Doolooboorah

I was so proud of our school captains, band students and choir for the way they represented our school last week at the Soldiers Avenue Remembrance Day service and at the Harbord Diggers Service on Armistance Day. I was particularly proud of Leonardo (6L) who wrote and recited a moving speech on, ‘Peace’ which I have included below.  Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, Governor of NSW was in attendance at the service and has requested a copy of Leonardo’s speech for her office which is such an accolade.

Our choir also led the National Anthem and special thanks to Ms Kathryn Montgomery who conducted with a piper accompanying the choir. Both Ms Montgomery and the choir did an amazing job. Congratulations also to Sam A, Fin C & Charlie P who played The Last Post and Reveille. I received a lovely email of thanks from the RSL sub-branch and organising committee: “Our Committee and the Harbord Diggers can’t thank you and the school enough for the magnificent effort you, your teachers and children displayed on both the Sunday and Monday services. Their performance and beautiful manners were commented on with much praise all round. A special mention also for young Leonardo for his speech on “Peace” which was widely acclaimed”.

The following link will give you access to many of the photos from yesterday's commemoration service and march -  https://photos.app.goo.gl/N9y11jXCirDHGF5U6.  Most of the photos have been taken by Riley O'Toole.

It is with sadness and a heavy heart that I inform our community that Ms Lisa Mckenzie, our Deputy Principal, will be retiring at the end of this year to spend more time with her husband, family and friends. This will be a great loss for me personally, as Lisa has been an outstanding support to me since I arrived at Harbord last term. Lisa also has such an excellent knowledge of the staff, students and the way the school operates after her many years at the school, and she will be sorely missed by all of us. In her 40-year career, Ms McKenzie has amassed an amazing knowledge of student welfare and wellbeing and has a passion for curriculum and teacher professional learning. Staffing services will inform me of the process in finding Lisa’s replacement as a Deputy Principal.

I began my teaching career as a twenty year old on 31st January 1979, at Australia Street Infants School in Newtown, which was very different then to the suburb it is today with high numbers of non-English speaking students from a range of cultural backgrounds.  The school had only nine classes with three teachers on each grade, teaching in learning centres: Investigative, Creative and Communication.  I had the Investigative centre so taught Maths and Science to all year 2 classes. I could not have hoped for a better start, in such an innovative but nurturing environment!

After four years in Newtown I headed off to Europe and taught for over two years in two very different London schools, one on a council housing estate and the other in a suburb dominated by the homes of embassy families. The travel in each half term provided a respite from some of the most challenging primary teaching experiences of my career.

On my return to Australia I was initially posted to the country and once again worked in an infants school this time in Muswellbrook. To move back to Sydney I spent the next couple of years teaching in a girls high school at East Hills which fast tracked my return to the department and ultimately gave me a priority transfer back to the inner city. I worked for the next four years at Ferncourt Public in Marrickville. In my last year there, in 1992 my son was born and the following year I began my first executive role as Assistant Principal at Gardeners Road Public in Mascot, juggling a new school with full time work, motherhood and the needs of a one year old!

Having married someone from Manly, our intention was to finally settle on the Northern Beaches so in 1996, I successfully applied for the Assistant Principal role at Manly West where I spent the next eleven years. This school holds wonderful memories for my family as it had been the school my husband and his siblings attended and also became my son’s school.

My final and definitely the best chapter of my forty year career has been at Harbord. I arrived as Assistant Principal in 2008, with the last ten years spent in varying capacities as Deputy Principal. When I arrived, the school had over 800 students with only three classes on my year 5 grade. In the past twelve years I have worked with four different Principals and watched the school grow to over 1150 students.  I feel so lucky to have worked alongside so many dedicated and talented teachers as well as with parents in the band and canteen committees, in particular, as well as the P&C.  My participation on the Project Group, leading to the construction of our amazing new building has been a definite highlight and I feel very privileged to have, in my last year, spent time as Relieving Principal of such an amazing school.

I know I am going to miss the buzz and hum of being at school each day and of course, being with and around the children. I’m sure it will take time to adjust when I have spent the last fifty seven years in schools! I think life will always be defined by ‘recess’, lunch and ‘home-time’!

Congratulations to Skye (5S) for winning the silent auction bid to be Principal for a Day at our Spring Fair. Skye spent a day with me, but I have no golden stickers left as Skye managed to see two items of great work from nearly every class! Luckily our students were so well behaved we didn’t have to hand out any orange cards. Skye wore my jacket and badge and as you can see from the photos, she was a great help. Skye wrote about her day, “My name is Skye and on Friday I was the school principal for a day! I had a lot of fun with Mrs Tickle. I made rules all day. And I even made my teachers do the chicken dance! I got to address the students at lines, walked around the school helping teachers, signed gold awards and even shredded top secret letters! Mrs Tickle was so generous and kind today and I thank her for the amazing day I had.  Skye "

Thank you to Ms Lisa McKenzie, Mrs Jeanette Iacovitti, the Kinder Team, office and support staff for facilitating such a successful kindergarten transition program for our 2020 Kindergarten cohort of 157 students. In particular, Ms Lisa McKenzie has spent weeks ensuring that our future kindergarten students have a positive and successful transition and that our new parents have all the information they need to support them. I must also congratulate our year 6 students on their excellent leadership and assistance. We had many complimentary comments about the way the students managed themselves in their role as student ambassadors. 

Phase 1 of the Garden of Tranquility upgrade has been completed by the P & C. The Garden of Tranquility was originally laid as a tribute to the esteem and affection held by the HPS community for teacher Sue Havenstein, whose qualities of kindness and commitment are commemorated each year through the Sue Havenstein Award and she continues to inspire our students. As Sue was a much-loved teacher at HPS who tragically passed away 25 years ago we wanted to hold a special re-opening of Sue Havenstein's memorial stone. Her great niece and one of our current students, Mia L in 4R, also attended the morning tea, along with members of Sue’s family, friends and ex-  Harbord teachers. Special thanks to Jane Ravenscroft who has organised the event and to the P & C for their funding efforts and , ‘Pave the Way’ initiative. 

Other than being Principal at Harbord! My passion is snowboarding and snowsports and we are excited to announce that Harbord PS is putting together a ski/snowboard team for the 2020 Interschools Australia Snowsports Competition being held in Thredbo next year.

We are looking for expressions of interest from snow bunny families whose children would like to compete. The kids do not have to be awesome and fast – they just need to be able to ski or snowboard. The competition is open to all students from kindergarten to year 6. If you’re interested, click through to this link to find out what disciplines and divisions your child/children would qualify for:

https://www.nswinterschools.com.au/about-interschools and check out this video for inspiration: https://vimeo.com/88239868

DATES: Tuesday 7th July to Saturday 11th July

Location: Thredbo  

Costs: $30 one off fee plus $47 per race, per competition

Accommodation: Not provided, each participant is responsible for arranging their own accommodation at their own cost.  (If we qualify, then the Nationals are held on 24-30 August)

Thanks to Emma Lovell for volunteering to assist. Please email: emma@cozigo.com to express your interest in competing or to ask questions. You will then be included in future information emails.

Our jazz band were the stars of the morning when they performed for our new Kindergarten students and their families.

Our Harbord students have continued to shine in the sporting arena. We will have our special sports presentation assembly at the end of this term, however, I would just like to recognise these students who gained State selection and represented NSW in the chosen sport. 

Jaslyn, 4J (Swimming); Chayse, 6L (Touch and Rugby League); Talea, 6N (Softball and Girls 7s); Cecilia, 6H (Girls Football); Lucinda, 6K (Girls Football); Olivia, 6Y (Girls 7s).

The NSW Department of Education Assets unit removed our excess demountable classroom buildings on Saturday. It took two cranes and six trucks to remove them and as you can see from the photos it was a tight squeeze to remove them. I have asked the assets unit to replace the area with grass.  Our COLA project can now move ahead early next year which includes the flexi paving green surface and line markings for netball, basketball and handball.

Many thanks to Rob Nicoll and his band of parents and students who helped with our working bee last Sunday afternoon. They planted some more plants in front of the new building on Oliver Street, emptied the compost bins and moved some planter boxes into sunnier locations. We all enjoyed a BBQ when we had finished! We very much appreciate Rob and the parents who donated their time to help our school.

Susan Tickle

Principal

We had two fantastic days with our new Kinder intake visiting Harbord in the last few weeks. Our teachers noted how settled, keen and prepared the students were, a reflection on the local pre-school programs. 

We are still in the process of finalising numbers for the Kindergarten 2020 classes with new residents in the area and others from overseas still completing their applications. While we are still confident that we will be forming eight classes, however, should there need to be any adjustments due to fluctuating numbers, we will notify parents by email before the end of the school year.

It always takes a great deal of organisation for our Orientation Days: thank you to the teachers who ‘minded’ our current Kinders on these mornings, our school leaders who led the tour groups, our sound booth helpers and Mrs Kylie Johnson in the office who looks after all the paperwork!

Don’t forget that bookings are also now open for the Best Start Assessments. Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and use the event code 7dhqp. Once there, choose your child’s colour class and your preferred time. 

Our Filmfest committee has viewed the submitted films and due to the number of entries which were appropriate to show (quality sound, vision, script and content), there were only a small number of films selected as suitable for a school audience. This would mean our event was likely to last no more than half an hour and the audience would have been minimal. As a result the Short Filmfest has been cancelled for this year.

The decision has been made to instead feature the selected films in our end of year talent quests with the parents of the successful filmmakers being invited to attend. The KI class film will be shown to the parents following the Kindergarten Graduation assembly and shared with the other Kindergarten students during an Eagle Rock assembly. This way all of the successful films will be shared and showcased with a wide and large school audience, giving the accolades of which they are worthy. The successful filmmakers will also receive certificates to acknowledge their efforts, as they have been in the past.

To ensure our Filmfest is an ongoing event in the future, workshops will be provided by teachers at lunchtimes during term 3 to assist students to develop the skills necessary to create and edit a variety of film types.

Ms Lisa Mckenzie

Deputy Principal 

The dates for our presentation days are as follows:

Sports Award Assembly Years 3-6 10.00am – 11.10am Friday 6th December.

Year 1-3 Presentation 9.30am – 11.00am Wednesday 11th December.

Year 4-6 Presentation 11.30am – 1.00pm Wednesday 11th December.

Kindergarten Graduation Assembly 9.30am – 10.30am Friday 13th December.

All above assemblies will be held in school hall.     

No competition will be held on Friday 22nd November due to Schools Spectacular. Finals of Summer PSSA will be held on Friday 29th November. We have a number of teams participating in finals on 29th November. Go Harbord!

It is a big week for our School Spectacular performers. Our School Spectacular dancers and choir will perform with over 5,000 performers in ‘STARS’ at the Qudos Bank Arena on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd November. Thank you to Miss Dalgleish, Mrs Scicluna and Miss Young for all the hard work that has gone into getting our Harbord performers prepared for what is an amazing showcase of talent in Public Schools. Some of our lucky Harbord students will be attending the matinee performance with Ms Montgomery on Friday as part of the audience. 

Thank you to all those who attended the film screening of the documentary 2040 on Thursday last week. It was great to see so many Harbord families supporting the cause. Ranging from marine permaculture to independent energy grids, there was no shortage of inspiring stories from around the world that shared cutting-edge solutions to some of the climate issues we face. 

As Harbord Public School continues our journey of becoming a more sustainable community, we would like to thank the many students, parents, grandparents, teachers, Eco Warriors and all those who came to show their support. We look forward to sharing some exciting new initiatives in 2020. 

What does your 2040 look like? 

School Environment Committee

Are you a comedian, actor, dancer, singer, musician, speaker, mime artist, magician, in a band or have some amazing and spectacular talent that you could share with the school?

On the last school day of 2019, The Talent Quest will be run for the students, in the school hall.

Any students wanting to audition need to tell their class teacher before the end of November (end of week 7), to allow time for the class auditions to be run the following week.

This is an opportunity for all children to plan a creative performance with a group, or individually and to perform in front of a large audience.

 Any questions regarding the auditions, please talk to your class teacher.

We are also looking forward to showcasing our top films submitted for the Film Festival, during the Talent Quest.

Bronwyn Howard

Organiser

This week students from Harbord will perform in STARS the 2019 Schools Spectacular. The dancers will perform in the segment Outta Space at Qudos Bank Arena. Our school choir are performing with the Combined Choir.

Schools Spectacular features 5,500 performers from over 370 schools in a world-class production. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketek.

Best of luck to all our dancers and the choir.

Mrs Scicluna

Applications are now open for students to audition for the Arts Alive Combined Schools Choir (AACSC). The choir encourages, nurtures and inspires talented vocalists by providing high quality training and performance opportunities - including concerts at Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall and at the Schools Spectacular. 

Students from NSW public schools from Years 4 to 6 (in 2020) are encouraged to audition for a place in the AACSC. The commitment is for the full school year and rehearsals are held every Wednesday afternoon from 5.00-6.00pm at Belrose PS. The annual fee is $495.

There is also a Secondary Choir for any interested current Year 6 students who will be attending a public school next year. The Secondary Choir rehearses every Wednesday afternoon from 5.00-6.30pm at Belrose PS.

Over the years we have had a number of Harbord students thoroughly enjoy participation in the AACSC. I highly recommend the program for those students wishing to extend their involvement in the school choir.

For information on how to apply please see the attached information. Any questions please see Miss Dalgleish.

Applications for student travel in 2020 opened on Friday 11 October 2019. 

Students progressing to year 3 and year 7 no longer need to re-apply if they:·      

• are continuing at the same school
• are residing at the same address     
• have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW. 

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification via email. 

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply. Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply. If students need to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/updateDetails 

Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2019 to ensure student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card is not cancelled. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2019, the system will automatically cancel an entitlement/card and a new one will need to be issued. 

Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2020. 

Our next P&C meeting is on Wednesday 27th November at 7.30pm in the staff room and everyone in our school community is invited! Please join us for this final meeting of 2019. It’s the easiest way to contribute to the school community for those of you who are time poor. You also get to hear what is going on behind the scenes and ask our Principal direct questions on any issues that interest you.

A message from Suellen Dennehy:

I’m happy to say that I have counted my last coin, served the last student, danced at my last cake stall and  asked in a loud voice…….. “STOP PUSHING EVERYONE!”

We raised $1064.50 for the Year 6 Farewell.

A big thanks to Cristina Anderson who backed up with me on Thursday to sell out every last cake!

Suellen has been the driving force behind most of our P&C fundraising efforts since she joined the school in 2010 and, as her youngest son leaves the school this year, we are very sad to be saying farewell to her too. On behalf of every parent and teacher at the school, I’d like to say a BIG LOUD THANK YOU to Suellen for everything she has done over the last decade to make our school a better place. She is a true P&C legend!

Last Friday, it was our absolute honour to host the family and close friends of Sue Havenstein as we rededicated the Garden of Tranquility to Sue’s memory. Jane Ravenscroft (P&C Secretary and the organiser of the Pave the Way bricks) gave a moving speech on the importance of this space to the children and the school and Sue’s ongoing legacy. Sue’s great niece, Mia in Year 4, then cut the ribbon.

 It is now 25 years since the original Garden of Tranquility was opened in November 1994.

The upgrade to the garden was long overdue and our landscaper, Darren, has worked tirelessly and late in the evenings with an evolving plan that has had to adjust to unforeseen obstacles. We thank Darren for his diligence and our school community for your patience. The final section of this phase will be completed in the next week.

Darren will then be planting out the area around the adjacent tree with the exposed roots during the January holidays.

We look forward to opening orders for more personalised bricks during Term 1 next year.

A few people have asked me lately about the uniforms. As explained in a previous newsletter, after extensive research by our uniform shop team and in direct response the overwhelming wishes of our school community, the uniform will remain mostly the same. The only change we will be implementing will be a grey skort and short for girls to wear with the white polo as an alternative to the summer dress or winter tunic. These new items should be available in early December and will bring us in line with the updated Department of Education uniform guidelines.

We will be introducing a new fabric for the white polo that we have found to be more stain-resistant however this will be once we have depleted our current stock which we anticipate will last for at least another year.

Heather Lawson

P&C President