13 April 2017

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

April

May

From the Principal

We have come to the end of a very busy term! Much has happened since the start of the year and I would like to thank the community for your ongoing support in improving outcomes for all of our students. Your help is appreciated.

A huge congratulations go to Ellie Girdler and Elliott Goodwin, who will both have the chance to perform on stage with the Don College Performance - Shrek The Musical Jr., in term 2. Elliott will get to play the part of ‘Young Shrek’ in front of a large audience (including our school) and Ellie will be playing the part of ‘Baby Bear’ in the same performance. Ellie will also get the opportunity to perform on opening night. We are very proud of both students and I am sure they will have a wonderful experience being on stage. Well done to both Elliott and Ellie!

A reminder that our School Association Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 4th May, 2017 in the staffroom. Everyone is warmly invited to attend. If you are interested in getting involved, or wish to find out more about the role of the Committee in supporting the school, please feel free to contact the office.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter, using this opportunity to catch up with family and friends. I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and look forward to catching up in term 2.

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2017

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) commenced in Australian schools in 2008. Each year, all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in common national tests which assess:

• Reading
• Writing
• Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
• Numeracy.

The scheduled dates for the tests in 2017 are Tuesday 9 May, Wednesday 10 May and Thursday 11 May.

The benefits of participating in NAPLAN testing:

• NAPLAN tests the skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.
• NAPLAN results provide valuable information on how your child is progressing against national minimum standards of literacy and numeracy skills expected for each year level.
• The NAPLAN tests provide you as parents with an individual report that shows your child’s results and a comparison of your child’s performance against all other Australian students in their year level.
• Teachers use the NAPLAN results to determine your child’s areas of strength and where future focus is required and how best to provide support or extension activities.
• School teachers use the online NAPLAN Toolkit to analyse your child’s results. The Toolkit provides detailed information right down to the individual question with links to teaching strategies.
• Principals, senior staff and others use NAPLAN results to inform school planning and to allocate resources and support including informing decisions around targeted programs and initiatives for individuals and groups.

The best way you can assist your child is by helping them to feel comfortable about the nature and purpose of the tests, and assure them that the tests will give them an opportunity to show what they have learned in class.

For more information about the national tests, please visit the national NAPLAN website below:

Jerome Pape - Principal

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our HKFK focus for this week has been “Being Helpful/Give Way”.

The focus topics for weeks 1 and 2 of Term 2 will be “Appropriate Language” and the week after will be “Body Language”.

Appropriate Language

The words we choose to say are often determined by the environment we are in and the people to whom we are talking. Good communicators understand that we need to choose language that is appropriate to various situations. If you are speaking to your elderly aunt you will probably choose language different from that chosen to speak to your friend. If you met the Prime Minister it might be different from meeting your cousin. Similarly, the language we would choose at a football match is likely to be different to that used in a church. Being able to work out what language is appropriate in a range of circumstances is important. We need to be aware of the needs of those around us and communicate in the best possible way.

Body Language

We can communicate most of what we feel and think through speech but that is not the only way. Body language is also a very powerful way of communicating. How we stand, how we look at others, how we show them we are listening, the look on our face, often says more than hundreds of words.

In classrooms next term we will consider the different ways you can use your body language to communicate.

• How do you show someone that you are listening?
• How do you show people you are friendly?
• What types of body language are negative?
• What can we learn from other people’s body language?

Think how you use your body language and practise those types of things that encourage friendly behaviour.

Our Hilly Kid of the Week for “Being Punctual” was Ciarra Jago from 3-4D and for “Listening” was Seche Magupa from 5-6H. Congratulations, Ciarra and Seche!

Our Aussie of the Month for March was Aneeka Tuson from 4-5K. Well done, Aneeka!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Easter Raffle

A big thank you to our parents and students who supported this year’s Easter Raffle by selling and buying tickets….making it, once again, a great fundraising event! The raffle was drawn on Monday and the winners are:

1st: M. Foster
2nd: B. Groves
3rd: J. Lebrocq

Congratulations!

And again, a big thankyou to Mrs Kelly’s mother-in-law, Mrs Mavis Kelly, for making and donating first prize.

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Casual Clothes Day for Bravehearts

Thank you to all the students who came to school on Friday in casual clothes. We raised $252 from your donations. That money will go towards supporting Bravehearts to continue to run Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure.

Mothers’ Day Stall

Please remember our Mothers’ Day Stall is early in Term 2. Parents are asked to buy or make a small gift to the value of $3 and send it to school by Monday, May 8th. Every child who donates to the stall will go into the draw to win a gift for mum. PLEASE SEND GIFTS UNWRAPPED. On the day of the stall please send your child to school with $3 to purchase a gift for Mum. If you do not want your child to participate, please tell him/her beforehand.

Due to NAPLAN testing the Mothers’ Day Stall will be run on Tuesday morning, May 9th for Early Childhood classes (Kinder, P-1BE, P-1P and 1-2MB) and Wednesday, May 10th after recess for the rest of the school (2-3P, 3-4D, 4-5K, 5-6F and 5-6H).

Donations of second-hand wrapping paper are also needed. Please leave your name at the school office if you can help run the stall on either day.

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

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 4 more weeks next term. 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.

This is for Grade 4, 5 and 6 students on Thursday 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th May.

There are still spots available so, if your child would like to participate, please let Mrs Mulcaster know and a letter can been sent home so we can include them.

Ann-Maree Mulcaster - Acting AST

5-6H

Camp Clayton (By Monique)

On the 22nd of March, all of the Grade 6 students at Hillcrest Primary went to Camp Clayton for a Leadership day. At Camp Clayton we learnt to work as a team. The Grade 6 students split into two groups.

My group started at the obstacle course. In my group the boys and the girls split up. My favourite activity was the log. The aim in the log was to stand on the log and try to not fall off, but you had to try and move around on the log in a special order. We chose alphabetical order. It was quite hard, but we found a way to move around and that was for someone to bob down and the other person to step over them. We all worked together and finished.

Next we went on the giant swing. I went upside down! We all had to help pull everyone up.

I really enjoyed this day. It was a great day thanks to the teachers and my classmates.

Camp Clayton (By Zakaree)

When I got to school the Grade 6 students were getting ready to go on the bus to Camp Clayton. When we got there, we got to do the course. We had to work as a team. My favourite activity was when you had to lift everyone up the wall.

Then it was time for recess. When you were done you got to go on the trampoline.

Next we had a talk about Leadership. After the talk we got to play 2 games and there were three groups. I was in group 2.

Then it was lunch time and after lunch we went on the Giant Swing! I went as high as I could go. It was my favourite part of the day.

Congratulations to these Grade 5/6H authors!

Shyann, Sarah, Bridie, Zoe and Chelsea all submitted a story to the ‘Write4Fun’ competition. Imogen submitted poetry. Well done also to Sarah, Seche, Imogen and Chelsea who are working on an opinion piece for the “What Matters” Writing Competition. A great effort by all of these students!

Launching into Learning

Tuckerbox Tips

Children have small stomachs and need snacks between meals to help meet their growth and energy needs. This makes recess an important part of the day’s food, not just something extra or a “treat”. Use foods from the five food groups (breads & cereals, vegetables, fruit, dairy, meat & meat alternatives) to pack healthy lunchbox snacks.

Try some of the following ideas:

• Small bag of plain popcorn, dried fruit & breakfast cereal
• A piece of fresh fruit in season
• Rice crackers or wholemeal crackers with cheese
• Fruit bun or fruit bread
• Tub of low fat yoghurt
• Container with cheese cubes or shredded cheese.

Lyn Aherne - Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Here are some simple ways to become a more active family. Children who are encouraged and supported in their game playing will gain for the rest of their lives and will be more inclined to stick with healthy sporting and lifestyle activities as they grow older.

• Support your children’s choice of activities. Some kids go for organised sports such as netball and basketball. Other children prefer less structured activities like bike riding.
• Give gifts that encourage activities. For birthdays and Christmas give bats, Frisbees, bikes, skateboards and skipping ropes. Make it easy for your children to stay active.

• Lock up the car and leave it at home for short journeys like trips to the shops. Take a bike ride, go rollerblading or walk there instead!

MWEW Team

For Sale

We have two second-hand barbecues for sale. $50 each as is. Gas bottles not included. Please contact the school office if interested. 6424 5211

Boxworld! Fun in the Holidays!

Junior Hockey

eheadspace

The eheadspace service will be providing an additional eheadspace clinician next Wednesday the 12th of April to assist young people in the north-west. This service is a confidential and secure space where a young person can web chat, email or speak over the phone with a qualified youth mental health professional. Young people can call 1800 650 890 or register below to use the online and email service.

This can also be a service for young people to access over the school holiday period from 9 am until 1 pm.

A fact sheet to assist parents supporting their young person over the school holiday period is below: