teacher | PARCCoordinator

English as an Additional Language /Dialect (EALD) News

Are you a parent of student at Bellbird Park SSC who speaksa language other than English? Please ensure that you have letthe school know that either one or both parents, use anotherlanguage other than English at home.

Students who are identified as having a parent who speaksanother language other than English at home are eligible forsupport with learning in the classroom. This ensures that theyhave the greatest opportunity to achieve their outcomes andmake improvements each year at school.

We are currently ensuring that all students have access to thesupport they are entitled to. If you think you may have forgottento tell the school, and you meet the criteria of one or bothparents in the home speak another language, please let usknow via phone or email.

Carolyn HoltDiverse Learners

Maths and Science NewsWith the end of term 1 in sight, students across the collegehave completed their first piece of assessment for maths andscience. Year 7 maths have just completed a unit on integers,factors and index. The cohort will finish the term off withfractions. In science, year 7s will spend the remainder of theterm understanding and learning about laboratory safety andmore excitingly, using the Bunsen Burner!

Science and maths teachers use collaborative learningexperiences in their classes. Students work in groups to solveproblems and create solutions, for example science teachersdesigned a scavenger hunt to identify lab equipment with theYear 7s.

Using hands on materials for cooperative learning.

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Students studying year 8 maths have spent the term learningand practising financial maths, solving problems involving rates,ratios, percentages, profits and losses. The opportunity todemonstrate all their hard work and understanding will come inweek 9. In science, students have been exploring the makeupof the Earth and various types and forms of rocks that form theplanet we live on. Year 8 science students have been workingon their science assignment from week 6 during designatedcomputer room lessons. Their final products will all be turned inat the beginning of week 9.

Year 9s have finished their first maths exam of the year,students will round off the term with a financial mathsassignment, extending their knowledge from year 8. On theother hand, in science, students are completing theirexperiments in the science labs; dissection of an eye! Studentsare learning first-hand the structure of the eye, from the lens tothe optic nerve. As part of learning, students had an opportunityto dissect a bull’s eye. This was a great experience for most ofour students who got to see the parts of an eye.

If you have any queries please feel free to contact yourstudent’s teacher.

Jacob CheungMath/Science Teacher

Captain’s CornerIt’s hard to believe we’re in Week 8, it feels like the term is juststarting to heat up! We Junior College Captains have been busypromoting the various college events occurring in the upcomingweeks.

National Day of Action against Violence and Bullying was lastFriday, and the BPSSC community rallied together to pledgetheir support. We pledged to lead from the front and be thevoice for those who can’t speak.

We’ve been busy seeking out students who have beendemonstrating our college expectations of RISE - ResponsibilityIntegrity Support and Effort. Ms Caffrey gave us the hugeresponsibility of carrying our own PBL stickers to issue tostudents. We were lucky enough to get into classrooms andsee some outstanding students in action. It’s been really coolshowing our support and recognising the outstanding studentswe have at the college.

This Friday marks the very first BPSSC Shave for a Cure event,with approximately 15 staff and students taking the leap andshaving their hair. We will be busy manning the hair colouringstations to deliver some wacky hair styles on the day. So farwe’ve raised over $1100, with our very own College CaptainKenny shaving!

Lastly we had a meeting with Mr West, Mrs Major and MrsFarrell last week to discuss some exciting things ahead for thecollege. The student body is eagerly awaiting the formal uniformto be ready for next year with the captains being part of thecommittee - we can’t wait to share more about this with you asthe year progresses!

Rebecca MoleRebecca Mole Fia PaseneFia Pasene KennyKennyCrawfordCrawford

Davinia SamuDavinia Samu

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Office Hours

Office Hours

Monday 8:00am – 4:00pm

Tuesday 8:00am – 4:00pm

Wednesday 8:00am – 4:00pm

Thursday 8:00am – 4:00pm

Friday 8:00am – 3:30pm

College Contact Details

College Office 3819 7222

Student

Absent Line

3819 7266

Student

Absent email

studentabsence@bellbirdparkssc.eq.edu.au

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