16 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

March

April

From the Principal

It was great to see so many volunteers at the fair! An event like this only happens with lots of effort by many people. Thanks to all community members who helped make it such a success. A special thanks go to our Fair Committee, led by Lyn Aherne, who spent many hours of their own time, getting ready for this event.

Teachers have been busy working on our first reports for this year, the Primary Progress Report (PPR). This short report informs families how their child has settled into the year. The PPR will be sent home this Friday, 17th March for students in Prep-6. If you wish to discuss your child’s progress at any stage with their teacher, please feel free to make an appointment. A more comprehensive written report will be provided mid-year, with three way conferences available.

It is always nice to share positive news and I have great pleasure in announcing that Hillcrest Primary School was recently identified as one of several Tasmanian Government schools achieving above average improvements in our 2016 NAPLAN results. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) identified these Tasmanian Government schools as examples of schools that have improved above the national average, making significant gains in reading or numeracy as students progressed from Year 3 to Year 5. It’s great to receive this acknowledgment of this wonderful achievement by our students and staff. We also acknowledge the work of the other Tasmanian Government schools that have also achieved improvements as we all seek to have every student reach their absolute best with strong literacy and numeracy skills.

ACARA has also released the updated My School website providing educators, parents and the community the opportunity to view updated information on all schools across Australia. You can see the latest updated information about our school for 2016 below. If you have any questions regarding these recent results, please contact the office.

Jerome Pape - Principal

School Twilight Fair

The weather was fine and sunny and made for a brilliant day at our school fair. Hopefully everybody had a great time and made a selection from the cake stall, got your face painted, rode a pony, sampled at least two yummy treats, threw a sponge at Mr Pape, met George & Peppa Pig and “Picked Your Nose”!

A big thank you to all our staff, families and army of volunteers who helped set up and run the stalls. A big thank you also to our community and local businesses that generously donated to the school to make our Fair successful.

Congratulations to the winners of our raffle, listed below:

1st - Sharon Jones
2nd - Dan Butler
3rd - Geoff Hardy
4th - Alicia Simpson
5th - Kim Langmaid
6th - D Jones
7th - M Cubit
8th - B Farley
9th - Alison McGee
10th - Pat Barry
11th - E Marshall
12th - L Welsh
13th - Maree Kelly
14th - Sonia Parker
15th - Scott Welsh

HPSCA Fair Committee

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our HKFK focus for this week has been “What is bullying?”

Next week’s focus topic will be “Speaking Nicely” and the week after will be “Being Punctual”.

Speaking Nicely

A few weeks ago our Hilly Kids Focus was Please/Thankyou. Coming up we have Speaking Nicely, which, of course, would include please and thank you, simply put - using manners. Speaking nicely takes this a step further and looks at the way in which we say things to each other. How we speak to each other often determines how we respond. If someone yells at us we can often react by yelling back, or just not responding at all. If you want to tell someone you don’t like what they are doing, or you are feeling unhappy about something, you need to do so in a tone and volume that will not create more problems. For example you can use an ‘I’ message :

“I don’t like what you are saying…because…
“Please stop doing that.”

We can also speak nicely by telling people things you like and using positive words rather than put downs; for example, compliments and words of encouragement,

“I like the way you have your hair today. How did you do that?”
“You did a really good job, thank you.”
“I like the way you packed away your toys. You should do it more often!”
“Your lunch looks yummy. What do you have?”
“You are almost there! Don’t give up!”

Remember, if you speak nicely to people, they will speak nicely back, and you just might get what you want or need!

Being punctual - There are many important social skills we need to think about in the Hilly Kids program but perhaps there are none more relevant than punctuality. Being punctual simply means being on time and, unfortunately, there are too many times when we are not as punctual as necessary.

Being on time is important. At school it is important to be on time, ready and organised to begin learning, whether it be at the beginning of the day or after lunch and recess.

Being on time shows that you are courteous and aware of the needs of those around you by not making people wait for you to arrive.

“Children who are late for school or late for classes during school often miss important information and this can leave them feeling left out for the whole of the lesson as well as disrupting classmates and teachers. If you are late for class it is hard to settle down and concentrate.”

It is everyone’s responsibility to be on time – mums, dads, kids and teachers, so make a special effort next week and throughout the year.

Time to catch up on all of our Hilly Kids this year!

Congratulations to our February Aussie of the Month: Brody Pearce!

Congratulations to our Hilly Kids of the Week!

Other class representatives were:

NWPSSA Athletics

Today our school’s athletic team attended the NWPSSA Penguin Athletics Carnival. Congratulations to the following runners! We hope they enjoyed the day at this event.

Trinity Anderson, Lily Collins, Tahlia King, Jye Lowery, Jonty Lunson, Toby Reeves, Kiara Sowerby, Chaz Wilson, Bryce Yaxley, Callum Bishop, Zakaree Bonney, Ethan Howard, Nakisha Jago, Monique Lee, Seche Magupa, Kya Thorp, Jacob Brown, Bella Kaye, Charlea Radford, Aneeka Tuson, Jackson Williams, Cooper Fidler, Mayson Forbes, Ciarra Jago, Amber Kelly-Cubit, Gemma Last, Logan McLaughlan, Thomas Reid and Kailie Thorp.

David Carter – PE Teacher

Building Brighter, Stronger Families

On Saturday I had the opportunity to hear two magnificent women, Maggie Dent and Mem Fox, speak at the “Building Brighter, Stronger Families Conference in Devonport.

Maggie Dent has many passions – her 4 grown-up sons and their families, advocating for the early years of children and how important those first years are, building resilience, connectedness and encouraging people of all ages to build their capacity to have happier relationships. Maggie, through her highly entertaining public speaking style, spoke to us about “Real Kids in an Unreal World” and how to build resilience and self-esteem in today’s children.

One of the many great messages she had for us was that, as parents/carers, you will make mistakes and that is ok. You don’t need lots of money to raise healthy happy children. You just need to provide these basics:

• Plenty of loving interactions with significant people who care for them
• Interesting environments to explore
• Enormous amounts of play (not on devices)
• Opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them

I purchased many of Maggie’s books and they will be available for you to borrow from our school library very soon. You can also visit her website for excellent resources and a free newsletter.

Mem Fox was on her third visit to Devonport in recent times. She read many of her books, including the just released I’m Australian Too, and continued to encourage the importance of reading to children from birth. Mem says children should hear 1000 stories before they come to school (it can be many of the same ones over and over again, don’t panic!).

She also believes children learn to read, not by Home Reading of levelled books but from birth…

“Nothing helps children learn to read more than being read much loved books, by much loved people to much loved children.” Mem Fox, 11 March 2017 DECC

You can listen to Mem Fox red some of her books through her website.

Devonport Child Care Centres, Youth Family CC, Mission Australia Early Learning, 26Ten and the Devonport City Council were the major sponsors of this event and are hoping it becomes an annual event. I would highly recommend families attending.

Ann-Maree Mulcaster – AST/LIFT Coordinator

My Golf

We have been lucky enough to receive a grant from Sporting Schools Australia to run an after school program for students interested in learning about golf.

The program will run for 8 weeks starting on March 23rd. Twenty students can attend each session. The session times will be 3 - 4pm. Included in this time will be afternoon tea and all golfing equipment. A coach from My Golf Tasmania, Dean Bramich, will be running the sessions and a staff member (Ann-Maree Mulcaster) from Hillcrest will be supervising each session.

Each Grade level will have 2 sessions allocated to them as follows:

Grade 2 and Grade 3 students—Thursday 23 and 30 March
Prep and Grade 1 students—Thursday 6 April and Wednesday 12 April
Grade 4 and Grade 5 students Thursday 4 and 11 May
Grade 6 students—Thursday 18 and 25 May

As there is a maximum of 20 students per session, we can only take the first 20 returns.

A letter has been sent home with those students who expressed an interest to their class teacher.

Ann-Maree Mulcaster – AST

Scholastic Book Club

Book Club catalogues were sent home with children last week. Please ensure orders are back to the school office by Friday, March 24th.

There are now three payment options for your orders:

• To make it easier for parents we are now in the LOOP system so you have the option to order and pay online. See the info below.
• You can pay online and send your paper order in to the school office. Make sure you write your receipt number on the bottom of the order form.
• You can send your order in to the school office with cash or a cheque made out to Scholastic Australia, NOT the school.

Soccer 2017

Devonport Junior Soccer Association

Team nominations for the D.J.S.I roster will close on Friday, March 17th. Please ensure that if your child wishes to play football (soccer) this season that they have left their name at the school office. When we receive registration information we will be distribute it as soon as possible. Registration costs will be $65 plus $5 top hire and $5 top bond. The bond will be refunded at the end of the season when the top is returned in good order. Registrations can be paid anytime at the school office and must be paid in full before your child can play a game. The first game of the rostered season will be on SATURDAY 1st APRIL.

DJSI Football (Soccer) Representative Squads

Each year DJSI select players (U10/11/12 age groups) to represent the association in a series of football tournaments (Hobart 29th/30th April, Devonport 10th/11th June and Launceston 23rd/24th September). As of this year Under 9's will be included in this process. Interested players need to attend a selection session on Wednesday 15th March (4pm). For more information contact the DJSI through their Facebook page.

DJSI Referee Training

A five week level 4 Referee Training course will be organised to include 12 year olds starting on Tuesday, March 14th (6.30 - 8.30pm). The basic referee training course for Grade 5+ students will be conducted at the DJSI clubrooms on Monday, 27th March at 7.30pm and Wednesday, 29th March at 6.00pm. Queries to be directed to Mark Smith - mark.paintz@gmail.com or 0438 318 191

DJSI Working Bee

In preparation for the coming season, a working bee will be held at the DJSI clubrooms (dates to be confirmed). If you can assist please contact David Carter.

DJSI Committee

Committee meetings are held monthly (first Wednesday) at the DJSI clubrooms. If you are interested in a position on the committee, or can help out on a 'sub' committee, please contact David Carter.

DJSI Official Photographer

DJSI has enjoyed a long affiliation with Mrs Teresa Mace (Publicity Officer). Parents and Guardians who prefer their children are not photographed must inform the DJSI prior to the commencement of the season.

P-1P

In Prep-1 Parker we have been learning….

In Maths we have been learning how to match number names, numerals and quantities to 10.

In Maths we have been learning how to copy, continue and create patterns with objects and drawings.

In English we have been learning about letters, words and sentences.

2-3P

At the beginning of the term we were introduced to three ways we could be kind, positive and creative. Mrs Peace is hoping these words will be the force behind the running of our classroom and our efforts towards our learning and play.

We talked about how we all have different levels of kindness, positivity and creativity. We set goals for ourselves to be a kind and positive person and we are working hard on practising these traits.

Here are some mixed media pieces we have created that show us ‘thinking’ or ‘yelling’ our goals. We have used shimmery water colour over oil pastels to create resistance and printed phrases on our photo to get our messages across.

Hillcrest Tuckerbox

Vegetables and legumes (e.g. kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils) are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. It is important that children eat a rainbow of different coloured vegetables every day.

Add vegetables to a range of different foods in your child’s lunchbox to keep it interesting. To increase vegetables in lunchboxes try these tips:

• Vegetable sticks with dip
• Vegetables added to muffins, pikelets, scones & mini pizzas
• Salad in a container – celery, carrot & cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, snow peas
• Pasta salad or coleslaw
• Frittata or quiche

Lyn Aherne - Coordinator

Move Well Eat Well

When water bottles are not cleaned and stored properly, they can get smelly, slimy or moldy. To prevent this from happening:

• Fill water bottles with fresh water only
• Tip unused water out at the end of the day
• Wash water bottles thoroughly with soapy water

MWEW Team