4 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

August

From the Principal

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to Term 3! It has been a cold and wet start to the term (including hail!), so it is great to see so many students rugged up for the cold. If you have queries regarding our winter uniform, please feel free to contact the office.

We have several new staff starting at the school this term. Welcome to Michelle Burke, who is undertaking the role of AST for the remainder of the year. We also welcome Aimee Hanson and Lucy Davis (Recovery Admin); Brooke Watson, Georgie Duggan and Hannah Magar (Recovery TAs); Kate Brooke and Alex Abblitt (Recovery teachers); Phoebe Hortle and Tanya Gaden (Early Childhood TAs) and Colleen Dewar (Kinder TA). We hope that you all enjoy your time at Hillcrest.

A reminder that our School Association Committee Meeting will be held this Thursday, 4th August in the meeting room at school, starting at 7.00pm. Please feel free to contact the office for further information.

Covid-Safe Term 3

As per Public Health advice, from 2 May close contacts who do not have symptoms and return a negative test when notified they are a close contact no longer have to isolate. However, they must follow the Public Health close contact rules. Specifically, for Department of Education schools this means:

• test for COVID-19 every day for seven days when coming to school
• Face Masks are not required for primary school students and for students under 12.

What will stay the same:

We will continue to safely manage COVID-19 in schools and make every day of learning count. If students have symptoms and have not had COVID-19 in the past 4 weeks, they must stay home and do a RAT. It is important to get tested for COVID-19 if any of the following symptoms occur, even mild, unless it has been less than 4 weeks since the person was released from isolation for COVID-19. The common symptoms of COVID-19 are:

• fever (or signs of fever, including chills or night sweats)
• runny nose
• cough sore or itchy throat
• shortness of breath
• loss of taste or smell

Other symptoms that can occur include:

• gastrointestinal symptoms – nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting
• headache
• muscle and joint pains
• loss of appetite
• fatigue

If the RAT is positive, students must stay home for seven days and isolate. They must report the positive RAT to Public Health - this is a requirement under Section 16 of the Public Health Act 1997.

Families should also let the school know and they should be offered learning from home options if they are well enough to do so.

Levies Payments

Dear Families,

This is a reminder that levies are now due to be paid in full.

Statements for levies are posted each month and provide BPay details for parents to facilitate payments or payments can also be made at the office via EFTPOS

Please ensure that you attend to outstanding levies as a matter of priority.

Please note

If you meet the requirements below, you may be eligible to apply for Student Assistance (STAS), which will allow you to have your Levy Invoices cancelled. Please read below and consider your options.

The Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to low-income families towards the cost of levies for students enrolled in a school from kindergarten through to year 12.

STAS is provided through school and college resourcing rather than payment direct to families.

Eligibility

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

Services Australia – Centrelink Health Care Card
Service Australia – Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card
Services Australia – Pensioner Concession Card or
Department of Veteran Affairs – Pensioner Concession Card

PAYMENT OF 2022 LEVIES

If you are not eligible for STAS and would like to discuss options for levy payments, please speak to our School Business Manager, Renee Pardoe.

Renee Pardoe
School Business Manager

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our current Hilly Kids focus topic is Responsibility. Our next focus topic for term 3 will be Use Your Voice.

Use Your Voice

Along with body language, learning how we should use our voice is very important. Often it is not the words we say, but how we say them, that really lets people know how we feel. We can use the tone and volume of our voice to convey lots of messages. Just think about how many different ways you can say the word “no”.

Think about the way you use your voice to show people that you are friendly. Even when you have to say something that is difficult or you must disagree with someone, you can use your voice in a way that is fair and friendly, not mean or unfriendly. Perhaps in your class next week you can practise using your voice in different ways and see what message it sends. Our voice can allow us to negotiate, be assertive but respectful, share our opinion and voice our rights. Make sure you use a respectful manner when you are speaking up for what you believe in.

Our Hilly Kid for the Consequences topic from Term 2 was Ella-Rose from 3-4B and our Aussie of the Month for June was Oscar Keegan from 3-4B. Congratulations, Ella-Rose and Oscar!

Well done to our other class representatives:

School Photos

School photos are on Tuesday morning, August 9th. Order forms were sent home with all students at the end of term 2. Please ask at the office if you require a duplicate envelope for the second parent or a sibling photo envelope.

Sibling Photos

Please collect an envelope from the school office if you would like a sibling photo. These can be ordered with cash in the envelope returned to school or online with card or Paypal. All children in the sibling photo must attend this school.

Late Fee

There may be a late fee for all orders received after photo day. Photos will not be printed for any orders received without payment until payment is received. The school does not deal with any late orders. They must be directed to MSP Photography.

Kinder Children

Kinder children will have their photos taken in the FIRST time slot so they should come in the morning at 8:55am sharp. If you are late, you may not make the class group photo. Please ask Miss Lewis and Mrs Sterta if you have any questions about this arrangement.

General Information

• Complete the information on all envelopes and return it to school ASAP ensuring payment is in the envelope or paid online before photo day.
• Do not seal envelopes inside each other - you can pay for all your children in one envelope or by online ordering; however, each child needs to have their own separate envelope on photo day. If you wish to order photos, tick the required box on each child’s envelope, even if the payment is in another envelope.
• Please enclose correct money as NO change will be given. The school office will NOT make change. Only cash is accepted in the envelopes – no cheques. Make sure you tear the order form at the perforation and then seal the envelope if enclosing money.
• Credit cards can only be used for online order payments.
• All children will have their photo taken on the day, whether parents intend to purchase any or not, so all students need to wear full school uniform, including a school jumper. Teachers will encourage students to comb their hair and ensure their clothing is neat.
• There is a very generous discount on all orders placed online that total over $110. This discount is ONLY available for online orders and cannot be claimed AFTER photo day.

Grade 6 Transition to RHS Information

Grade 6 Transition to High School – 2023

This term, there will be an opportunity for all Grade 6 students to participate in transition activities, getting them ready to head off to high school in 2023. This is what we currently know:

Tuesday, 9th August - Reece High School student leaders and staff will visit our school for an initial meet and greet with all our grade 6 students.

Wednesday 31st August - all Grade 6 students will attend a Transition Challenge Day at the Devonport Rec Centre.

(All Gr 6 students will attend these days, regardless of which High School they will attend.)

Reece High School Family Information Night

For parents of students starting Grade 7 in 2023:

Thursday 18th August, Parent Information Evening at Reece High School (6:00pm to 7:30pm)

As more information is passed on to us, we will send the information home with students.

Kinder Lewis

At the end of last term, Kinder Lewis had lots of fun turning into postal workers! They learnt about different types of letters and used their classroom post office to learn how to address and post letters. Students had great delight creating letters for staff members in the school, then enjoyed using the kinder ‘post buggy’ to deliver the letters. Our students were also very excited to receive some replies to their letters in their own classroom post boxes.

NAIDOC Week

In the last week of term 2 classes participated in activities and learning about the significance of NAIDOC week. As a part of this, each class was asked to work together on creating an Acknowledgement to Country for their classroom. Lots of discussions around what is an Acknowledgement of Country, and the difference to a Welcome to Country were held. Some classes also used the opportunity to explore aspects of Indigenous culture or learn about inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their achievements. Here are some of our classroom displays:

Mrs Smallbon’s Art Classes

Just a reminder for all children to bring a smock, old T-shirt, or shirt to school as we will be doing printmaking this term. Thank you to those parents who have already sent these to school.

Fathers’ Day Stall

The Fathers’ Day Stall will be held on Tuesday, 30 August. The purpose of the stall is to give each child an opportunity to buy a small gift for Fathers’ 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, 29 August. Please do not wrap gifts. Your child will put the present in a box in the classroom and tick their name on the list on the box. Every child who donates to the stall will go into a draw to win a gift for Fathers’ Day.

On the day of the stall please send your child to school with $3 to purchase a gift. If you do not want your child to participate, please tell him/her beforehand.

Donations of wrapping paper are also needed. Offers of assistance to help run the stall on the Tuesday from 9-10:30am would be most welcome. Please leave your name at the school office if you can help on the day.

Fundraising Coordinator

Raffle

Remember our raffle is still running. There are extra books available, so drop into the school office and grab some for a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes.

Please return the stubs with the money in a sealed envelope to the school office by Friday 26 August.

The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 31 August.

Fundraising Committee

5¢ Coin Challenge

During Term 2, classes collected 5¢ coins as a school fundraiser. The challenge has now finished, the coins have been hauled to the bank and fed into the exhausted coin counting machine and the tallies are in. The winning class, with a total of $181.75, is P-1P!! That is an amazing 3635 - 5¢ coins collected! What an effort!

The final total from all classes is $589.40. Whilst we didn’t beat our all-time record, it’s still an astounding 11788 coins!!

Thank you for your donations!

Fundraising Committee

Sunrise Bakery Pie Drive

Once again, our Pie Drive was a great success this year! Thank you to all who went out of their way to get orders and contributed to this wonderful fundraising effort.

A huge thank you to Carissa for an awesome job packing the orders.

The final tally for the Sunrise Bakery Pie Drive was over $1,200!! What an absolutely amazing effort!

Fundraising Committee

Tuckerbox Tips

Become a Waste Warrior

Swap

• Cling wrap & zip-lock bags for reusable containers
• Disposable drink containers for durable drink bottles

Reuse

• Try reusable food wraps such as beeswax wraps
• Use a sandwich box to keep sandwiches fresh & intact

Minimise

• Choose foods that create less waste to minimise use of single use plastics
• Buy in bulk & place serves in reusable containers
• Choose fruit & vegetables with their own natural packaging

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Get your kids involved

In the kitchen

• Select easy lunchbox recipes to cook up on weekends
• Share simple tasks such as cracking eggs, stirring & measuring ingredients
• Help kids build their own lunchbox by keeping a selection of healthy grab & go items
• Encourage kids to fill their drink bottles with water

At the shops

• Allow kids to choose their own fruits & vegetables
• Avoid junk food aisles & set limits on highly processed foods
• Ask kids to look for products with the most stars

In the garden

• Set up a vegetable patch or pot with some easy to grow vegetables & fruit
• Let children plant & pick their own vegetables for snacks
• Set the garden tasks such as weeding & watering

MWEW Team

The 2022 Fairy Godmothers Market