31 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

September

From the Principal

Students had lots of fun celebrating Book Week last week. Teachers and students worked together to create some fantastic artwork, based on the shortlisted picture books for 2017. Thanks go to Mrs Mulcaster for organising the day. If you want to find out which books were shortlisted, click below.

Artwork is still displayed in our library, so feel free to come and have a look.

Students also had fun dressing up for our school socials, with the Book Week theme being ‘Escape to Everywhere’. Thanks go to Mrs Kelly, Mrs Aherne, staff and our Student Council for helping make the event such a success.

I have also included some information from the Department, regarding the School Starting Age in Tasmania.

Working Together for 3 Year Olds

Recently you may have seen or heard Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff in the media, explaining his decision not to lower the school starting age for Tasmanian schoolchildren.

The proposal to lower the voluntary starting age for Kinder from four years to three and a half was part of reforms made to Tasmania’s Education Act, and would have come into effect in 2020.

After receiving a report on the likely economic and social impacts of such changes on the state’s early childhood education and care sector, the Minister accepted the report’s advice not to proceed with the lower starting age.

However, in recognition that access to high-quality early learning sooner is best for all Tasmanian children, the Working Together for 3 Year Olds – targeted pre-school initiative will be implemented.

This will provide government-subsidised participation in quality and accredited pre-school programs for eligible three year old children, for 10 hours a week (400 hours per year). The initiative will be delivered primarily through the early childhood education and care sector and will begin in 2020.

To find out more about this initiative visit the Department website.

Cheese Cheese Cheese

All students who were at school yesterday would have received a sample pack of cheeses, courtesy of Lion Co. in Burnie. Please note the use by date for the camembert is today, the date for the spring onion & chives cream cheese is 12 November and the use by date for the Edam is 27 September. Thank you to Lion Co for their kind donation! What a yummy treat!

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our HKFK focus for this week has been Including Others. Next week’s focus topic will be Saying ‘no’ and the week after will be Being Resilient/Who Can Help Me.

Saying “No”

Sometimes people find it hard to resist pressure from others to do things they really don’t want to do or things which they know are mean, wrong or dangerous. We all need to practice saying ‘no’ confidently and calmly, but still remaining friendly and firm.

Do:

• Look in their eyes
• Tell them calmly you don’t want to do it
• Briefly say why (for example, “No thanks, I want to do something else after school.”)
• Or, if it is mean, against the rules or dangerous, point out the consequences (for example, “No. That’s mean.”
• Sometimes you may want to thank them for including you (for example: “Thanks anyway.”
• Keep the tone of your voice friendly and calm and try not to get angry

Don’t:

• Look away or down at the ground
• Say yes just so they will like you
• Say yes because you are scared that they will say bad things about you
• Lecture them if what they asked you to do was mean or dangerous
• Get angry or upset

Resilience/Who Can Help Me?

Resilience is the ability to cope with changes and challenges and to bounce back during difficult times. It is about coping and still holding your head up; giving things a go and trying your best, being strong on the inside and standing up for yourself.

Resilience is important because we cannot control everything that happens to us in life; therefore, we need to teach our children skills to become resilient to, bounce back from the challenges and hard times that might happen. The more resilient our children are, the easier it will be for them to get back on track.

We can help our children learn to be more resilient by listening and talking with our children when they have challenges. We can help them put things into perspective and break the challenges down into manageable parts. We can help them set realistic goals to get back on track and support them in positive ways.

From time to time we all need some help. Sometimes we can deal with a problem ourselves, but, other times it is good to have some help. At school you might choose to ask your teacher or, perhaps, one of your friends for help. At home your mum, dad, brother or sister might be able to help you. There are many people who can help us and remember, no matter what, there is no problem so big that you can’t talk about it with someone.

Our Hilly Kid of the Week for “Being Assertive” was Jonty from 5-6F and for “Teamwork” was Emily, also from 5-6F. Congratulations, Jonty and Emily!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Vietnam Veterans’ Service

On Friday, August 18th our school was represented at the Devonport service to commemorate Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. August 18th is the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.

LIFT News

This term we have been opening the school library every morning before school when possible. All children are encouraged to come along and change their home readers and read to our ‘Reading Ambassadors’. The library is also open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after school.

Congratulations to all students who completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge! Thank you to our fabulous Reading Ambassadors for helping so many students with this.

The next ‘Story Corner” in Term 3 will be Friday, 15 September at 3pm – 4pm in the Library. Mr Pape will be reading to the children. All Children, accompanied by an adult family member, are invited to listen to a story and participate in fun activities.

Remember the Devonport LINC often have great activities for children and adults, so check out their Facebook page for what is happening over the holidays.

We have recently purchased a desktop computer for families to use in the library. The computer is available for families who do not have access to the internet or a desktop computer. You can come and use it to fill in on-line forms, etc and there will be support on hand if needed on Thursday and Friday during school hours by booking with Mrs Mulcaster or just pop in after school on a Thursday or Friday.

Families who do not have their Working With Vulnerable People registration – Please come to the library and use our facilities to apply for this and I will be there to support you. Remember if you wish to attend class excursion or work with your children in class, you are required to have one.

Ann-Maree Mulcaster – LIFT Coordinator
ann-maree.mulcaster@education.tas.gov.au

Book Week Activities

Last week, across Australia Book Week was celebrated in many different ways.

At Hillcrest Primary School, we celebrated with a Book Week Art Day. Students worked in cross- grade groups to listen to one of the short listed books and follow up with some creative art work. It was a wonderful time and students worked fabulously together. The library is full of their excellent work. Please pop in to have a look if you haven’t already done so. The library is open each morning from 8:30am and after school Wednesday – Friday.

The Student Council also organised a School Social using the book week theme of “Escape to Everywhere” and students were invited to dress up as book character. We saw some great costumes and everyone had a great time. Thank you to everyone who put so much time in decorating the GP Hall to add to the festive atmosphere!

Prep-1 Parker

In Prep/1 Parker we have been busy little learners, learning lots of new things. We have been learning how to create our own stories with an emphasis on word choice.

During Geography, we have been very inquisitive about where places are in Tasmania and where different members of our family live.

We have also been focussing on Teamwork for Hilly Kids are Friendly Kids. We had to work as a team to create a model that would be strong enough to hold a book. Students realised that when they work part of a team everyone’s ideas must be heard and considered. Some great models were created!

4-5 Kelly

Book Reviews

In 4/5K we have been working on book reviews as part of the Premiers Reading Challenge. We chose a book that we have already read and wrote a review about it…..what the book was about and why we liked it. It was really fun so we thought we would share some with you.

Area and Perimeter

We have been learning about Area and Perimeter in Maths. Area means the inside of a shape and perimeter means the distance around the outside of a shape.  We wrote our names in block letters on grid paper and then worked out the area and perimeter of each letter.

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Tomorrow, Friday, Sept 1st Ruth Cannon from Operation Christmas Child will be in to talk to us at assembly about our shoe boxes for this year and to present us with a certificate of appreciation for our participation in 2016. We will be participating again this year, with classes participating in this project in September. Next week Ruth will leave a display in the school library to give the children some ideas on what they can put in their class boxes.

As well as the immediate joy of receiving new toys, clothing and school supplies, often the shoebox gift is just the start of much bigger things, too. The shoebox gifts also enable our national partners to build relationships with local authorities, which lead to projects such as building new schools, installing wells and water filters, establishing health clinics and setting up vocational programs that empower communities and help break the cycle of poverty.

As a lead up, if you would like to knit or sew toys and clothes or collect gift items to donate to our boxes, they would be greatly appreciated.

The following gift ideas are recommended to help you choose:

• Something to wear: T shirt, shorts, underwear, a cap, beanie, sandals, etc
• Something to love: teddy bear, doll, soft toy, etc
• Something for school: exercise book, pencil case, pens, pencils, colouring pencils, sharpener, eraser, chalk, etc
• Something to play with: tennis ball, cars, skipping rope, marbles, musical instrument, yoyo, slinky, finger puppets, etc (no battery operated items please)
• Something for personal hygiene: soap, facewasher, toothbrush, hairbrush, comb, hairclips, scrunchies, etc.
• Something special: carry bag, sunglasses, necklace, craft kits, stickers, etc.

It is very important that you NOT include: any food or lollies, toothpaste, shampoo, glass, bubbles, plasticine, batteries, playdough, damaged or used items, mirrors, china, war-related toys including anything with camouflage print, anything that will leak or melt, any gambling related items including cards, dice, play money and dominoes, or anything of a religious, racial or political nature.

If you would like to find out more about Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child please check out their website:

Lyn Aherne & Alison Hillier – Coordinators

Move Well Eat Well

Handy hints to get the family eating more fruit and vegetables:

• Keep a bowl of fresh fruit handy and bite-sized vegetables, such as cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and snow peas in the fridge to grab as a quick snack
• Vegetables taste different raw and cooked. Why not let children taste vegetables raw, steamed, microwaved or stir-fried to get them to say which they like best?
• Involve children in choosing fruit and vegetables to buy and also in cutting up and peeling them.
• Try adding fruit (fresh, dried or canned) to breakfast cereals
• Make smoothies by blending soft fruit, such as strawberries or bananas, with milk and yogurt
• Add vegetables to favourite foods such as pizza toppings, pasta, sauces, pie fillings or cakes (eg grated carrot, zucchini or beetroot)
• Make vegetable pikelets or mini-pizzas using rolls or muffins and use them in school lunches the next day
• Involve vegetables in soups, eg pumpkin, minestrone or potato

MWEW Team

Tuckerbox Tips

Sometimes it can be hard to think about what to make for lunchboxes. Try to include foods from as many of the food groups as you can. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Chicken & chopped vegetables in pita bread
• Lean roast beef, mustard & lettuce on wholegrain bread
• Pasta with chicken, 3 bean mix & mixed vegetables
• Leftover homemade pizza
• Chicken, tomato, lettuce & cucumber in a wrap
• Fill a container with cherry tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, egg, cheese cubes & a small bread roll
• Vegemite, cheese & chopped celery in a wholemeal roll

Lyn Aherne - Canteen Supervisor

Netball

Our Hillcrest Primary 5/6 netball team played their last netball game last Saturday. They lost 2 out of all the games they played which made them finish on top of the leaderboard. Since they won, they got medals and certificates. Everyone played their best and everyone showed great teamwork!

Our Netta team at the end of the season.