13/6/2014
Newsletter
Our Mission:
To motivate to learn; to teach to think; to encourage to imagine,
and to show the compassion to care globally
Sports Report - College
Aths Trials Day:
Last week we had our in-
augural College Athletics
trails day. The day ran
very well with many of our
eager little athletes receiv-
ing ribbons for their
efforts in a number of
events, including the
sprints and the field
events. This is in prepara-
tion for our upcoming Dis-
trict Carnival at Ballam
Park next term. Whether
you came first or last it
doesn’t matter as long as
you tried your best. Well
done to ALL the students
who participated. I am
proud of everyone.
Jabe Hogarth, PE Teacher
Mandarin
To celebrate the Chinese
Dragon Boat Festival
which occurred on the 2nd
June this year, the LOTE
teachers ran Cooking
Workshops to teach our
Year 6 students
how to prepare the tradi-
tional food-Zong Zi, which
are bamboo leave wraps
filled with sticky rice and
Chinese dry dates. The
students’ thoroughly en-
joyed the authentic cul-
tural ambience provided
in the classroom, and they
demonstrated great inter-
est to learn this Chinese
Diary Dates
traditional cooking
skill and to make their
own Zong Zi. Yan Ma
and Jiefei Ye Monday 16 June
Year One Professor
Bunsen
Education Week Incursion
What a fantastic week!
Thanks to all the parents Thursday 19 June
who came and joined in
Year 6 Winter Light-
class activities. There
ning
were lots of science
Premierships
based activities from
cooking, to making slime,
looking at leaves, the
School Council
senses and report Meeting
presentations about in- 5:30 pm
ventions. Wednesday
evening we had a Pro- Thursday 26 June
spective Prep 2015 Infor- Snow Camp #3
mation evening which Payment due
was well attended. Staff
had an amazing profes- Friday 27 June
sional development day Year 4
on Thursday listening to Balcombe Creek
Dr Anthony Muhammad project. Day 4
on ‘Transforming School
Culture’. Six peninsula Friday 27 June
school attended with Last Day of Term 2
around 230 teachers in 2:30 Dismissal
attendance.
………………………….
Term 3 Commences
Monday 14
July
Benton Junior College 261 Racecourse Road Mornington VIC 3931. Tel: 5973 9100 Fax:59772428
Web: www.benton.vic.edu.au Email: benton.jr.co@edumail.vic.gov.au
Blogging @ Benton
Creating a class blog requires teamwork and collabora-
tion where students and teachers learn and share to-
gether. A real sense of classroom community can be
developed through blogging.
In the traditional classroom, the only audience of stu-
dent’s work is the teacher and sometimes classmates
and parents. Blogs provide a much larger audience for
student’s work and an avenue for feedback and self-
improvement.
Class blogs are an open window into our classrooms.
Through viewing and commenting on the posts, fami-
lies can be a part of what is happening in the class-
rooms and have real time access to their child’s educa-
tion. We encourage parents to take a few minutes to
visit their child’s class blog.
Early Arrivals
Despite the fact that the morn-
ings are darker and definitely a
lot colder, many children arrive
to school very early in the morn-
ing to wait in the damp and cold.
While we are pleased to see their
enthusiasm for school, at this
time of the year parents are
asked to keep their children at
home in the warm. The school
grounds are supervised from 8:30 am and classrooms
are generally open by 8:45. Before school care is availa-
ble for working parents where children can enjoy
breakfast and indoor games in a warm environment.
Please contact the school office for more information.

Class blogs have many educational benefits for stu-

School Review
dents, teachers and parents.
At least once every four years, all Victorian Government
schools engage in one of two types of review: peer re-
view, or priority review. Towards Victoria as a Learning
Community states that the type of review a school un-
dertakes will be determined following assessment of
the school’s performance against a consistent set of
statewide measures about students’ achievement, en-
gagement and wellbeing, and the productivity of their
school. Schools performing above key performance
thresholds will engage in a peer review. Schools per-
forming below the thresholds will engage in a priority
review.
Our school is due to conduct a review in 2014 to sup-
port the development of a new Strategic Plan and have
been notified by the Regional Director that we will par-
ticipate in a peer review.
All reviews will:
 examine a consistent set of state-wide perfor-
mance measures and lead indicators
 examine curriculum, assessment, reporting,
teaching practices and leadership
 examine the quality of the relationships between
Access to Year Level Blogs the school and the wider community, and any
partnerships it has established
Prep bentonprepteam.wordpress.com
 consider how effectively school resources are
Year 1 bjcyr1.global2.vic.edu.au deployed to achieve school priorities, including
consideration of financial, physical and infor-
Year 2 bjcyr2.global2.vic.edu.au mation resources and staffing
 make recommendations for improvement
Year 3 bjcyr3.global2.vic.edu.au
 deliver findings that are reported to the school
Year 4 bjcyr4.global2.vic.edu.au community and shared with the Department to
increase transparency and facilitate sharing of
Year 5 bjcyr5.global2.vic.edu.au evidence across the system
Year 6 bjcyr6.global2.vic.edu.au School Reviewers will collect evidence about the curric-
ulum offered , the instructional models used, the role of
student voice in our school, the quality of each school’s
governance and the nature of interactions with the
community.
World Environment Day
To celebrate World Environment Day the students from
year six helped Tony our gardener plant three new
trees in the Prep playground. The trees, shrubs and
grasses were kindly donated by Masters—Mornington.
Once grown the trees will provide shade over the cub-
by houses which will be a lot cooler in summer.
We understand the importance of planting and grow-
ing the gardens around the school to help local wild life
find habitats to live in. Yesterday we had a wonderful
visit from a pair of Eastern Rosellas.

schools are required to provide ‘reasonable adjustments’ to

support students to participate on the same basis as other
students.

The Data Collection will take place during the remaining

weeks of Terms 2 and first week of Term 3. No personal or
identifying information about any student will be included,
Nationally Consistent Collection however, if you decide you do not wish information about
of Data on School Students with your child to be included in the Data Collection, you can opt-
out by signing and returning the opt-out consent form. Opt
Disability 2014 – out consent forms will be sent home wth parents
whose children will be included in this Data Collection.

Benton Junior College is again participating in the National- If you do not receive a privacy information and opt-out
ly Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with
consent form and believe your child has a disability and
Disability (Data Collection). This Data Collection is taking
place in government, Catholic and Independent schools should not be included in the Data Collection, please
across Australia, and will provide valuable information about contact Marc Morris.
supports required for a broad group of students. This will
enable Australian and State governments to better target
More information about the 2014 Data Collection is available
support and resources in schools. This in turn will help
on the Department of Education and Early Childhood Devel-
schools give students with disability the support they need.
opment website at:
The Data Collection is not limited to students with diag-
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/parents/needs/
nosed disabilities. It uses a very broad definition of disabil-
Pages/nccd.aspx
ity, taken from the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the
Disability Standards for Education 2005, which describe a
or you may contact Marc Morris, Assistant Principal at
broad range of health and learning conditions for which
school if you have any further questions.
 WILDLIFE WARRIORS YEAR 4 UPDATE
Click onto the link and find out what’s happening with
our Year 4 Wildlife Warriors. Lots of photographs and
information from our warriors as well as information
from all the Year 4 classes. Well done to all our Wildlife
Warriors led by the courageous Mr Dyring.
http://bjcyr4.global2.vic.edu.au/wildlife-warriors/
The Mornington Peninsula Athletic Club is hosting the
40th annual Devilbend Fun Run on Sunday 17 August. A
variety of events will be held including 5km, 10km and
21km. We’ll even have some sack races for the littlies
to make it a great family day.
All profits from the event go toward the development
of local athletes.
Contact: Richard Does Ph: 0414 341 387
BOOK FAIR NEWS
Thank you to all the Benton families who supported the
recent Book Fair. We sold in excess of $5400.00, which
entitled the College to over $2000.00 in free books and
games for our Resource Hubs. It is a great way for us to
“top up” our Resource Hubs with the latest titles and
editions, so thanks again!! The next Book Fair will be in
October. Jenny Nunn, Resource Hub Co-ordinator.
IMPORTANCE OF READING AT HOME
Reading is a skill, and like many other skills, takes time
to develop and needs to be practised. Reading is an
important way to make the link from spoken words to
written words. Reading to or with your child is a worth-
while, enjoyable and relaxing activity. It creates a spe-
cial bond between child and parent. Listening to your
child enables them to practise their reading skills. The
reading material can be varied from picture story books
to novels, books from school or the library, magazines
and online reading. They can be fiction and non-fiction
books. Reading also has a huge impact on their writing
skills. It broadens their general knowledge and their
vocabulary.
Research has shown that students who read:
 Less than 1 min each day read only 8,000 words
per year
 4.6 mins each day read 282,000 words per year
 20 mins each day read 1.8m words per year
Create a routine each night where there is the oppor-
tunity for quiet reading time. Parents act as the model
for reading so happy reading.