Heights Happenings – 2025 – Term 2, Week 8

School Tours for Prep 2026

I know it’s only June but planning and preparations are well underway to welcome a new group of Prep students and families in 2026. I have been busy conducting school tours twice per week for prospective parents, along with visits to local pre-schools and child-care centres to promote our wonderful school. There is still some availability for school tours, so if you or somebody you know has a child starting school next year and they haven’t done a tour yet, please go to our website https://www.boroniahtsps.vic.edu.au/ and click the School Tours button to organise a visit.

Bullying Prevention

Talking of school tours, one thing I get questioned a lot about is, “How does the school handle bullying?” It’s a sensitive topic, not because we come across it a great deal of the time at BHPS, but because parents need to know that their child is safe and being looked after at school. Fair enough too – as a parent myself, I want the very same for my own children. I’m not going to lie and say that bullying never occurs, because the truth is it sometimes does. Working at other schools in the past means I can safely say with confidence that Boronia Heights most definitely doesn’t have a bullying problem. Every now and then we do witness students acting in ways that aren’t acceptable and might be classed as “bullying-like” behaviours, and when this happens we most definitely act on them. To answer then the question “How does the school address bullying issues?”, here’s what we do…

To summarise our approach, we take four steps:

1. Act – setting clear expectations about behaviour at school and encouraging children to report bullying when it occurs.
2. Respond – addressing the behaviours immediately, maintaining the safety of all children, and providing immediate support to all students involved
3. Understand and support – determining the most appropriate steps to take to address the bullying behaviour, ensuring privacy is maintained, restoring the relationships and preparing a safety plan if necessary.
4. Reflect – determining if the behaviour is an ongoing issue, and if so, reviewing our policies and procedures to address it at a school-wide level.

Boronia Heights has a number of programs and initiatives in place to establish a safe and respectful school culture. Ensuring a positive school culture which avoids bullying behaviour is very important to us and we do this by reinforcing and modelling behaviour which shows acceptance, kindness and respect. We encourage our students to learn that being mean, rude and intentionally hurting another person is not alright.

We take bullying very seriously at this school. All children have the right to be safe, treated with respect and included, and every effort is made to make this a reality each day. We prioritise establishing a healthy, positive school culture in which students come to know they belong and feel supported. We teach them how to regulate their own emotions, manage conflict and develop respectful relationships. These aren’t ideas we discuss from time to time – they are spoken about in classrooms every day.

At the start of every year, we do something called Rigor, Routine and Respect to support students in transition to a new class and to create a positive learning culture in the classroom. It sets the tone for the year by clearly explaining the way in which we treat each other and how we can respect one another.

Throughout the school, we use consistent language to help students identify positive and negative behaviour. Your child may be discussing with you “bucket filling” and “bucket dipping” as ways of referring to kind behaviour and behaviour that isn’t kind. We also promote a growth mindset and encourage students to be resilient and confident in learning and with others.

For students requiring additional social skills help or challenges with friendships, our Student Wellbeing Officer, Sarah McIntosh, facilitates small group programs based on individual circumstances. We also have programs such as Buddies which establish a sense of responsibility and care and form stronger bonds between students at various year levels.

At school, we educate students about what bullying means, how to react if someone bullies them, and how to get help if they need to. We actively encourage upstander behaviour by reminding students to say something if they witness something that’s not okay and how to do so in a safe and respectful manner.We also participate in yearly activities such as the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence and the Respectful Relationships curriculum in support of respectful, inclusive and safe school communities.

Most importantly, we recognise that any effort at bullying prevention must be a joint effort. We know that successful school-family relationships are crucial, so please reach out to your child’s teacher immediately if you are concerned that they’re experiencing bullying.

Message from the Department regarding new Suspensions and Expulsions Guidelines

In line with my message around our approach to dealing with bullying, you may be aware of recent changes announced to suspension and expulsion powers that will be available to Victorian principals from day one of Term 3, (Monday 21 July 2025).

We know that students’ behaviour outside of school, particularly online, can sometimes impact the safety of students and staff at school.

In exceptional circumstances, principals of Victorian government schools will be able suspend or expel students for behaviour that occurs outside of school grounds and/or hours including online, if it poses a significant danger to the safety and wellbeing of students or staff.

These powers apply only to serious incidents where there is a clear and close connection to the school and the behaviour of a student outside of school unreasonably impacts the safety and wellbeing of students or staff at school, and their ability to learn or work. Please note:

• They do not apply to behaviours unrelated to the school or school community.
• They only apply to behaviour which occurs from Monday 21 July 2025 onwards.

Suspension and expulsion will remain measures of last resort – our primary approach continues to focus on proactive and positive behaviour support, including working with you to teach students the behaviours we expect of them, in school and in life.

Enjoy your weekend.

Mat Anderton
Principal

Bringing Families Together with The Table Talk Project

Looking for a simple way to connect more deeply with your child at home? The Table Talk Project is a wonderful resource designed to help families have meaningful conversations around the dinner table. It offers free, age-appropriate conversation starters and tools that make it easy for parents and children to talk, listen, and bond in a relaxed setting—especially during mealtimes.

The idea is simple: while you prepare and enjoy a meal together, you use a “three-course” structure—entrées to get started, a “main course” of thoughtful questions, and a sweet “dessert” of checking in with each other. These gentle prompts encourage children to open up about their feelings, thoughts, and experiences, helping build emotional connection and communication skills. Visit thetabletalkproject.org to explore resources that can turn any family meal into a moment of shared growth and connection.

The website also features a fantastic library of resources to help parents navigate important or tricky topics with their children—such as emotions, friendships, change, and more. These guides are designed to support calm, open discussions and help children feel safe and supported when talking about things that matter.

Sarah Weichert
Wellbeing Leader
sarah.weichert@education.vic.gov.au

Year 1 – Echidna Collage

Year 1 artists explored shape and texture while creating their own echidna collages. They used oil pastels and watercolour paint to make colourful landscape backgrounds, then carefully cut and layered paper to form the spiky echidnas.

Year 4 – Fibre Sculptures

Year 4 artists learnt about the Tjanpi Desert Weavers as inspiration for their fibre sculptures. They discovered how Indigenous women from 18 central desert communities create vibrant and expressive sculptures and baskets using locally collected grasses. Inspired by these artists, students created their own 3D fibre sculptures of animals native to Australia, using a variety of materials to form imaginative and quirky designs.

Tara Henstock
Visual Arts Co-ordinator

Sports News

District Winter Interschool Sports results:

Following two days of competition against the seven other schools in our District, these are the final positions that each team finished in:

Lawn Bowls A1: 1^st

Lawn Bowls A2: 1^st

Lawn Bowls B1: 2^nd

Lawn Bowls B2: 2^nd

Soccer Boys: 2^nd

Soccer Girls: 5^th

Tee Ball Boys: 3^rd

Tee Ball Girls: 4^th

Netball A Girls: 4^th

Netball B Mixed: 7^th

Netball C Girls: 3^rd

AFL Boys 1: 6^th

AFL Boys 2: 5^th

Overall, we were the third strongest performing school across all sports which was a significant improvement from 12 months ago; thank you and well done to all of the students, teachers, and parent helpers!! Also, thank you and well done to the handful of Year 4 students who got to fill-in with the Soccer and AFL teams on day 2 of the competition. The Boys Soccer team progresses through to the Divisional stage in term 3, while Lawn Bowls A1 progresses straight through to the Regional stage.

Our Summer Sports (Cricket, Handball, Softball, Tennis, and Volleyball) teams have already been picked and training started in preparation for the event days in term 3.

In other Sports news, the District Basketball trials for the Boys and Girls teams are currently underway, with teams hopefully finalised by the end of next week. Once this happens, the separate Hoop Time events for Year 5 & 6 students will be published on Compass. The Year 4 Hoop Time program is also due to open by early next week at the latest.

Last but certainly not least, a huge congratulations to Madi A (6A) who competed against some extremely strong runners in the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Cross Country event (one level below State level). It’s a huge achievement for someone whose main focus isn’t running outside of school.

Dates to remember in Sports 2025

Shae Warren
Physical Education Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

ROCK BOTTOM – BORONIA HEIGHTS PS 2025 PRODUCTION

Our 2025 whole school production ‘Rock Bottom’ is fast approaching. It will be on Wednesday 30th July and Thursday 31st July at the Besen Centre (Mt. Scopus Memorial College, Station St, Burwood).

Please note that all Prep – 4 students will only perform one night. All Prep – 4 siblings should be scheduled for the same night. Please let Mr. Fox know if siblings have been accidentally scheduled on different nights. All Year 5 and 6 students will perform both nights.

Last term, all families with a Prep – 4 student should have received a notice informing them which night their child is performing, the Wednesday or Thursday. If you did not receive this notice, please email Mr Fox at simon.fox@education.vic.gov.au and he will let you know your child’s performance night.

Tickets have gone on sale through Try Booking (online sales only) on Monday 26th May, at 6.00pm. We scheduled an evening time for tickets to go on sale, so working parents were not disadvantaged. Adult tickets are $30 and Child Tickets (under 16) are $20. Please note that student performers do not require a ticket on their performance night.

Library News

Book Club Orders are due by this FRIDAY 13^th June

Scholastic Book Club orders can be made via Loop on the Scholastic website or cash payments in an envelope with your completed order form. Please hand cash orders to the office. When you purchase a book through Book Club it also supports our reading at school, as we receive a percentage of commission to purchase new books for our Library. To view the catalogue online or place an order online follow this link https://scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

Keep adding every book you read into the Premier’s Reading Challenge! We have 170 students who have already completed the reading challenge and 4A are now in the lead for the pizza lunch prize! BHPS students have read a total of 12,549 books so far this challenge. We still have 85 days to go.

Next term in August, we will have our Book Week celebrations. Book Character dress up day will be held on Monday 18^th of August. Families are welcome to join in the celebrations at our parade at 9.15am. The upcoming holidays are always a good time to think about costumes and get creative with ideas. Students can wear a costume that represents their favourite book character, this could be a t-shirt, decorated hat or a whole outfit.

Do you have overdue Library books? Log into our Library with the link below, click on your name and then My borrowing details to find out:

https://au.accessit.online/BRN10/#!dashboard

Happy Reading!

Leanne Bentley

2026 Prep Enrolments

2026 Prep enrolments are now open. To submit your enrolment, just click the link below:

https://students.educationapps.vic.gov.au/s/

Attendance

Please remember if your child will be absent ALL day, you need to enter an absence note on COMPASS. The office will be following up all unexplained absences.

Compass will automatically generate an SMS at 10.00am if your child is not at school. Please note that if you are bringing your child in late, ignor this SMS as late arrivals get signed in on the COMPASS Kiosk at the office on your arrival.  However, if your child is going to be absent for a complete day, you must approve this absence with a ‘note’ on Compass. This will avoid you receiving additional correspondence from the office to follow up this unexplained absence.

URGENT – Please complete…

We are still yet to receive the Media Release and Consent Forms for many many students.  If you are unsure if you have completed these two documents, check your email inbox. When you complete the Google Form it automatically sends you a completed copy of your responses.

Please check your NewsFeed on Compass for links.

2025 CSEF

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.

Payment amounts this year are $154 for eligible primary school. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

You can download the form here.

Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.

Name Your Belongings

We know you treasure your uniform and books. Please remember to label all uniform, books and belongings coming to school. Like most years, we have had an incredible amount of lost property through the year. The majority was unnamed, along with illegible tags. We would love lost items to boomerang back to your kids.