16 March 2023

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

2023

From the Principal

It’s been a busy and exciting fortnight with lots of things happening at our school. Class learning routines are in full swing, and it has been fantastic to see our students being fully emersed in their learning.

Some highlights of mine have been seeing a group of our Prep/1 students in the outdoors with Mrs Bonney exploring the sounds of the environment as part of their Letters and Sounds focus during their literacy block, new and existing families engaging in our Launching in to Learning sessions with Miss Lewis and hearing about how Mrs Kelly and Mrs Peace are working a little differently with their Science curriculum this year, joining the Year 5’s and 6’s from both classes to explore their particular areas of the Science content.

NAPLAN

Yesterday our Year 3 and 5 student commenced NAPLAN testing for 2023. All students across Australia participate in NAPLAN and it provides information and results to schools about what is working well with teaching and learning programs. NAPLAN results allow parents/carers and educators to see how students are progressing in literacy and numeracy over time – individually, as part of their school community, and against national standards.

NAPLAN also provide schools and the state with information about how education approaches are working, areas to be prioritised for improvement, and those schools requiring support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.

The results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress.

NAPLAN

Week 5 Assembly

Thank you to families, friends and community members who joined us on Tuesday for our first assembly of 2023. We recognised two student s from each class who have made a positive impact in demonstrated Hilly Kid Values and respect during the first 5 weeks. Congratulations to all achievement award recipients.

We presented our 2023 Student Representative Council and Sport Leader badges, our student leadership group have already shown such great leadership and are wonderful role models for our schools. Our Sport Leaders have worked well with Mr Forward, acting on feedback and learning new skills from him to implement our Daily PE program for Prep-6 and each day our students independently organise themselves for their daily activity. It is pleasing to see our Sport Leaders demonstrate such high levels of confidence to deliver their sessions.

Sports Leaders 2023

Our Student Representative Council are working under the guidance of Mrs Peace this year and have already been busy! They hosted our assembly beautifully, and recently arranged activities for Clean Up Australia Day at school. Our student leadership group plays and important part in being the voice of their peers and I look forward to working with them to ensure we hear and implement their ideas.

Student Representative Council 2023

Our assemblies are held on Wednesdays at 2pm on Week 5 and 10. Parents/families of presenting classes and award recipients will be invited via See Saw. However, we invite all school community members are welcome to attend.

School Association

On Thursday 2 March we held our School Association meeting, thank you to current committee members, Carolyn, Fiona, Lyn, Helen and Janmaree for attending. The role of the school association is to contribute towards the planning and future decisions of the school to best serve our community. It is a critical and valued component of in maintain high standards and expectations for our students and being a voice for the wider school community.

Meetings are held twice a term and go for less than two hours. We will be holding another meeting on 3o March and our AGM in early May. We will be looking for more members to join us and I invite you to consider this valuable role.

During the meeting I shared some preliminary drafts and ideas for our refreshed school logo, from this meeting I will take feedback to the graphic designer and in coming weeks, we hope to release some of these designs to our wider school community for consultation. Combined with our new signage and environment upgrades a new look logo will enable us to continue to increase our positive profile and perception of our fantastic school in the community.

School uniform

Thank you to parents and carers who support our students to come to school dressed in full school uniform each day. As I have mentioned previously, our school uniform gives a strong sense of team and culture at Hillcrest. Over the past few weeks, as the weather has changed to be cooler, we have noticed that some students are wearing multi coloured clothing, grey or black pants and long sleeve coloured tops under their school uniform. We ask that where possible students continue to wear grey or navy for bottoms with gold and royal blue for their tops. We thank you for you continued support.

Application to Learning reports

At the end of week 8, Friday 31 March, parents/carers of students Prep to Year 6 will receive your child’s Application to Learning report. This report gives you a summary of how our students have started the year and areas identified for improvement. The areas covered in this report are based on work habits, social/emotional learning and the way students approach their learning. If you have any queries in relation to this report please don’t hesitate to make contact with your child’s class teacher.

Georgia Perry - Principal

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Last fortnight our Hilly Kids focus was ‘Respecting the Environment’

It was so wonderful to see the entire school, led by our Student Council, participating in Clean up Australia Day by tidying our school. We also celebrated our learning in a Hilly Kids Assembly where Prep/1 Lawes shared a song about respecting our environment.

We would also like to say a big thank you to our EFAs Tan, Maryanne, Peter and Brendan for all the time and effort they put into our school grounds to keep them maintained for us to enjoy.

Respecting People

Our current Hilly Kids focus topic is Respecting People.

As adults, we are our children’s best role models, and it is important that we lead by example. Being respected by important people in our lives while growing up teaches us how to be respectful toward others. 

Respect means that you accept somebody for who they are, even when they're different from you or you don't agree with them. Respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust, safety and wellbeing.

Respectful relationships come when we are showing respect for people. We all have equal rights and responsibilities. Neither gender is more important or better than the other. All people have the right to achieve their potential, knowing that they are supported by respectful relationships and friendships from everyone around them.

We can learn from each other.

We are looking forward to celebrating Harmony Day on Tuesday 21st March where we, as a school, will participate in mixed class group activities to further explore and celebrate the uniqueness of our school community.

Reading Stars

We are working hard to develop a love of reading at Hillcrest Primary School. At the end of each month reading achievement is celebrated when class teachers nominate a reading star from their class. A photo of our Reading Stars can be seen on display in our library. The following students have been chosen as Reading Stars for February: Bentley, Riley, Shelby, Zoe, Oliver, Connor, Ryan and Ella.

It was great to have Mrs Trudy Pearce, Deputy Secretary Services for Children and Young People visit and celebrate with us.

Children are chosen for a variety of reasons including: developing their reading stamina, changing their home readers, having an enthusiastic approach to guided reading lessons, actively participating in class reading opportunities or always respecting the books in the classroom.

Mrs Trudy Pearce, Deputy Secretary DECYP

Mrs Archer - Quality Teaching Coach

NWPSSA Penguin Athletics

Congratulations to our Year 5/6 athletics team who competed at Penguin last Thursday against primary schools from the northwest. Our team of 16 students performed exceptionally well, taking first place overall for Division C (divisions are based on school size). Our 3/4 carnival was postponed due to poor weather and they will compete on Wednesday 29 March. Goodluck to them as we hope to be the combined overall winners for Division C!

l

Grade 5/6 Team

Kinder Lewis

Meet Our Kinder Detectives!

Last Thursday Kindergarten students helped contribute to ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ by being ‘rubbish detectives’. We read a story about the journey of a plastic bag, and discussed the importance of putting rubbish in the bin and minimising waste. We then went and collected all of the rubbish from around the playground. When we had finished, we put the rubbish on the floor and looked at all of the different types of rubbish that had been collected and thought about where it had come from.

Well done for cleaning up our playground Kinder rubbish detectives!

Kinder Lewis Rubbish Detectives

Second Hand Boot Sale

We are holding a ‘Second-hand Boot Sale’ - Friday 17 March 2:45pm-3:15pm in the hall

We invite families to bring in any used soccer gear they wish to exchange/sell on Thursday 16th March, to the hall in the afternoon. A table will be set-up in the hall for you to leave your items to sell. Families can drop off items here from 2.45pm on Thursday.

You will be provided with a label to add your name, price and size to the item.

On Friday 17 March between 2:45pm-3:15pm items will be in sale on the Hall

What a great opportunity to pick up a bargain in preparation for the season ahead!

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 lunchboxes, 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

Easter Raffle

Raffle books were sent home last week. Please try to sell them to family and friends and return the books, with the money, in a sealed envelope to the school office by Wednesday, March 29th. The raffle will be drawn on Friday, March 31st. Please be mindful of the laws regarding children doorknocking to sell tickets: they MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Lyn Aherne – Fundraising

Surplus IT Stock – For Sale
(expressions of Interest)

Expressions of Interest are called for the purchase of surplus IT stock (iPads). These iPads are all in used condition, with no Warranty or support available. All items will be provisioned for home use and removed from the Hillcrest Primary School Inventory.

2017 iPads – $80.00

5th Generation iPad
32GB hard disk space.
9.7” display
Tough protective case

These will not be supplied with a charger brick or lead. The iPads have been kept in this hard case their whole life and present out of the case in almost perfect condition.

Please note limitations may be applied to number of devices purchased (maximum of 2 per person). Expressions of interest must be received Monday 20th March via email to hillcrest.primary@decyp.tas,gov.au and successful applicants will be notified by Monday 27th March.

Full payment by EFTPOS OR QKR will be required on collection.

Mr Lane – IT Co-ordinator

Parent Workshops Anxiety & ADHD

JackJumpers Clinics

The JackJumpers are bringing our basketball clinics to the NW of Tassie! I’m wondering if this is something your school could include in your school newsletter and / or on your school facebook page, so that families in the area are aware of this?

If you’re open to this idea below is a proposed blurb + attached graphic:

JackJumpers basketball clinics are coming to the North-West Coast, including Ulverstone, Burnie, Devonport and Latrobe! Join Tasmania's cheekiest ant, Jack the Jumper, for basketball fun and games. Learn fundamental basketball skills and rules of the game in a supportive atmosphere.

Weekend sessions of 1 hr for $50 which includes a basketball!

Saturday 1 April - Ulverstone

Ages 5-8- click here
Ages 9-12- click here

Saturday 20 May - Latrobe

Ages 5-8- click here
Ages 9-12- click here

Sunday 21 May – Burnie

Ages 5-8- click here
Ages 9-12- click here

Saturday 24 June - Devonport

Ages 5-8- click here
Ages 9-12- click here
And school holiday fun!

Thursday 13 April - Devonport

Click here
9-3pm for $120, which includes a basketball!

Friday 14 April - Burnie

Click here
10am-12pm for $70, which includes a basketball!

Crescendo Music Hub Scholarship

SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL DEVONPORT

Girls AFL

ECOFEST 2023