2021 Term 3 .... Issue 1

From Leadership .... Banb7 Anniversary

Dear Banb7 Family,

Do you remember where you were 10 years ago on the 11^th August 2011?

I was right here at BANB7, it was a Thursday and our official opening day. It was a very exciting day enjoyed by staff, children, families and special visitors. That also means we ‘officially’ turned 10 this week on Wednesday. It wasn’t the first day for our children though, that happened in January that year (see first newsletter below dated 1/2/2011).

Before the school opened we were extremely busy amalgamating children, families and staff from Blair Athol Preschool, Gepps Cross Primary, Kilburn Primary and Mansfield Park Primary schools (all closed at the end of 2010)

Here is our first whole school photo. On that day we had about 355 children from Birth to Year 7 enrolled with 55 staff members. Today we have 475 children and 80 staff. While we don’t have any children left at the school who are in the photo we still have quite a number of staff with us, can you pick who they are? See below for staff photo.

There are a thousand inspirational stories we could highlight, suffice to say we have come a long way since that first year and seen hundreds of children graduate from our school being successful, positive contributors to the community and powerful learners!

I know all of our dedicated staff love the work they have done and continue to do here at BANB7, it certainly is a special place, we are an innovative and optimistic learning community, inspiring all to achieve their full potential.

Sometimes it takes someone new to our school to sum it up, below is a message our new(ish) principal emailed on Wednesday 11/8/21…

“May I take this opportunity to pay respect to, and thank every single person who has helped to make BANB7 the fantastic B-7 school that it is today. On behalf of our entire school community, I pay homage to every person that, in some way has their fingerprints on the story of BANB7 and has contributed to the incredible and inspirational story of our school.

Here’s to the next 10 years and beyond for our school. My hope is that in another 10 years’ time, the patrons of our school (whoever they may be) will look back on the 20 years of our time with the same fondness and pride that we have today.

We exist for our community. We come each day to serve our children and do whatever we can to improve their outcomes. Long may this be the BANB way!”

Kind Regards

Darren Stevenson

We haven’t ‘officially’ celebrated our first 10 years yet, we plan to combine many events at the end of the year including the graduation of all our year 6 and 7 children who will be attending high school next year. We will also have a slightly new name, Blair Athol Birth to Year 6 School, BANB6. Between now and then we’ll be reflecting and publishing more about our first 10 years.

Theo Schlooz

Deputy Principal

Children's Centre

What does kindness look like in a kindy community?This term we have been working with the Preschool children to find this out, collecting stories that help us better understand what kindness looks and feels like. The stories collected, whether short or long demonstrate acts of kindness, ways of being, becoming and belonging that our community of children have acted upon. With their sense of identity being shaped and developed alongside their peers the children have had the rich and complex opportunity to act out of kindness, to look at someone else and consider someone beyond themselves. This is a challenging perspective for a young child, so every story in our collection - and those that go untold are significant and valued. We hope this snipped allows you to enjoy the kindness of children.
Seeing a need and acting on itToday Ailin noticed Diana struggling to get her fairy wings on. Ailin used her initiative and without hesitation helped Diana to put her wings on. An act of a kind, thoughtful friend.
Considering the needs of everyoneToday Hasnain, Hasti and Ryan were shooting on the lawn after lunch. Hasti needed the hoop down, Hasnain wanted a challenge and needed the hoop up, Ryan was happy to join in. At first it was a challenge to recognise people had different needs, and that we could move the hoop up and down between each person. However, as we played the children considered each others needs, were flexible and helped each other. They got the ball, passed it back and forth, took turns and lowered the hoop up and down. They cheered each other as they scored a goal and supported each other with extra shots if they missed.

Purple West Excursion to Urrbrae Wetlands

Towards the end of term 2, Purple West set off on an adventure to deepen our knowledge and learning around our inquiry focus: Caring for Country. Together we spent a day at Urrbrae Wetlands learning about the important roles in which it provides.

• Cleansing our stormwater
• Flood Prevention: The wetland can store up to 17.7 million litres of water (that's over 7 Olympic swimming pools)
• Provides an aquatic habitat: The wetland has been planted with many different species of local plants, providing a home for numerous species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and macroinvertebrates. 
• Provides the community with unique, educational programs
• Recycling Water: Harvested stormwater is used to irrigate the vineyards at Urrbrae Agricultural High School 

We were excited to collect macroinvertebrates from the wetlands, then identify them using the microscopes in the learning centre; take a tour around the wetland, looking at the man-made and natural elements that help clean the water; become Wetland Detectives searching for important features of the wetland before having the opportunity to do some observational drawing.

Purple East

In Purple East this term we are exploring the question:

How have our lives changed over time?

We have been looking at objects that have changed over the years such as records, floppy discs and telephones- comparing how they looked many years ago to how they look now. 

It has been interesting to try and figure out how ‘old’ technology worked and predict how ‘new’ technology in the future will work.

During lockdown some students investigated how clothes were washed many years ago and predicted how we would wash clothes in the future. 

I think the washing machines would look like ferris wheels and you would need to put your clothes in a cage and then it would stop and a robot would get the clothes, put them inside him and it will be hot and then the clothes would be dry – (see picture!). Rwen

My guess is that clothes will be extinct or better inventions and plans will arise..

What’s your guess?  Shaurya

We have also looked at how money has changed over time and found that the 5c piece might not be around for too much longer as it costs too much money to produce it….just like our 1c and 2c…!!!!!

Yellow 4

Red 1

This term our numeracy focus has been on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. A skill which can be transferred into many other areas of our lives such as cooking. For literacy we have started exploring what an ‘Author’s Purpose’ is and how the use of descriptions can be applied to invoked the senses of the reader. Our science discovery has started with Forces. This has started with gravity and research into Newton’s other discoveries will continue more deeply as we progress. In other news, Belinda from the Kitchen/Garden program will be leaving us and we thank her for her patience and commitment to the learners of Red One. Thanks

Red West

Red West would love to share some of the amazing learning from the end of Term 2. Our focus in HASS was learning about a significant event in history (World War 2) and exploring the impact that is has had on the world. Learners had their hands busy towards the end of the term when they made 1000 paper cranes to display in the common. This idea was based off the children’s book ‘Sadako and the 1000 Paper Planes’. Scan the QR code to find out more about our HASS learning. We also finished up our learning about persuasive writing by creating advertising campaigns for BANB6. We are hoping to use these radio adverts, magazine/billboard posters and television adverts in an authentic way to promote BANB6 in the future. Refer to some of the photos to see their fantastic finished products (or even swing by Red West to see them on display in the studio). This term we are moving away from persuasive writing and onto informative writing where learners will eventually produce a news report. This will tie together with our Science inquiry focusing on Natural Disasters. In Red West’s maths group, we are learning about fractions. Finally, we are also exploring Street Art as part of an art inquiry on Thursday’s. We can’t believe how fast the year is going!

Thanks,
Zara & Dani

Red 3 and 4

This term Red 3&4’s inquiry is Olympics and Health. We had a great first 2 days of term introducing the Olympics before we went into the 7 day lockdown! On our return back to school it was great to hear how many of our families had watched the Olympics during their time at home and we had so much to discuss! The students enjoyed watching some of the finals events at school and cheering on Australia. We had a graph of the Olympic medal’s tally each day and loved watching some of the highlights every morning, a great way to begin various discussions on sportsmanship, hard work and disciplines.

We have looked at many aspects of health so far such as how our body works, the Brain, healthy relationships and empathy.

For Maths we have been looking at measurement. For one of our lessons we went outside to have a go at High Jump, Long Jump and 100m sprint. We recorded each other’s three attempts and compared the data to the Olympic athletes! What an eye-opener!