EVERYONE is welcome at our school!
Acknowledgement of Country...
Have you enrolled for Kindy 2025 yet?
Useful links can be found at end of this issue of the Pigeon Post...👇
NO DOGS onsite...
Service dogs excepted...
From the Principal's Desk...
As a principal, I was privileged to be involved in an External Validation at Wakehurst Public School on Thursday. All public schools in NSW undergo this process once every 4 years, where an external panel engage in discussions with schools and have their self-assessments validated using the School Excellence Framework. It will be Balmain's turn in 2025.
One of the positives of being involved in this process as a Peer Principal, is the opportunity to glimpse into the 'life' of other schools and see the wonderful things they're doing.
Wakehurst PS has a 'Community questions, suggestions, thanks or congratulations' section in their newsletter, as part of their 'ongoing commitment to building and maintaining a strong, inclusive and nurturing school community. The Principal was more than happy for me to use this with the Balmain Community.
The Google form gives parents and carers the opportunity to ask a question, make a suggestion, thank an individual or congratulate a student, teacher or community member. These will be shared through our newsletter.
Link to Google form: https://forms.gle/i9G8yt36GhfQ5qbm6
Community questions, suggestions, thanks or congratulations...
Thank you for taking the time to ask a question, post a suggestion, or simply say thank you or congratulations! We appreciate your feedback.
Response to Question:
A question that I, and other 1/2P parents and Stage 1 parents, were wondering about is plans for resourcing for Creative Arts and Cultural Enrichment moving forward.I am sure you’ve put a great deal of thought into a replacement teacher in this area and have made plans to ensure the kids continue to have opportunities for choir, art, sustainability etc.
Art - Visual art falls under the umbrella of Creative Arts and is one of the 6 Key Learning Areas we are expected to teach in primary schools. This year, art has continued to be taught as RFF (Release from Face-to-Face), which is an entitlement for teaching staff. Ms Parsons has recently time with 1/2P to create their beautifully whimsical individual and collaborative artworks for our recent Art Show. Moving forward, Ms Chim will be teaching art for Term 4.
Choir - Unfortunately, we do not currently have anyone on staff who is able to take choir, an extra-curricular activity that was held during the lunchtimes. If there are any volunteer parents who could assist, we'd love to have you on-board and would try to work around your availability.
Sustainability - Now that Mrs Pitman has returned from her leave, she has already met with the Enviro Warriors. They even had a 'Holiday Harvest'...check it out on Insta @balmainps.
Kindergarten 2025 website | Mrs Archibald has created a one-stop, all Kindy-related info website, called 'KINDY PIGEON PEEK'. It is nestled safely under the wing of our weekly newsletter, 'The Pigeon Post', on the homepage of our school website.
CONGRATS to Sammy! | Whilst many of us were admiring the artworks of our students and professional artists at last Friday's Soirée, Sammy was busy winning 1st prize in the Youth Photo Greenway Art Competition, which was showcased at the White Bay Power Station over the weekend. He submitted two photos and was so surprised to find out on Friday night that one of the photos actually won! Sammy's winning photo continues to be exhibited in the Art Est Art School exhibition until late October.
The school and P&C would like to express their gratitude to Ray White Rozelle, particularly Belinda Cassano and Jack Hughes. Ray White Rozelle has been a continuous and ongoing supporters of the school and were Gold Sponsors in 2022, which was instrumental in us building Ms Pauline's Garden. Their sponsorship this year allowed us to put on our fabulous Soirée and Art Gallery. We expect the money raised will allow us to do great things in the future...stay tuned!
When our amazing P&C get a special mention in Parliament...just WOW!
Year 6 take over at the recent election | CONGRATS to the Year 6 Graduation team, consisting of both parents and students, for raising an amazing $2,933.43 at the recent local elections! Delicious baked goods, a scrumptious BBQ and handmade creations, were all on sale on the day! Well done to the team! Many thanks to the P&C for allowing Year 6 to have the additional fundraising opportunity(even though it is traditionally a P&C event)!
We LOVE celebrating achievements! If you have something to share with our community, through the Pigeon Post, please send photo/s & blurb through to balmain-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Att: FOR THE NEWSLETTER
Connect with Balmain PS...Wonder what's goes on at our school? Follow us on Instagram for daily content, both through posts and stories...
Check out what we get up to each day. Head over to our Instagram account: @balmainps
To see what else we've been up to this week, head over to @balmainps!
Follow us on Instagram
Keep up with what's happening @ Balmain Public School
https://www.instagram.com/balmainps/
IF YOU SEE A COLOURED CIRCLE AROUND OUR SCHOOL LOGO, DON'T FORGET TO TAP ON IT, FOR OUR LATEST STORY...you've got to get in quickly, as it disappears after 24 hours!
SOME OF OUR STORIES ARE SAVED AS HIGHLIGHTS...
1/2P have had an action-packed term!
Every student has worked really hard in literacy and made amazing progress with writing this term. We have been consolidating our understanding of exclamation marks, question marks and how to use paragraphs.
We have also had many opportunities to be creative this term. We loved inviting our parents into the classroom to work with us in investigations and creating beautiful individual and group works for our school Art Show.
Stage One have spent time together with our friends from 1/2J and 1/2L for sport rotations. Yoga with Miss Lydon has been a fun new addition to our activity stations!
Space Dioramas | This term, 5/6P learnt about space for our science unit. We enjoyed learning about the sun, our universe and the solar system, which inspired us to create dioramas to display what we had learnt. The results were out of this world! There were various different designs, all brilliant in their own way. Some had bold, bright bright colours that popped, some had scientific mechanisms so that they could move, and one even had the death star. But most importantly, they all looked amazing. | Andy & Daniel, 5/6P
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L)
CHARLIE THE CHOOK says...
FRI 27 SEPT | LAST DAY OF TERM 3
MON 14 OCT | FIRST DAY OF TERM 4
FRI 25 OCT | HALLOWEEN DISCO
Kindy 2025 | Important Dates
Every TUESDAY | NUDE FOOD TUESDAY
Every FRIDAY (weather permitting) | AWARDS ASSEMBLY
Please leave your furry friends at home...
Every FRIDAY | Uniform Stall | ONLINE ONLY
Order items online here
The best way to order new uniforms is online and they will be delivered to children's classrooms each Friday morning.
Come to the uniform stall if you need to try items on for size.
Second Chance items are available 8:30-9am twice a term on Fridays. 2024 dates are:
Term 3: 2 August, 20 September
Term 4: 25 October, 13 December.
Donations can be dropped into the tub near the office anytime.
If you would like to volunteer to help, please either email us at balmainpsuniforms@gmail.com or sign up via the link
Every FRIDAY | The School Canteen: Special request for parents and carers to cancel their lunch orders if their child is not going to be at school for lunch, by texting 0416 786 603 with their child’s full name and class. In return, an sms will be sent back to confirm the order has been cancelled and all monies returned in full to the child’s Spriggy school account.
The school and P&C would like to express their gratitude to Ray White Rozelle, particularly Belinda Cassano and Jack Hughes. Ray White Rozelle has been a continuous and ongoing supporters of the school and were Gold Sponsors in 2022, which was instrumental in us building Ms Pauline's Garden. Their sponsorship this year allowed us to put on our fabulous Soirée and Art Gallery. We expect the money raised will allow us to do great things in the future...stay tuned!
From Ray White Rozelle | Ray White Rozelle are honoured to be gold sponsors of Balmain Public School. We are thrilled with the success of the recent Art Soirée and the Family Fair Day. To continue our support and association with the school we are pleased to introduce the following offers for parents and friends of BPS families. For further information please scan the QR code, go to our website raywhiterozelle.com.au/bps or contact any member of our team directly.
Follow our P&C on Insta @balmainpspc
Every 1st WEDNESDAY (usually) of SCHOOL TERM | P&C Meeting @ 7pm | Online & In-person
LEARN LIVE LEAD awards
| K Deer - Ms A Davis | Hugh C | his quick recall of addition facts to 20 |
| K Jentinki - Ms L Jennett | Mjoli T | identifying facts about living things during our science lessons |
| 1/2 Javan Ruso - Ms J Walsh | Auden N D'M | putting in a great effort in all his lessons this week. Keep it up, Auden! |
| 1/2 Llama - Ms N Lydon | Jake G | his patience and attention to detail in completing some wonderful gnome artwork this week! |
| 1/2 Pampas Deer - Ms S Parsons | Ella R | being a student that gives it her all and gives the class a warm we didn't know we needed |
| 3/2 Antilocapra - Mrs E Archibald | Abigail C | an engaging piece of writing and the following theatrical performance |
| 3/4 Elk - Mr G Elix | Lola B | her care and courage when looking out for her friends and completing her work |
| 3/4 Guanaco - Mrs L Goodridge | Macy W | diligence and creativity in developing her Google Slide presentation |
| 5/4 Capreolinae - Ms A Cooper | Brandon D | managing his emotions and playing happily with his group |
| 5/4 Springbok - Mr L Saville | Lachie C | his exceptional effort and creativity in designing a detailed and well-crafted space diorama |
| 5/6 Puku - Mrs A Pitman | Chrissy Y | a mature, dedicated approach to her schoolwork |
| 5/6 Royal Antelope - Ms R Reedy | Nathan L | an incredibly impressive and detailed history report on colonisation. Very proud of you! |
| 6 Reindeer - Mrs N Riley | Lachlan H | doing amazing work and putting in great effort for his world 'piece' class work |
| Library K-2 - Ms M Whelan | Hazel C 3/2A | great thinking in library |
| Library 3-6 - Ms M Whelan | Leonardo P 5/4S | his endless interest in books of all kinds |
| Music K-2 - Mr T Kim | Abigail C 3/2A | her exceptional creativity in her song creation project |
| Music 3-6 - Mr T Kim | Daniel W 5/6P | having great manners at all times and his Live, Learn, Lead attitude in music lessons |
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR 4 LEARNING (PB4L) awards - TEACHER CHOICE
| KD - Ms A Davis | Felix H | being ready to learn and using equipment responsibly |
| KJ - Ms L Jennett | Aiden K | respectfully listening to his peers during group time |
| 1/2J - Ms J Walsh | Emilie Q | making our classroom a safe and welcoming place for all! |
| 1/2L - Ms N Lydon | Elsie H | being a responsible reader in reading groups and being an eager reader! |
| 1/2P - Ms S Parsons | Talia F | always consistently trying her best in all class activities |
| 3/2A - Mrs E Archibald | Ash E | Respectful - always willing to help others and be a kind classmate |
| 3/4E - Mr G Elix | Ivy L | Responsible - looking after her friends and the classroom everyday |
| 3/4G - Mrs L Goodridge | Orson J-S | consistently showing empathy and care to those around him |
| 5/4C - Ms A Cooper | Tom R | Responsible - organising and running a fantastic Dungeons and Dragons campaign this week |
| 5/4S - Mr L Saville | Elodie W | managing time effectively, following directions, and setting a positive example for others in the classroom |
| 5/6P - Mrs A Pitman | Frederick H | Responsible - taking initiative and showing responsibility when looking after our laptops |
| 5/6R - Ms R Reedy | Nathan L | a responsible and mature approach to learning with an incredibly impressive and detailed history report on colonisation |
| 6R - Mrs N Riley | Ernst D | always being a safe and respectful peer in the classroom and ready to help whenever he can |
This week's winners...
ES1 - Harriet B KJ; S1 - Harvey K 1/2J; S2 - Duke L 3/2A; S3 - Henry T 5/6R
Balmain Public School children are expected to wear full school uniform, including a school hat, every day. All children are required to wear full school uniform when representing the school on excursions, at sporting events or at cultural activities.
