June Newsletter
UPCOMING EVENTS
Semester 1 Reports | 23rd June |
Lightning Carnival | 23th June |
3 way Interviews | 28th June |
Last day of Term | 30th June |
School Holidays | 1st July – 18th July |
Students return to school | 18th July - Tuesday |
From the Admin Team
The end of Term 3 has crept upon us very quickly, and so many wonderful things have been happening at Boyup Brook District High School. This includes the Year 9/10 Careers Camp, the Road Safety event, Cross Country, Tomorrow Man / Woman visit for Year 9/10’s, VET and ATAR Information session from Manjimup Senior High School, a wonderful Year 5/6 assembly, as well as a lot of very important learning taking place.
The School Board is almost complete with the final few of our new board members awaiting their Criminal History Screening. Once they have gained their clearance, I will be able to announce our incoming parent and community representatives. In the mean-time, Erlanda Deas, Harri Bardoe-Potter, and Adam Windsor continue to provide parent and community representation to the school board. Cheree Shields and Janelle Haydn-Smith represent staff to the school board, as elected by staff members.
Staff have been very busy over the past couple of weeks assessing students, and analysing data and work samples to write reports for each of your children. Reports will be sent home via email on Friday 23 June. If you are unable to access your email and require a printed copy of your child’s report, please contact the office so that we can make arrangements.
We would like to welcome the new families that have joined The Boyup Brook District High School community. Samantha (Yr1), Cheston (K), Felicity (PP commencing term 3) and Ben (Yr 8 commencing term 3). We are thrilled that you have joined our team and we look forward to working with you in your child’s education.
We are very excited to be beginning our Kindergarten Transition program in Semester 2. Enrolments for Kindergarten 2024 are now open, and enrolled Kindergarten students will be able to access the Kindergarten Transition program. This will commence in week 2 of term 3 and will take place in the Kindergarten classroom from 9.00am to 10.30am each Tuesday with Mrs Kate Beatty and the ECE team. More details to come. If your child turns 4 years old by 30 June 2024, please enrol them now.
Thank you to all the parents that completed the School Culture – Community survey. This valuable information will form part of our next Business Plan which we are beginning to develop. Your feedback is very important to the school, and I appreciate those that shared feedback with us including that they would have liked for the survey to be split according to school site, which we will do for future surveys. Another point that was made is that many of you would have liked a comment box under each domain to be able to elaborate further about your grading for each domain. Whilst this survey is automatically generated, I will be looking into to seeing if we can alter the template for future. If anyone did feel that they would like the opportunity to elaborate further regarding the domains, please feel free to contact Melissa Reimers on 9765 0000, as I am always available to discuss feedback.
High School News
World Maths Day Success
As mentioned in the previous edition of the newsletter, in May students around Australia and the world competed against one another answering a range of mental maths questions. To our delight Aston Halsey was ranked 1st against all other Year 8 students in Australia. Since the last article Aston received his prize pack featuring a plaque, t-shirt and bucket hat.
Aston H
Year 9/10 Careers Camp
During Week 4 of term 2 students in years 9 and 10 ventured up to Perth for their careers camp. On camp, students got a deeper understanding of different careers, the skills required for success, and the confidence to pursue their passions. The camp aimed to empower students with the knowledge and resources necessary to make informed career choices and prepare for their future endeavours.
Day 1 saw us exploring the world of construction! Students were able to test out different career paths within the fields of commercial and residential construction.
After unpacking at our amazing accommodation, a kick of the footy and a friendly scratch match was needed. Of course, dinner was delish! The amazing staff at Grill’d ensured we left happy and full, and don’t be silly there’s always room for ice-cream.
Day 2 was jam packed full of fun! First stop was AQWA. Students were able to explore the magical ecosystems that exist under the waters surface, courtesy of the amazing marine biologists. Sharks, fish, turtles, sea horses, star fish you name it we saw it!
After a well-deserved lunch we travelled to Edith Cowan University, Joondalup Campus. There students took part in an amazing race as they explored the first class facilities.
Pizzas went down a treat and everyone enjoyed the laughter fuelled games night at our accommodation. Keep an eye out for our day 3 update!
Day 3 was crazy. Another early start saw students getting to experience the true hustle and bustle of our CBD. Initially we were one of the first schools at the 2023 Careers Expo. Within the hour we were brushing shoulders with students from 30 other schools. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet professionals from various industries, co operations and institutions.
We all needed some fresh air afterwards, so a relaxing stroll around Kings Park enjoying the beautiful weather was perfect. Students received a brief history lesson while exploring the War Memorial. Quiet time and a reset was just what the teachers needed, before heading off to Karrinyup shopping centre for dinner and some shopping.
Day 4 was full of cleaning, packing and travel! After a busy start packing our bags, cleaning the dorms and eating all of the remaining food we hopped on the bus and headed south. Upon arrival at the Henderson Austal Ships site we were kitted up in fancy protective gear.
Students were then separated into two groups and taken on a tour of the 5 expansive working bays. Within the bays we learnt about the steps involved in the production of the highly classified defence ships! From sheets of aluminium to bullet proof vessels.
Tummies were grumbling so we continued south to the golden arches. While we waited the students played a fun game trying to correctly guess the total of 23 orders. A huge thank you to McDonalds freeway south for their phenomenal hospitality. We continued on towards Boyup Brook with a quick toilet stop in Donnybrook.
Mr Ridley, Mrs Ridley and Mr Carroll
Teen Mental Health First Aid (TMHFA)
We are conducting TMHFA training with all Year 9 and 10 students, over the last three weeks of term, which gives teenagers the skills they need to recognise and help with mental health problems and crises in their friends, and to get the help of an adult quickly.
Young people will often turn to each other when stressed or upset, and try to help each other, taking too much on. This course teaches them not to try to take on these problems alone.
These sessions include discussing mental health problems in general and understanding how common and disabling these are in young people. Students also learn about professionals who can help; helping a friend who is in crisis, whether because they are suicidal, engaging in non-suicidal self-injury, using alcohol or other drugs, or experiencing bullying or abuse; and how to help if someone seems to be developing a mental health problem.
We don’t teach students how to diagnose problems – it’s advice about being a supportive friend, encouraging the friend to seek help, and knowing when it’s time to get an adult involved.
If you wish to learn more…
… about mental health problems experienced by young people, visit:
… about suicide:
… about TMHFA and other MHFA courses:
For immediate online help for teenagers:
Primary School News
Year 5/6 Assembly by Sophie K
On the 1st of June, the Year 5/6 class presented our assembly to the primary students and parents. We had been working on it for weeks! With Mrs Mader’s help, we wrote a script to our edited lyrics of ‘7 Years Old’ by Lukas Graham. We split into small groups, to take on various projects such as lyric writers (like me-Sophie, Kacey and Indianna), costume design (Crystal and Hannah) as well as a select group of script writers and performers. We practised hard, doing our parts to ensure that we would perform the best we could. Our actors auditioned and nominated for their parts - which they did so well, it was difficult to choose. This helped us learn to collaborate and use our creative spark. Our parts included: piano for Emily, singing for Rocco, Indianna, Kacey and me (Sophie), behind the scenes for Crystal and Hannah and acting for everyone else! On the day of the performance, we were very nervous and excited at the idea of performing. And I believe we did an brilliant job! I’d like to thank my classmates for their amazing effort, Mrs Mader for helping us with lyric writing, set design, props, script writing and many other things, and Mrs Haydn for helping with the development and fine tuning of the performance, and lastly I’d like to thank parents, grandparents, students, staff and distinguished guests for coming and watching our performance! We had a blast!
VEX Robotics Competition 2023
On Tuesday, 20th June, four Year 6 students went to Manjimup P.S. to represent B.B.D.H.S. at the Warren Blackwood Schools’ Network S.T.E.M. Competition. A big thank you to Michelle Schmidt, for organising the competition and running a robotics day with the entire Year 5/6 class. In the weeks leading up to the competition, Flynn N, Grace C, Brooke W and Kacey C spent hours building two robots to take. They chose to make two different Claw Bot robots to use in the various challenges. On the day, there were four different challenges: Squared Away, Cup Race, Pitching In and Rise Above. Our representatives were exceptional in every way. They worked extremely well as a team, provided positive feedback and consistent encouragement to each other and at the end of the day, they assisted the staff to pack up while everyone else went off to play. They represented our school, and displayed our core values, beautifully.
After a fun and exciting day, our students came 3rd out of ten schools. Congratulations to Kacey, Brooke, Grace and Flynn for displaying such skill, teamwork and determination throughout the competition period. Well done!
Janelle Haydn-Smith
The Literacy Corner
The development of literacy in early childhood and into primary school serves as one of the most crucial foundations for a child’s life.
Being able to read, write, speak and listen gives a child invaluable social skills and confidence to become healthy and happy into adulthood.
Literacy development in early years can significantly impact a child’s career and personal happiness, through to becoming a balanced adult with all the necessary skills to cope with daily life.
And a child’s introduction to literacy begins immediately through parental communication which helps the toddler develop visual and auditory learning skills.
It’s this formative learning that provides the basic building blocks of literacy development that continues and is enhanced in primary school.
In this newsletter we’ll be outlining…
- What’s involved in literacy development and education
Let’s get into it…
What is literacy development?
Literacy development is the process of learning to read as well as writing, communicating and socialising.
The importance of literacy development in early childhood is the responsibility of parents and teachers alike…
As the saying goes: “it takes a village to raise a child”.
Research has shown there are six main components of early literacy development, also known as the Big Six:
- Oral language – the basis of all literacy skills. Children learn these skills by communicating with others and developing a rich bank of vocabulary.
- Phonological awareness – the recognition and manipulation of phonemes; the ability to hear the sounds that letters make and then manipulate those sounds.
- Phonics – the process of connecting the sounds learned through phonemic awareness to the written letters of the language.
- Vocabulary – children understand and use a large variety of words.
- Fluency – practised by reading aloud, fluency refers to the ease with which children read.
- Comprehension – refers to the understanding of texts as well as the ability to predict what will come next.
Teaching language and literacy in the early years involves learning about sounds, words and language through repetition.
It is important to support early literacy development by communicating with children and reading.
This will have an impact later down the line and can affect school work, making friends, problem-solving, making decisions and developing independence.
Early language and literacy development plays a major role in adult life too, a good start can lead to a better basis when learning more complex skills like managing money and work.
Lacking vital literacy skills will have a negative impact at every stage of a person’s life.
As a child they won’t be able to do well at school.
Later as a young adult they will struggle to find employment, and as a parent they won’t be able to teach their own children early literacy and language development.
This continued cycle makes social mobility almost impossible, making it easy to see the importance of literacy in economic development.
What does language literacy and early childhood education involve?
In order to encourage literacy development in children there needs to be a focus on oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
The emergent literacy approach notes that in literate society young children, even one and two year olds, are in the process of becoming literate.
An emergent literacy assessment can be taken to check on a child’s progress.
Educators can use assessments to understand learning and development levels and to guide instructional decisions.
Assessments can also help educators to identify children who might benefit from receiving additional intervention services.
Educators use assessment data to evaluate program practices and processes for areas of continued improvement and professional growth.
Children develop and learn best through everyday, fun activities like singing, talking and early literacy games.
This can be broken down into describing pictures and objects, the sound and shape of letters and words as well as what letters are called and the various sounds of letters.
It’s important for a literacy learner to recognise words that begin and end with the same letters, words that can be broken up into parts (syllables), as well as words that can be formed by blending different sounds and rhymes.
These seemingly simple activities hone powerful brain connections developing language, semantics, thinking and understanding.
Without activities like talking, singing and reading, a child’s brain development will lack these important connections.
What are some language and literacy development activities for toddlers?
There are several day to day activities that can have a huge impact in early childhood literacy development if repeated throughout these early years.
Toddlers can gain early literacy skills simply from repetition.
By copying the noises they make, and repeating them using the correct pronunciation, a beginner learns how language is put together.
Another method is to answer questions with another question, making them think about the answer before it is handed to them.
Songs are an essential part of first steps in oral language for children as they are easily repeatable and have an interesting tone and rhythm to follow.
The same can be said for oral language and literacy like stories and books.
By following along or pointing to the words, a child can learn information from a different source than their parents or home life and widen their literacy development in the early years.
Emphasising syllables in early language and literacy can help a child to understand that words can be broken down into easy to copy sounds.
For example, saying “Toh-Mah-Toe” instead of tomato can help to break down sounds into syllables to make it easier to pronounce. As well as using rhyming games to emphasise word by word sounds.
Toddlers can be guided through an emerging literacy and language assessment by parents to check on their progress.
Stay tuned for the next newsletter which will outline what teachers at BBDHS know to teach Literacy effectively.
Whole School News
Goodbye Oonagh.... We will miss you!
Dear Students (and Parents),
This will be my last term at Boyup Brook District High School and this decision has not been an easy one.
I have loved every minute of being with you all at school, attending camps, excursions and Country Week/s. Watching you and past students grow into such wonderful young adults – some of you I have known since you were babies!
I aspire to utilise my training and studies as a Youth Worker to its full potential. The Chaplain role unfortunately limits my ability to do this. Therefore, I have made the heartbreaking decision to take my career on a different path.
My reason for leaving at the end of this term is so that a new Chaplain can be appointed and have the ability to start afresh at BBDHS.
The memories I have made of the past and present students are ones I will not forget. Watching you grow in confidence and resilience, watching you leave BBDHS to head to the schools or pathways you chose made me so proud – yes, I was also a bit teary saying goodbye on the last days of year 10 too.
Again, this has been an incredibly difficult decision – and I am here to talk to and explain things to help you understand if you need me to. Every single one of you (past and present) has always made me feel so special and I have always LOVED having my name screamed out across the playground as soon as you all saw me.
Each and every one of you is a gift to the world, thank you for always making me feel like one too. x
Oonagh Fitzgerald
Attendance Update
The Department of Education has increased their focus on schools to monitor and track student attendance. Therefore, it is our target to get each school back to their regular attendance rates pre Covid-(2019).
The below table demonstrates our attendance rates during Semester 1 this year compared to 2019.
As the above table indicates, BBDHS’s attendance rates are on the increase however we do have a way to go.
At present BBDHS is sitting at 53% of students who attend regularly. This rate had dropped considerably over the semester. Understandably, we are heading into the colder months of the year which does impact on student attendance however it is important that parents make sure that a child’s absence is for a valid reason ensuring that it does not impact on their overall learning.
It is up to both parents, and students, to make an effort to attend school on a regular basis. If you are requiring support for your child or yourself, please contact the school office on 9765 0000.
Art News
In Art this term, primary students have been working really hard on projects for the Dinninup show.
Years 1 - 3 have been working on their line, shape, colour and texture skills and defining and creating patterns in their artwork. Some amazing hot air balloon collages, and now winter bears in sweaters are being displayed around the school.
Years 4 -6 have been working on their Wayne Thiebaud inspired mixed media masterpieces. They have been learning how to create perspective in artwork. They have also been using texture combs to create texture in artwork.
The high school students have been finishing off their portrait masterpieces and Georgia O'Keefe Modern Art movement artwork. Students learnt to use grids, then freehand to draw sheep and cow skulls. They then researched skull artwork and used their ideas to paint and decorate their own skulls. What amazing artwork some of them have come up with! Students are now focussing their attention on their one-point perspective skills for the Dinninup show.
It has been a lot of fun teaching and facilitating this amazing bunch of students this term.
PBS News
P&C News
THANK YOUS FOR FUNDRAISERS
A massive thank you to the cookie dough crew led by the sensational Sally Larkin for a fabulous fundraiser for the BBDHS P&C. It was incredibly well supported, and we thank you for getting behind this. A special thank you to Sally’s parents for lending us their ute to pick up the containers of dough, and to Sally for her energy driving up and back and the fuel in which she has donated. You go above and beyond for the BBDHS P&C, and we are so lucky to have you. We sold 340 tubs making a profit of $1,340. This is Awesome!!!
On another note of profit, 'The Country Music Camping weekend' money has been totalled with $6,269.23 which is brilliant. A photo with the "Big Cheque" will be taken very soon with the Country Music committee. Everyone should be very proud of this.
When approached by Lyn Willett last term about catering for the production 'A Fortunate Life' our aim was to make some money, however, we wanted to keep it affordable for our town to enjoy and this certainly was achieved. A huge thank you to all of the donations and people involved in this event. On the night, our BBDHS P&C were acknowledged for making this event extra special. Raising $1,151.28 is fabulous and the generosity of the BBDHS community warmed all our hearts.
BUDGET ALLOCATIONS
With all of the money raised, we were able to (over the course of many meetings) vote on the Budget Allocation for this year. Teachers presented their wish list to the BBDHS administration and if given the tick of approval, the P&C then voted to ensure all year levels were catered for. Recently and excitingly, we have voted on the ECE purchasing colourful magnetic tiles, wheelbarrows and Tonka trucks. The Library has also been allocated $2,000, divided between the Primary and High school sites. A program presented to the P&C called MacqLit, andEnglish intervention program targeted for Year 3- Year 10 students, was voted on and we are very excited to contribute $4,422 to fund this for BBDHS. There are still many projects that the P&C have allocated money towards or keep uncommitted so we can have for projects in the years to come. The P&C is for everyone and a membership to enable voting costs $1, so please - we encourage as many of you to join as possible. The members took the budgeting allocations seriously, spending the hard-earned money in areas the students need. If you have any queries how this process is deliberated over, please don't hesitate to come along to meetings or contact me at any stage.
COUNTRY WEEK
We are beginning the process of putting energy into raising money for high school Country Week to keep the costs down for families. An expression of interest was sent asking for anyone who would like to form a subcommittee. We would still love as many of you from Year 7-10 to join - as many hands make light work. A few ideas have been floated e.g. wood raffle, car wash, drum muster, containers for change combined with the very generous donations from business we are aiming to cut the costs significantly. We hope to see you on Monday or future meetings...
FOOTY GATES
Thank you to the fantastic volunteers that have done the footy gates and anyone who has signed up for the gates to come. We will be sending out on Schoolzine an updated list and with a few gaps we would love to be filled such as the 5th August. Again, this showcases the amazing BBDHS community spirit and if you can volunteer it would be greatly appreciated.
Signing off for now... there will be a P&C meeting on Monday the 24th July 3.30pm at the PS library. Kids welcome to stay and play in the playground. On the agenda is the Dinninup show and what we can do to contribute to this year's show. Have a lovely Term 2 holiday break with your families - ready for a super exciting Term 3!
Lizzie Twigg
Happy Birthday to students that have recently celebrated their Birthday or have one coming up
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