14 April 2022

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

From the Principal

School Association

Our Annual General Meeting was held last Thursday night, followed by a General Meeting.

I would once again like to thank the outgoing members – Kylie Lunson (Outgoing Chairperson) and Megan Butler (outgoing committee member)

We therefore had some vacant positions to fill. I would like to congratulate Carolyn Milnes who now holds the position of chairperson and Janelle Hayes and Alice Marshall who were also elected as our new community representatives. These people plus our existing members are now in the exciting and essential role of representing the Hilcrest Primary School community and supporting Jerome to make decisions to support the children at the school.

I also asked one or two of the community members of the school association to volunteer to join an extremely important local and state-wide committee called the “Hillcrest Affected Area Recovery Committee” These representatives have been asked to collect the communities voice and share it with a variety of other community and parliamentary stakeholders.

Thank you to Carolyn Milnes and Fiona Smith who volunteered to represent the school community on this committee.

Farewells

We have a few staff moving on from our Hillcrest team this Term. We would like to thank Tameka Mundy, who has been an Education Facility Attendant with us for the past 6 years, for her dedication and hard work keeping the school looking its best every day. We would also like to thank Mrs Alison Hillier, who has been our school Chaplain for the past 10 years. She has been such a large part of our school community in so many ways and we wish her all the best for the future.

Planning for next term

Starting from day 1 next term, Jerome will be back as Principal after a break for long service leave. I was speaking to him late last week and he passed onto me that he is really looking forward to seeing all the students, parents and staff and talking to them about their school holidays.

Wellbeing coordinator

Starting next term, we have been extremely lucky to gain the services of Danielle Mitchell as our school Wellbeing Coordinator. Welcome to Hillcrest Primary School, Danielle. This position doesn’t exist in any other school in the state and reflects the importance the school and the Department of Education places on student, staff, and community wellbeing.

While on the topic of holidays I would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing Easter break and school holidays. It has been a challenging term as we returned to school after a difficult Christmas and New year following the events of December 2021. Together with this there has been significant disruptions due to Covid, but as I said in the last newsletter, the school is extremely thankful for the support that has been given from a resilient and courageous community, in such adversity.

I look forward to working in the school again in term 2- See you all then.

Jeffrey Triffitt - Acting Principal

Covid-19 Information - Term 2

The following requirements remain for Term 2:

• Testing for COVID-19 when you have symptoms will continue in Term 2.
• Students will have access to rapid antigen tests here at school, to use if they have symptoms.
• If there is a COVID-19 case in your child’s classroom, we will let you know and ask you to monitor for symptoms – your child does not need to isolate and can continue going to school.
• If your child is unwell, please keep them home and get tested.

ANZAC DAY

This year Inika and Jazmyne from 5/6K will be representing our school at the ANZAC Day March on the 25th of April. Thank you for volunteering to attend.

2022 Book Fair

Start saving your coins! Our Book Fair will be on in Term 2. We will have lots of wonderful titles for you to choose from.

School Jumpers

We are still waiting for our order of size 4, 6 and 8 school jumpers to arrive. We are hoping to receive them mid to late May.

If any families have size 4 jumpers they no longer require, and are happy to donate them to the school for families who are waiting for stock to arrive it would be really appreciated.

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Goal Setting

Our first focus topic for Term 2 will be Goal Setting.

Doing your best and setting goals are two very helpful strategies. Interestingly, setting your goals will help you do your best. Setting goals means working out what you want to achieve before you start. If you do this well, you should have some idea of how you can achieve what you want.

When setting your goals try to make them realistic – in other words, try to aim for something that you can achieve and, most importantly, aim for something you really want to achieve. Don’t be concerned with the goals of others around you. Work out what you want and go for it.

Our Hilly Kid for the topic of ‘Rights’ from weeks 8 & 9 was Maya from 5-6K. Congratulations, Maya!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Mother’s Day Stall

Don’t Forget our Mother’s Day stall will be early in Term 2, 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 (1st 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 sent 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 – 10am on that day.

HPS Fundraising Committee

Chaplains Chat

Easter is fast approaching, and we have completed our first term in another year of enormous challenges. Hopefully the Easter break will give everyone a time of restoration and quality time with the people who are the most important in our lives.

It is also an opportunity as we take this Easter break to consider the spiritual part of who we are and a time to consider the meaning of Easter and the message of hope that this brings for our hurting world. If you have any questions about the meaning and significance of Easter, please feel free to ask me. New Page, Christian bookshop has lovely Easter books for children if you are looking for a special gift.

On another note, sadly this has been my final week at HPS. Over the past 10 years I have valued the friendships and the interaction with so many students and families. It has been my privilege to meet children and families at Launch into Learning sessions and see those children move all the way through primary school and to grow into wonderful young people. I have so many special memories. At this stage I am unsure who will take over my role as chaplain, but I want to say a huge thank you to families and staff for enabling my role to be such a privilege. I look forward to probably seeing you in the supermarket every now and then and hearing all your news.

Alison Hillier - Chaplain

5c Coin Challenge

We will be running our 5₵ Coin Challenge again in Term 2. Classes will collect 5₵ coins and have fun with activities such as weighing the coins to estimate the value and laying them out to measure how long their coin lines can get.

In 2021 we collected 14,570 5₵ coins and we aim to be bigger and better in this year’s challenge. So, during the school holidays, start collecting those pesky little coins and bring them along and launch this challenge! Let’s see which class can top the coin pile!

Fundraising Committee

Hillcrest Tuckerbox

Vegetables and legumes (e.g. kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils) are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. It is important that children eat a rainbow of different coloured vegetables every day.

Add vegetables to a range of different foods in your child’s lunchbox to keep it interesting. To increase vegetables in lunchboxes, try these tips:

• Vegetable sticks with dip
• Vegetables added to muffins, pikelets, scones & mini pizzas
• Salad in a container –celery, carrot & cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, snow peas
• Pasta salad or coleslaw
• Frittata or quiche

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Nature Play

So much to explore! Take up the “Autumn Challenge” with your family in your own backyard during the school holidays:

• Collect different types of leaves
• Paint and decorate pinecones and acorns
• Splash in a puddle and make mud pies
• Collect some bugs in a clear container and draw them
• Plant bulbs or some winter veggies
• Dig for dinosaur bones
• Organise a backyard scavenger hunt (just google ‘backyard scavenger hunt’ for great ideas)
• Build a backyard obstacle course
• Rediscover forgotten corners of the backyard
• Plan a camp-out in the backyard

MWEW Team

Easter Sunday at the Don Railway

Don Market Easter Fun