26 October 2017

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Term Dates – 2018

From the Principal

It has been a great start to the term and we have been lucky with the weather. It is good to see so many children remembering to wear their hats outside. As a SunSmart school, we actively encourage students to be sun safe during the warmer months of the year. The use of SPF 30+ (or greater), broad-spectrum sunscreen is encouraged. The school recommends that families supply appropriate sunscreen for their children. Our SunSmart policy is available, if community members would like a copy.

Our School Association Committee will be meeting tonight at 7pm, in the staffroom. We will be discussing the new attendance, enrolment (including out of area) and levies and charges policies as per the new Education Act. Community members are most welcome to attend.

A reminder to the community that next Friday, 3rd November, is a Professional Learning Day. Students do not attend on this day. Teachers will be working on the Respectful Relationships and My Education curriculum areas, as well as school planning for 2018.

If families are aware of any children in our area who will be turning 4 by January 1st, 2018, please encourage them to enquire about enrolling in our Kinder for next year. Your support is appreciated!

If parents have a particular request regarding their child for 2018, please contact the office to make an appointment. We try and meet requests where possible, but a range of factors contribute to how classes are structured. We will soon be making decisions regarding classes so, if you have a request, please make an appointment to see me prior to Friday, 17th November.

A big welcome to Maddie McCormack and Ben Wilden, who are fourth year students from UTAS, training to be primary teachers. Maddison is working with Jaime-Lea Duff and Ben is working with Nina Eberhardt and Melissa Berwick. I hope you enjoy your time at Hillcrest, Maddie and Ben.

Thanks go to all families who helped support the Masters Games Opening Ceremony on Saturday. It was great to see so many Hillcrest students there. Thanks also go to staff who gave up their time to help with the march. All the best to the competitors, we hope they have a memorable time!

Jerome Pape - Principal

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our HKFK focus for this week has been Being Positive. Our focus topics for the next two weeks will be Seeing it Through and Having a Go.

Seeing it Through

There are few more admired qualities in people than perseverance and that means seeing it through! So many great people have this quality and it is one we can all aim for.

Seeing it through means sticking at something until it is finished, until the job is done. It means that when things are difficult you don’t give up and walk away. It means you might have to try a bit harder; it means you might have to get someone to help you; it means you might have to try things a different way; but mostly, it means you stick with what you set out to do until you are happy with the result. Good luck!

Having a Go

Having a go is one of the best attitudes anyone can have. Having a go means trying something that you may not have tried before, or even trying something that you think you might not be too good at.

There are all sorts of things we need to have a go at. It might be a new sport or a new game, or it could even be a new skill to learn at school. It might even be a new friend or a new group of people. Having a go works best if you really give something a good try and stick at it even if it does not work out the first time. But be careful. Having a go does not mean being reckless or careless. It does not mean you put yourself or anyone else in danger. Always have a think about what you are going to have a go at. If you think it is suitable for you, then go for it!

Our Hilly Kid of the Week for “Good Winners/Good Losers” was Alicia from P-1BE and for “Leadership” was Joshua from 1-2B. Our Aussie of the Month was Andrew from 5-6F. Congratulations, Alicia, Joshua and Andrew!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Hillcrest Tuckerbox Halloween Treats

Tuesday, October 31st is Halloween, but Hillcrest Tuckerbox will be celebrating early! Tomorrow, October 27th we will be selling spooky, scary inspired treats! Just for fun we will have Little Cakes of Horror and Spooky Jelly for 60¢ each. These special treats will be available at recess and after lunch. The lunch order menu will be as usual.

Lyn Aherne - Canteen Supervisor

Let The Games Begin!!!

Crowds gathered from all over for the Masters Games Opening Ceremony held on Saturday, October 21st, 2017 to celebrate the nation’s best athletes aged over thirty. Schools from all over the North-West coast selected student representatives to raise their class flags that were designed for all the sports. The 180 competitors broke into groups and stood with the students who were holding the flag that represented their sport. It was buzzing at the Senior Citizens’ Club where the walk began. The excitement was building as everyone started walking. The walk felt like a lifetime, but it was only a short distance to the final destination of the Harris Scarfe car park.

Everyone was pumping with joy looking for their parents waving, smiling and cheering. The host was yelling out the name of the sport as they walked past.

Two students, Aisha and Gemma from Miss Duff’s grade 3/4 class, shared their experiences. Gemma said, “It was a good experience for me to get out there and walk with pride, holding our class flag. It was heaps of fun being able to scream and cheer with my good friend, Aisha.”

This is what Aisha had to say: “I was thrilled when I found out I got chosen for the walk. I was glad I did go because it was so much fun to go with my bestie, Gemma, and attend the Masters Games Opening Ceremony. The walk was short but it was so much fun!”

By Gemma and Aisha

Camp Quality Parent Information

Please find below some information for parents regarding the Camp Quality Primary School Education Program. They will be visiting our school on Thursday, November 9th.

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Operation Christmas Child was a great success again this year. Thank you to everyone who took the time to donate items for the boxes. We also had a generous donation of knitted beanies and toys which allowed each class to make a selection for their boxes. Students and teachers did a wonderful job of packing their boxes, which were delivered to the drop off point earlier this week.

Lyn Aherne & Alison Hillier - Coordinators

Toy Catalogue Fundraiser

A big thankyou to everyone who ordered from our Toy Fundraiser catalogues. Orders have been collated & submitted. You may still order from the catalogues as the companies will continue to credit Hillcrest Primary with bonus fundraising vouchers.

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Walk-a-thon

Our annual Walk-a-thon on Wednesday, November 1st, is a whole school walking event and one of the many ways we encourage Hilly Kids to lead active lives.

“Walktober” is Australia’s walking month and walking is a great habit to develop for exercise!

Parents are invited to enjoy the walk with their child’s class and join us in promoting the idea of having fun through being active. If you are planning to join the walkathon please let your child’s teacher know.

A sponsorship form was sent home last week. It is not our intention that children door knock for sponsorship but, instead, should seek sponsorship from family and friends.

Grades 3-6 will start at 10am, Prep-2 at 11:15am and Kinder at 11:15am. On the day students will need to wear their school uniform, hat and shoes suitable for walking. Remember to send your child with a water bottle, too!

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Lift News

We will continue to open 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. Families are also very welcome to borrow books and games.

Highlighting family literacy in 26TEN Week 23-28 October 2017

This week is 26Ten week, celebrating family literacy. The Devonport LINC has many activities on for adults in literacy and numeracy. Hillcrest Primary will celebrate with a family games afternoon in the school library. Come along and play one of the many games we have in our library. You might learn how to play a new game or play a family favourite! Thursday, 26 October 3pm – 4:30pm.

Raising literacy in parents and children benefits communities and workplaces

Did you know that, even though children do not speak until they are about 2 years old, they watch, listen and learn from the time they are born?

Children learn from their parents and carers as they talk, sing and read to them. Some parents lack the skills or confidence to help their children and this is where 26TEN can help.

26TEN is Tasmania’s campaign for adult literacy and numeracy. The name represents the 26 letters of the alphabet and 10 digits we use for counting. We work with adults to build their skills, so they can support literacy and numeracy in their children.

If you know someone who would like to improve their reading, writing and counting skills, you can suggest they call 26TEN on 1300 002 610.

For more information visit the link below or email@26ten.tas.gov.au

Hilly’s Kitchen Rules

Later in November we are planning a family “Hilly’s Kitchen Rules” for families to come along, cook, share a meal together, learn about different food groups and seasonal foods with lots of fun along the way. Stay tuned for details!

We a setting up our new mobile kitchen. If you have been doing some spring cleaning and have some pre-loved kitchen equipment you would like to donate, please do.

Types of things we are looking for:

Also, don’t forget we have 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 Thursdays and Fridays 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 do this and I will be there to support you. Remember, if you wish to attend a 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

2-3 Peace

Leading up to the Masters’ Games, our school was asked to help design and decorate flags to be flown for each sport. 2/3P were asked to create a flag design for Badminton. We were super excited and very proud to be asked to walk with our flag in the opening ceremony. Here is a special report:

On the 21st of October, 6 girls from our class were lucky enough to go to the Masters’ Games Opening ceremony. The sport we were going for was Badminton and we painted on the flag. In the big parade the wind was so strong it made the flag fall off the pole and we were laughing a lot and a lot.

It was great to see that we made the newspaper too!

Chloe and Piper

5-6 Fenn News

Masters Games

As you may know the “Masters Games” are being held in the Devonport area over the next week.

The Opening Ceremony was held near Roundhouse Park on Saturday evening.

A few weeks ago our class was asked to paint a flag for the Masters Games so it could be carried at the Opening Ceremony. We decided to do Fly Fishing. (You can see our flag in the photos attached) We had to paint it with acrylic paint on calico, so it could stand out in the rain and wouldn’t smudge.

When we finished the flag it was put on display in the foyer for a week or so until the organisers from the Games came to get it.

Getting ready for the march to Roundhouse Park.

On Saturday evening at around 5.00 pm we all met at the Over 60s Club to get organised for the March. Chaz, Jye, Trinity and Jonty were representing our class carrying the fly fishing flag.

At 6 o’clock we all lined up and started to march. One of the photos shows us marching with one of the fly fishing reps.

He said he and his friends are from Latrobe and have been fly fishing for a while now and he can’t wait to start fishing against other competitors. The others said, “There are around 10 competitors from Tasmania and over 50 from the rest of Australia.”

They really enjoyed walking with us and loved our flag - it even had a real fly stuck on it. They said they really appreciated us putting our time and effort into making an outstanding flag.

Setting off on the march with reps from the fly fishing group.

Personal Development Program

On Monday and Tuesday the grade 5/6 classes participated in a personal development program. The presenter was Anne Saunders. Anne has been presenting this programme at our school for a number of years and also works at many other schools in the northwest.

Some of the things we talked about were:

Body systems, such as the digestive system, respiratory system and reproductive system. If we had a question that we were too embarrassed to ask we could put it in a question box and Mrs Saunders would answer it at a later time.

At times we got into groups to answer some questions to see what we knew or what we remembered from the sessions. If there were things on our answer sheets Mrs Saunders thought we needed some more work on, she would go over it again.

Stolen Bike

One of our students had his bike stolen from in front of his house on Hillcrest Road on Grand Final weekend. If you know anything about this, please contact the school office.

Devonport Eisteddfod Primary Choir

Sorry for the incorrect photo in the last newsletter. Here is the correct photo for our lovely Primary Choir that did so well at the Eisteddfod!

5/6 Netball

On Sunday 24 September, our 5/6 netball team played in the Todd Rogers school tournament in Burnie. Although the weather was not very kind and the final game was played in pouring rain, the girls had a great day and some good wins against local rivals Miandetta and OLOL.

We also played against teams from Burnie Primary, Stella Maris and Penguin, finishing 4th in division 1, which is an excellent result. Thanks to all the parents for their scoring and support on the day.

Andrea Collins

Move Well Eat Well

Get Your Family Outside!

Now that spring is here and the weather is warming up, get the family outside and into the backyard!

• Get out into the garden. Everyone can pitch in weeding, trimming and planting. Plant a flower bed and let the kids select the seedlings you put in.
• Plant out a vegetable patch. Kids love to pick and eat food they have grown themselves and tending the beds is a great pastime.
• Build a cubbyhouse or renovate the old one.
• Play hide and seek or chasing games.
• Have a picnic lunch or afternoon tea.
• Wash the dog together
• Play on the playground equipment with them instead of just watching.

MWEW Team

Cricket

Mersey Community Care Garage Sale

Devonport Aquatic Learn to Swim