Belmore South Public School

It was with mixed emotions all members of our school watched as the mighty Fig, which has stood in our playground for nearly 100 years was felled to make way for our new hall, canteen and more undercover playing space.
Mighty machines mulched all the trees. It only took one day to clear our playground of our trees.
Huge machines have dug up the asphalt, pulled out the seats and torn down brick walls.
Giant cranes have lifted cabins onto what was once our carpark and the fence now has two big gates.
All the teachers have to park their cars down in Area 6 and our playing space has changed.
It will take until July next year for all the buildings to be finished.
Look at what our playground looks like now! Keep watching as we will keep you posted on the progress.
This project is being funded by the Federal Government’s Building Education Revolution.

Would you let your child read an adults only book? Do you let your child use the internet unsupervised? Do you know what they are doing while online?

For the latest information on all things technological relevant to your children click on this link. Clicks.

It is important as parents of technologically aware children that you learn as much as you can about the worlds they access.

This site has some excellent information for you. Also if you scroll down the sidebar of this blog you will find further information about keeping your children safe in a cyberworld.

Surveyors, engineers, architects, electricians, men in yellow coats some wearing hard hats were gathering in our playground the other day. All this activity is a sign that the building of our new Hall, Canteen and COLA is about to get underway.

Plans have been drawn up. Maybe it will be ready for Presentation Day . . . wouldn’t that be wonderful.

As part of our whole school program classes have begun   to explore various aspects of Aboriginal Culture.

There are some very interesting sites available to explain a bit about Australian Aborigines. The stories of the Dreamtime and Dreaming are ways in which the Aborigines explain the world around them. 

By the time we celebrate NAIDOC Week 2009 the students will know heaps about Indigenous Australians

Watch this blog as well as our class blogs to see the amazing things happening in our school and to find out some great information to help with schoolwork and homework . . . 

Are any other schools doing great stuff on indigenous peoples? Would you share your learning with us?

Last year our school achieved Gold Level in the Premier’s Sporting Challenge.

The Challenge is a great way to motivate students to participate in physical activity. It also motivates teachers to set interesting, exciting and challenging physical activities with their classes.

All the classes become very competitive because their weekly physical activity also goes towards their Class of Year Awards.

The program only needs to run for 5 weeks. At our school it is unanimous we are doing the program for 10 weeks.

Last year we received over $5000 for participating and doing so well.

You should see the great equipment we’ve got to make this year’s sport programs really effective.

Ms Dongas is organising the Challenge.

Come on it’s just 20 minutes exercise a day . . . GET ACTIVE!!!

Look how much we do already.

Young people’s abuse of the web has hit the headlines on more than one occasion this week.

Unfortunately the technology and the ready access to it has come under fire.

The NSW Department of Education and Training has several very good sites, one and two which give parents advice about how they can support their children in the responsible and ethical use of the Internet and web 2.0 tools.

The Australian Federal Government also offers sound advice on how to use the internet as the positive and powerful tool it is. There is a great Internet Safety site for primary students called Cyberquoll.

There are also some fine international sites, especially from the UK, such as Thinkuknow.

Click on the links above to find out about how as parents you can support your child in the development of a responsible attitude towards the internet, web 2.0 tools and technology.

Last Monday our dancers auditioned for Our Spectacular. They have worked hard for two hours a week for the past term and a half. 

Today there were screams and cries of delight as we told the Dance Troupe they had made it to the Spectacular. Some of the students have been trying for three years . . . you can imagine how excited they are.

One student imagines going to the Opera House and performing will be like the best excursion, a sleepover and just the best fun!

The panel of three came and watched what the dance group could do. They complimented the teacher, Ms Papadis, for her choreography of the Dance and the discipline of the dancers. They liked the choice of music War of the Worlds and the robotic theme. Above all they enjoyed the dancers crisp, effective movement. They couldn’t believe that only two of our students danced out of school.

Our success is due to a combination of factors: dance has been on our school program for the past 5 years, students have gained confidence in themselves as movers. These factors combined with Ms Papadis coming to our school have contributed to this success.

Watch the video we put up last week to see how good they are or even better come and see them perform on Friday 29 May as part of our Education Week celebration.

Our debaters did very well today in their debate against Beverly Hills North PS. The competition was very close with both sides performing well. Our girls presented very well, they spoke clearly and they had used their time well. Beverly Hills North had a slightly better line of thought.

This debating competition is very challenging as the debaters have an hour to prepare their debate with no teacher or adult present.

Congratulations to both teams.