Henley Beach Primary School Newsletter

Thank you to all families who were able to attend last night’s Acquaintance Night and the reading information session held in the gym. Staff very much appreciated the opportunity to meet and connect with families. Productive and meaningful school and home partnerships are an integral component of a successful school environment so it was lovely to see so many families come along, particularly after the challenges of the past few years. To help inform future planning for each of these activities, we would appreciate you completing the short survey via the given link.

Last week our year 4 and 5 students attended their camp to Arbury Park and it has been great to listen to the students recount how much they enjoyed the experience. I was also really proud to hear that the students behaved in a responsible manner and were great representatives for our school. I would like to acknowledge the fantastic efforts of our staff in providing this opportunity; despite the cancellation of the 2022 year 4 camp, our staff were committed to providing a camp for this group in 2023, hence both year 4 and 5 students attending last week. Much time goes into the planning and implementation of any camp to ensure that it is an enjoyable and safe experience for students; a big thanks to Tracy Marks, Tracey Burner, Neil Wuttke, Isobel Roberts and Craig Johnston. Thank you also to the parent volunteers who assisted as your help is also very much appreciated.

Further to my previous comments about the manner in which our students represent our school, I would like to also highlight the many year 5 and year 6 students who have volunteered for crossing duty and assisting in the canteen. We are very keen for our students to develop a civic minded mindset by ‘giving back’ to the school community. It is often mentioned to the senior students that our younger students are ‘watching’ them and will follow their lead; evidence of this is how several of our junior primary students have expressed an interest to me in wanting to be a crossing monitor! Thank you to all families who have encouraged/allowed their child to take on these roles.

Annual General Meeting and Acquaintance Night

Last week the Annual General Meeting and the first Governing Council meeting of the year were held. An overview of the Governing Council, including office bearers, has been provided below. Matt Lama has been re-elected as chairperson for the coming year. Within Governing Council there are a number of committees and we extend an invitation for parents/carers to join any these if you are interested. At this stage we are looking for representatives to form a fundraising committee; if you have a particular interest in this area please contact the front office or speak to one of our Governing Council members.

Also, if you are thinking about joining Governing Council in the future, you are most welcome to come along to any of our meetings to get an insight and understanding of meeting processes.

Position Name

Chairperson Matt Lama

Deputy Chair Rachel Henning

Secretary Amy Arcangeli

Treasurer Simon Mann

Committee Member/s

OSHC Amy Arcangeli

Grounds Mike Jones, Rosemary Kourtidis and Louise Newland

Out of Hours Sport Matt Lama, Rachel Henning and Louise Newland

Canteen Rachel Henning

Henley Beach Primary School is turning 100 in 2024

A community milestone that we are looking forward to is Henley Beach Primary School turning 100 in 2024! As a part of preparing for this celebration we are looking to organise a committee to oversee the events we will undertake to mark the school’s centenary. If you are interested in being a part of the committee, please contact Penny in the front office.

2023 NAPLAN

Students in years 3 and 5 will be participating in NAPLAN Online this term. The NAPLAN Online test window is 15 to 27 March (weeks 7 and 8). Whilst we encourage all students to participate in NAPLAN there are options for families who do not want their child to participate. This can be done through seeking either an exemption or withdrawal. Please speak to your child’s teacher over the coming weeks if this is something that you want to discuss further.

Prior to the actual test, all schools will participate in a national coordinated practice test (CPT) on Tuesday 28 February. The practice test runs for 45 minutes and student performance is not assessed. The purpose of this test is to ensure the technical capacity of the school is satisfactory and to familiarise students with the testing platform. If you have any queries regarding NAPLAN please contact your child’s class teacher or a member of the leadership team.

Student home internet program

The student home internet program can provide internet access to students who do not have reliable home internet, so they can continue to learn and study at home. The student home internet program ensures that all students have access to internet at home for educational use. Families without reliable home internet can request free internet from the department. You can find out more about the program and how to apply by visiting the department’s website.

COVID-19 Update

Children and students should continue to attend school and preschool as normal unless they are:

· self-isolating due to testing positive to COVID-19

· waiting for results of a COVID-19 test

· unwell.

Please be aware that if a student tests positive for COVID-19 they must notify the school. The Department for Education states that children should not attend school for 5 days if they return a positive result and not attend whilst symptomatic.

If your child is isolating as a result of testing positive to COVID-19, they can use the department’s learning at home lessons to continue their learning at home. Reception to year 10 students can access a suite of learning at home lessons. Lessons are delivered via video or Microsoft PowerPoint and can be accessed on any device. The learning at home lessons and other resources are available on Our Learning SA. https://www.education.sa.gov.au/our-learning-sa

A student is a close contact if they were supported by a school support officer (SSO) or teacher who has tested positive for COVID-19 and:

· the contact was for a cumulative period of 4 hours, indoors and in close physical proximity

· face masks were not able to be worn.

If a student is a close contact they must undertake 5 rapid antigen tests over a 7-day period following exposure. Families will be notified in the event of this situation arising.

On my visits to classes I have observed that students are very settled; routines and expectations are becoming embedded and our new students have been welcomed and supported to join the Henley community.

This week, year 4 and 5 students have been busy exploring photos from camp and constructing written accounts - some are already displayed proudly in classrooms. Students in year 3 and 3/4 have been learning the importance of editing their writing and paying close attention to their teachers’ feedback. I saw student voice in action in year 5 where in one class, students were able to select their own level of challenge in a maths lesson on division and in the other year 5 class, students were self managing/selecting from a range of tasks and activities that they needed to complete. All were busy and engaged in their learning.

There are many ways that you can support your child with learning and below are some tips for conversation starters and questions that you might like to try when reading. One or two questions will be enough during each reading session.

Before Reading:

· Who is the author of this book?

· For younger readers, discuss the orientation of the book (which way to hold, read, the front cover and back etc)

· From looking at the front cover, what might the story be about?

· After reading the blurb – what do you think now?

During Reading:

· I’d like you to stop reading for a moment and tell me about what you have just read.

· Who is the main character? Tell me about them

· Has your thinking about the story/character/topic changed since you started reading?

After Reading:

· What did the author include that surprised you?

· What words were new for you and what do you think they meant?

· What questions do you have about the character/topic/text?

· Why do you think the author told us about…?

Autism Inclusion Teacher

Autism Inclusion Teachers are a new, nation-leading initiative which aims to build educator understanding and knowledge around supporting autistic children and young people.

Every public primary school in South Australia will appoint an Autism Inclusion Teacher. As mentioned in our last newsletter, I am taking on the role of Autism Inclusion Teacher at Henley Beach for 2023.

Within this role I will be looking to first build my own expertise, knowledge and understanding of autism through engaging in formal learning and participation in the Autism Inclusion Teacher network. To improve knowledge and practice across our school, I will be looking to share this learning and resources with staff to utilise in teaching autistic children and young people in their own class.

Visit the Department for Education website to find out more about improving support for autistic children and students.

Our Youth Worker, Belinda, is working Tuesday and Thursdays this term. She works across all classes in the school, supporting a variety of students. From 9:00am-9:30am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Belinda is available for parents and carers to drop in and have a chat. Belinda will be in the Wellbeing Room (the classroom closest to the front office). Feel free to pop in and say hi! 

School Photo Day - Monday 6 March

Catch up Photo Day - Thursday 16 March

Please order as per below.

On Friday 3 March HBPS students will be giving our grounds a tidy up. Each class will be looking after different areas in and around the school and we're planning on all getting out at the same time to put in one big, collective effort. If you have reusable gloves such as gardening gloves or tongs to send along with your child, it would be appreciated. Students will have access to hand sanitiser after the clean up and hopefully the session leaves our yard sparkling! We also encourage families to get involved in community clean up events on Sunday.

Playgroup is on each Friday from 9.00am to 10.20am.

Cost is $3 per session and payment is via Qkr. 

Dress your kids in clothes that are appropriate for wet, sandy, messy play! I’ll meet you on the Metcalfe Lawn this Friday.

Any queries please email HBPS.playgroup982@schools.sa.edu.au

Below are some important dates for families to be aware of. Please refer to the school calendar available on our website for the full overview of the term.

Assembly

Our first whole school assembly of the year will be held on Thursday February 23 from 2.20pm. Assemblies will be held in the gym and class teachers will notify you if your child’s class is presenting an item.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School photos Monday 6 March

NAPLAN

The assessment period is from Wednesday March 15 through to Monday March 27.

Parent-teacher interviews 

Monday 24 March – Friday 6 April. Booking information will be sent out later this term and will include teacher availability.

Sports Day

Friday May 5 (week 1 of term 2)

2023 Pupil Free Days

Monday 15 May

Friday 23 June

Friday 8 September (Adelaide Show)

Monday 11 September

Friday 3 November

The Department for Education has mandated rules regarding volunteering in schools and we are committed to doing our upmost to keep our children and school community safe.  All volunteers need to complete a Volunteer Application Form. As a volunteer you will also require a Working with Children Check (WWCC) screening clearance and complete an online Responding to Risks of Harm, Abuse  and Neglect (RRHAN-EC) course. Volunteering cannot commence unless these aspects have been completed.

It is the responsibility of the volunteer to keep there documents up to date. Please check expiry dates on clearances.

Every classroom at Henley Beach Primary School has a set of brightly coloured Ecobins and a compost caddy. I’ve been running Which Bin? Sessions to support students and staff to use their bins effectively. We played a game called Litter Lucky Dip with our junior primary classes, and the upper primary classes competed to win a game called Right bin/Wrong bin!

Outside in the yard we have a Recycling Station located opposite the gym. The wheelie bins are colour coded just like our classroom bins. In our STEM area we have a mini recycling hub where pens/markers, oral waste and broken toys can be recycled. In our school office we recycle our used printer/photocopier cartridges and batteries.

10c recycling is very important to us at HBPS as a fundraiser for our school. We encourage families to bring in their 10c containers and place them in the special bins opposite the gym and in the STEM area. We hope to raise lots of money this year! Thank you in advance for your help with this fundraiser.

We continue to sort our soft plastic waste in classrooms, however RedCycle have paused their collections at Coles and Woolworths, so unfortunately this has to go to landfill at the moment. We hope they will resume their soft plastic recycling soon.

We also discussed the importance of REFUSING, REDUCING and REUSING before we RECYCLE. Students had lots of great ideas about how to say NO to packaging and what to do instead! These included taking your own cloth bags to the shops and refusing plastic ones, using keep cups instead of single use coffee cups, and asking for email receipts instead of paper ones.

A special mention to Charles Sturt Council for kindly supporting our recycling efforts by donating 12 new compost caddies!

It is time to look back on our Vacation Care over the summer. We had great fun visiting a range of different venues for activities. Some highlights included going to Monarto Safari Park and having a giraffe lick the window of the bus. All the children were so excited! Going to Wizbang saw some fierce competition in the Lazer Tag and Mini Golf (staff included…). Of course, our Christmas days were great fun with everyone in the festive spirit. The smell of baked goods puts everyone in a good mood!

 We now look forward to our next Vacation Care in April. The program will be released in week 6 on SkoolBag.

It’s been a great first few weeks in Canteen. We had over the counter Valentine’s Day snacks all last week - they were a big hit! We made paper hearts for the children to write what they love about their Canteen, and we definitely felt the love! We love engaging with the children and helping them to grow their confidence when buying over the counter. We're busy planning our next snack special.  Tuesday was the first time Canteen has been involved in Acquiantance Night.  It was a great opportunity for us to be involved in an all school event.  We both really enjoy being part of and supporting the school community.  We welcome your feedback for future events. The interest from the Year 5 and 6 students wanting to volunteer in Canteen is overwhelming, we can't wait for them to start.  For many it will be their first time learning how to deal with customers and practice their maths, we're both excited to support them in this opportunity. Fridays are our busiest days.  If you have any time to spare; even an hour from 12-1pm to help pack to ensure the lunches all go out on time, we'd really appreciate your help. If you've volunteered in the past we'd love to welcome you back to see what changes we've made.  If you're new to the school please come over to say hi or email us:  canteen878@schools.sa.edu.au

Acquaintance Night

Thank you to Lilah and Maddison for helping in the canteen.