RESPECT OPTIMISM COMMITMENT COMPASSION HONESTY

8th of August, 2017

Term 3, Issue 4 A reminder that the school newsletter can always be accessed from our website at www.buninyongps.vic.edu.au

School Assemblies

11th August 3 - 4 Assembly

18th August 5 - 6 Assembly

25th August Whole School Assembly - Family Groups

1st September No Assembly—Grandparents / Special Friends day

8th September P - 4 Assembly

DATES TO REMEMBER

8 & 9 Aug Grade 3KA & 3RS Camp

10 Aug MOTM Workshop (Gr 3 - 6) PLP Meeting 2:30pm

11 Aug Gr 5 Quantum Group 2

14 Aug Whole School Science Day - Buninyong Scotsburn Gr 4 - 6 Biocats

15 Aug Whole School Science Day - Scotsburn

16 Aug Responsible Pet Day - Scotsburn

17 Aug BIG WRITE Gr 3 Ecolinc MOTM Workshop (Gr 3 - 6)

18 Aug Lunchtime Live

23 Aug Gr 6 Solar Boat Challenge

24 Aug COLD WRITE MOTM Workshop (Gr 3 - 6)

25 Aug Book Week DRESS UP DAY (both campuses)

We are excited to announce the lucky winners of the poster competition advertising our Whole School Science Day

which is on this Monday 14th of August at Buninyong campus and at Scotsburn campus on Tuesday 15

th of

August.

Congratulations to the 4 winners Zoe Kierce, Chelsea Oellering, Isabelle Jones and Sophie Jones.

Here are the wonderful posters they created. The winning posters are also up around the school for you to have a

closer look at.

PARENT SURVEYS

A reminder that parent surveys were sent out to a number of families in the past few days. This year a letter was sent home with the link to the survey website along with an email with the direct link included.

If you received one, please take the little time to complete it.

All responses are anonymous and confidential.

For your responses to count, surveys must be submitted by Friday, August 27th.

100 DAYS OF SCHOOL Today the Preps celebrated their 100th day of school. Congratulations to all the Preps on this exciting milestone. They had a fun day learning all about 100. They counted 100 things by grouping them different ways. They also celebrated with a hot chocolate! The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

日本語

Nihongo (Japanese) News

Hiragana Karate Belts Students in grades 3-6 are working hard to learn their hiragana characters—each 2 rows that they

learn earns them a hiragana karate belt! Hopefully some climb all the way to the top of Mt

Fuji to earn their black belt.

Grade 1 and 2 will be starting later this term. I encourage all students to practice at home to

further build their skills and earn their belts. See below for some apps to help. There are many more great apps if you do a search in the app

store.

We might get some students on black belt soon! There is a reward for all students who earn black!

Also, www.realkana.com is a FANTASTIC internet site to practice with...

Japanese Joke of the Week:

Q: Why did the Ninja go to college?

A: He wanted to be a Ninja-eer!

Study Japanese

Kana-Dojo

By HIKARI NAKASHIMA FREE

Japanese-hiragana By hk2006 FREE

Hiragana Pixel

Party

By Springloaded Ltd FREE

Hiragana Bubbles By dijipiji $2.99

Learn Japanese! -

Kana, Kanji and

Grammar

(Hiragana &

Katakana)

By Howell Pee-

bles FREE

Duolingo

By Duolingo FREE

Mindfulness for children

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a whole body-mind state of awareness that involves ‘tuning in’ to the present moment,

with openness and curiosity, instead of ‘tuning out’ from experience. Mindfulness is a state of being fully

awake to life – being aware and undistracted in the present moment. It is about focusing attention on the

present, rather than thinking about the past or worrying about the future- which is often our brain’s

default model.

Mindful awareness is something that we all possess and that can be strengthened through practice.

Mindfulness can be developed through formal sitting meditation practices, or through informal everyday

mindfulness activities that use the senses to anchor the attention: such as mindful walking, listening to

music, eating or conversation. Mindfulness is a clinically proven tool to support wellbeing and mental

health by reducing stress and allowing life to be experienced more fully.

Why practice being mindful?

The way we interact with our kids has a huge impact on the way they think about themselves and their

levels of personal resilience. Ellen Langer and team, a world-renowned mindfulness researcher found

that children not only prefer to interact with mindful adults, but actually devalue themselves following

interactions with mindless adults (Langer, Cohen & Djikic, 2010).

The benefits of mindfulness with children Research shows that mindfulness training increases connectivity in the frontal lobe of the brain,

which is linked to improved attention, memory processing and decision making abilities.

Mindfulness training involves tuning into internal and external experiences with curiosity resulting

in increased self-awareness, social awareness, and self-confidence.

Mindfulness training increases children’s ability to self-regulate their emotions, especially difficult

emotions such as fear and anger, through breathing and other grounding techniques.

Mindfulness has been shown to improve empathy or the ability to understand what another person

is thinking or feeling, which improves children’s awareness of others and helps them to build

positive relationships.

Mindfulness and childhood mental health

Mindfulness training has been to shown to reduce the severity of depression, anxiety and ADHD in

children.

Mindfulness builds resilience by giving children skills to help them to cope better with stress, as

well as engage more fully with themselves and the world.

Mindfulness for parents

The best thing parents can do to help their children become more mindful is to commit to some regular

mindfulness practises themselves! The more present and mindful you are with your children, the more

happy, mindful and resilient they will be. Mindfulness training can assist parents to remain in the present

moment and engage more fully when interacting with their children. Research shows that parents and

carers who practice being mindful around their children contribute to improving their child’s sense of

self-worth and self-esteem.

(Continued on page 5)

Mindful play: Dedicate a window of time each week to mindfully play with your child or children.

Turn off all other distractions such as TV, and put your mobile away and on silent. Try to give them your

full attention during this time and if your mind wanders off to all the things you should be doing, that’s

fine – that’s just what minds do! Use your child as an anchor to come back to every time your mind

wanders away.

Mindful cooking: Cooking together can be a great way to spend quality time. Help your child

notice the colours, smell and taste of the ingredients as you add them to the meal, and the touch of the

different items as you cook.

Mindful dinnertime: Create a time for your family to appreciate and savour their food at the start

of a meal by spending the first few minutes of dinner in silence, just eating and enjoying the food. It’s a

surprisingly nice activity to do with the whole family, and done regularly, can become a lovely ritual.

Mindful teeth brushing: Getting kids to brush their teeth can be a challenge, so why not make it a

challenge, by inviting them to try to do it mindfully with you? Invite them to pay attention to the feel of the

brush in their mouth and the sensation and taste of the toothpaste. Ask them three things they noticed

that was different about their brushing tonight than from the previous night.

Mindful learning environments

Teachers and early childhood educators can influence student wellbeing and learning by

understanding, embodying and embedding principles of mindfulness into their learning

environments.

Teachers and early childhood educators who are encouraged to develop mindful awareness in

their own life will positively influence their whole community.

Article source:

https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/mental-health-matters/mindfulness

PIE DRIVE

It’s Pie Drive Time!!!

Golden Nugget Bakery

Please ask your family, friends, neighbours and workmates to place an order too.

An order form is being sent home today with the eldest child in the school. There is also a copy on the back page of this newsletter.

Orders are due: Friday 11th August

Delivery date: Friday 23rd August

Payments can be cash or via Qkr (select School payments, fundraising, Pie drive 2017)

ABC Award Winners!

Congratulations to our superstar ABC students from the Prep to Grade 2 area who have been doing a

fantastic job in showcasing our school values! We’re so proud of you all!

Well done to…

Mackenzie G PNP Ellie B PSD

Augie M PAA Neve H PPG

Liam S 1CA Poppy S 1MP

Sophie B 1GM Tilly G 1KK

Emilia J 2DE Millie Y 2NJ

UNIFORM For many years, wearing of uniform has been compulsory at Buninyong PS for a number of reasons, those being: Making sure our students are well presented

Making life easier for parents

Helping children identify with our school and feel like they belong

Making it easy to identify students when we are on excursions

On the whole, our students are doing an excellent job wearing school uniform, however we have noticed lately that there have been variations popping up based on fashion rather than uniform. Teachers will be having a chat to all students about uniform today, making sure our expectations are clarified. As always, please give us a call if you’d like clarification on anything.

http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/pc/family-and-children/walk-to-school.aspx

Some very important information about arriving

late or registering your child’s absence

Attendance:

Every day teachers mark rolls to record student attendance.

If students are away we ask that parents contact the school through one of the following ways:

Ringing the school office on 5341 3560

Using the absence function on the school app

Email the school at buninyong.ps@edumail.vic.gov. au, or

Dropping into see the office staff.

Please note that emailing a classroom teacher or using Dojo is not an effective way to register absence or late arrival as the teacher may not see the message until recess.

If your child is marked as absent without explanation, you will receive an SMS message. If you receive a message, simply contact the school in one of the ways mentioned above so that the absence can be properly recorded.

Late arrivals/ Early departures: If your child arrives after 9am we are asking that you sign them in at the office before

going to the classroom.

Likewise, if you are taking your child early from school, you will be required to sign them

out at the office before leaving.

We would like to thankyou for your support during these changes to our attendance processes.

Donegan’s Farm Last Wednesday as part of our Science unit ‘How things grow and change’ the Grade One classes visited Donegan’s Farm. We were lucky enough to feed baby lambs, hold chicks, milk cows, collect eggs and pick potatoes.

This was a great opportunity for the children to see how different animals and food change throughout their lives. We all had an amazing day and cannot wait to explore our topic further!

‘Donegan’s Farm was so much fun, the lambs were

absolutely adorable.’ .(Violet Jones)

‘It was amazing.’ ..(Koby Gamble)

19 September: SEDA basketball clinic Term 4: 10-26 October – Life Education Program 22 October – Geocaching 3 November: P-2 sports Milo Cricket T20 Blast Cup grade 3 and 4 Milo T20 Blast Cup grade 5 and 6

Physical Education Calendar Term 3: TBA: local golf tournament 8 September – Division Athletics 22, 23 & 24 September - Futsal Indoor Soccer

Comp Tuesdays: After school netball grade 4/5/6 13 September: Celebration of Learning Golf: Due to inclement and freezing weather conditions, the golf tournament scheduled for Monday was postponed on short notice. We are currently working on a new date for the tournament and will let all students and families involved know as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

FUTSAL SOCCER:

We have had a large number of grade 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 students sign up for the upcoming Futsal Soccer competitions. Training will commence on Tuesdays for the first half of lunch this week and continue up until the competition.

When: Sunday22nd

October

Where: South Gardens reserve, Lake Wendouree.

Why: 100% of every registration fee goes straight to the redevelopment of the Children’s

Ward at Ballarat Base Hospital Events: Cotton On 12km Run, Cotton On Body

6km Run, 6km family walk, Cotton On Kids 1km KIDS run

Everyone receives a FREE Run Ballarat T-shirt

For more information on the event, please visit runaustralia.com.au

EQUIPMENT:

Please note that students will be able to borrow skipping ropes and basketballs this term – at LUNCH TIME ONLY. There will be grade 6 sports representatives in the gym at the start of lunch and again at the end of lunch to monitor both borrowing and returns. Equipment NOT returned will be noted and the student will be banned from borrowing for one week. I am also in the process of ordering more equipment to stock the classrooms.

Thomas Campbell from 4RM practising the

lunge step to improve his badminton skills.

Great effort Tom!

For always helping her classmates and sharing.

Anna Oberholzer 1GM

Grade 6 Canteen

Can-team

HOT MILO

DAYS Friday 11th August (week 4)

Friday 25th August (week 6)

Friday 8th September (week 8)

$1 per cup at the canteen during

recess.

Parent helpers also welcome. Please contact

Narelle Sullivan : sullivan.narelle.l@edumail.vic.gov.au

WOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARN

If you shop at Woolworths, please remember to ask for your stickers during August & September. You earn one sticker for each $10 spent. Please ask any relatives or friends to save them for you too!

Stickers can be placed on sheets or dropped loose into the collection box in store (Ballarat Central & Sebastopol), or drop off at the school office. We appreciate every sticker as they all add up and make a difference.

Thank you.

KELLY SPORTS BUNINYONG PROGRAM

Kelly Sports has started up a brand new after-school program on Fridays at the Buninyong School Gym in Term 3 2017!

Our 10 week Multi-Sports program will be focusing on the sports of Footy, Soccer, Netball, Basketball and Tennis.

Our program is open to boys and girls from pre-school through to Grade 1.

Our sessions focus on fun, enjoyment and maximum participation. So get a group of friends together and come and experience what Kelly Sports is all about!!

Cost: $12 per week

Who: Pre-School - Grade 1

When: Fridays 3:45 - 4:45

Where: School Gym

For any further queries please call or text Zac on 0418 597 493

FATHER’S DAY STALL – WEDNESDAY 30th

August

This year we are having a Fathers’ Day stall! All students will be offered the opportunity

to purchase one gift for their dad or significant male in their life. All gifts will be $5.

Year levels will be allocated a time to come and do their “shopping” during the morning

of Wednesday 30th August. After all grades have been through, an announcement will

be put over for any students who may wish to purchase a second gift (for a step dad,

grandfather, etc.) to come and purchase another item.

WANTED: Donations of any excess or unwanted wrapping paper

that would be suitable for students to wrap their gifts in. Please

bring to the office.

Parent Helpers needed. Please contact Narelle Sullivan at school.

Thank you!

The Music Team is organising another Karaoke session for people who are interested in performing for their friends! The next Karaoke session will be on

Friday the 11th of August in the Courtyard at lunchtime.

There is a list of songs to choose from outside the office. Please write your name/s, grade and song choice on the sign-up sheet before next Friday. So there are no disappointments, we are going to schedule 8 singers/groups of singers so that there is enough time for everyone who has their name down to perform.

Look forward to seeing you there!

SCOTSBURN NEWS Jeans For Genes Day

Last Friday, the students supported the Jeans for Genes Day fundraiser by raising $45. Well done everyone.

Pie Drive

if any parents would like their order delivered out to Scotsburn, please write that on the top of your order form and Tracey Coats will organize a drop off on the delivery day.

Woolworths Earn & Learn

If you shop at Woolworths, it would be great if you could collect the Earn and Learn stickers and then drop them into the box in the Old Building. At the end of the promotion (September 19th), we will be able to redeem the stickers for educational resources.

Spelling Mastery

We are looking for 1 more parent helper on both the Wednesday & Friday. If you are available, please see Shaun ASAP.

ABC Award

Gr P/1 – Henry Valent, Gr 2/3 - Charlie Conroy ROCCH - Sienna Webb for representing Scotsburn PS in the South Street Debating Cup Challenge with skill, commitment, sportsmanship and confidence. Specialist – Wyatt Pilmore

Term 3 - Lunch Order Roster Lunch orders need to be collected from The Buninyong campus at 12.40pm.

Term 3 - Important Dates & Extra-Curricular Events

1st August - Ms Read-a-thon 14th August - Gr 4-6 Biocats Excursion 15th August - Scotsburn Science Day 16th August - Responsible Pet Day 17th August - Gr 4-6 Cyber Safety Talk

(Des Hudson) 23rd August - Gr 4-6 Solar Boat Challenge 25th August - Book Week Dress Up Day 30th August - Gr P-6 CBA Financial Literacy Lesson 30th August - Father’s Day Stall 1st September - Grandparents Day 13th September - Celebration of Learning 22nd September - Term 3 Finishes

9th October - Term 4 Starts

(Continued on page 16)

Evacuation Drill

This Friday, the students will participate in a practice evacuation drill. We practice this to ensure that all of our students and staff are aware of what to do in an emergency such as a fire. It would be a great idea to chat to your child/children about the importance of listening to the teacher’s instructions and staying calm. This will help to ensure that the children all un-derstand why we practise these important processes.

Parent Surveys

Hopefully you have received via email and in the post, a letter inviting you to complete a Parent Opin-ion Survey for the Scotsburn campus. Please take the time to fill this in as the results provide us with constructive feedback on how the campus is pro-gressing. If you have any questions relating to the survey, please drop in and see Shaun.

Monday Assembly

With our Grade 6’s spending the week at Buninyong in preparation for the Solar Boat Challenge, the Grade 5’s stepped up beautifully to lead us in our Monday Assembly. They did a brilliant job. This Mon-day, we won’t have an assembly due to our Gr 4-6’s being at Biocats.

Science Day

This Tuesday coming, all students will be participat-ing in Science Day. Students will be participating in a range of Science activities in their mixed age groups. It is sure to be lots of fun. We encourage all students to come dressed in the Science Day theme.

Debating

Our debating teams represented the school extremely well last week. The students prepared well with the guidance of Sharon Davis and Natasha Adam, and should be very proud of how they performed. We are hopeful that one or more teams may progress to the next round of competition.

Ms Read-a-thon

The Scotsburn students have received information regarding the MS Read-a-thon. Please continue to support your children with this throughout the month of August. At our Assembly on Monday, we were very lucky to have Denise who is an MS Ambassador. She spoke to the students about MS and also encouraged them to do what they can to help find a cure by reading as many books as they could for the MS Read-a-thon.

DATE PARENT HELPER

10th August Amber Coleman

17th August Faith Valent

Friday Rotations Our first rotation for the term will be on Friday 11th August. Our groups will be doing the following:

(Continued from page 15)

Hi all, on Sunday 13th August at 12pm is Elaine Cricket Club’s Open Day/Registration Day. BBQ too. All players need to attend to register for U16 2nds, U14 and U13 teams. Old and new players most welcome with new rules for the Ballarat Association now is a great time to give cricket a go. Families most welcome, kind regards Shane Dunne, Vice President Elaine Cricket Club Phone 0448291074 or email elainecricketclub@gmail.com for any further information

Date Cooking

(Miss Wood)

Team Building Activities

(Ms Geddes)

Landcare/Gardening

(Mr O’Loughlin)

11th August Group 1 Naomi Moore

Group 2 Group 3 Amanda Eustice

18th August Group 3 Kelsey Ford

Group 1 Group 2 Laura Conroy

25th August Group 2 Amber Coleman

Group 3 Group 1 Jodie Menhenett

1st September Group 1 Bec Blackburn

Group 2 Group 3 Belinda Hicks

8th September Group 3 Tatiana Wortley

Group 1 Group 2 Damian Shackell

15th

September Group 2 Natasha Adam

Group 3 Group 1 Rach Wenzlick