Primary Principal Update – Student Action Council

Dear Parents,

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the last PTFA meeting. It was good to have the opportunity to share some of the progress made so far by our new look Student Action Council. We believe every individual student matters and can make a positive difference through respectful community engagement within and beyond our school walls. Here is an overview of what primary students have been helping to plan.

The Student Action Council believes…The attributes of the learner profile help individuals and groups engage responsibly within and between communities.

Spirit Week (October 3^rd to October 7^th):This is a whole school initiative. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for all of us to have fun together and build our school community spirit. This is scheduled for the last week of school before October Break.

Marvelous Monday–Come to school with crazy hair or hat

Twin Tuesday– Come dressed identically to someone else

Wonderful Wednesday– Homeroom classes will decide how they want to come

Thrilling Thursday–Come as any character or hero i.e. from books, films etc.

Fabulous (Funky Town) Friday–Come to school dressed in Batik. We will gather in the MPR straight after morning snack and dance to funky town. We will use this to kick-start our Fabulous Friday initiative.

Fabulous Fridays: This is a primary school initiative to promote a fun, well-balanced, healthy life style. Every Friday, we encourage students to come to school dressed in Batik. During morning break, we will try to prepare some healthy snacks to share i.e. carrot sticks or apple slices, and students will be able to participate in different physical or creative activities. Please let me know if you are interested in becoming involved in this. Approximately 50 students helped to develop our menu of possibilities. These include,

1. Skipping
2. Chalk drawing
3. Hula hooping
4. Balancing balloons
5. Chalk drawing
6. Sack dancing
7. Aerobics
8. Tug of war
9. Limbo dancing
10. 3 legged relays

BIS Story Project:The purpose of this initiative is to engage in a meaningful way with students from our Taman Bacaan (and the local schools they attend) by sharing our stories with them. We hope to have some selected primary stories illustrated by secondary students, translated so that they can be read in Indonesian or English and published professionally so that they can be freely distributed. We may be able to sell copies within our parent community and in some local bookstores as a way of developing a long-term sustainable project. Apart from the community engagement aspect, this is an excellent way to provide an authentic purpose and audience for reading and writing in the primary school.

If you think your child would enjoy this kind of activity at home, feel free to gently encourage them to send their stories to story@baliis.net. Even if their stories are not selected to be published professionally, we can certainly consider other ways of promoting their efforts i.e. creating our own books for the library. Children must to include a title, their name and grade level with their stories.

Community Garden:Approximately 40 primary students accompanied me to inspect the area behind the ‘haunted house’ as a possible site for our new community garden. We are still in the very early stages of planning and our purpose has not yet been clearly articulated, but it looks as though we will be developing a place where students can grow flowers, fruit and vegetables in order to connect with existing units of inquiry or to share within our community. We are also considering whether or not we have the ability to responsibly care for a number of animals such as chickens or rabbits. The area has just been cleared of rubble and both primary and secondary are exploring the many possibilities. Again, please let me know if you would like to become involved in this.

Thank you as always for your continuing support.

Warm regards,

Alan Lorenzini