1. education
2. school

Term 4, Issue 6
Fri 14th November
35 Gwendoline Drive, Berwick, 3806 Phone: 8786 9988
Email: berwick.fields.ps@edumail.vic.gov..au Website: www.berwickfieldsps.vic.edu.au
Upcoming Events
In This Issue
School Council Corner
2-3
Berwick Fielders
4-6
Phys Ed news
7
Christmas Carols
Election Day BBQ
Mon 17th Nov
Grade 6 assembly @ 12.30pm in the PAC
Grade 3 assembly @ 2.15pm in the PAC
Tues 18th Nov
Peter Combes Workshop
8
Wed 19th Nov
Mad on Music exams
8
Thurs 20th Nov
Life Ed begins
Mon 24th Nov
Grade 5 Wheelchair Basketball
Whole school assembly @ 2.15pm in the gym
Tues 25th Nov
Prep 2015 Transition session @ 9.15 - 10.30am (Magical Maths)
Whole school transition session
Parents Maths Information session @ 6pm in the staffroom
Mon 8th Dec
Parent Helper morning tea
Tues 9th Dec
Christmas Carol @ 6pm on the oval
ARE YOU MOVING SCHOOL?
This time of the year is common for families to move schools because of
changes to work location and/or home location.
If you are in this situation could you please let us know as soon as
possible as it is a big help to us with our staffing and accommodation
planning for 2015.
You can do this by either informing the teacher of your child’s current
class or contacting the office on 8786 9988.
Page 1 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
School Council Corner
Hi Everyone,
School Council met on Monday 10th of November in the staff room where we started our meeting by welcoming the
present members and noting apologies.
As per our agenda, School Council acknowledged the contributions of all involved in our school through the
Community Reflections and Thanks. These included acknowledgement to the staff of PLT1 for organising the
Bushdance, Ben and Shae Boersma and the students of 5D for their amazing successful entry in the Zoo Victoria ‘Love
Your Locals’ competition, the Year 2 Sleepover staff for another fantastic overnighter and the list goes on…
Councillors then discussed the extremely detailed Learning Community reports, which include Health and Wellbeing,
Community Development, Essential Learning and School Improvement. In the School Improvement report, Stephen
explained the current process with respect to teaching staff being involved in the Department of Education’s
‘Performance and Development’ plan, aimed at improving teaching practice and/or student learning. Stephen
illustrated a typical plan and the method he uses to provide the staff with feedback. His explanation was insightful in
terms of the significant effort that goes into this process by staff when reflecting on the professional standards
relevant to their classification and the success of the personal and professional goals they set every year.
During this meeting School Council had a few more policies due for review, and approval, including the amended
“Suspension, Detention and Expulsion” Policy that School Council sent back for clarification during our October
meeting. This policy was approved after the Health and Wellbeing team amended and clarified the points of concern.
Councillors had a very constructive discussion about the other four presented policies which were: "Learning and
Teaching", "First Aid", "Homework" and "Sustainability." This thorough discussion resulted in approving two of these
policies and Councillors sought further clarification on some parts of the “First Aid” and “Homework” policies.
Another item on the agenda was the proposed camps for 2015. School Council approved Grade 6 Camp to Canberra,
Grade 5 Camp to Cave Hill Creek, Grade 4 Camp to Sovereign Hill and Grade 3 Camp to Phillip Island Adventure Resort
as proposed.
Dale Mills our ‘Essential Learnings’ leader sought input from members on their choice of a second language which will
be introduced to our 2015 Preps at Berwick Fields in 2015. He explained to Councillors that the results from the
parent opinion survey and other information gathered from other schools found that the two most appropriate
options for Berwick Fields are Mandarin and Japanese. Dale gave out information for both languages and School
Council will advise the Essential Learnings team on the preferred language during our December meeting. All Victorian
primary schools must offer a language in 2015, starting with the Prep year level.
Lastly, School Council was presented with the 2015 Indicative Budget. Members were asked to take home this
document to study over the next month before endorsing it during our December meeting. It is important to note
that due to the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance in 2015 Berwick Fields’ budget will be at least
$53,000 worse off.
Cheers,
Abir Yacoub
School Council President
Page 2 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
School Council Corner
ABN 86 208 027 700
35 Gwendoline Drive, Berwick 3806
Phone : 8786 9988
A LETTER OF THANKS TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS THAT MAKE A BIG
DIFFERENCE TO BERWICK FIELDS
November 2014
Dear Parent Volunteers,
On behalf of the Berwick Fields School community and our School Council, I would like
to take this opportunity to thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm in
volunteering to help out at our school during 2015.
Your dedication is being positively reflected throughout the school and indeed the
community. Your assistance helps us to provide our students with the best learning
environment possible and we can certainly see your influence around our school. We
are most grateful to those of you who are able to assist with the kitchen sessions,
reading, spelling and the garden. Not to forget swimming, camps, excursions, PMP,
working bees, Family Engagement activities, Prep transition and helping in the library.
Everyone at Berwick Fields Primary School is appreciative of all your hard work. Staff
and School Council look forward to thanking you personally at our Annual ’Parent
Helpers/Volunteers Special Morning Tea’ on Monday 8th December at 11.00 am.
Together We Achieve!
Yours sincerely,
Abir Yacoub
School Council President
Page 3 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
Berwick Fielders
1A
Dinuk for persistence.
Kameron for confidence.
Chantell for getting along.
1B
Nate for demonstrating persistence when working on improving your writing. Keep up
the positive attitude!
Cooper for demonstrating friendliness when you work and play so well with others. It is
wonderful to see you helping your classmates and demonstrating what it means to be
a ‘great mate’.
Tomas for demonstrating persistence when you spend so much time completing those
pictures you do so well and are proud of.
Archie for demonstrating cooperation and for you excellent attitude towards learning. It
is great to see you working so well with others and putting so much effort into all of
your work.
1E
Katana for demonstrating enthusiasm when you show interest in our classroom topics
and share your thoughts and ideas.
Coen for demonstrating cooperation when you consistently offer to help others and
keep our classroom organised. Keep up the fantastic effort.
Chelsea for demonstrating friendliness when you always offer to play with others
when they are feeling down. You are a great mate!
Aryan for demonstrating persistence when you always try your best when writing. Well
done on your recent improvements.
Canny for demonstrating persistence when you work hard to improve your writing.
Keep up the fantastic effort!
Rory for demonstrating our good learning behaviours when you share your ideas and
thoughts with others. Well done!
1F
Darcy for demonstrating persistence when you practise your reading every night and
work hard to achieve your goals.
Nicholas for demonstrating cooperation when you use great teamwork skills to take
turns and share equipment with others.
Isabelle for demonstrating friendliness when you persist in sorting out problems with
your friends and use the four steps of communication.
Victoria for demonstrating exceptional compassion when you show understanding of
the needs of others and go out of your way to assist people in need. You are an
outstanding member of our community.
5A
Sarah for respect, co-operation, enthusiasm AND friendliness. Congratulations on
your fantastic effort at Kanga Cricket, especially your willingness to help the team out
at short notice!
Vaishvi for organisation and enthusiasm. Vaishvi, you are to be commended for your
excellent organisational skills you are always well prepared and always give everything
a RED HOT GO! Well done!
Jack for organisation. Jack, your passion project presentation was outstanding. You
were well prepared and showed your passion for the subject. The organisation and
effort you put in for research was obvious. Well done.
Ryan for enthusiasm when you show interest and dedication to solving math tasks,
and then wanting more!
Page 4 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
Berwick Fielders
5B
Marisa for friendliness and enthusiasm by helping others.
Jack for confidence and enthusiasm.
Ben for persistence with presentation of his work.
Jakob for persistence with his reading focus.
Tyler for confidence to challenge the thoughts and ideas of others in a respectful way
5C
Zak for demonstrating enthusiasm whilst learning about Science and sharing his
knowledge with others.
Heinz for being resilient and mature whilst solving problems.
Esther for friendliness and for always caring about others.
Tom for being enthusiastic about all tasks and demonstrating confidence.
5F
Shanice for persistence by working hard throughout the year to improve her skills in
Mathematics. Her hard work has given her confidence to tackle challenging tasks. Well
done Shanice.
Katelyn for Persistence by completing a creative bar graph showing what people in 5F
got up to on Melbourne Cup long weekend. Terrific job Katelyn, you were very
focussed.
Jarrod for Confidence for his terrific effort to remember his lines at the grade 5
production. Well done for having the confidence to perform in front of an audience. You
are a star, Jarrod!
Ally for persistence by creating an awesome mini golf course using her knowledge of
shapes and angles. It was great to see you challenge yourself. Excellent effort, Ally.
Zac for persistence at reading the book “Key to Rondo”. You are doing a terrific job of
reading and understanding the book. Well done on sharing so confidently during
Literacy Circles. Awesome effort, Zac!
5G
Soumya for demonstrating the You Can Do It foundations when you completed and
presented your Science passion project demonstrating how to make ‘ooblik’. A terrific
effort! Well done!
Aleah for demonstrating the You Can Do It foundations when you completed and
presented your Science passion project demonstrating how to make ‘ooblik’. A terrific
effort! Well done!
Gloria for demonstrating Confidence by taking a risk and submitting an excellent
application for Environmental Leader in 2015. What a great challenge! Well done!
Rebekah for demonstrating the You Can Do It foundations by always putting in a great
effort to your learning and being respectful to everyone. Well done Rebekah! Keep it
up!
Physical Ed
Mrs Tivendale
Jarrod V (5F) for demonstrating determination when you ran in the Beep Test. With
your new breaking score of a very impressive 12.11! Well done Jarrod a fantastic effort!
Cooper S (1B) for demonstrating persistence when you participated in the Skip-a-thon.
You were a great role model to all of your peers and your skills have really improved in
skipping over the year. Great job Cooper!
Page 5 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
Berwick Fielders
Physical Ed
Mr Quirk
Georgia W (5D) for demonstrating enthusiasm when you showed a positive attitude while
you were practising catching skills with a tennis ball. Continue to display a cooperative,
persistent attitude.
Chayce A (1D) for demonstrating persistence when you tried so hard when practising your
catching skills. Congratulations also for working so well with your class mates.
Physical Ed
Mrs Mills
Jordan A (1C) for demonstrating confidence when you demonstrated your throwing and
catching skills and your basketball dribbling skills. Excellent effort Jordan!
Jack G (5B) for demonstrating enthusiasm when you assisted with younger grades at the
Skip-a-thon. You were a great role model and you really pushed your own fitness levels.
Super effort Jack!
Page 6 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
Congratulations to Sasha in 4C who has
been selected to represent the Casey
netball association representative team for
2015, playing tournaments all over
Victoria.
This is a fantastic achievement Sasha!
Well done!
Page 7 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter
CAN YOU HELP AT AN ELECTION DAY BBQ?
Berwick Fields will be a polling place at this year’s state election.
In the past, Election Day sausage sizzles have been a fantastic fundraiser for
the school, however we are unable to go ahead without the assistance of
volunteers.
We are looking for parents or community members who might be able to
donate some of their morning on Saturday 29th November to sizzling
sausages and raising some much needed funding for projects in the school.
If you can donate an hour or more of your time on
Saturday 29th November between 9am and 1pm,
please contact Michelle Ferguson.
ferguson.michelle.i@edumail.vic.gov.au
or 8786 9988.
Page 8 - Berwick Fields Primary School Newsletter