Parkhill Primary School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to term 2! I hope you were all able to enjoy a relaxing Easter break and it has been super to catch up with some of you on the playground. Please don’t forget to pop onto the playground and into the classrooms to say hello to the teachers. 

Term 2 has started with pace and learning programs are in full flow already! 

Camp Connect was a roaring success! I would like to thank the staff who dedicated their time to supporting the children during this camp – I was proud of the way the children represented Parkhill over the course of the few days away. 

Y5/6 interschool sports started again today with our children going off to visit Holy Family School in Mount Waverley this morning. This is always super fun for the children involved. 

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Jess who has replaced Stephanie in the garden. We heard during the holidays that Stephanie was moving interstate and wouldn’t be back to join us. Jess started her session yesterday! 

I would like to share with you some very exciting personal news. I am having a baby! Baby is due in October. I understand that for some of you this will raise questions around school leadership and plans for the coming year. I am currently working closely with the DET to ensure my cover is well organised and transition for the period is smooth. Our main concern is the focus on consistency and continuity for the children and community. If you have any concerns or would like to talk through anything that is on your mind please do contact me directly either by email or phone - elaine.brady@education.vic.gov.au or 0413440871.

INTO INQUIRY:

Throughout the school children have been tuning in to their learning, asking questions and planning their finding out. Below is the detail of the units of work for the first part of the term.

EMOTIONS:

Should we teach emotions in school?  As part of our Social Emotional Learning program we explicitly teach children about their emotions, what different emotions feel like and what may bring about these feelings. Alongside teaching emotional intelligence we also spend time learning strategies that children can use to help them manage their ever evolving emotions. 

https://ideas.ted.com/should-emotions-be-taught-in-schools/

SCHOOL COUNCIL:

At the end of term 1 we elected our new School Council.  It gives me great pleasure to share with you our 2021 Council:

School councils have three main responsibilities:

• finance: overseeing the development of the school’s annual budget and ensuring proper records are kept of the school’s financial operation.

• strategic planning: participating in the development and monitoring of the school strategic plan.

• policy development and review: developing, reviewing and updating policies that reflect a school’s values and support the school’s broad direction outlined in its strategic plan.

  
  

REMINDERS: 

It was mentioned to me this morning that some of our students, and I believe parents as well, are choosing to ‘jump the fence’ rather than walk to the entrance ways of the school. I strongly encourage you to use the gates either on Cassinia Avenue or Parkhill Drive when accessing the school. Jumping the fence doesn’t show respect for our school and encourages children to ‘do the wrong thing’. Please encourage the children and lead by example to use the gateways and correct entrance points to the campus.

Wednesday 28 April - Y3/4 Camp Information Night

Friday 30 April - GATEWAYS Journeys session

Tuesday 4 May - Diversity Day

Friday 7 May - Y4/5/6 Cross Country & GATEWAYS Journeys session

Friday 14 May - F/Y1 Zoo excursion

Wednesday 19 May - Friday 21 May - Y3/4 Camp

Friday 21 May - Y4/5/6 District Cross Country

Wednesday 26 May - National Sorry Day

Thursday 27 May - Reconciliation Week begins

Wednesday 9 June - Thursday 10 June - GATEWAYS Eureka

Tuesday 15 June - Friday 18 June - Y5/6 Camp Kangaroobie - information to come

Friday 25 June - Term 2 ends at 2:30pm

The first three days of term 2 saw selected Y3-6 students heading down to CYC The Island on Phillip Island for a camp together.

Students had a great time and were able to make connections as well as challenge themselves with activities such as Giant Swing, mechanical wall and crate climb challenge.

Unfortunately we met some rather rainy weather on Tuesday, but still managed to have fun with new activities and even a short trip to the beach for competitive sandcastles and vortex throwing.

Students were complimented on their behaviour and manners by the staff. They managed to get some sleep (!) but did return tired on Wednesday.

Congratulations to Camp Connect students on their self-management and confidence. We will be holding some follow up meetings and activities for the group at a later date - more information to follow.

Michelle Smith

Assistant Principal

Our Diversity Day is coming up on Tuesday 4th May. Students will attend an incursion run by the Museum of Chinese Australian History and will undertake two programs on the day - Lantern making and Kung Fu. Children will also experience other cultural activities with their classroom teachers throughout the day. Please make sure you return your child's permission form if you have not yet done so so they can attend this wonderful incursion.

If you would like to share your expertise about your culture through, for example, story telling, craft activities, dance (body movement), painting, drawing, traditional costumes, or a special artefact, we would love to have you present in our Diversity Day!

Shuoyin Tu

LOTE Teacher

We are preparing for our School Cross Country event for the Y4/5/6 students and need some parent helpers. The event will run on 7th May from 1:40pm - 2:40pm. This is a trial to select students who will go on to represent our school in District Cross Country on the 21st May. The Y4/5/6 students train each Wednesday during fitness in preparation for these events. If you can help at the School Cross Country on the 7th May please email me at elizabeth.omeara@education.vic.gov.au or feel free to come along to support the students and/or help supervise the route. 

Liz O'Meara

Y4/5/6 Sports Coordinator

In Performing Arts throughout term 1, the Y4/5/6 students learnt about puppetry in drama.  They have researched Australian endangered animals, designed and created a puppet, written a script and practiced their performances.  Next week during our Performing Arts lessons the younger students will visit our interactive Puppet Zoo exhibition, where they will meet the endangered animal puppets and their zookeepers (as performed by our talented upper-school students).  The puppeteers and performers will help to teach the younger students about the endangered animals and what they can do to help.  We can't wait to share some photos from our exhibition!

Carlie Eriksen

Performing Arts Teacher

Learning about something we like or feel good at automatically assists us to engage with learning and feel success. When we enjoy something, we are more likely to persist when tasks are challenging and bounce back when we make mistakes.

Building a positive mindset about maths is an important step for all students. We can assist our students to improve their maths mindset by:

• Discussing real world maths application as it arises. Talk about the units of measure when you’re cooking. Look for patterns, numbers and shapes when you are out and about. Talk about best buys and discounts when children are saving their pocket money for a great new toy.

• Play games that use maths concepts. Dice rolls and adding numbers, counting forward, I spy for shapes, etc. Even good old Battleship is excellent for coordinate knowledge.

• Reframe your own thinking around maths. Try not to share thoughts like ‘I wasn’t good at maths’, ‘maths is hard’ or ‘I dislike maths’. Comments such as these can increase anxiety around maths and reduce engagement.

• Focus less on speed and more on how your student came to a solution. Try some questions like: How did you work that out? How do you know you’re right? Can you represent your answer in another way? Is there another solution? And if the answer isn’t right, praise their thinking: ‘I can see that you were thinking about addition there, 3+4 = 7, but 3x4 means 3 groups of 4, can you draw them to find the answer?’

• Promote number sense.  Having an idea of the size of numbers and being able to separate and combine numbers flexibly. Rearranging numbers can make problems easier to solve. For example, 27 + 28 is tricky, taking 3 from 28 and adding it to 27 first makes the sum much easier to answer: 30 + 25 = 55.

Andrea Crane

Learning Tutor

Executive Committee:

President:  Rossanne Clay                  

Vice  President: Kylie Brown

Treasurer:  Sumi Sundram

General Members:  Elle Delmee, Vanessa Cowley, Trish King

We have lots of fantastic events for our school community this term that we’d love for you to be a part of. We’re always on the look out for new helpers and connections so feel free to text Rossanne on 0480 171 847 if you’d like to chat about the PFA and what we do.

This year we’re aiming for $10,000 for outdoor upgrades. $4,000 will be used to fix our oval’s stairs and the remainder will be to upgrade outdoor play spaces including our Y2/3 play equipment.

A HUGE THANK YOU FOR OUR EASTER RAFFLE DONATIONS

Thank you so much for all the wonderful donations last term for our Easter Raffle. And thank you for all the purchases of your tickets. We raised nearly $1,000!!!

Fourteen lucky Easter winners took home a basket of goodies at the special Easter Raffle assembly. Here were our lucky winners:

1st prize: Gemma E

2nd prize: James A

3rd prize: Mia C

Runner up prizes went to Bronwyn K, Melissa J, Majidi Family, Sherry Z, Vanessa R, Vic W, Ben P, Tanner Family, Sariaha G, Ella M and Mrs O’Meara.

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Special thanks to Trish, Kylie T & Sumi for organising the raffle and to Elaine for the special assembly. 

CUPCAKE STALL - Wednesday 28th April

Calling available helpers: we would love some cupcakes for our Cupcake Stall. If you can help with the stall from 3:15pm - 4pm please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com. Thank you!

MOTHER’S DAY MOVIE NIGHT - Friday 7th May

Tickets for the Mother's Day Movie Night can be purchased here:

https://www.trybooking.com/BQSVJ

PLEASE NOTE: Tickets need to be purchased by NO LATER than Sunday 2nd May at 6pm.

The exact movie session time will be confirmed closer to the date. 

MOTHER’S DAY STALL - Friday 7th May

It’s great to be able to run the Mother’s Day Stall again this year as the children do enjoy getting a little something for Mum from the school stall. Don’t forget to give them a little cash to spend on the day. Gifts range from $1 - $10.

We would love a group of 6-8 volunteers to help run the stall. It is a fun morning and a great way for us parents to catch up whilst helping out the school (tea, coffee and biscuits provided). If you are available please sign up via the link below for one or both of the sessions:

https://signup.com/go/UoKowTp

Session 1: 8.45 - 10.45am

Session 2: 10.45am - 12.45pm

TRIVIA NIGHT - Saturday 29th May

WHEN: Saturday 29th May at 7:00pm to 11:00pm (7:30pm kickoff)

WHERE: School library

TICKETS: $25. You can purchase a table of 10 or individual tickets.

THEME: Op Shop Glam - There are individual and group prizes so get your table together and start planning now!

Book your tickets here https://www.trybooking.com/BQTPZ

PFA TERM 2 EVENTS

Lots to look forward to this term, please mark the dates in the calendar. You don’t want to miss a thing!

ENTERTAINMENT BOOK

Thank you for your continued support. Did you know 20% of every Entertainment Membership goes directly to Parkhill Primary? Follow the link and support us today https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/9r34937

DJ or RSA? WE NEED YOU!

If anyone in the community has an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate) to help behind the bar at future events or is, was or wants to be a DJ (to help us raise the roof!) we would love to hear from you! Please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com to get in touch.

RITCHIES COMMUNITY BENEFIT PROGRAM

Our Fundraising Partner Ritchies IGA supermarkets have launched their new revamped community benefit program. Every month Parkhill will receive a % from our members’ spend. Please download the Ritchies loyalty app today and start saving! Don’t forget to mark ‘Parkhill Primary School’ as your favourite Community Recipient. Our school has received a whopping, $7,638.68 from Ritchies since the program inception.

See the flyer at bottom of the newsletter for details and QR codes.

Thank you!

REBEL COMMUNITY GIVEBACKS

Rebel Community Givebacks is a program designed to allow schools to earn in-store credits at Rebel to purchase essential sporting equipment and team wear.

Parkhill is rewarded with 5% back on sales linked to a member or student who is a rebel active member so please remember to mention ‘Parkhill Primary’ on your next visit.

The credits raised have been invaluable in enhancing the school equipment over the years we have been involved.