Parkhill Primary School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers

Week 6! 

Reports will be coming home soon and will look similar to your semester 1 report. They will be emailed directly to you and will contain achievement and progress comments for term 4 and a statement of content delivered in term 3. A cover letter will explain the difference. 

I understand that the drop off and pick up arrangements continue to cause some annoyance. It is important for us all to be flexible during these times. I have posted the signage below for your information which explains the parking and stopping rules for the front of the school. As you can see it is a no standing zone on school days from 8:30am - 9:30am and then from 3pm - 4pm. The 2 minute park only applies to before school for drop off as this is our allocated drop off zone. We do not have a pick up zone therefore you need to park and walk to collect your children, or arrange an alternative pick up point. This is for the safety of the children at the front of the school. Please help us to keep all of our students safe and honour the signage. I was quite shocked at the response I received from some parents last week when I pointed out the signage to them.

It is so important that we role model safe and sensible use of the local area to our children. 

The School Improvement Team has been looking at our school data and has developed our priorities going into 2021. The Annual Implementation Plan is developed with staff at this time of the year to drive our priority focus areas for the following year. I am very excited to share with you the priority areas for 2021.   

Our 2021 priorities include Writing, Inquiry Maths and Student Voice and Agency. These areas will include  data driven practices with a focus on consistency. Also looking at rolling out our Compass parent portal next year which went on hold in 2020 due to the interruption of CoVID! 

We have spent a long time compiling classes and student placements, which are almost ready!

STAFFING NEWS:

At the end of term 4 we will be saying goodbye to a few members of our Education Support Team. I’m sure you will join me in wishing Jenn Bartle, June Ren, Sue Lyle and Meenakshi Banerjee best wishes for their future endeavours. Many of you will know Karen Naylor.  Karen has been a member of the ES team for many years and is retiring at the end of 2020 to spend more time enjoying the finer things in life. Again I am sure you will join me in wishing her all the very best for the future.

TOYS AT SCHOOL:

We would like your help in discouraging children from bringing lots of precious toys to school. Often children bring a favourite toy and it stays in their bag, or something for show and tell or to play with at recess/lunch. These toys are ok for children to bring to school – but please do discourage them from bringing precious things to school.  At school things get broken and lost and children become quite distressed and unable to focus on their day if this happens.

Reminders: 

• Free Dress Fri-Yay every Friday until the end of term 4

• Monday is a curriculum day (November 16th) - no students at school

• 2019 Annual Report to the Community is available on our website: https://parkhillps.vic.edu.au/

Please reach out if you need support, help or have any feedback at all to offer elaine.brady@education.vic.gov.au

Take care and very best wishes,

Elaine Brady

Principal

Monday 16th November - Curriculum Day - No School  

Tuesday 8 December - Whole School Transition (details to follow)

Wednesday 16 December - Grade 6 Graduation (details to follow)

Friday 18th December - Last day Term 4 - 1.30pm Finish

F/1C - Kira T

F/1S - Vic W

F/1M - Pyungkang K

2/3B - Ali A

2/3L - Jaymierl S

2/3T - Hamzeh S

4/5D - Lucas M

4/5H - Maryam S

4/5O - Milan T

5/6C - Angela W, Asha W, Julia R, Gemma E, Penny R

5/6G - Ethan B

If you are dropping your child off at school late or picking your child up from school early, please come to the office door and ring the doorbell. We will organise for your child to be taken to class, or for your child to meet you at the office to go home. Please do not go to your child’s classroom to collect them or send them straight to class if they are late.

We have a confirmed case of slap cheek in the 4/5 area. The first symptoms are lethargy and body soreness and then it presents itself as a rash on the cheeks. Once the rash appears it is not infectious. Children are infectious the week before the rash appears so if your child feels unwell or experiences any of the symptoms above please keep them home.

Starting a new inquiry unit is always exciting, but Y5/6 really sunk their teeth into the ‘Creativity’ this week, exploring a range of traditional arts from around the globe. Students engaged with weaving, sculpture, calligraphy, dot painting, Rangoli rice flour designs, traditional Maori tattooing and Tibetan Prayer flags. I wonder where our student’s wondering will lead us this time?

Andrea Crane

Y5/6 Teacher

Ever had a discussion with a stranger on the internet? It’s a weird experience as I’m sure some of you know. You start off talking facts and before long they’ve taken offence at your position and started deflecting from the issue and instead have a go at your character or identity.

This happened recently with my status as an actual bona fide Melburnian being called into question.

As I arrived at work that morning and stared off into the distance where the skyscrapers in our CBD stood tall, strong and proud against the gathering grey clouds, the buildings seemed a fitting metaphor for this city and our character. Character forged through hardship, underneath our grumbling and complaining there was great resilience, kindness, compassion and a great sense of community waiting to be unearthed. 

Adversity can impact on our character, who we think we are, the rattling of such foundational issues can be borne of insecurity and drive divisive behaviour; but it can also shake us in such a way that we come out of it with a stronger sense of who we really are. It is under testing we find our limits and we may be pleasantly surprised at where those limits lie. How many times did we think “I can’t take one more moment of this” and yet, here we are?  

Our children too can learn who they are through adversity, we don’t need to take away every challenge and smooth every path in life for them to succeed. Tempting, though it is, to bring the forgotten homework or to succumb to the texts from the teenagers to pick them up from the station cause it’s ‘raining’;  what a wonderful gift we give in allowing them to falter until they find they actually can do what they once thought was impossible. Easier said than done sometimes (on the last rainy occasion I was saved by the bus arriving rather than my steely resolve) but a wonderful gift nonetheless.

Suzanne Carmody

Chaplain

Dear Parkhill Families,

We received our first Scholastic delivery and the books were sent home on Wednesday. There are a few items on back-order and we expect to receive them by the end of the month. Thank you for placing your orders as the Scholastic rewards we receive allow us to purchase resources for our school. We have also received the last Scholastic Book Club brochure for 2020. The brochures were sent home earlier this week. 

If you would like to place an order, you will need to do so on the Book Club LOOP platform. It is easy to order and allows you to pay by credit card.

• Browse the online catalogue Book Club Issue 8 2020

• Place an order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play

• Kindly note that ALL orders have to be placed online, no cash payments please

If you would like to purchase the books as gifts, please email angelita.williams@education.vic.gov.au. Arrangements will be made to get the orders to you outside of the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times. Kindly note that these arrangements will be made individually as parents are not allowed on premises at this time.

Again, thank you for your support as every Book Club order earns Scholastic Rewards for us to purchase resources. Remember, there is no obligation to order.

Please do get in touch if you have any queries: angelita.williams@education.vic.gov.au.

The cut off date for orders is Thursday 26 November

Ashwood High is looking for a friendly outgoing person to work in a fast pace environment.

Would suit mum with school age children looking for casual work.

Hours between 9.45am and 1.45pm, 2 or 3 days a week.

Some hospitality experience preferred, but not essential. willing to train the right person.

If interested, please send resume to bel.doughty@gmail.com.

Or phone Belinda on 0437106933.

Office Bearers:

President: Rossanne Clay       

Treasurer: Vacant

Secretary/Communications: Kylie Touloupis

General Members:  

Elle Delmee, Maria Andrakakos, Sumi Sundram, Vanessa Cowley, Trish King

NO PLANS ON CURRICULUM DAY?

DON’T FORGET TO GET ON BOARD WITH OUR FUN-A-THON AND

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE AND BEAT THE CLOCK!

Back with a COVID twist this year is our annual online fundraiser.

If you have a particular talent and want to put it to good use - this is the year for you!

How many hula hoops can you spin at one time?

How many hot dogs can you eat in a minute?

How many baskets can you slam dunk in 5 minutes?

Tell us what you are going to do, get some friends and family to sponsor you and get going!

Sign up as a fundraiser at  https://chuffed.org/project/parkhill-fun-a-thon