28 March 2024

From the Principal

Another fabulous fortnight at Hillcrest Primary School!

It is an exciting week in Kinder with our Stage 2 playground upgrade being open for play. Our students have watched with anticipation as their surroundings have changed. A huge thank you to the team at Landscape Now for their work throughout the process.

In addition to Kinder being completed, you may have noticed our new front entrance is also nearing completion with our new sign being erected last week. We have had lots of very positive feedback about the improvement this has made to the façade of our school.

School Association

Last Thursday our AGM for School Association was held. I would like to thank all parent and staff members who are part of this important group. On behalf of our school community, I would like to acknowledge the time and commitment that our members give to our school to ensure we have a range of perspectives to inform and help make strategic and operational decisions for our students and school more widely.

We sincerely thank Simone Collins who was an outgoing member who also held the role as secretary last year. In addition, Fiona Smith who will continue on our committee as a member but has stepped away from the role of treasurer after many years. Thank you, Simone and Fiona! Our 2024 committee members are below:

• Carolyn Milnes, parent representative – Chairperson
• Shaun Bolton, parent representative – Treasurer
• Fiona Smith, parent representative
• Kristy Rattray, parent representative
• Nikita Roughley, parent representative
• Helen Stonehouse, parent representative
• Alice Marshall, parent representative
• Janmaree Peace, staff representative – Secretary
• Abbie Bonney, staff representative
• Jane Lewis, staff representative

The SAC are interested in hearing from parents and other family members (eg. grandparents, aunties/uncles) who may be interested in being part of the Fundraising subcommittee. We hope that we can call on helpers a few times across the year to help when possible. This group not only helps raise important funds for our school but helps with the coordination or events and activities for our students.  Please make sure you complete the survey below, also posted on Seesaw to express your interest, please only complete the survey once.

Application to Learning Term 1 Reports

Application to Learning Reports were sent home with students today, parents with shared parenting arrangements who are listed as parent contact 2 will have reports sent in the mail. If 2^nd parents would prefer to collect their reports from the office, please let the office know.

Student Interest Groups

Did you know each Friday afternoon we have special interest groups for our 5/6 students? We have options including art, sport/games, IT, crochet and recently, chess.

We are looking for more adult helpers who may have a special talent or interest to share and work with a small group of students. Adults helping require their WWVP card and to have watched the Safeguarding training video. Later in the year we hope to include our 3/4 students in these opportunities.

Chess Club (Years 1-6) has started and we have a group of keen students who are improving their skills, hopefully with the aim to participate in local and regional school competitions. If you are available to come during a lunch time, Friday afternoons or at another time in the week please contact our office and leave a message! 

Chess Club

Attendance – Everyday Matters!

Attendance continues to be an area of focus for our school. We have a number of students who are missing a day or two each week, these days add up and this term I have been contacting parents who have students with attendance concerns. If you have any queries about your child’s attendance, please contact the school and we will follow this up with you.

Lastly, a reminder that this weekend is an extended long weekend, with Good Friday, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday being public holidays. Students return to school on Wednesday 3 April before our final week (Mon-Fri) and our term 1 holidays commence. Our last day of Term 1 is Friday 12 April.

In partnership,
Georgia

Dates to Remember

2024

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our Hilly Kid Winner for Respecting People in week 5 & 6

Respecting Our Environment is our current HKFK fortnightly focus

Harmony Week

Harmony Week is a time to celebrate the inclusiveness of Australia and build a sense of belonging. Hilly kids celebrated Harmony Week last week by wearing a ‘splash’ of orange and joining with buddy classes to build connections and a sense of belonging around the school.

What’s been happening in Prep 1 Bonney

In P-1B we have been learning about history. We have learnt about different family structures and we have had lots of families share some family photos. We have loved listening to all students' in our class share their photos. It has been lovely to see so many of our students families in their Hillcrest Primary School uniform when they were students here.

We have been researching what the words past, present and future mean. We have thought of some things that we could do when we were babies, what we can do now, and what we might do in the future that we cannot yet do. We have investigated what a classroom from the past looks like and how it is different from our classroom in the present.

Students have been very interested in finding out more about a Post Office. We have set up a 'Post Office' imaginative play area which has been very popular! We have looked at some photos of an old Post Office and some photos of a Post Office in the present. This learning will continue into next term.

Thank you to our families who have supported our learning about History and your engagement in finding photos to send in for your child to share.

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The Lift Lounge

It was great to have our School Health Nurse visit the LIFT Lounge as a guest speaker last Thursday. Nurse Ally was able to chat to a small group of parents and answer their health-related questions. Nurse Ally will be back in the LIFT lounge on Thursday 4th April.

Congratulations to Celesia who won our Lucky Door prize!

School Health Nurse

Useful Parent Resources

Sometimes looking for reliable information regarding our children and family’s health it is easy to get lost in the overwhelming amount of information. 

Below I have listed some great informative and reliable websites for you check out, hope you find them helpful.

Kind regards
Ally

Triple P – Positive Parenting Program – Developed in Australia

Free Positive Parenting Courses

• Triple P online for Babies
• Triple P online for under 12’s
• Fear - less Triple P online

Sleep

Sleep Health Foundation – lots of good links to assist with better sleeping on this site

Raising Children – The Australian Parenting Website

Kidsafe Tasmania

Have a great week,

Allison
Nurse Ally

Hilly Staff

All about me

Name – Mr Lane

My Role – AST, Student Support, Wellbeing & Safeguarding Lead
Worked at Hillcrest – This is my 2^nd Year
What do you like most about our school - The sense of community
Pets – A dog called ‘Bentley’
Sporting Team I follow – Jack Jumpers, Hawks
Hobby in my spare time – Waterskiing at Lake Barrington
Fun Fact about me - I am part of the world record team for the most skiers behind one boat (145)
Favourite Meal or type of food – Pizza or Pasta
A skill/talent I have that not many people know about me - I can Ski on one ski (slalom) very fast!
Favourite place I have visited – Swimcart Beach – Bay of Fires

Would you rather…………….

Beach OR Pool - Beach
Tea OR Coffee – Neither
Books OR Movies – Movies
Summer OR Winter – Don’t mind either
Morning Person OR Night Owl – Up early & go to bed late
Cats OR Dogs – Dogs
Theme Park OR Museum – Theme Park

Name – Mrs Wotherspoon

My Role – 3-4 Class Teacher
Worked at Hillcrest - This is my 2^nd Year
What do you like most about our school – Lovely, friendly people
Pets – Lots! 2 dogs, 3 cats, 4 chooks, 16 ducks, 2 sheep & 1 pony
Sporting Team I follow - Collingwood
Hobby in my spare time – Gardening, hockey, walking & reading
Fun Fact about me - I have climbed Mt Ossa (Tasmania’s highest Mountain), twice
Favourite Meal or type of food – Thai Food
A skill/talent I have that not many people know about me – I grew up riding horses
Favourite place I have visited - France

Would you rather…………….

Beach OR Pool - Beach
Tea OR Coffee – Neither
Books OR Movies – Books
Summer OR Winter – Summer
Morning Person OR Night Owl – Night Owl
Cats OR Dogs – Both
Theme Park OR Museum - Museum

Hillcrest Tuckerbox

Packing a School Lunchbox

When children eat well, they behave better, are able to listen well and concentrate longer.  Packing a healthy school lunchbox will help children to learn and play well and be happy at school.

Steps to Planning a Healthy Lunchbox

• Make time to prepare. Have fresh fruit and vegetables, milk and yoghurt, bread and crackers all bought in advance.
• Shop wisely and save money. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables in season to ensure good quality and value for money.
• Make your own snack packs, e.g. snack packs from fresh ingredients which you can buy in bulk.
• Look after the environment. Put sandwiches and other items in reusable containers.  This uses less packaging and creates less rubbish.
• Choose a variety of foods from the 5 food groups.
• Include a bottle of water – no need for sweetened drinks such as juice, cordial or soft drink as these contain too much sugar, which is not good for teeth. Non-water drinkers usually start drinking water with the example of other children. Freeze a small quantity each night and top up with cold water in the morning for a cool summer drink.
• Keep food cool. In warm weather place a small ice pack in the lunchbox.

Remember to involve your children in preparing and packing their own lunchbox.

Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Healthy Lunchbox – Get your kids involved!

In the kitchen:

• Select easy lunchbox recipes to cook up on weekends
• Share simple tasks such as cracking eggs, stirring and measuring ingredients
• Set healthy lunchbox rules that include choosing a food from each food group
• Encourage children to fill their drink bottles with water

At the Shops:

• Allow children to choose their own fruit and vegetables
• Avoid the junk food aisle and set limits on highly processed foods
• Ask children to help look for products with the most stars

In the Garden:

• Set up a vegetable patch or pot with some easy to grow vegetables and fruit, e.g. cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries
• Let children plant and pick their own vegetables for snacks
• Set gardening tasks such as weeding and watering

MWEW Team

After School at Devonport Library

Auskick Come & Try

School Holiday Tennis Camp

Devonport Soccer Coaching Course