31 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

2022

From the Principal

Jerome Pape is currently on Long service leave and will be returning on the first day of term 2. Until he returns at this time, I will be Acting Principal.

As many of you are aware I have been at Hillcrest Primary School in a co-Principal role for term one. It has been both an honour and a privilege to work with such a resilient and courageous community.

I would like to thank the school community for the support they have offered to Jerome, the leadership team, and the staff at the school as we all continue to acknowledge and recover from the tragedy in December last year. Since the beginning of the year, we have attempted to return to routine activities of school life and despite the impact of Covid, we have managed to, in the most part, been able to do this.

I recognise for many people that the last few months have been extremely challenging, but sending children to school, when they are well, allows everyone to return to school routines. For me, seeing the children laughing, smiling, and having fun while they are learning certainly brings a huge level of positivity to our school.

Can I also thank the school community for ensuring they are maintaining best covid practices, allowing our school to stay safe. Again, ensuring we are following public health advice can be difficult and sometimes hard to understand, but keep up the great work with this.

Last Friday a note was sent home encouraging our parents and community members to think about being part of the school association. Our Annual General Meeting will be held next Thursday evening (7th April) at 7 pm. We are looking for new members to join the association and help to support the school going forward. I’m happy to talk to any parents or community members who would like to think about joining. Please contact the school office and ask to speak to me about this opportunity. At this point I would also like to thank the outgoing member, Kylie Lunson, for her outstanding service to the school association over a number of years.

The School Association have been responsible for coming up with the master plan for the school. This plan outlines improvements to the school buildings and grounds over the next 5-10 years. Some of this work has been completed. One project that has been postponed is the upgrade to the school oval. The school planned to remove the cricket pitch, re-sow the oval and introduce some irrigation late last year. Recently I have asked the contractors to delay this work until the end of term 3 and early term 4 this year.

There are a number of students and staff that are certainly making a huge effort to ensure our school is looking really good. Our Hands on Learning group, Ryder, Felicity, Ruby, Brock, Tahj, Josh, Hunta, Jeremy, Alicia and Aaliyrah have been busy working on garden beds around the school and have already made a significant impact as the photos below show. Thanks also to our staff members, who have planted some trees and shrubs near the bike rack. It is now really important that our school community look after these garden beds both during and after school hours.

Jeffrey Triffitt – Acting Principal

NAPLAN 2022 Parent Information

Covid-19 Symptoms

COVID-19 symptoms to look out for

Thank you to our entire school community for your cooperation this term by practising COVID-safe behaviours.

As you know, an important COVID-safe behaviour is to stay at home if you’re unwell and get tested for COVID-19 using a rapid antigen test.

Public Health tells us that the number of cases of COVID-19 in children is low, and they’re likely to have milder symptoms.

It’s a good reminder to be mindful of the symptoms of COVID-19 in children. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 in children are cough, fever, runny nose and gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

For more information, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au  or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, please contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

A big thank you to our entire school community for your cooperation this term by practising COVID-safe behaviours! A reminder: if your child feels unwell, it’s important you keep them at home and get them tested for COVID-19 using a rapid antigen test. Please be mindful of the most common COVID-19 symptoms in children – a cough, fever, runny nose and gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Covid-19 Vaccination

Vaccination is the best protection

Our school has many COVID-19 safety measures in place, but vaccination is the best way to protect your child from COVID-19.

As per Public Health advice, vaccination is safe and helps to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Your child will need two doses (eight weeks apart) to be fully vaccinated.

If you haven’t already, please book your child aged 5+ years in for their initial vaccination or second dose vaccination. It’s easy to book your appointment online. Alternatively, call the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.

Please know that all children, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated or not, are welcome to attend school.

For more information, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au  or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, please contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Let’s Talk Campaign

Share your views on the Let’s Talk Campaign and WIN one of 10 Gift cards worth $50.00

Have you seen the Let’s Talk TV ad? Maybe you heard the radio ad in the car?

Even if you haven’t heard of Let’s Talk, we want to hear from you!

If you are a parent or carer, please fill in this 5 minute feedback form and tell us what you think of the Let’s Talk Campaign so far.

You will go into the running for one of 10 $50 gift cards that can be used at a range of shops and supermarkets.

Are you getting some tricky questions at home about COVID-19? Watch the video below with senior school psychologist Janet Coad. She shares tips on talking to kids about Covid.

If you want to take your mind off COVID-19, you can find lots of fun ideas for chatting with your kids at the Let’s talk website

Stay up to date with Let’s Talk by signing up for our newsletter here:

Feedback link:

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our Hilly Kid for the ‘Respecting People’ topic from weeks 6 & 7 was Alicia in 5/6K and our Aussie of the Month for February was Korey in P/1P, Congratulations!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Our current Hilly Kids focus topic is Rights:

We quite often hear the word ‘rights’. So, what are rights? People talk about the right to an education or the right to vote. Basically, it means that people are entitled to something and that those around them, or those in authority, should make sure they get what they are entitled to.

In our school children have a number of rights:

• The right to learn.
• The right to be safe.
• The right to be respected.

It is everyone’s responsibility to make sure that these rights are respected. How can you do that?

• Make sure you help those around you learn by being a good learner yourself. Concentrate on your work and spend your time productively in class.
• In the playground play safely and look after those around you. Be friendly and this will help others feel safe.
• Respect all the people in our school. Think about how you behave with them.
• Look after the rights of others and your rights will be looked after as well.

Mother’s Day Stall

Our Mother’s Day stall will be on, Tuesday, 3 May. The purpose of the stall is to give each child an opportunity to buy a small gift for their mother or a special person for Mother’s Day. It is also a School Association fundraising event.

Parents are asked to buy or make a small gift to the value of $3 and send it to school by Monday, 2 May (first day of Term 2). Your child will place the present in the box in the classroom and tick their name on the list on the box. Every child who donates to the stall will go into the draw to win a gift for mum. PLEASE DO NOT WRAP GIFTS.

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 and mention it to the class teacher. Donations of wrapping paper are also appreciated as the children are given paper to wrap their gifts.

Please leave your name at the school office if you can help on the stall between 9 – 10.30am on the day.

HPS Fundraising Committee

Soccer Information

Don’t forget Soccer starts this Saturday, 2 April.

Please follow the link below-. This website will be your one stop shop for everything you need to know for the 2022 School Soccer season.

There are two ways to find games.

1. Click on Divisions - drop down will give you age groups.
2. Click on teams and click on your team.

If you can coach or manage your child’s team, and hold a current WWVP card, please contact the school office as soon as possible.

Only students who have registered and paid their fees are able to collect their soccer top.

Launching into Learning

Term 1 Hillcrest LIL Timetable

Friday 1 April

Our LIL on Location session will be held at the Devonport Community Garden – 2 Morris Ave. We will also have some baby play and other fun activities, including bubbles, parachute games, cars/trucks and a story basket. We hope to see you there!

21 – 25 March 2022 - A busy week in LIL

Last Monday we had our first outdoor ‘Story Time’ and outdoor library with the theme of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Our afternoon ‘Stay, Play and Explore’ session was filled with activities around the theme of frogs and water play.

On Friday, we finished off our week at the East Devonport bike park for our LIL on Location.

It was so lovely to see some familiar and some new faces. We are looking forward to having plenty of fun in our future sessions!

3-4HG

To start the year in 3-4HG, students have been creating an interest poster to display on our All About Me window space. The students used their learning about how to write successful sentences to explain details about their interest. They also got to practice iPad skills on the internet and Microsoft Word to decorate their interest poster with images. Finally, the creativity of the students came to the fore with the way each of them decorated their heading and border. We hope you enjoy reading through them.

Hillcrest Tuckerbox

Packing a School Lunchbox

When children eat well, they behave better, are able to listen well and concentrate longer. Packing a healthy school lunchbox will help children to learn and play well and be happy at school.

Steps to Planning a Healthy Lunchbox

• Make time to prepare. Have fresh fruit and vegetables, milk and yoghurt, bread and crackers all bought in advance.
• Shop wisely and save money. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables in season to ensure good quality and value for money.
• Make your own snack packs, eg snack packs from fresh ingredients which you can buy in bulk.
• Look after the environment. Put sandwiches and other items in reusable containers. This uses less packaging and creates less rubbish.
• Choose a variety of foods from the 5 food groups.
• Include a bottle of water – no need for sweetened drinks such as juice, cordial or soft drink as these contain too much sugar, which is not good for teeth. Non-water drinkers usually start drinking water with the example of other children. Freeze a small quantity each night and top up with cold water in the morning for a cool summer drink.
• Keep food cool. In warm weather place a small ice pack in the lunchbox.

Remember to involve your children in preparing and packing their own lunchbox.

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Healthy Lunchbox – Get your kids involved!

In the kitchen:

• Select easy lunchbox recipes to cook up on weekends
• Share simple tasks such as cracking eggs, stirring and measuring ingredients
• Set healthy lunchbox rules that include choosing a food from each food group
• Encourage children to fill their drink bottles with water.

At the Shops

• Allow children to choose their own fruit and vegetables
• Avoid the junk food aisle and set limits on highly processed foods
• Ask children to help look for products with the most stars

In the Garden

• Set up a vegetable patch or pot with some easy to grow vegetables and fruit, eg cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries
• Let children plant and pick their own vegetables for snacks
• Set gardening tasks such as weeding and watering

MWEW Team

Slipstream Circus Holiday Fun

Devonport Tennis Club

Wanted! School Crossing Guards

Devonport Junior Soccer