Newsletter Term 4 Week 5 Dates for the Diary

THURSDAY 14TH NOVEMBER

PE EXAM 1:30PM

FRIDAY 15th November

YEAR 12 FORMAL DINNER

FRIDAY 15th November

KINDY TRANSITION

TUESDAY 19th November

8/9 TAG RUGBY

FRIDAY 22nd November

GEOGRAPHY CAMP

25th—27th November

YR 9 ROUNDTABLES

TUESDAY 3rd December

PRESENTATION NIGHT

MONDAY 9th December

SCHOOL FORMAL

WEDNESDAY 11th December

8/9 SUPER 8’S CRICKET

THURSDAY 12th December

Remembrance Day Ceremony

“Lest we forget”

Principal’s News Monday night’s ‘Four Corners’ program on the ABC reported on the teaching of literacy. It referred to the shift towards direct instruction and the explicit teaching of phonics. These approaches to teaching are known to deliver high-yield outcomes. It is comforting that BCDS is heading in that direction as well. (Our site improvement plan articulates our commitments to action 2020-2021.) The program also referred to Australia’s slipping scores in Literacy against an OECD scale. Yes, I have seen this trend across multiple sites, and here we see similar (but not alarming) trends as students grow into their secondary years. Last night’s program also provided some academic conversation about the impact of digital technologies on children’s brains. It’s well worth a look; in case you missed it. Four Corners | Series 2019 Digi Kids | https://iview.abc.net.au/show/four-corners

As parents of today, we are standing on the digital cross-roads of ‘life before social media’ and ‘life with social media.’ Where once our parenting styles were evaluated against traditional benchmarks of success, we are now challenged by moral and ethical inputs of wanting to ‘get it right’ with regards to the debate about “How much access to digital devices should we be granting to our children?” Our children are growing up in a ‘Digi-world.’ There is a pervasive presence of technologies in a child’s life. As far as research into the impact devices have on a child’s ability to learn, it’s still early days.

Here at Booleroo we are educating all our students as 21st century learners. We use the digital platform regularly, and to good effect. Unfortunately there has been a past-history of poor connectivity and disruptions caused to learning at this site. To compensate for internet disruptions, teachers allowed students to use phones in the classroom. However, now that our school is going through an IT upgrade, I need to plant the seeds of change. We now have optical fibre replace the copper wires to the school. There will be a further upgrades to our IT network in Terms 2 to 3 next year. By mid-2020 we will hopefully be up and running with a state-of-the-art network.

Secondary staff discussed some of the issues around phone use at staff meeting Tuesday night. We are concerned at the amount of distractions caused by phones in the classroom. The quality and span of student attention to the teacher instruction is being compromised by those distractions. While the current school policy refers to phones only being used with the consent of the teacher (to photograph a page of work or notes on the board etc), we now know, thanks to very diligent and useful feedback, that some students are accessing social media during the school day. Whether this is done during class-time, toilet break or classroom change-over, we don’t know exactly. The consensus of opinion by staff in our meeting last night was that all phones must be submitted to the class teacher during lesson time. They will be stored safely and discretely in the classroom so that social media interruptions during class time are no longer possible. The use of student phones will also be raised with the Governing Council in due course. Any possible amendments to our school policy will then be done on the basis of consultation with all stakeholders.

We are trusting you will respect and support this interim step. Feel free to have discussions with your children about the use of phones at school. “Do they REALLY need them at school?” Some sites have already taken steps to disallow student phones at school. If you have any concerns, thoughts or ideas on this matter, you are welcome to contact me at school. Your voice will be heard.

Kind regards,

Peter

Kindy News

Our new Outdoor Learning Environment is progressing and it has been very ex-citing to watch all the different tools and machinery being used as the log scram-ble is being built. A huge thankyou to Paul and Jacqui Jones for donating the big feature logs from their farm and for helping the contractors move and load them - not an easy feat! We really appreciate the time taken to help the Kindy.

On Monday Kyoko showed children how to make Origami dogs. The children really enjoyed making their dogs unique. Kindy Children participated in their first formal transi-tion to school session on Tuesday morning and were very excited to share their learning when they returned to Kindy after recess. We are lucky to visit the school regularly so the environ-ment, teachers and students are all very familiar. They didn't think Karen needed to take them to the bus in the afternoon as the are now "Big School Kids"! Next week they will be staying at school until the end of lunch.

While the Rural Care Children are waiting on a tip truck to deliver some rocks for the playground, Kindy children are on an excursion today to visit the Sculpture trail in Wirrabara and then on to the Old Nursery in the Wirrabara forest for some nature play

Kindy and Rural Care Staff

Primary School News

Our next Primary assembly will be in week 8, Thursday the 5th of December. This will be an extended assembly starting at 2:20pm. Students will share their learning and we will celebrate achievements throughout the year. This includes the Premiers Reading Challenge awards. For the first time they will be recognised at the assembly, not on presentation night. We hope you can make it to the assembly to celebrate the end of the year with students.

On Tuesday we welcomed our Kindy students for their first visit to the school. Lots of smiles were seen at the start of the day and at recess time. The next visit for the students is Tuesday the 19th until the end of lunch.

On Wednesday, Trish along with the SMG team, presented a Christmas Story to the R-6 students. Thank you to Trish

for organising this for our students.

5/6 Camp

Students from the 5/6 class attended the biannual Aquatics Camp at Victor Harbor last week. Students were treated to amazing accommodation at Adare House, or ‘Hogwarts Castle’ as it became known by many of the students. The food, activities and staff were all amazing, making us feel very at home.

On Wednesday we went to Encounter Lakes to Kayak, Snorkel and participate in Surf Education activities, with Snor-kelling being cited as a favourite among many students. In the afternoon the year 5 students walked to Granite Island, experiencing the winds that Victor Harbour has to offer.

On Thursday we trekked down to Horseshoe Bay for body boarding and fishing. Despite not having ideal conditions, some wetsuit rash and inconsistent waves students had an amazing time in the water and just wanted to keep going.

Students’ exceptional behaviour and willingness to be involved was noted by all instructors and

should be something students are proud of. We would like to thank Craig Roberts and Liz

Prosser for attending the camp with us. Emma Branson, 5/6 Teacher

School News Material & Services Charges 2020

Hello to all BCDS families

I would like to invite all parents/caregivers to attend the next Governing Council meeting scheduled for Monday 2nd December at 7.00pm, where this Charge will be discussed, prior to approval being sought. The watermarked Notice of Charges are attached.

In lieu of attendance at the meeting, parents/caregivers/students can express their views in writing to the Chairperson of the Governing Council prior to the meeting.

Please feel free to contact me with any enquiries on 0417 845 875.

Kindest regards

Nic Carey, Chairperson,

BCDS Governing Council

School News

Years 8-12 Formal – Wednesday 11th December

The formal committee has been working on preparations for Starry Night.

Save the date!

Margo Sismey

Teacher

Roundtable Presentations – Community Panellists

Week 8, Tuesday December 3rd

The Year 9 students are proud to present the achievements of their final year in Middle School in the annual

Roundtable Presentations and have been busy developing their presentations in preparation for their delivery. They

will be discussing aspects of their schooling, their personal capabilities and goals, and presenting some of the learning

they have done over the past year.

We are seeking community members to participate on a panel. Please consider if you are able to assist us for a ses-

sion. The times are:

9.00am – 10.30am

11.00am – 12.30pm

1.30pm – 3.30pm

Roundtable Presentations – Parents

As per the letter that went home with your child, bookings are now open. There will be two panels operating on the

day. Head to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the event code mgy2u

Margo Sismey, Teacher

Booleroo Centre District School

2019 MAGAZINE ORDERS FORM

$35 per Magazine (GST incl)

PLEASE RETURN ORDERS & PAYMENT TO M.WATERS BEFORE FRIDAY 8TH NOVEMBER 2019

Student Name: ___________________________________________

No. of Magazine required: _______

Payment enclosed/ paid by QKR (please circle) $________

Governing Council News Hi families.

Governing Council would like to provide families with an overview of our meetings to maintain the transparency and communication between the staff and parent community.

Our meetings have been quite lengthy as we provide our new Principal Peter, with some background information on committees and the school in general. We are very thankful to have Peter and our teaching staff working to further improve our school by working on Literacy and Numeracy goals set in our Site Improvement Plan.

We have had great feedback and communication from staff about student learning and activities. Staff and Governing Council are very thankful to the members of our school and wider community for their involvement in the Colour Run, reading in the junior school and to Brenton Badenoch for senior school bowls.

Our sub-committees have held their own meetings. The interim budget has been passed by the finance committee. The uniform committee will be making some small changes to the uniform guidelines, with the inclusion of black tracksuit pants to the school uniform, amongst other changes.

The grounds committee will be hosting a working bee early next year and will be inviting all families to contribute to the grounds of the school with a bbq to follow. Many hands make light work!!

Governing Council would like to wish all the year 12’s the best of luck as they come to the end of their schooling through their final exams. Well done!

Kindest regards

Nic Carey, Chairperson, BCDS Governing Council

Kindy News (cont)

Sale of Kindy Playground Equipment by Tender Due to an upgrade to our Outdoor Learning Area, Booleroo Centre District Kindergarten & Rural Care offers

their Playground Unit for sale by Tender. The Play Unit consists of a slide, tunnel, platform, stairs and a varie-

ty of climbing options. The photographs below illustrate the unit as it was installed at Kindy. The unit has

been dismantled into its individual pieces and does not include the main posts. The unit is offered in “as is”

condition and the Kindy accepts no liability for any worn or faulty equipment or incorrect instalment. For

any queries, please contact Marianne at the Kindy on 8667 2055.

If you are interested in submitting a tender, please enclose your offer in a sealed envelope addressed to:

Mrs Marianne Clarke

Preschool Director

Booleroo Centre Kindergarten and Rural Care

PO Box 42

Booleroo Centre SA 5482

Tenders will close at 5.00 pm on Friday 29th November 2019