Belmore South Public School have maintained this blog for many years, but as technology has changed so have our needs. While this site will remain as an archive, it will no longer be actively updated.
We thank you for visiting and being a part of our online community, and invite you to visit us on our Facebook page instead!
We share our opinions to try and change other people’s thinking, so they will agree with us. Our opinions are more convincing when we have reasons or examples to support our ideas. Interesting speakers use a clear and expressive voice, and can add gestures, body language and facial expressions when they speak.
The pairs below were asked to demonstrate 1, 2, and 3 star speaking while giving opinions.
1 star
2 star
3 star
Congratulations to our amazing Wakakirri team of students, teachers, and parents. Your skills in dance, drama, public speaking, art, hair, make-up, stage-handing and so much more were essential in getting us there. This year, we earned awards for participation, public speaking, the spirit of Wakakirri, and the social media competition for our week – what a buzz!
Extended cut: includes video of our performance and speakers:
Highlights: photos only
On Thursday, Belmore South held our annual Athletics Carnival. Races were run, novelties were fun, and happy faces were everywhere. What a fantastic day!
Sing Out Loud was an activity where we met with elderly people once a week on Tuesdays and sang childhood songs together. It was an opportunity to sing together and share happiness and laughter. It was really fun meeting new people and learning about their childhoods.
National Reconciliation Week is an annual celebration and is a time for all Australians to reflect on our shared histories, and on the contributions and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
In Gemstone Learning Teams, we have been learning to ‘have a yarn’. This week, we will share examples of respectful behaviour. Then, we will share the story of Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people. Paul Kelly wrote a song about these events called ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’. We will be singing part of this song at assembly. It is important to make a stand for what you believe in, like Vincent Lingiari did for his people.
Gather round people I’ll tell you a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
‘Bout British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiarri
They were opposite men on opposite sides
Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door
Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
Gurindji were working for nothing but rations
Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land
Daily the oppression got tighter and tighter
Gurindji decided they must make a stand
They picked up their swags and started off walking
At Wattie Creek they sat themselves down
Now it don’t sound like much but it sure got tongues talking
Back at the homestead and then in the town
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
Vestey man said I’ll double your wages
Seven quid a week you’ll have in your hand
Vincent said uhuh we’re not talking about wages
We’re sitting right here till we get our land
Vestey man roared and Vestey man thundered
You don’t stand the chance of a cinder in snow
Vince said if we fall others are rising
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
Then Vincent Lingiarri boarded an aeroplane
Landed in Sydney, big city of lights
And daily he went round softly speaking his story
To all kinds of men from all walks of life
And Vincent sat down with big politicians
This affair they told him is a matter of state
Let us sort it out, your people are hungry
Vincent said no thanks, we know how to wait
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
Then Vincent Lingiarri returned in an aeroplane
Back to his country once more to sit down
And he told his people let the stars keep on turning
We have friends in the south, in the cities and towns
Eight years went by, eight long years of waiting
Till one day a tall stranger appeared in the land
And he came with lawyers and he came with great ceremony
And through Vincent’s fingers poured a handful of sand
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
That was the story of Vincent Lingiarri
But this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
This week, we held our first parent forum to discuss how Belmore South support wellbeing. There were many questions about awards, trading, and fairness, which Mrs Papadis answered. She bought along examples of our rewards, peg charts, shine guide displays, and letters; explaining how it all fits together.
Ms Salmon shared the following video of our students explaining our wellbeing policy.
BSPS: Shining Behaviour from Ms Salmon on Vimeo.
We look forward to developing our parent partnerships in this area, so stay tuned for our next forum! You can also ask questions with the Principal or make your voice heard by attending the monthly P&C meetings on the first Monday of the month, which begin at 6:30 in the staffroom.
S3 Morse had their first visit to Leigh Place to sing with some of the residents and build community connections. The residents were so excited to see their little buddies, and the singing director described how much they loved working with Belmore South Public School.
Everyone sang some classic jingles, and some traditional Australian songs. The residents shared some of their memories and connections, and helped our students work out what some of the tricky words meant. When we sang ‘Kookaburra, Kookaburra’, Mary did an amazing kookaburra impersonation, and when we sang ‘Waltzing Matilda’, Harold described his mother, who was named Mathilde. While chatting, about food, two residents shared how they were born in 1926, the same year Vegemite was invented. Another resident discovered she had the same birthday as her Belmore buddy, just ‘a few’ years apart!
There will be a concert at the end of the term, so lots of practice ahead! Students also get the chance to prepare some group talent items at the concert, and their Leigh Place buddies are very excited to find out what Belmore students can do. I wonder what skills they will discover? Music? Magic? Dance? Gymnastics? Impersonations? Poetry?
Thank you, Leigh Place, for this fantastic opportunity!
We are very sad to farewell the amazing Mrs Pericles, who has been teacher at Belmore South PS for “about a hundred years”. She has accepted a new teaching position, and we wish her lots of luck in her next adventures!
So far in CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) students have been learning about sound and voices. We have learned that we have 4 voices (calling, speaking singing and whispering) which are made by vibrations in our vocal chords. We know that if we make instruments vibrate, by tapping, shaking, or plucking them, they have their own musical voices too. K-2 students have been using their voices to sing, learning the percussion instruments and how to make their ‘voices’ heard, moving to a beat, and becoming different animals to respond to music they hear.
3-6 students have been changing their voices to create entertaining musical effects and creating new verses to songs; and have used voice and movement to perform and adapt short skits. Finally, they have scientifically investigated how to make the vibrations in sound visible, by making sugar/salt or rice ‘dance’ on a stretched plastic skin.
