1 December 2016

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

December

January/February

From the Principal

Well done to Wattle, who won our Athletics Carnival last week. All students participated well and gave their best. Thanks to the community who came along to support our runners on the day. A special thanks go to our Reece High School helpers and David Carter, who organised the event.

A reminder that our school will again be entering a float in the Devonport Christmas Parade. All Primary Choir members have been invited to participate on the float. The theme for our float this year is ‘Santa’s Workshop’. The parade will begin at 6.30pm this Friday, 2nd December. Make sure you come along and cheer us on loudly as we pass by!

Teachers met last week to discuss classes for 2017. As always, teachers have been carefully placing students in classes, considering student need, friendship groups, family requests and even numbers across the school. You will be notified of your child’s class for next year when classes are finalised. We are still finalising staffing for 2017, so this will also be announced when completed.

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our Hilly Kids focus topic for this week was Respecting Property. The topics for Weeks 9 & 10 will be Speaking Nicely & Celebrate.

Speaking Nicely – use please, thank you, sorry & excuse me

There are opportunities every day for us all to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, ‘sorry’ and ‘excuse me’ at home, in the classroom, at the canteen, visiting the office, in the playground and at friends’ homes.

There are people who care for us and help us every day and all of them need to be treated courteously.

One great way that we can do this is by saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, ‘sorry’ and ‘excuse me’. You will be surprised how much people value being spoken to in a polite and courteous manner.

These simple words let people know you do appreciate what they do for you and also let them know that you are courteous and friendly.

Celebrate

We have had a great year and now it is time to celebrate and look forward to next year. There will be a lot of chances to celebrate in the last weeks of school. Join in all the celebrations and enjoy yourself! Well done to all!

Our HKFK student of the week for Respecting Differences was Lila Glover from 2-3MA and for Sharing was Melanie Smith from P-1B. Congratulations, Lila and Melanie!

Well done to our other class representatives for Respecting Differences!

Well done to our other class representatives for Sharing!

School Library Books

We seem to have a large number of books which have not been returned to the school library! The children have had their last day of borrowing from the library and all books should have been returned by now. If your child has any school library books at home can you please, please, please send them back to school so that we can do a stocktake and ensure we have all our books available for students at the start of next year. Parents will be invoiced for any books not returned by the end of this school year.

Student Assistance Scheme 2017

Application forms for Student Assistance in 2017 are now available in the school office. If you received STAS in 2016, you do not need to re-apply as you will have been sent correspondence regarding STAS 2017 directly from the Department. You will be contacted by the Financial Assistance Unit either advising of your STAS approval or requesting further information. Please make sure that you supply that information and also notify them if you have a new child starting school in 2017. Failure to supply requested information may result in your approval being denied or delayed in which case you will have to pay the 2017 levies. Please refer to the table below to determine your eligibility. Your income needs to be at or below these thresholds.

School Banking

There are only two more weeks left of school banking so, if your child has tokens, please make sure they use them. Some items are no longer available. The final day to send in bank books will be Monday, December 12th.

End of Year Celebration Concert

Have you reserved your tickets to come along and see what our students at Hillcrest Primary School can do? There will be 2 performances in our Hall on Thursday, December 15th. The Matinee Performance will be at 1pm and the Evening Performance will be at 6.30pm. The estimated length of the performance is 1½ hours.

Tickets are free; however, there will be a limit of 3 tickets available per family due to safety regulations. HPS students do not require a ticket, but every other person must present a ticket for entry to the performance.

On Monday, December 5th your tickets will be sent home with your eldest child if that is what you have indicated on your return slip. Please remember to ask your child for the tickets as lost tickets will not be replaced. If you indicated that you would like to collect your tickets from the office, you can come in anytime from tomorrow, Friday, December 2nd. After December 9th any uncollected tickets will be made available to those on the waiting list.

The requested extra tickets will be allocated by the middle of next week. While you will be able to put your name on the waiting list, there is no guarantee that there will be extra tickets or that you will receive the full number requested.

School Picnic – Important Information

Earlier in the year parents of students in grades 3-5 completed a major excursion form and aquatic consent form which included the end of year School Picnic at the Bluff as well as the Swimming and Water Safety Program. The date on the form for the School Picnic was December 21st and that has now changed to December 20th.

If any details you have provided on that form have changed or if you withdraw permission for your child to participate in the picnic, please inform the school office as soon as possible.

Those students who have not had these forms completed will have them sent home on Friday. They will need to be completed and returned to school as soon as possible.

More information about the School Picnic will be sent home to all families on Friday.

Grade 6 Day Out Information

If you have a child in Grade 6, please remember to send back the yellow & blue excursion forms and the white form with $20 as soon as possible or your child will not be able to participate in the Day Out as part of the Grade 6 celebrations.

These forms will be sent home with the information sheet with all grade 6 students tomorrow, Friday, Dec 2nd. The yellow and green forms will also apply to the end of year school picnic so please read them carefully.

Athletics Carnival

What a great day we had for the 2016 HPS Athletics Carnival last Thursday! It was fabulous to see all the parents and family members come along to support their child to do their best! The final tally saw Wattle (Green) win this year’s carnival. Congratulations to all students in Wattle!

The day would not have been possible without the hard work of our PE teacher, David Carter. Thank you, David. David, as well as the rest of us, would like to pass on a big Thank You to the Reece High School Leadership Group for their assistance in making our Carnival a great success.

A final word of thanks goes to our hard working teaching, support and ancillary staff who worked hard behind the scenes to help things run smoothly.

Simultaneous Sing

On Thursday, November 3rd at 12.30pm, all of our students from Kinder to Grade 6 took part in a nationwide Simultaneous Sing, part of a program called Music, Count Us In. This was the 10th year that this massive event has been run. We were a part of approximately 600,000 students and teachers from all parts of Australia (and some overseas!) who sang the specially written song called “Let it Play”. The song was written by 4 High School students. On the day we watched a live feed of events from Sydney. This helped us to realise that our 220 voices were a small part of something so much bigger.

Launch of the Kmart Wishing Tree

On Thursday 17th November, our Primary Choir were honoured to be asked to be part of the launch of the Kmart Wishing Tree for 2016. We sang “Christmas Conga” and “Ding Dong Merrily On High” and all choir members performed beautifully!

Performing in a public setting is challenging…there are always lots of distractions…and at Kmart we even had Santa, who was having lots of fun! Tim Blair spoke to us all about how it is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.

We do hope that, if you are able, you will consider supporting the Salvation Army and K Mart by donating to their Wishing Tree.

Chaplain's Afternoon Tea

On Tuesday, 6th December, I will be hosting an informal afternoon tea for parents and students from 2.30pm to 3.30pm in the single terrapin ( opposite the Performing Arts room). This is a great opportunity to stop and have a chat. Maybe you are not sure what a Chaplain does or you might like to stop in and introduce yourself. Parents, who have children who come to my art and craft lunch time sessions are particularly encouraged to come in and have a look at some of our lovely art creations this term. Please note, children must be accompanied by an adult. Looking forward to seeing you !

Alison Hillier
Chaplain

Christmas Tree Panel

Here is the panel we painted this year for the Community Christmas tree in the Rooke Street Mall. The panels will be presented to the Devonport community during the Devonport Christmas Parade on Friday, Dec 2nd. Why don’t you go down and have a look at all the great panels from schools around the area and, at the same time, wave to our students on our Christmas Parade float!

2017 Calendar

Have you ordered your calendar(s) yet? All families were sent home an order form for a 2017 calendar featuring your child’s artwork. They would make great Christmas gifts for family members! To order, please fill out the form and return it to the school office ASAP.

Tuckerbox Tips

Consider the following snack ideas for your child’s end of year/Christmas school party:

• Fruit kebabs using green and red fruits (kiwi, green apples, grapes, strawberries, watermelon)
• Vegie kebabs using green and red veggies (cherry tomatoes, snow peas, cucumber, radishes)
• Yoghurt cups topped with berries
• Mini pizza muffins (on English muffins) with green and red vegies and a sprinkle of cheese
• Dips, biscuits and sliced vegie platter – arrange these to make a snowman, Christmas tree or reindeer face!

Lyn Aherne - Canteen

Term 4 in 3-4 Duff

3-4 Duff had a ‘Can-Do’ attitude at the Athletics Carnival!

What a glorious day we had for our carnival!

Term 4 in 3-4 Priest

3/4 P enjoyed learning about a special day in Japan called Shichi-go-san or 7-5-3 Day. It is a Japanese festival celebrated on the 15th of November for children aged 7, 5 and 3.

It was fun being able to try on the traditional Japanese clothing and shoes during our Japanese lesson.

Thank you, Baker Sensei.

Devonport Christmas Parade

The Devonport Christmas Parade is on tomorrow night….. starting at 6.30pm in the Devonport CBD. Once again Hillcrest Primary School is entering a float. Look out for our Choir (and some staff!) singing Christmas carols on our ‘Santa’s Workshop’ themed float. And, while you are there, have a look at our panel on the Community Christmas tree in the Mall.

Camp Clayton 2017 Camps

Crescendo Concert

Junior Voltage After School Group

East Devonport Football Club