12 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

March/April

From the Principal

Positive School Community

As a positive school community we have a strong emphasis on ensuring that all of our children feel that school is a safe place where people will care about them, where their needs for support, respect and friendship will be met and where they will be able to get help to work out problems. Having these needs met helps children develop a sense of belonging at school and supports their health and wellbeing. Children who feel they belong at school are happier; more relaxed and have fewer behaviour problems with others. They also learn better, are more motivated and more successful with schoolwork. Research into children’s mental health has found that a sense of belonging at school helps to protect children against mental health problems and improves their learning.

Department of Education – Student Absence from School – Prep to Year 10 - A Guide for Parents

School attendance is compulsory for all students in Tasmania from the age of five and it is the responsibility of both schools and parents/carers to ensure that students enrolled in schools attend regularly. As a parent/carer of a school aged child you are legally required to ensure your child participates in a formal education program. Parents/carers are also legally required to notify the school if their child is unable to attend school. Schools also have a legal responsibility to maintain an accurate record of all student attendance. If your child begins missing time from school which is not adequately explained, then formal actions and correspondence will be made directly with parents/carers. The days of unexplained/unauthorised absences do not necessarily have to be consecutive.

A phone call to our school office (6424 5211) or an SMS to 0428 937 348 on the day of absence will greatly assist keeping your child’s attendance records accurate and up to date. If we have not heard from you, our office staff will send an SMS to you asking about your child’s reason for being away from school. Please reply to these messages. Notes to teachers or to the office at your earliest convenience will similarly assist us in maintaining your child’s absence information.

Procedures for Students Leaving School Premises during the School Day (9:00 to 2:45pm)

The school has a sign in/sign out register for recording all late arrivals to and early departures from school. All children are to be signed out at the office if they are required to leave school at any time during the school day, even if they returning back to school after a doctor or dentist appointment – then they must also be signed back in at the office.

The one point of call for collecting a child during the school day is from our school office. We ask that parents/carers go directly to the office and not to classrooms, as teachers will redirect you to the office if you are needing to pick-up a child during the school day. Once the office has been informed of your child’s departure, they will contact with your child’s class for the student/s to meet you at the office.

The school office is the central point for all departures, including if you have been called to collect a child due to sickness or injury. Students and parents/carers are also asked to go to the office to sign in a child who is arriving late. All class attendance is completed by teachers at the beginning of the day, so all late arrivals will need to sign in at the office and collect a ‘welcome pass’ to take to their class teacher.

Parents/carers are asked to make direct contact with our office staff if, during the school day, students require an item to be left for them or a message to be given to them.

Our staff are very committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all students by following these daily practices and Department of Education protocols to ensure our ‘duty-of-care’ responsibilities are fulfilled during the school day. We thank you for working to support these guidelines in partnership with us.

Designated Accessible (Disabled) Car Parking & Staff Car Park Reminder

A reminder to all of our families that our designated in-school grounds car parking spaces are for staff and disabled use only. Parents and carers are asked to comply with this rule and park outside on Lawrence Drive when dropping off or picking up students during the school day.

At times, some families have been significantly inconvenienced as they require access to our disabled parking spaces and these have not been available due to non-disabled persons parking in these spaces. It’s important that we ensure safe and equitable access for all members of our school community and workplace.

Susan Barnard - Principal

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our current fortnightly Hilly Kids focus topic is “What is Bullying?” Our focus topic for weeks 8 and 9 will be Taking Turns.

What is Bullying

No one has the right to make others feel unhappy, sad, frightened or not want to come to school to learn. We will look at the types of bullying behaviours that we do not accept at Hillcrest Primary School like:

• Name calling
• Deliberately hurting others
• Using put down type comments and
• Deliberately excluding others.

We all have a responsibility to put an end to any bullying type behaviour by letting people know it’s not okay and telling someone about it, like a friend, your family or a teacher. The website bullyingnoway.com.au has many great support resources too.

We recognise that many students are still developing their social skills in how to deal with problems and interact in appropriate ways with others. We continue to support our students to learn from their mistakes and to make a commitment to ensure that they do not make the same mistakes again.

Our Hilly Kid for ‘Respecting the Environment’ week was Mason from 5-6F and our Aussie of the month for February was Billie from 1-2N. Congratulations, Mason and Billie!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Bullying – No Way!

At Hillcrest Primary School we aim to create a safe and supportive school community for everyone.

Families are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.

Here are some tips on what to do if your child talks to you about bullying. Please adapt these tips to what works for you and your child.

If your child talks to you about bullying:

1. Listen calmly and get the full story. Your calm response is important to allow your child to tell you all about the situation. After they’ve told you their story, ask questions to get more details if you need: who, what, where, when. Although you may feel some strong emotions about your child’s experience, try to keep calm to avoid more distress to your child.
2. Reassure your child they are not to blame. Many children blame themselves and this may make them feel even worse. You could say things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with. No one should have to put up with that.’ or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should be able to feel safe at school; that’s not fair at all’.
3. Ask your child what they want to do and what they want you to do. A critical part of your response is to avoid jumping in to solve the problem. While it is natural to want to protect your child, helping them to find their own solution is a better option. It helps them feel they have some power in the situation.
4. Visit www.bullyingnoway.gov.au to find some strategies. The website has tips and ideas for different bullying situations.
5. Contact the school. Your child may be reluctant for you to do this, so discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help. Make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher and, if you need to, ask to talk with the principal.
6. Check in regularly with your child. Keep the conversation going. It can take time to resolve issues, so check in regularly with your child about their experiences and their feelings. Your ongoing support is important.

If you are looking for support for yourself to deal with a bullying situation, you will find ideas on the Bullying. No Way! website for parents. As well, please feel free to contact the school if you would like to discuss any aspect of our approach to preventing bullying.

Thanks for your support to make Hillcrest Primary School a great school for everyone.

Naomi Archer - AST

Thumbs Up Recipients

The following students have been awarded a ‘Thumbs Up’ card in recognition of an outstanding display of our school values. We are extremely proud of our Hilly Kids and we hope that if your child brings a ‘Thumbs Up’ card home, you are able to take the time to celebrate this award with them.

Ride 2 School – Friday, March 13th

eSafety News

eSafety News

Does your child use devices like smartphones, computers, iPads or gaming consoles to socialise with their friends? Clicking on the eSafety web link above will provide you with information about what each app that involves social media does, so you can help your child stay eSafe.

Mrs Kelly and Mr Hortle (the iDuo)

Lift News

Storytime in the Library

The next Storytime in the Library will be on Thursday, March 12th in the library at 2:45pm when our new principal, Mrs Barnard, will read ‘This is the Bear’. Come along to find out which bear! See you there!

Home Readers

It’s great to see our students borrowing home readers. Don’t forget that books can be changed both before and after school in the library, any day of the week. They can also be changed during class library time. If your child was given a home reader borrowing bag by their class teacher, it should have included a list of questions you can ask them as they read to help deepen their understanding of what they have read. You don’t need to ask all the questions for every book, just pick a few to ask each time.

Registration for Working with Vulnerable People

Those 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 should you need help. Remember: if you wish to attend a class excursion or participate in parent help with your child/ren you are required to have one.

Rosemarie Baker - LIFT Coordinator

1-2 Nutting

Daily 5 in 1/2N

1/2N have been working hard to establish our class routines during our Literacy blocks. During our Daily 5, students are working in small groups on the following 5 activities:

• Read to self
• Read to someone
• Word Work
• Listen to Reading
• Work on Writing

During these tasks there is also a teacher focus group. Students have been very enthusiastic to improve their reading and engage in these activities.

Sports News

DJSI Saturday Morning Soccer

Players will soon be notified of their team and this information is being finalised with coaches. A two week ‘beginning of the year’ roster for each team will be published and passed out to individual players as soon as D.J.S.I. confirms these details.

We need to register students as quickly as possible to enable us to nominate teams. To register parents will need to log onto the following website and follow the prompts. All registrations need to be filled out and paid for online. If you have difficulty doing this yourself, please contact the office staff and someone at the school will be able to help you.

Apply for a voucher here:

Additionally some information will be sent home to all players, parents and coaches regarding our school’s Sports Code of Conduct. Please ensure time is spent going over this important document with your child. Many thanks to the parents who have volunteered to coach or assist our teams. We are still requiring some parents to volunteer to coach in some team situations. Please contact David Carter if you are able to assist with this role.

Development Centre Squads

Each year, DJSI selects players (U9, U10, U11 and U12 age groups) to represent the association in a series of cups played throughout Tasmania (Devonport 6th /7th June, Hobart TBC, Launceston 26th /27th Sept). The Development Centre provides an opportunity for players to develop their skills and compete at a higher level of football. Interested players should attend the ‘come and try’ training session on Wednesday 1st and Wednesday 8th of April at Meercroft Park at 4 pm. The first official training/registration night will begin on Wednesday, April 29th. Online registration opens on April 1st and closes on April 29th.

Referee Training Sessions

A basic refereeing training session for Grade 5+ students will be conducted at the DJSI clubrooms. NEW referees are to attend on Monday 9th or Thursday 12th of March 6.00 – 7.30pm. RETURNING referees attend on Monday 16th or Thursday 19th of March 6.00 – 7.30pm.

Queries can be directed to Ros Dell – djsi.referee@gmail.com

David Carter – Phys Ed Teacher

Music News

Hello everyone my name is Mrs. Jodianne Smallbon and I am your new Music and Art teacher. It has been a wonderful start to the year, with a lot of smiling, enthusiastic faces welcoming me to Hillcrest.

In Grade 4/5/6 Music we have been learning about Styles of Music. We started with a little known style: funk. The students shared their prior knowledge about the style: it has a strong beat, it’s low and a strong bass feel, it’s rhythmic, it makes you want to dance, the rhythm is off the beat at times and it’s easy to remember/catchy. They also learned some things they didn’t know: a funk song has a ‘horn section’ i.e. trumpets, trombones and saxophones. They learned about the Grandfather of Funk, James Brown. The students thought he had ‘liquid feet’ and ‘cool moves’. We then learned how to play Uptown Funk on the piano, the keyboards, the marimba, the xylophones and the guitars. The students really enjoyed the opportunity to have a turn at these instruments.

In Grade 2/3 and 3/4 we have been learning about the Elements of Music. We started learning about the structure of music, focussing on the structure of a Pop song. The students learned about song form and learned words like Introduction, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, and Coda. In groups we then tried to work out the structure of the song ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, using our new vocabulary. After that we learned the song on the piano, the keyboards, the marimba, the xylophones and the ‘mini drum kit’ (tambourine and woodblock).

In 1/2 Nutting the students have been enjoying using the boomwhackers. (A boom what?) A boomwhacker is a coloured tube which is cut to a certain size to make a note. You whack it into your hand when it is your turn to play. We have been playing along with some fun pieces of music.

In Prep/1 Music we have been learning about high and low, fast and slow and about hand percussion instruments. The children have played djembes (an African drum), maracas, guiros, tambourines, claves (tapping sticks) and the storm drum. We have been doing lots of dancing. If you’d like to try the songs we’re doing in class at home, I use Spotify. Look up ‘Shake Your Sillies Out’ and ‘Shake Freeze’.

Mrs Smallbon

From the School Nurse

How to reduce yours and your family’s risk of getting Covid-19

This is some information for us all to help decrease our chances of becoming unwell. I have put together some information that will help you to know what to do throughout this time.

• First there are three YouTube clips:
• General information in reducing the spread and getting the viral infection – START doing this now!!! Good hygiene is a habit
• Information about any viral infection from the Royal Children’s Hospital
• Hand Hygiene & some interesting facts – worth reading

HOW DOES COVID-19 AFFECT THE BODY?

How to stop the spread of coronavirus

Proper Hand Washing Technique

Some important information to consider to reduce your risk of getting a viral infection.

Covid-19 is a viral infection, so NO antibiotic will help if you develop this infection. The best way is to reduce your risk of getting sick in the first place.

• WASH YOUR HANDS with soap before & after different activities – most importantly before eating or drinking anything.
• DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE with your hands (via the eyes, nose and mouth are easy ways the virus gets into our bodies – our hands carry the virus)
• Sneeze or cough into your elbow or a tissue that needs to be put into the bin as soon as it is used.
• Eat healthy meals & drink plenty of water.
• Stay away from crowds or anyone known to have the covid-19 virus.
• If you become unwell – stay home!!! If you think it is covid-19, call your GP or local doctor for further information before attending any doctor’s surgeries or emergency rooms. If you have severe breathing difficulties – call the ambulance and tell them what the problem is.

Kerry Jewell – School Health Nurse

Easter Raffle

Raffle books were sent home earlier this week. Please try to sell them to family & friends and return the books, with the money, in a sealed envelope to the school office by Thursday, April 4th. The raffle will be drawn on Tuesday, April 9th. Please be mindful of the laws regarding children door-knocking to sell raffle tickets: they MUST be accompanied by an adult.

There are plenty of extra books in the school office.

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Hillcrest Tuckerbox

Fruit is a good source of vitamins and fibre and is full of energy for active children. It is important children eat a rainbow of different coloured fruits every day. To increase fruit in lunch boxes try these tips:

• Fruit salad - easy to eat bite-sized pieces of watermelon, grapes, kiwi, oranges, rockmelon, pineapple,
• Fruit added to mini muffins, scones & pikelets,
• Fruit bread or fruit buns cut into bite-sized fingers,
• Fruit in custard or yoghurt,
• Tinned fruit in natural juice as an alternative to fresh,
• Nibble pack with dried fruit, vegetable sticks & cheese cubes.

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

How to Care for Water Bottles

When water bottles are not cleaned and stored properly they can get smelly, slimy or mouldy. 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 - the warmer the water the better;
• Store empty water bottles with the lid off;

• If extra cleaning is needed the following agents can be used: a sanitiser such as Milton or baby bottle sanitiser, vinegar or baking soda. Bleach is not recommended as it is not safe to consume and leaves an odour;
• Water bottles can deteriorate over time - regular replacement is recommended (at a minimum at the start of the year).

MWEW Committee

Basketball April Holiday Camps

Toast for Kids Charity Gala – March 28th

Through this annual Gala fundraiser, funds are raised for school breakfast clubs so why not go along and enjoy the Planet ABBA show and help support your school’s breakfast club!

BreastScreen Tasmania

Don’t Miss the Bus!

23 March – 17 July in the Devonport Recreation Centre Carpark. This is a FREE service. To make an appointment call 13 20 50.

Chess Club

Do you like to play chess…or would you like to learn? All age groups and all skill levels are welcome to join the Devonport Chess Club. The cost is $3 per evening for senior players and $2 for juniors. The funds support community outreach programmes organised by the East Devonport Community House.

They meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month during school terms at the East Devonport Community House from 6-8pm. All members will also obtain an Australian Chess Federation (ACF) rating after they reach 9 rated games.

Each chess club evening includes an education session on chess strategies as well as games to ensure all players can continually improve.

For more information call 6424 4542 or check out the Facebook page: