Prep Refurbishment

Our prep refurbishment has now been completed. Last year we secured funding through the school enhancement Program and work has been occurring over the last 6 months. We have been working to relocate our prep classes back to these modern classrooms ready to commence learning from this coming Monday 10th March. These classrooms have had a full make over from head to toe and are amazing learning spaces for our youngest students. Prep families are reminded to collect their child from the Prep Block situated on Bedford Street from Monday afternoon.

P&C AGM Meeting

We are currently anticipating to hold our 2025 P&C AGM on Tuesday 11th March, pending financial auditing documents are returned in time. We encourage new family members to come along in join our hard-working team of volunteers.

NAPLAN

Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will sit NAPLAN, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, over a 9-day block from Wednesday 12th March – Monday 24th March of this year. This year all testing will occur online except Year 3 writing.

All students in Years 3 and 5 at our school who do not qualify for an exemption will sit the tests.

Just like a routine school event, NAPLAN test days at Berserker Street State School are well organised and provide support for those who require it. The best way you can help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to reassure them that they are just one part of their school program, and to urge them to simply do the best they can on the day.

NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling and numeracy.

NAPLAN is made up of tests in the four areas (or ‘domains’) of:

· reading

· writing

· language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

· numeracy

NAPLAN tests skills in literacy and numeracy that are developed over time through the school curriculum, beginning in the Prep year of learning. Concepts are taught from the start of each school year and embedded into class weekly Literacy and Numeracy lessons.

Attendance

Missing school means missing out! Your child’s academic learning and social groups are highly impacted by being away from school consistently.

At Berserker Street State School, we have been working towards improving our culture that promotes learning with a focus on key work of our commitment to Better & Brighter Every Day and we are now moving to a key area of well-being and engagement.

We know that regular school attendance is an essential requirement for student learning.

Remember - we are here to help and work with you. I encourage you to contact us today on 49 990 333 if you require further support or information. Our school offers multiple supports to help remove barriers to your child attending school which is inclusive of providing food, school supplies, connections with health services and uniform items to name a few. There are school staff available to support you with improving your child’s regular attendance and to also support your family. We can also refer you to external agencies if this is needed.

Parents play an important role in supporting their children to attend every day and we encourage you to reinforce with your child that Every Day Counts and discuss that days missed means learning has been missed.

Each parent of a child who is of compulsory school age (including Prep) has the legal obligation to ensure their child is enrolled and attends school on every school day for the educational program in which the child is enrolled, unless the parent has a reasonable excuse (communicated to the school). Parents may be prosecuted if they do not fulfil these legal obligations.

We look forward to working with you to support your child’s regular school attendance!

Cross country:

Our school will be holding our Inter-house Cross Country races on Wednesday 2nd April in Week 10 (weather permitting). This event will include competitive races for children turning

10, 11 and 12 this year. There will be shorter fun run distances for younger students. To support our students in this event we are currently offering before and after school training. Training for students in Year 4, 5 & 6 is conducted before school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 7:45am. Training is also held after school from 2:45pm. Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle and a spare change of clothes.

CCTV

Working with Protective Services we have secured funding to install CCTV across the school setting. These security cameras will be installed to promote further protection to our students, staff and our facilities. This installation will occur soon and signage will also be installed to promote the cameras to those entering our school grounds.

Nurse Practitioner appointments

Kerinda our school nurse practitioner has been busy with many families taking the opportunity to connect for bulk-billed medical check-ups, referrals and prescribed medication. Kerinda is here every Monday during the school term and you can book an appointment by contacting the office. Kerinda can also offer First Nations Health Checks so be sure to contact the office to book your appointment today.

Swimming lessons:

Swimming lessons continue next week for students in Year 4 & Year 6. Year 6 students will swim on Tuesday and Year 4 on Wednesday. Students will be required to ensure they have togs inclusive of a sun safe shirt, towel and goggles are encouraged.

School Disco

In Week 8, Thursday 20th March our P&C will hold our Term 1 Disco. This Disco will be held from 5pm-7:30pm. Notes have been sent home! The theme is 50’s inspired.

Donut Drive

This term the P&C are hosting a donut fundraiser with Galactic Donuts. This fundraiser works in a way so that people are able to buy a voucher for $19.90 for 6 donuts and $10 of this purchase remains in the school. Once the fundraiser is complete, the P&C will finalise all numbers and vouchers will then be sent home with the students. A huge bonus with this fundraiser is not only are you supporting the school you are also supporting a small local business. All money and forms are due back at the school no later than 3pm on the 28th of March.

I hope you have a better & brighter day!

Ryan Gilmour

Principal

Berserker Street SS will continue to be a PBL school in 2025. This will allow us to continue to explicitly teach and reward positive behaviour for learning with a whole school approach. Each week our students are taught a school wide lesson on a particular focus.

Our school expectations are:

• We are safe

• We are respectful

• We are responsible

• We are learners.

Week 5&6: Strong Starts and calm transitions.

• Start each entry (beginning of the day and after each break) with our whole school entry routine

- Greeting

- Check in

- Affirmation

- Do now activity

• Walk quietly and calmly around the school.

• I check in with at the end of playtime

• When the bell rings I transition quickly to be in my class safety line on time in the Stadium or at the end of lunchtime.

• I am punctual. Right place: right time!

Week 7 & 8: Use the Berserker 5!

The majority of behaviour incidents we are dealing with when unpacking with students is because this strategy is not being utilised and students are taking actions into their own hands which is leading to poor decisions.

When students are encountering or experiencing negative unwanted behaviour from other students then we encourage our students to use the Berserker 5 strategy.

1. Talk Friendly – tell them to stop or leave you alone in a friendly manner

2. Talk Firmly – if it continues use a firm voice – stop it I don’t like it!

3. Ignore, walk away – if the negative behaviour continues ignore them and move away.

4. Warn – if the issue still continues warn the other person you will report if they don’t leave you alone and stop.

5. Report – speak to an adult immediately in the area or find a trusted adult.

Berserker Bucks

Students are rewarded for positive behaviour choices with our whole school universal rewards known as Berserker Bucks. Each term students have the opportunity to reach Berserker Bucks milestones with incentives on our rewards day for those who reach our Gold benchmark. Berserker Bucks will change colour each term and this year we have raised the bar with our students blowing expectations out of the water last year. Each Term students who receive their gold award will be eligible to participate in a better and brighter event. Term 1 will include a petting zoo!

Bronze – 100 Berserker Bucks

Silver – 150 Berserker Bucks

Gold – 200 Berserker Bucks

A platinum award is presented to students at the end of Term 4 for those students who have received their Gold award in every term of the school year. This year our Platinum award will consist of an excursion to the movies with the cost covered by the school.

Children can also earn extra Berserker Bucks by using our school wide focus word of the week on Wednesday and Friday with school staff.

To promote further incentive the highest earning student in each cohort will be invited to a pizza party with the principal.

Week 5 

Week 6 

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards. NAPLAN will be held online during the testing window of Wednesday 12^th March through to Monday 24^th March. Catch-up sessions for students who are absent for their tests will also occur during this same test window. A letter and information flyer has been sent home to all Year 3 and Year 5 families. If you have any further questions please contact the office 49990333.

Dear year 5 and 6 parents,

• simple appliances that have components including switches, motors, lights, speakers
• small devices that can be easily handled

• kitchen: toaster, blender, mixer
• bathroom: hair drier, electric shaver, curling wand
• workshop: drill, sander

• If the device has batteries, please remove them.
• If the device has a power lead, unplug the device, cut off the power lead and dispose of the power lead safely.

• large or heavy devices
• devices with mostly digital electronics such as computers, electronic games
• video screens such as TVs or computer monitors
• anything that has glass components or sharp blades

Dear year 3 and 4 parents,

Miss Walker has misplaced a very special medallion that prize winners win during Music. It has a blue ribbon, with red writing and a yellow Donald Duck rubber medallion piece (see picture). This has great sentimental value.  If found please return to Miss Walker or the office.

SAVE THE DATE: Friday 28th March from 2.00pm in the Stadium will be our annual whole school Easter bonnet parade.  Families are welcome to attend. 

Are you interested in a scholarship, free educational programs, digital access, and support with improving your child’s educational outcomes?

The Smith Family will be at Berserker Street State School every Friday morning this term. If you are interested in finding out more about a Learning for Life Scholarship for your child, or you are an existing family already on Scholarship, please feel to meet with us.

When: Fridays

Time: 8.30am to 9.30am

Where: Parade and Admin Office

We look forward to meeting you. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact:

Karen Mulligan, Family Partnership Coordinator, The Smith Family 0481 905 240 karen.mulligan@thesmithfamily.com.au

Berserker PCYC invites any new or current families to come and see us in A Block for any Before and After School Care needs for your children. If you would like to enrol, Natalie can be contacted on 0418 116 481 or by email at berserkerstsac@pcyc.org.au. We are open school days 6:30 – 8:30am and 2:45-6:00pm. You can also find us at the Breakfast club most mornings for a chat. At Berserker PCYC we offer children the opportunity to engage in different thing such as outdoor play, team games, cooking, craft and much more.