Our Commitment: With courage we learn, connecting to people and place. Striving for excellence by being curious, creative and resilient.

Dear Bicheno Primary School Community,

What a positive and settled start we have had to the new school year! It has been a privilege to welcome our students back to school excited, happy, and energised, ready for learning. Our students have begun the year by ‘tuning in’ to our conceptual focus of belonging and school value focus of connection. These two values are at the heart of our school’s culture, as they are essential for creating a supportive, inclusive, and engaging environment for all students. Belonging means that every student feels valued, seen, heard and part of our community, while connection is about the relationships that are built between students, teachers, and the broader school community. When students feel connected and like they truly belong, they are more confident in engaging with their learning, building relationships, and becoming active participants in our school community. Our student leaders have eagerly begun their work on these focus areas, initiating friendship benches around the school to create spaces where students can connect and support one another.

I would like to officially welcome our new students: Stevie Campbell, Mac and Beatrix Cornelius, Amelie and Enael Heidsieck, Yana and Grace Pryor, Fred Wood and Jheriane Adriano, along with our new Kinders: Jack, Tyler, Johnny, Riv, Isla, Isabell, Tarkyn, Arlo, Oskar, Leven, Jackson, Ollie, and Dot. I’m extremely confident that over the next few weeks, you will form fantastic relationships with our friendly students and staff, feel safe, valued, and part of our learning community.

Our new curriculum focus on reading fluency has also begun, with all classes unpacking and practicing strategies to improve fluency. Reading fluency is the ability to read smoothly, accurately, and with appropriate expression. It involves not just decoding words but recognizing them quickly and effortlessly. Fluency is essential because it serves as the bridge to comprehension. When a reader struggles to decode words or reads slowly, their focus is divided between figuring out what the words are and understanding what they mean. This makes it difficult to grasp the overall meaning of the text. Fluency allows readers to shift their attention away from decoding and toward understanding the content. A fluent reader can effortlessly engage with the text, making connections and interpreting its deeper meaning. Teachers have begun sending communication to families on how to support your child in building reading fluency.

Duty of Care for students

A reminder to families, that teachers are on duty from 8:30am

Drop-Off and Pick-Up Area

Our staff carpark is a drop-off and pick-up area only. We ask that families do not park cars in this area and leave them unattended. This area needs to remain relatively clear for the safety of students. Please also ensure that you don’t park on marked yellow lines and that your children use the footpath rather than walking or riding behind the staff cars.

Bikes

It is wonderful to see so many of our students riding their bikes and scooters to and from school. A reminder for students to please hop off their bikes/scooters when crossing the road (not just at our school crossing) and walk them around the adjacent school boundary. Our students are also asked to walk their bikes within our school playground and along the footpath in front of the IGA.

Please ensure you keep up to date on SZAPP and our Facebook pages for school and learning information.

Kind regards,

Tom Spykers