9 May 2024

From the Principal

Welcome back to Term 2, I hope you and your families have enjoyed the break! Last week there were many tired students with the readjustment to early starts and school routines (me included!) but for the most part it has been a really settled start to the term.

Prior to returning to school, I had the opportunity to attend the annual Devonport ANZAC Day service. I was delighted seeing our student group looking very smart in their Hillcrest uniforms, representing our school by marching, and laying a wreath on behalf of our school community. I was also pleased to see other students and staff in attendance representing other local organisations.

Thank you to Mr Lynd for his coordination and Mr and Mrs Peace for attending with us. Many of our teachers across the school provided opportunities for our children to reflect and recognise the importance and significance of the ANZACs by reading a variety of texts and undertaking written and artistic pieces about this historic day of commemoration.

External School Review – 28-31 May

At the end of May we are excited to be hosting an External School Review. The purpose of External School Review is to support schools to raise student achievement and sustain high performance.

What is an External School Review?

• An External School Review is part of the DECYP’s commitment to improve the quality of our schools and the learning of our students.
• It involves a panel (leader and principal) visiting a school for several days. During this time, they interview individual staff, groups of staff, students, parents and School Association members and visit as many classrooms as possible.

How often are schools reviewed?

• Each school is reviewed once every four years. Approximately 60 schools per year are reviewed.

What is the purpose of a school review?

• To support school leaders, (Principal, AST’s and the SBM), reflect upon their school’s achievements and directions.
• To provide staff with feedback and validation of their work.
• To support the school community to identify priorities for the future.

Closer to the time of our review I will be asking for parent/carers who would like to provide feedback to the panel about our school. If you are interested in being part of this opportunity for our school, please contact me at school.

Seesaw – our school family communication app

A reminder that we regularly post updates and information to Seesaw for families to find out about learning, activities and events happening at school. Seesaw is our communication to assist with families knowing upcoming dates and details relation to individual classes, groups of classes or the whole school.

Please let us know if you don’t have access to your child’s profile or need support in accessing Seesaw.

Attendance - Make Each Day Count

By showing up to school every day, your child will have the best opportunity at a bright future. It gives them every chance to be around friends, learn new things, and find interests.

We have lots in store for this term, including: Cross Country, Footsteps Dance, Swimming and Water Safety to name a few. Good attendance habits can sometimes be hard to stick. Keep trying to create a solid routine, to set your child up for success for the rest of the year.

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Please always talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help.

Share your thoughts on school attendance

Help us better understand any barriers that may be in the way, and what supports are needed to help with getting to school.

The Department for Education, Children and Young People is doing statewide consultation on school attendance. 3P Advisory is independently running the consultation. Your answers are confidential, and you won’t be identified.

We want to hear from you. You can take part in an online survey, share or vote for suggestions, or join an online drop-in session via the 3P website. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

You can also share your thoughts about what you like or don’t like about our Every school day matters campaign.

As a parent or carer, please have your say. Please encourage your child/ren, too.

In partnership,
Georgia

Dates to Remember

May

June

July

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our Hilly Kid Winner for Sharing in week 9 & 10

Responsibility is our Current fortnightly focus

This term our Hilly Kids are Friendly Kids fortnightly focus links to responsibility.

Walk to School Safely Day 10 May

What’s been happening in 5-6Peace

This week Team Peace were asked, “What does the word ‘reciprocal’ mean in Reciprocal Reading?”

Using the skills and knowledge for the ‘Fab 4’ strategies that we learnt last term, we were able to make reasonable predictions, clarify using prior knowledge and devices or dictionaries, and ask connecting and powerful questions. See us in action in the images attached.

Also included are some responses that were noted across the groups.

What is Reciprocal Reading?

Reciprocal Reading refers to having students working within a ‘cooperative strategy’ resulting in them working together to improve their comprehension. It is where they each take on the role of teacher for a particular strategy in small group reading sessions and lead their groups to think and talk about a shared text.

Last term, we learnt about the ‘Fab 4’ strategies of Reciprocal Reading. It is the adults’ job to model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using the ‘Fab 4’ strategies, including:

• summarising
• questioning
• clarifying
• predicting

Now that the students have learned these strategies, they will be participating in Reciprocal Reading groups. This means, taking turns assuming the role of teacher in leading focused and explicit group conversations about what has been read using the Fab 4.

See us using the ‘Fishbowl’ strategy to watch a Reciprocal Reading group in action.

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Swimming & Water Safety

Swimming and Water Safety Program lesson times

We have our Swimming & Water Safety Program commencing on Monday 13 May at the Ulverstone Swimming Pool.

• Year 3-6 will attend swimming every day for the 2 weeks
• Prep-Year 2 will attend at varying times (see below)

Please make sure your child has everything they need for swimming each day;

• Swimmers
• Towels
• Swim Cap
• Plastic bag (for wet clothes)

To find out more about this program and what your child will learn, please click the link below and watch a video about the program, Swimming and Water Safety Program - Department for Education, Children and Young People (decyp.tas.gov.au)

Hilly Staff

All about me

Davis Forward

My Role – HPE Teacher
Worked at Hillcrest – This is my 3^rd Year
What do you like most about our school – Teaching children and seeing them get active
Pets – 2 cats – Loki & Indi
Sporting Team I follow – Denver Nuggets NBA
Hobby in my spare time – Running or Building Lego
Fun Fact about me – I grew up in a small country town in Queensland
Favourite Meal or type of food – Mexican
A skill/talent I have that not many people know about me – When I go fishing, I don’t seem to catch any fish
Favourite place I have visited – Walls of Jerusalem

Would you rather…………….
Beach OR Pool - Beach
Tea OR Coffee – Coffee
Books OR Movies – Movies
Summer OR Winter – Summer
Morning Person OR Night Owl – Both
Cats OR Dogs – Cats
Theme Park OR Museum – Theme Park!!!

Renee Pardoe

My Role – School Business Manager
Worked at Hillcrest – This is my 3^rd Year
What do you like most about our school – Our students resilience and fun personalities
Pets – A very cute dog - Pudsey
Sporting Team I follow – I follow our Hillcrest School Sports Teams
Hobby in my spare time – I like to sew and make handbags
Fun Fact about me – I used to be a Dance Teacher
Favourite Meal or type of food – Thai Food
A skill/talent I have that not many people know about me – I can sing and used to sing in a band many years ago
Favourite place I have visited – New York

Would you rather…………….
Beach OR Pool – Swim at the Beach, lay by the Pool
Tea OR Coffee – Both
Books OR Movies – Both
Summer OR Winter – Winter
Morning Person OR Night Owl – Morning Person
Cats OR Dogs – Dogs
Theme Park OR Museum – Theme Park

Hillcrest Tuckerbox Tips

Aim for two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables daily.  What’s in a serve?

One serve of fruit:

• 1 piece of medium sized fruit - apple, banana, orange, or pear
• 2 pieces of smaller sized fruit - apricots, kiwis, or plums
• 1 cup of tinned fruit in fruit juice, no added sugar

One serve of vegetables:

• ½ cup cooked green or orange vegetables - broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, or spinach
• ½ cup cooked, dried or canned beans, peas, or lentils
• 1 cup leafy or raw salad vegetables
• ½ cup sweet corn
• 1 medium potato or sweet potato
• 1 medium tomato

Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Fun Food Facts

Did you know:

1. Tomatoes are a fruit… and they are the most popular fruit in the world!
2. Strawberries are technically not berries – weird but true! Berries, by definition, have their seeds on the inside, whilst strawberries hold their seeds on the outside.
3. Potatoes were the first vegetable to be grown in space. In fact, the year was 1995.
4. Not all oranges are orange. In some regions the temperature doesn’t get cold enough for the skin to turn orange, so the orange could stay green or yellow, even if the fruit is ripe.
5. Cranberries can bounce. When they are ripe, they bounce!
6. Pumpkins and cucumber are also classed as a fruit, not a vegetable, not to mention olives, avocado, aubergine, and capsicum, which are also fruits.

MWEW Team 

Join the TASSO Board

Devonport Gymnastics Open Gym

All Schools Cross Country

Entries for the 2024 All Schools Cross Country events are now open, and you don't need to qualify in a local competition to be a part of it. All school students are welcome!

Visit the link below for more information and to enter:

 Primary - 18th of June

Matilda at Reece High School

Little Athletics Cross Country

Free NBN at Home

Tramp & Tumbling

Football Tasmania Mini Gala Days