3 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

December

From the Principal

This is our second last edition of our newsletter for the year! Wow – what a busy time of the year! Many things are happening in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye on the calendar and keep checking our Facebook page.

Stage 2 - Refurbishment Office Administration

Our administration block will commence a major refurbishment beginning in week 10 of this term and concluding over the break. We are very excited to welcome the new year with a new admin space. This means that for the final week of the term there will be changes to our operations. Our lovely admin team will be located in the library to greet you. We will continue to update you with any operational changes should they arise.

2020 End of Year Reports and 2021 Class Information

On Friday, 11th December, every student from Prep to grade 6 will be given an envelope to take home containing their 2020 End of Year Report. We ask that all students ensure these envelopes go home unopened. Importantly, these contain this year’s Summary Statement End of Year Report and other important information for 2021. If for any reason your child is absent on Friday, our school practice is to then give them their report their next day at school; or parents are welcome to pick these up at the end of the school day on Friday, 11th December.

Our Kindergarten students will receive their special ‘Celebration of Learning’ Report on Thursday, 10th December along with their 2021 class information. They will have a chance to meet their teacher and briefly visit their 2021 classroom on Tuesday, 15th December.

2021 class, teacher and levy information is also included in the reporting envelope. Significant additional hours of work have gone into ensuring we have a ‘balance’ of friendships, learning needs and strengths in all classes. The support of parents greatly assists us in this class placement process and I further encourage parents to be really positive with their child/ren as they find out their new class groups for 2021. For many valid reasons, children need the opportunity to broaden their current friendships and further develop their independence and social skills. Please be positive with your child to support our educational decisions.  

2021 Teacher Staffing Changes

Mr David Carter has been a valued member of the HPS teaching team for many years – certainly having a positive impact on many children and their learning, health and wellbeing! We thank David for his tremendous motivation and enthusiasm to see all learners progress and recognise the significant dedication and effort he has given to ensure success for so many; in particular, his love of health and physical education and bicycle riding. We wish David all the best as he joins Miandetta Primary School for the 2021 year.

We thank Shannon Fraser for her ongoing commitment to working with our early childhood learners. I would like to sincerely thank Shannon for all that she has done this and year and wish her the very best next year.

Other 2021 program and staffing roles and responsibilities are being finalised. This information will be shared with our School Community once it is known.

Other teaching/staff roles include:

Mrs Naomi Archer will continue her work as our instructional coach, leading our school’s Professional Learning Teams.

Mrs Ann-Maree Mulcaster, Advanced Skills Teacher, will provide specialist Library sessions for our Early Childhood classes and continue her role as our Student Wellbeing Leader.

Miss Jaime-Lea Duff, Advanced Skills Teacher, will continue to lead our Early Years Programs and will provide support across the school as our Student Support Leader (K-6).

Mrs Jodianne Smallbon and Mrs Rosie Baker will continue as our Performing Arts and Japanese specialist teachers.

Mrs Jess Bellchambers will coordinate and lead our Launching into Learning and Partnership programs.

Mrs Carolyn Ollington and Mrs Kelly Smith will have an Education Support Specialist (ESS) role

All members of the leadership team will share teacher responsibility of our Alternate Learning Space (ALS) and Regulation Room.

Alison Hillier will continue to provide pastoral care and support the wellbeing of our students through her work as our School Chaplain.

Celebrating Success

I would like to acknowledge Mrs Catherine Roell who was recently successful in her application for the permanent Administration Clerk position at Hillcrest Primary School. This means that Mrs Roell will continue to be an important and vibrant part of our school community. Well done, Catherine!

Miss Jaime-Lea Duff has been successfully appointed as our Acting Advanced Skills Teacher through to the end of 2021. Miss Duff will continue to lead our Early Years Team with her expert knowledge of early childhood education. She will also resume the role of Support Leader across the school.

Miss Julie Baker has secured a permanent teaching position at Hillcrest Primary School through the Department of Education’s Teacher Recruitment Program. We look forward to having Mrs Baker continue her teaching career with us and congratulate her in her permanent appointment.

Susan Barnard – Principal

Hilly Kids are Friendly Kids

Our current fortnightly Hilly Kids focus topic is ‘Good Winners/Good Losers’. Our topic for weeks 9 & 10 will be ‘Celebrate’.

Celebrate

Reflection is a valuable skill that helps you see what you have achieved and how far you need to go to meet personal goals or skills. Reflection helps re-focus our ideas, skills and goals so that we can move forward in our learning. Reflection leads us to consider ways we may change to reach a personal, class, school or community outcome.

As we near the end of the year, we need to stop and see if our goals are meeting our needs. It is good to look back and see how our skills, attitude and work have progressed so we can celebrate the learning journey.

Reflection is a life-long skill that can be used to motivate us, and it is good to share this reflection with classmates, parents and teachers. Congratulations to everyone on a great year and now it is time to celebrate and look forward to next year.

The last weeks of school present us with many opportunities to celebrate. There will be class parties, fun, games and the end of year assembly. Join in all the celebrations and enjoy yourselves! We have shared many good and a few difficult times over the year and it is now time to celebrate our achievements. Well done to all.

Our Hilly Kid for the ‘Respecting People’ topic from weeks 5 & 6 was Cooper from 2-3P. Congratulations, Cooper!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Sports News

NWPSSA Twilight Carnival Report

Recently the NWPSSA held its Twilight Carnival, with a squad of Hillcrest runners representing our school proudly: Mayson, Myha (2nd Grade 5 Girls 75m), William, Zarlia (3rd Grade 6 Girls 400m) and Oliver (1st in an Invitational race). The NWPSSA organising committee also confirmed that Hillcrest Primary had won the Division C shield from the Penguin Athletics Carnival held earlier this year. Congratulations to our Athletics team!

David Carter – HPE Teacher

Netball Report

We started the season only to miss lots of games due to COVID 19. Once we started to play again, we missed more games due to bad weather. Finally, no COVID 19, no rain and we were able to play! Most of our team has played together for the last 3 years. We trained on Tuesday nights and again due to COVID 19, this was limited. This year is Kailie’s last year with us at Hillcrest and it was Jehanne’s first year. We found our positions and worked hard at being our best. We made it to the GRAND FINAL on Saturday 21st of November. Milana was unavailable to play, so the coach changed a few of our positions and we hit the court at 10am to play against Spreyton Primary. Our coach said at ¾ time “play as if we were five goals behind.” The final score was 22-9, we won! Our team was made up from Mataya, Chloe, Milana, Torrah, Jehanne, Kailie and joining from other schools were Chloe M and Arhanni. We wish Kailie the best for netball as she heads to high school. Our motto is “It takes a team to win, by remembering there is no ‘I’ in team.”

We have only ever missed one game – that was the Halloween long weekend in 2020 - out of every year we have played together. Most of us have trained with the Devon Development Group other than this year due to COVID 19. Netball is a game that boys and girls can play. We are excited about playing next year.

Chloe, Milana and Mataya

Gymnastic Event

The Devonport Gymnastic Club held their first in-house competition. I competed as part of the Level 3 Development Class. On the day I performed 4 apparatus – vault, beam, bars and floor. I performed well on the day and got a bronze medal for my beam routine, with a score of 9.425. It was a really enjoyable day.

Amelia

Athletics Carnival

Our school’s Athletics Carnival is tomorrow, Friday, December 4th – weather permitting. Make sure students need to pack an extra drink and must wear appropriate clothes and shoes for running. No singlet tops or crop tops, please. Don’t forget to wear your TEAMS colours! BLUE GUM – Blue, BANKSIA – Red and WATTLE – Green. If you don’t know your child’s TEAMS colour, please ask their teacher.

TWO adults per family are welcome to attend to view the day’s running and novelty events and you MUST follow the protocols set out below.

If it rains, the sausage sizzle will still go ahead.

David Carter – PE Teacher

DoE Protocol (COVID-19) for Spectators

As a school community, we highly value parent support and engagement. We are inviting spectators to our school Athletics Carnival on Friday, December 4th; however, all spectators are required to follow the protocols below.

• Only two adults per family
• All spectators are required to enter the carnival via the Oval entry on Lawrence Drive and through an Entry Station
• All spectators are required to complete the screening form, using the QR Code or link below on the day of the carnival, prior to arriving on site. At the Entry Station we will require photographic evidence that this has been done (via a screenshot).
• Spectators are required to sit on the bank on the western side of the oval, at the base of the play equipment. Students will be seated in the centre of the oval.
• Seating will be provided, and you will be required to sit in the designated seating, which will be appropriately distanced. We ask that chairs are not moved.

QR Code Needed for Entry

To fill out the screening form prior to your attendance, please scan the QR Code below or follow the link. Please do not fill out the form any earlier than the day of the Carnival.

Please ensure you take a screenshot as evidence of completion and show this at the Entry Station. Thank you for working together with us to make this a community event.

Jaime-Lea Duff – AST

5-6Kelly News

Trip to Stanley

5-6 Kelly and 5-6 Fenn went on an excursion to Highfield House at Stanley as part of our inquiry into life in the 1860s. We learnt all sorts of things about the Curr and Ford families. We went all around the house looking at the detail in the rooms. The Curr family had 13 children all together! It is a fun and interesting place because we got to know more about the 1800s. We chose a part of the Highfield House that we thought stood out to us and here is some of our art.

2021 Calendar

Have you ordered your calendar(s) yet? All families were sent home an order form for a 2021 calendar featuring your child’s artwork. They would make great Christmas gifts for family members! To order, please fill out the form and return it to the school office by Monday, December 7th. Calendars will not be printed until they are paid for.

Fundraising Committee

Christmas Raffle

Remember to sell your raffle tickets and return the books with the money in a sealed envelope to the school office by tomorrow, Friday, December 4th. The raffle will be drawn on Thursday, December 10th. Good luck, everyone!

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Tuckerbox – Last Day – December 11th

Friday, December 11th is the last canteen day for the year. To celebrate, we will be selling Jolly Jelly and Very Merry Little Cakes for 60¢ each. These will be available at recess and after lunch. A big thankyou to everyone who volunteered their time to help in the canteen and make our special events run smoothly. A huge thankyou to Theresa Johns and Jackie Langmaid for their hard work throughout the year.

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Brekky Club – Last Day – Dec 16th

Wednesday, December 16th, will be the last Brekky Club for the year. We will be having a special pancake breakfast. Come along and have a fun breakfast of 3 pancakes, juice or Milo and fresh fruit. There will be no cereal or toast offered and we will be starting at 8:15am. Everyone is welcome.

We would like to thank everyone who has volunteered their time and donated food for the Brekky Club. A big thankyou for the wonderful food donations from Loaves and Fishes vial the Devonport Chaplaincy. A special thankyou to Mrs Hillier, Mrs Magupa, Mrs Willett, Mr Peace and Ms Johns for helping out.

Lyn Aherne – Coordinator

Early Years Update – Term 4

Message from our Health Nurse—Leah Furley

Did you know your school nurse is not only here to provide support to your kids? We can also support parents because, as parents, you really matter! In fact, there have been many studies that have found that children who have engaged and interested parents go on to do well in life as adults. We want your children to have the best possible health and education outcomes.

The primary focus of the School Health Nurse Program is prevention and providing support. We do this by working with schools to create a physical and social environment that promotes health and well-being by:

• Working with the support team of the school
• Performing vision and hearing tests and health assessments
• Helping the school manage complex medical conditions like epilepsy
• Addressing any medical issues that may be impacting on learning

We can also provide support for parents and children on a wide range of health issues as well as a kinder check for all kids in kinder. It’s not compulsory, but it is a good way to identify any area of health or development that might be of concern and assist families in getting help if needed. Kinder checks usually take place at the beginning of the new school year and we check your child’s hearing and vision, height and weight, oral health and any other concerns identified by the parent.

A consent form is sent home for you to fill in and you can write down any concerns you may already have. Once the paperwork is signed and returned, the assessment takes place.

If the assessment is normal you will get a letter and a copy of the results. If it’s not, you will receive a phone call to discuss the possibility of a referral to external services like oral health, optometrist or the GP.

I’m at the school every Tuesday. My office is in the Administration block. Please feel free to visit me or ask the school to contact me if it’s not a Tuesday.

I look forward to seeing you and your children all next year.

Leah Furley – School Nurse

Launching into Learning

Thank you to all the families who have attended one of our Launching into Learning programmes this year. It has been my pleasure getting to know you and your children, having a laugh and learning together!

Our last Nature Play session will be run on the Wednesday, December 9th. To celebrate the success of this programme will be hosting a free sausage sizzle! Please RSVP by Monday, December 7th.

Our last Stay and Play session will be on Friday, December 11th. We will be getting into the Christmas spirit with a breakup party. Please bring along a pre-packaged snack to share.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page, as well as the Launching into Learning Seesaw group over the holiday period for some exciting up and coming events in 2021.

Launching into Learning is a great way to begin preparing your child for school starting from birth! We offer a range of services in a relaxed, flexible and supportive environment for you and your child.

Have a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to seeing some new faces and welcoming back regulars in 2021!

Jess Bellchambers—LiL Coordinator

2021 Kindergarten Enrolment

It is time to get your child enrolled for Kindergarten in 2021. If you would like to enrol your child at Hillcrest Primary, please contact the school office on 6424 5211 or contact our Early Years teachers Carol Miller, Jess Bellchambers or Jaime-Lea Duff.

If you know of families in our area with a child turning 4 by January 1, 2021, please encourage them to enquire about enrolling in our Kinder for next year. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Move Well Eat Well

Nature Play

So much fun in the sun! Take up the ‘summer challenge’ with your family during the summer break:

• Play in a creek
• Catch a crab
• Build a sandcastle city
• Play beach or backyard cricket using sticks as stumps
• Do yoga or martial arts poses barefoot on the grass
• Collect sticks to make a kite
• Press flowers or leaves
• Draw pictures or play noughts and crosses in the sand

MWEW Team

Slipstream Circus 20 Years Celebration