BPS Newsletter 2025 Term 1 Week 8

Principal's Report

Congratulations Zone Swimmers - Congratulations Thomas M - Zone Champion!

Students in our Zone Swimming Team did fantastically well at the Manly Zone Carnival this week. We congratulate every one of them for achieving their personal best and supporting each other to do likewise. A huge congratulations to Thomas M who became the Junior Boys Zone Champion and also broke a Zone record. You can read all about Thomas and the Swimming Team's success in Miss Kovacs report below. 

Student Representative Council - Clean Up the Garden Day

Led by our SRC representatives, students spent their own time on Tuesday cleaning up and reviving our garden areas. Students did such as great job that their biggest problem was not having enough space in the green bin. Our SRC leaders are now planning another day to complete the job. Well done to our SRC and well done boys and girls. I'm so proud - that you are proud of our great school. Brooky is looking as beautiful on the outside as it is on the inside. 

Student Representative Council Meeting

This week the SRC invited 2J, 3/4P and 5/6G to share their class suggestions and express their student voice. The SRC voted in favour of the motion to change the bell song. A slushie fundraiser and student lounge were two more motions raised but not passed as the SRC felt they needed further consideration, despite being interesting ideas. 

The SRC will now work toward getting the bell song changed. 

Co-Curricular Activities and Clubs at Brookvale 

I'm often talking to our students about embracing opportunities when they come knocking. Our teachers firmly believe in is providing as many co-curricular opportunities for our students as we possibly can. To give parents a clearer understanding of the offerings at Brookvale we have put together the Clubs, Groups and Cocurricular Timetable below. To maximise the opportunity for the most number our clubs generally run for a period of two terms. As a club is about to commence, the teacher in charge will talk to students at assembly and further communication will be provided to parents. Please have a look at this year's clubs offerings in the flyer below.

Join the Brooky Debating Club

This year, Brookvale will be entering a team in the Premier's Debating Challenge for Years 5 and 6. The Debating Challenge is a 1-hour unassisted preparation debating competition. The Debating Team will be comprised of a large group of students, who will take it in turns to compete in four rounds of debating. Four students will participate in each round.

The Debating Team will meet once a week on Thursdays at lunch time to prepare and practise their debating skills. We are also lucky enough to have the opportunity for some of our Debating Team members to attend a Debating Workshop on Thursday 1 May at Manly Village Public School. The workshop will cover all the things students need to know for primary school debating, including rebuttal, arguments, definitions and speakers' roles.

Please encourage your students to join us in 5/6G every Thursday at lunch time, beginning next week!

P&C Trivia and Parents' Night Out - This Saturday 22 March

We are very much looking forward to our P&C Trivia Night on Saturday night. It promises to be a great night out! Let's get behind our amazing P&C, have a great night out and raise some money for our students. A huge thank you to the P&C for their efforts in organising everything and a special shout our to our Tibetan community who will be cooking delicious Tibetan cuisine for our trivia buffs. 

Got it Parent Workshop - Big Worries, Small Steps: Tackling Childhood Anxiety Together - Tuesday 25 March 

A reminder that our FREE workshop for parents on how to support students at home with big feelings of worry and anxiety is on THIS Tuesday evening from 6.00-7.30pm in the school library. 

Parents will learn how to recognise the signs of anxiety, understand what's developmentally typical and discover effective strategies to respond and help their child navigate their worries with confidence. I would highly recommend that all parents come along to this as the strategies covered will be applicable to all students at some point in their childhood, teen years and early adulthood.

Please come along, even if you haven't signed up. It should be an informative and supportive evening for all parents. 

Harmony Day - Wednesday 26 March

Parents and community members are warmly invited to join us in the school hall next Wednesday 26 March from 11.30am for our special Harmony Day Celebrations. Students are invited to come to school dressed in traditional cultural dress of wear orange. Celebrations will begin with the flag parade that showcases all the amazing nationalities that make up Brookvale Public school. We will then be treated to a performance of the Haka, a demonstration of Chinese calligraphy and more. Parents are invited and encouraged to perform on the day. If any parents would like to participate to help showcase their culture, please contact Miss Brooke at:

natasha.robertsonhanning@det.nsw.edu.au

Whole School Assembly - Thursday 27 March

Please join us on Thursday next week from 2.20pm for our Special Recognition Assembly. Our students who have been showing our school values of respect, responsibility and personal best will receive silver and gold awards. The Senior Band will also be performing.

P&C Annual General Meeting Tuesday 1 April

Parents are warmly invited to attend the P&C AGM on Tuesday evening from 6.30pm-7.30pm. All P&C positions will be open declared vacant. New volunteers are always welcome and any parents or community members are always encouraged to come along. If you are thinking you would like to join perhaps drop the P&C an email and Hina (President) or Rachita (Treasurer) will have a chat with you. More details about the P&C AGM can be found below in the P&C News section. 

School Working Bee - Saturday 5 April

Let's back up our students' great work in the garden. Join us for the annual Brookvale P&C Community Working Bee on Saturday 5 April 12pm-3pm. These working bees have been tremendously supported over the past two years and are the a big reason why our school always looks great, providing a great environment for our students. I know you will come our in force again and I thank you in advance. Pop it in your diaries. 

What's been happening in our classrooms?

Kindergarten have been learning how to measure attributes of different objects. Students have been practising hefting toys  to decide which is lighter or heavier and checking their predications using equal arm balances. Students have also been comparing capacities using direct comparison. In writing, Kindergarten have been using the letters and sounds learnt so far to read and write three letter consonant-vowel-consonant words such as can, cap and cat. In English literature, students were introduced to the idea of character and identified their favourite characters from familiar stories. 

Stage 1 have been learning about measurement and and working out that 'what you're measuring determines how you measure it'. Using rulers and string, students went out into the playground and compared the lengths of straight and curved lines. Students in Years 1 and 2 have also been investigating the area of 2D shapes and the capacity of containers. In one learning sequence, students had to find all the ways they could make an area of 24 cubes, using different rectangles. Students discovered some inverse relationships and learnt how multiplicative thinking could assist in their calculations. 

In writing and grammar, students in Stage 1 have been learning about the noun group. They have been learning how to name articles and adjectives. Students have learnt how to place articles and adjectives around the noun to form expanded noun groups and enhance the descriptiveness of their writing. 

Stage 2 have been using doubling as a strategy for solving multiplication problems with larger numbers. In writing, students revised how to use speech marks accurately within a narrative to show direct speech. Students also experimented with other punctuation required for direct speech such as commas, full stops and exclamation marks and tried to use a variety of 'saying verbs' to add variety to their dialogue. 

Over the past few weeks Stage 3 students have been participating in the Wet and Wild Challenge, created by the Awabakal Environmental Education Centre. This is a research challenge that integrates technology, research and language skills into geography and science. Each week students have been sorting through 24 clues in order to find and match 4 Australian wetland organisms. Students have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and learnt lots of new facts about various Australian plant, animals, bird and insect species.

Earlier in the week, 5K practised their debating skills in a Socratic seminar based on their English text Wonder. Students continued their study of Wonder, by writing reflections from the point of view of the main character, August. Students focused on using expanded noun groups and figurative language to add detail.

In mathematics Stage 3 have been using known strategies to add and subtract decimals. Student have then been using these skills in the real world to convert between metres and kilometres. When they haven't been involved in science investigations, learning ballroom dancing and working with decimals, Year 5 and 6 have been busy seeing who could get the furthest up the big rope at the gym. Teachers were impressed with the upper body strength of many of our students. 

In library this week all students looked at a selection of texts that unpacked the theme of Harmony Day - We all have a role to play. Students are very much looking forward to our Harmony Day celebrations next week. 

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Worker of the Week

Our very special worker of the week is our fabulous Learning and Support Teacher and Assistant Principal, Mrs Jowsey who will go on maternity leave from today. We wish Mrs Jowsey and her husband Matt all the best for the coming birth of their first child. Mrs Jowsey always goes above and beyond to support every students at Brookvale. She will be sorely missed while she is away. She will be replaced from the beginning of Term 2 by Mrs Robinson who is joining us from Harbord Public School.  

Other School News

Zone Swimming Carnival Report

What a fabulous day we had at the Zone Swimming Carnival this week! It was clear the Brookvale spirit was in full force. Every single student swam their absolute heart out, a very exciting day for all. I could not be more proud of each and every swimmer, whether it be making their first ever Zone carnival, diving off the blocks into the 50m pool, finishing a race (even when their goggles fell off!)  or working as a team in the relay, every single student had me finishing the day with a giant smile. The Brookvale Spirit shone through as everyone cheered each other on, the support for our swimming team was phenomenal. What an absolute blessing it was to take such a wonderful group of athletes who cared so beautifully for each other. 

A massive shout out to all swimmers who beat their time from our school carnival- an achievement to be very proud of! Regardless of your placings, each of you walked out a winner! Your positive attitude, comradery and support of each other was something that cannot be faulted!

An additional shout out to Cruden, Keira F, Thomas M, Riley H and Isabella W for making it into the finals for their respective 50m Freestyle races. A massive congratulations to Jack D who took out 2^nd place in his 50m Backstroke race, Jack will now move on to the Regional carnival on Tuesday 1^st April. 

A very special mention to Thomas M. Thomas had nothing short of an exceptional day. From the moment he took out 1^st place in the Junior (8,9,10 combined) 200m Individual Medley, he was ready to go. Thomas continued to conquer the day bringing home : 1^st place in Jnr Breastroke, 1^st place 10 yrs 50m Freestyle, 2^nd place Jnr Butterfly and 3^rd place Jnr backstroke. Thomas didn't stop there, he swam so well in his 50m freestyle race that he managed to break the Zone PSSA record which had been held since 2021! Thomas cracked an incredible personal best of 32.13. He was awarded a very special certificate. 

And when we thought the day was done, Thomas threw in one more surprise. After a sensational day of racing, he was awarded the OVERALL Champion for the Junior Boys 2025. An incredibly prestigious award which is awarded to the top swimmer of the junior age group. A massive congratulations Thomas, what an amazing carnival you swam! We cannot wait to see you in action at the regional carnival with Jack on Tuesday 1^st April. 

Miss Kovacs

Brooky Pride Merit Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have received Brooky pride Merit Awards. These student's achievement will be acknowledged in the next school assembly.

Respect, responsibility, Personal Best and Bronze Awards

P&C News

Community News