2 Alesana Drive
Bellbird Park QLD 4300
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[email protected]
Phone: 07 3819 7222
Fax: 07 3819 7200
4 May 2017
From the College Principal
The ANZAC Spirit
April 25 is a date that is cemented in the
physique of all Australians. In towns and
villages across Australia and New Zealand,
people gather to commemorate the service
and sacrifice of the men, women and
families of our defence forces. Our students
and staff came together to pay our respects
at our very respectful ANZAC Day ceremony on 24 April; the
College ceremony completely overwhelmed me with a sense of
pride and emotion as I saw the enormous respect and
reverence shown by the Bellbird Park SSC students. Special
thanks to the students who led the service and to the choir for
the singing of the National Anthems. I must acknowledge the
impeccable behaviour and respect shown by all our students in
the audience, which was commented upon by our special
guest Mrs Florence Scott (President of the Redbank Plains RSL
Sub Branch).
As a College community we can be very proud of the staff,
students and parents for their involvement in the ANZAC
community march and service held at Redbank Plains. Thank
you to all who supported our community in commemorating
this significant day.
NAPLAN 2017
From 9-11 May, our Year 7 students will sit for the National
Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy tests
(NAPLAN). I am confident that our young people will undertake
these national tests with an enthusiasm to perform to the best
of their ability. I would ask all parents to ensure that your
students are well rested and have eaten a healthy breakfast
on each day of the tests to enable the students to perform at
their optimum level. The feedback received from these tests
is collated against other student performance data to inform
the Teaching and Learning programs that are delivered at the
College. I wish all of our students every success.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
Thank you to the vast number of parents who attended our very
first Parent/Teacher Interviews on 26 April. I was pleased to see
so many parents (and students) take up the opportunity to meet
with subject teachers to discuss student progress. I hope that
meeting with the teachers enabled some meaningful sharing
of improvement strategies to enact in term 2, so that end of
semester results are even better for everyone. We truly value
parents as our partners in ensuring the best quality education
for our students. Please also remember that you certainly don’t
have to wait for these formal occasions to discuss the progress
of your child. An email at the right moment can be very effective.
If you have any concerns, or if there are any changes in
circumstances that might impact academic performance
please don’t hesitate to contact us. We also encourage all our
teachers to let parents know as early as possible if they believe
that a student is underperforming, so that remedial action can
be taken.
Michael West
College Principal
Deputies Corner
NAPLAN testing – 9, 10 & 11 May
On Tuesday 9th, Wednesday 10th and
Thursday 11th May, our year 7 students will
take part in the National Assessment
Program – Literacy and Numeracy, or
NAPLAN, as it is commonly known.
We wish them all the best of luck and that
they give it their best effort.
Skills that will be tested include reading, writing, spelling,
grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. These tests are
done here at school and are considered just another part of the
curriculum.
It is important for you and your child to know that NAPLAN is
not a pass/fail test. It simply looks at what level students are
achieving in literacy and numeracy against National Standards
and compared with student peers throughout Australia.
NAPLAN cannot be studied for and students are not expected
to do so. The best way you can help your child prepare for
NAPLAN is to let them know that it is just a routine part of their
school program, and to urge them to do the best they can on
the day.
Please avoid booking appointments during those days as
attendance this week is paramount. If you can’t avoid those
days e.g. specialist appointment, please try to make it in the
afternoon. All testing will be completed by 12:00pm on those
days.
Students are expected to bring two 2B or HB pencils, eraser,
sharpener and a calculator for these tests. As a parentplease check your son/daughter has this basic equipment.
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I just asked my Year 7 son and he told me he did not have
any pencils and just borrowed pencils off other students!! He
also did not have a pencil sharpener. Needless to say - we had
a conversation about this….. and future checks on having the
right equipment will now be occurring.
Later in the year we will send you an individual student NAPLAN
report that you can use to view and monitor how your child is
progressing.
Better Wellbeing- Linked to Positive Growth
Mindset
Students who thrive and flourish (in terms of
wellbeing) demonstrate stronger academic
performance (Norrish, Williams, O’Connor,
& Robinson, 2013). Students with high
wellbeing gain higher grades and lower
rates of absence (Suldo, Thalji, & Ferron, 2011), as well as
higher self-control and lower procrastination (Howell, 2009) and
enjoy more creative, open-minded thinking (Fredrickson &
Branigan, 2005).
Taking part in extra-curricular activities, whether it be at school
or after school and on weekends are shown to promote student
wellbeing. At Bellbird Park State Secondary College we have
many opportunities for students to get involved. Please
encourage your son/daughter to get involved with something
extra that they enjoy.
Gavin Grant
Deputy Principal
From the HoD of Maths/Science
The new term brings more excitement and challenges in Maths
and Science for our students. In maths, students will learn
financial maths and complete an assignment. Students have
been working on decimals and percentages. They will calculate
discounts and work out best prices for products. During week
3 to week 6 students will be working on a maths assignment
Best Buys. This term students will be completing parts of
assessments at home as part of increased responsibility model.
Students are expected to work on maths every night either
completing their homework or revising their work for 20 minutes
every night. Please encourage your child to do Manga High and
complete the activities set by teachers.
When children get to an age where they are earning pocket
money or working in a part-time job, they will start to spend
their own money.
Here are some things you may want to do with your children to
help develop their financial savvy and independence:
implement techniques to separate a mixture. They will write a
scientific report for assessment.
• Shopping lists - Ask your kids to help you compile a
shopping list of needed items for home.
• Research purchases - Work with your children to
research online or shop around to find the best price
for an item they want.
• Set goals - Help your kids to set a goal and track
their savings through a chart (for example, they could
colour in coins on a chart to show their progress). For
older children and teenagers set up a bank account
and help track saving and spending.
• Plan an event - Involve your children in planning and
budgeting for special occasions such as outings or
birthdays. If you are going on an outing work through
all the costs including transport and food as well as
any admission prices.
• Shop safe online - Make sure your kids are safe
when online shopping and know how to spot an
online scam. If it sounds too good to be true, it
probably is.
• Needs vs wants - Help your kids avoid spontaneous
purchases and set goals to think about whether they
want an item before parting with their money.
Discuss the difference between needs and wants
and encourage your children to think about this
before spending.
• Check mobile use - When your child receives their
first mobile phone, show them how to check and
minimise data usage, set boundaries on use and
involve them in selecting pre-paid or a plan.
• Criticise ads - Get your children to review
advertising on TV and in catalogues with you. Ask
them what the ads are trying to sell, how they try to
sell it to you and if they need the product they are
advertising.
If you have any questions please email your child’s Maths/
Science teacher.
Gouri Sharma
HoD Science and Maths
Anzac Day
Lest We Forget
ANZAC Day is a very important day in Australian history and
on Monday 24 April, Bellbird Park State Secondary College
held its first ANZAC service in honour of the sacrifice of our
troops. Members of our Student Council ran the assembly
in an incredibly respectful and professional manner. Sadiqua
and Kiara were our MCs, Seth gave the Acknowledgement of
Country, and Zoe lay the wreath below the Australian, New
Zealand, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander flags. Our
Technical Crew also did a fantastic job ensuring the right song
was played at the right time for our choir, Minor Details. These
singers stood with pride on stage and Ms Florence Scott,
President of the local RSL, was so impressed she has asked
them to sing at next year’s community event.
On Tuesday April 25 we also had ten students and six staff join
together to march in the Redbank Plains Community ANZAC
Service. Once again our students represented the school with
pride and showed absolute respect to those running this
important service, and those soldiers who made the ultimate
sacrifice.
https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/
Students in Year 7 are doing science experiments this term to
experience the practical nature of science. All students had a
chance to light the Bunsen burner. Students will be working on
mixtures and using scientific techniques to separate mixtures
in Science. During the term students will be doing experiments
to learn the various techniques used for mixture separation.
They will complete assessment on separating mixture provided
by the teacher. Students will work collaboratively to plan and
Toni Rynne
Events Coordinator
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PBL UPDATE!
Welcome back to Term 2 from the PBL
Committee!
SPORT
Winter sport will be commencing soon and coaches are
collecting permission slips and conducting training on
Thursdays after school 3:00pm – 4:00pm. We are looking
forward to the upcoming season especially as the touch teams
did so well last term.
Reminder
Soccer participants require shin guards and boots. The district
will not allow students to play without shin guards – please
contact the coach (Girls - Mrs Cox / Boys - Mrs Rynne) if you
have any questions.
Rugby League participants require a mouthguard. If you have
any concerns please contact Mr Turner.
The PBL Team is hard at work already this term working on the
creation of a school mascot and slogan. A massive thanks to
all the students and staff who completed the Values Survey last
week. The results have been compiled and will be used by the
PBL Team to create a mascot and slogan that really reflects
what we believe and value as a school.
Congratulations go to 7G who redeemed the highest average
number of PBL Behaviour Tickets in Term 1! Their reward was a
special morning tea where they sampled many of the delicious
items on sale at our canteen. Which class will be our champions
this term? A quick reminder to students: PBL rewards are now
based on accumulation of stamps on your blue cards! Don’t
forget to have them with you and out on your desk each class.
Wishing you all a fantastic week, and don’t forget to collect
those stamps!
Mr Benjamin Turnour
PBL Communications Manager
Sport News
HPE
This term students will be looking at the issue of safety. A
variety of contexts will be studied and students will be provided
with information and strategies in order to keep themselves
and others safe. Topics such as cyber safety, water safety and
road safety will feature throughout the term. Students have
been provided with a homework sheet which documents their
homework each week this term. If you would like to access a
copy please feel free to e-mail me and I will gladly send you an
electronic copy. All homework tasks act as a form of revision for
the student’s exam in week 9.
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Netball participants must have short nails for games and
training. All jewellery is to be removed prior to the game starting.
All games will be held at Goodna Netball Courts - further details
will be provided. If you have any concerns please contact Miss
Palmer directly at the school.
Girls Fitness
Girl’s only sessions are back… Monday morning 7:45am –
8:15am. This term we are focusing on individual fitness and will
be circuit training. See you there girls!
Girls Rugby League
The NRL sent out a coach to introduce
Rugby League to our girls. We had a great
turn out and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the
session. As a result we will be getting a
coach out again to consolidate the girls
tackling skills and we hope to be included in a local gala day
later in May. A training day will be announced shortly.
Cross Country District Carnival
We held our school carnival on Friday 21
April. As a result a number of students are
representing Bellbird Park State Secondary
College at the district carnivals on the May 4
and 5 at various locations. Results from the school and district
carnivals will be announced shortly.
We had a great participation rate and I would like to thank all
students and staff for their support.
Miss Palmer
Administration Matters
Open! Open!
Open!
Our canteen at Bellbird Park State Secondary College is now
open for breakfast and first break!
Breakfast: 8:15am – 8:40am
First Break:11:15am – 11:55am
The canteen operates a cashless system
and purchases can be made using
MunchMonitor
or
via
EFTPOS.
MunchMonitor is an easy and convenient
way for parents to order online or for
students to utilise the self-service option from the school
canteen. It provides to parents options such as determining
daily limits or the types of foods allowed to be purchased. The
students ID card can be associated with the account and
allows them to begin using it immediately once the canteen is
open for operation.
Below is information on how to register for your account.
Dates to Remember:
Thursday 4 May
District Cross Country (selected
students)
Thursday 4 May
Homework Club 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Friday 5 May
District Cross Country (selected
students)
Tuesday 9 May
NAPLAN
Wednesday 10
May
NAPLAN
Thursday 11 May
NAPLAN
Thursday 11 May
Homework Club 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Thursday 18 May
Homework Club 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Friday 19 May
Ipswich Show Holiday
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