BLAIRMOUNT PUBLIC SCHOOL Cnr Clydesdale Drive & Badgally Road, BLAIRMOUNT NSW 2559

Phone: 02 4626 1794 - Facsimile: 02 4628 0594 Website: www.blairmount-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Email: blairmount-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Principal: Mr Greg Turnbull

Week 2, Term 1 Learning Together 7 / 1 / 2013 Dear families, Welcome back everyone! It is great to be back and we have enjoyed catching up with all of your wonderful children. We look forward to working with all of our families this year to ensure that our children have the best possible opportunities provided. Welcome to all of our new parents/carers who have Kindergarten students and new students who have just started at Blairmount. We hope that your children are all happy, making friends and enjoying their new school. It is great to see all students back safe and settled into the school routine. It is pleasing to see all the happy faces of our students and even more pleasing that they are all keen and ready to learn. Our school newsletter will be sent home fortnightly on a Thursday. I would encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read our newsletter as it will contain regular school updates and reminders of upcoming events. With this newsletter students will be bringing home a ‘combined permission note’ and a ‘pink student information card.’ Please return the completed forms to the school as soon as possible. Should you require any further information or assistance please contact the school. Regards Greg Turnbull Principal

2013 Staffing Principal Mr Greg Turnbull Deputy Principal Mrs Melissa Clarke Assistant Principals Mr M Sperling Mrs S Webb Mrs S Sammut Rel. Assistants Principals Miss K Howick

Miss E Dash Mrs B Gibbs Mrs L Richardson

Reading Recovery Ms M Lavers Mrs P Fetterplace ESL Mrs S Fakes STLA/RFF Mrs F Bagley

Mrs P Martin Miss L Haddock Mrs L O’Callaghan Mrs L Richardson Mrs S Harris

Teacher Librarian Mrs C Burden Low SES Administrator Mrs P Golledge Admin Staff Mrs S Jones Mrs J Flynn Mrs J Brownlee General Assistant (T,W,Th) Mr T Rice CLO Ms Kathy Low Teacher’s Aides Mrs M Brennan Ms C Schumer Ms G Mort

2013 Class Structure This year we have 19 classes. In primary schools, classes are organised in a variety of ways. Our school has a mixture of classes that are multi aged or stage classes. There are reasons why these classes are formed: Educational - classes are formed on the basis

of educational rationale to ensure they have

teachers spend a long time working together to form classes that offer the best possible learning for all of our students.

Administrative - this is where there is an uneven enrolment in school years and composite classes need to be formed.

In all classes, ‘straight’ or otherwise, children’s abilities will be at different levels. All children learn at different rates and in different ways. Remember when they were preschool age, they walked, talked, grew teeth etc at different ages and stages. No children are the same. If your child is in a class with younger children, this doesn’t mean that your child is not smart nor will it hold them back in their learning. All teachers at Blairmount and experienced and are K-6 trained. Staff work in stage based teams and plan together. Stage teams often group children across classes or teach different lessons to deepen the learning of students. (eg rotational groups). Older students are not held back in composite classes. Teachers manage different grades in the one class by grouping children according to what they already know and giving small group instruction. This is achieved through continual assessment for learning. Learning programs are ‘differentiated’ or made different for the different levels of student achievement by teachers extending the work of those who learn more quickly and giving more support to those who need it, through group work and individualised learning. Children in composite classes do no better or worse academically than their peers in a straight grade class, and, socially, their development can

operate better as part of a group, become more

independent learners and better problem-solvers. They also make friends outside of their standard age-groups. Multi-age classes work well where both teachers and parents believe that the quality of the teaching & learning taking place is far more important than whether or not the class was formed on an age basis. Children need time to settle into their new class and get to know their new classmates and teachers. Unfortunately due to a reduction in student numbers and thus less flexibility in staffing we will not be forming a 3-6 class in 2013. To assist students with this change we have managed to provide extra support teacher time to work with classroom teachers to ensure the needs of all students are being met. The class organisation for 2013 is as follows; Room Class Teacher

8 KH Miss Howick 7 KD Ms Davison 6 KR Mrs Rixon 5 KP Mr Pereira 1 1C Miss Chatterjee 2 1M Miss A Minihan 3 1L Mrs LaSala 10 2M Mrs Murray 11 2E Mr Elvis

12 2L Miss Lawton 15 2/3C Mr Collins

16 3K Mr Krahe 14 3/4G Mrs Gawthorne 13 4M Miss C Minihan 13 4/5S Mr Sperling 17 5A Mrs Alone 19 5/6N Mrs Naisby 20 6D Miss Dash 21 6C Mrs Cavallero

New Staff We have a number of new staff members joining us for 2013.

Mr Shane Pereira Miss Renee Lawton Miss Courtney Young Mrs Lisa Haddock

It is fantastic to have some new faces around bringing and sharing their experiences with the Blairmount staff. I am sure you will join with me in welcoming them to the Blairmount community. Parent / Teacher “Meet and Greet” A parent / teacher “Meet and Greet” afternoon will be held for each stage on Monday 18th February starting at 3.15pm. Teachers will take the time to meet with parents to introduce themselves and discuss organisation and expectations for the year ahead. It is a valuable opportunity for parents to gain information, which can only assist children to have a successful year. Please keep an eye out for the note coming home with specific details from your child’s teacher. P & C Update Our first P&C meeting will be held next Monday 11th February at 6.00pm in the staffroom. As always everyone is welcome to attend. Mr Rice Although Mr Rice officially retired last year you may still see him around the school. Our GA position will not be filled permanently until term 2 this year, so Mr Rice has very kindly agreed to keep working with us as a casual for Term 1. Mr Rice will be with us on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Taking Photos at School During the course of the year there are numerous school events that parents are invited to. At these events many parents take photos of their children to remember the occasion. Please be aware it is not appropriate to take photos of any child other than your own.

If another child does appear in one of your photos it would be very much appreciated that these photos are not published in any forum including Facebook, Instagram or Twitter etc. Unfortunately this has already occurred! If it to happen again the school will need to look at limiting parent use of video and still cameras on school grounds. Your support and understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated. Library News It was pleasing to see some Library books and lexile home readers returned after the holidays. However, there are many more books that need to be returned. Library lessons will commence in Week 3 and all children who are borrowing books will need a waterproof library bag – a plastic shopping bag will do! . When the library timetable is finalised, we will advise you of your child’s borrowing day. The year ahead:

Bookclub – the first of 8 issues is due back Week 4 – Friday 22nd February

our first of 2 bookfairs (Week 7 this term)

visting Bookweek performer – Monday August 12th

To order from Bookclub simply fill out the order form on the back of the catalogue and return it to the library with money in an envelope OR pay online and send your order with the receipt number back to the library. If you have any questions about bookclub or the Library in general, please feel free to ring the office to speak with me. Mrs C. Burden Teacher-Librarian Happy Birthday

Tiara Walters, Tynieka Selfe, Kaitlyn King, Carl Parker, Starr Harris, Khiara Stephens, Ali Abbas, Liam Kerr, Carrii

Shannon, Joshua Jackson, Jarrod Jackson, Ajay King, Jasmine Archer, Aarav Chetty, Hemarly Ioane, Chloe Rignold, Harmony McAdam