The new Barbreck… we love it!

The new Barbreck……we love it!

The third week of Term 3 saw an extremely settled and most engaging learning environment. Students are working very hard, with all their tasks and new routines established. Congratulations to all Barbreck staff and students. A busy but highly exciting time!

Our Year 3 students wrote letters of thanks to the builders for their fabulous work on the new building. The letters have been collected, and after the opportunity to read them first myself, they are sure to be highly valued by the builders.

Below are a few poems written by Year 3 students about their first few weeks in the new Barbreck building:

New Barbreck

Modern, beautiful, huge,
Happy, beautiful, huge,
Outside digger, inside laughter,
I love Barbreck.
New, loveable, bright,
Spacious, friendly excited,
Outside digging, inside chit chat,
I love Barbreck.

By Mirabelle Thomson

Happy,
Calm,
Quiet,
I love our new Barbreck.
A brand new classroom,
Even a French room!
Wow! Everything is so new!
I love our new Barbreck.
There are so many things to explore,
So many places to work,
Thank you, builders, for everything you’ve done.
I love our new Barbreck.

By Zhiyi (Eva) Mao

Bright and spacy
New and exciting,
Grand and different
Quiet, happy, chitter chatters…
And a safe exciting place.

By Frankie Vasilopoulos

Bright and shiny,
Black and white,
Feels comfortable,
Big and bold,
Safe and modern
Cozy and colourful
Beautiful footsteps.

By Sofia Marshall

Year 6 Jackets

The Year 6 students were given their blue zip up jackets last week as traditionally occurs at this time in the girls’ Junior School journey.

The zip up jackets, which are crested and have the girls’ names on the back are warm and comfortable. The girls love wearing them. The jackets were given to the girls just prior to their trip to Canberra. While full uniform was required on several occasions during the trip, there were opportunities for relaxation and varied activities, which provided a chance for the girls to wear them. They were extremely handy to wear in August in Canberra!

 

Mobile Phones at School

All Barbreck Students who bring a mobile phone to school are required to hand them for safekeeping to classroom teachers each morning. Students are not invited to send text messages to other students and take photographs of others while on the school grounds. We encourage healthy verbal conversations rather than limiting social interactions to be sent via devices.

Unless mobile phones are needed, for example to contact parents after school, we ask families to seriously consider whether they need to be brought to school at all. If students need to call parents throughout the day, the calls can be made via classroom teachers or the Barbreck Office.

Contact with home will always be made by School staff if necessary.

We emphasise to parents that students will not be able to read emails or text messages during the day as the phones are put away by staff from arrival time in the morning and distributed again at the end of the day.

Please note that watches which have numerous functions, including using them as phones, if worn to school, need to be housed with class teachers in the same manner as mobile phones.

Personal Safety and Mobile Phones

Appreciating the capacity of late model iPhones, we encourage families to be vigilant about your daughter’s use, if she has her own phone. It is assumed that rules and guidelines around the use of phones when given to young people are discussed and the subject revisited often. Primary school age children find it very difficult to fully understand the risks associated with some of the facilities available on phones. For instance, and at times, unwise use of various social media apps can create some student concerns or upsets following weekend or evening use of devices.

We also urge parents to monitor the many available apps. Many of the current apps are deemed appropriate only for 13+ age groups. The capacity in some to ensure anonymity is difficult to manage or gauge by children and use should be monitored by adults at home.

It is essential that the fine print in the ‘Terms and Conditions’ is read by parents before permission is given to purchase and download such apps. We advise strict supervision about the use of some of the readily available social media apps.

School Attendance Rolls

Parents are reminded that we require a message to be placed on the Student Absentee Line (03 9828 3021) when your child is away on any school day. In order to assist us with safety and security, we ask that parents always advise the Junior School Office on this line, even if classroom teachers have been advised. It is essential that attendance rolls can be accurately marked.

School commences at 8.30am. The building is open for student entry at 8.10am for those students who do not have an early morning activity/class. At this time, the students prepare and organise themselves for the school day. With respect for traffic conditions and families taking siblings to other schools, the attendance rolls are marked in classrooms at 8.40am. Students who are not present at 8.40am are marked absent. These records are sent to the Junior School Office for official entry.

Any student who arrives after attendance rolls have been marked, must report to the Junior School reception to sign in. Accordingly, the records are rectified. Those students who do not sign in, are still deemed absent. In terms of safety and security, it is critical that these steps are followed.

Please note, if students arrive after 8.30am, it is assumed it is for traffic reasons.

Mrs Alana Moor Head of ELC and Junior School