Henley Beach Primary School Newsletter

World Teachers Day

Last Friday was World Teachers Day. Our teachers work incredibly hard to support the learning and wellbeing growth of every student and this focus has not shifted despite the challenging circumstances of this year. On behalf of the community I would like to acknowledge and thank the staff at Henley Beach for their ongoing efforts.

Pupil Free Day Reflection

Our school’s current improvement priorities are focused on improving children’s achievement in writing, reading and mathematics and last Friday staff participated in a whole school review of student achievement and progress in these areas. A range of achievement data was explored by staff to identify current strengths and areas of growth. Overall, our school’s achievement in writing, reading and mathematics, as measured by departmental assessments (including NAPLAN, PAT Reading and Mathematics, Running Records and Year 1 Phonics Screening) is quite positive, however all staff are committed to improving our current level of performance. To complement this whole school process, teacher teams have recently been analysing achievement information at the class and student level, in both reading and mathematics, to help inform class planning and programming.

During the second part of the pupil free day our staff looked at a range of new curriculum planning resources that have been released by the Department for Education. These documents will be a valuable resource to support teacher planning and programming and strengthen our delivery of the Australian Curriculum.

End of Year Concert Planning

Over the last few weeks staff have been planning our end of year celebration. From these discussions, and through consulting with Governing Council, a plan has been developed which we hope has found some middle ground in the current COVID-19 situation and our goal of engaging with families. Consequently the end of year celebration will be held during school time and follow the following format:

Date:                    Friday 4 December

Location:             School gym.

Format:                From 9am, R-2, Yr 3-4 and Yr 5-7 classes will each have a dedicated time to perform a class item in front of a family member (one parent per child). A parent/carer from each family will be able to ‘book’ a ticket to watch their child’s performance (this system will be set up closer to the concert date).

We acknowledge that this is quite different to previous end of year celebrations but hope families understand that the current situation warrants this change. Along with the year level performances, later in the morning on the same day, all classes will come together in the gym to watch each other’s item (no parents/carers will be in the audience). This will be recorded and made available to families.

Book Week

Our recent celebration of Book Week was a success. The children looked great in their costumes and it was terrific to listen to students share what they had been doing in class along with the fantastic array of work that was on display in the courtyard shelter area. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who were able to come along to the parade; we appreciated your willingness to support the school’s requests for this event.

SAPSASA Athletics

Congratulations to our team of students who participated in the District SAPSASA Athletics Day last Thursday. Along with many individual achievements, Henley Beach was deemed the overall winner amongst other participating large schools. Well done kids! Thanks to Renee Hanna for coordinating this opportunity for our students as it takes much time to coordinate the team selection process. Thanks also to Tracy Marks for helping manage the team on the day and the assistance provided by our parent helpers.

OSHC Survey

Governing Council is committed to providing a high quality OSHC service and is seeking feedback from the school community. A survey will be made available in the coming days which will provide an opportunity for families to share feedback on the current service; what is working well and areas for improvement. Families who do not currently use the service are encouraged to complete the survey as well. Please note, the survey feedback will be collated by the school and the results will be shared at Governing Council to help inform future decision making.

Remembrance Day

Next week we will be acknowledging Remembrance Day with a whole school ceremony. A small group of senior students have done much work in preparing for the ceremony and we look forward to this important day.

End of Year Reports

Our school has recently undertaken a new initiative involving the implementation of an online portal that families can access to view their child’s upcoming end of year report (which will be available in week 9 of this term). In the coming week a letter will be sent home that will provide instructions for how to set up your access to the portal. Consequently, a hard copy of end of year reports will only be made available upon request under special circumstances; please contact the front office if this applies to you. We hope this arrangement will ensure all families have timely access to their child’s reports in the future.

Staffing Update

Donna Nitschke, our current Student Wellbeing Leader, has been successful in winning this position for the next 2 years. This is a positive outcome for the school; Donna has a large breadth of professional knowledge and experience in the social and emotional development of children and will be looking to build upon the work that she has commenced this year with students and staff.

Term 4 Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons for Reception to Yr 5 students will occur this term. The allocated week for each class is below:

Week 7 (23/11 – 27/11): Mrs Duff, Mrs Burner, Mr Springer, Ms Roberts, Mr Johnston, Miss Murphy, Miss Vidov, Ms Whittaker, Mrs Jones/ Mrs Perry and Mrs Cook.

Week 9: (7/12 – 11/12): Mr Kitchin, Mrs Jones/ Miss Stevens, Mrs Evans and Mrs Paspastamatis

Please note that the swimming centre has requested that no parents attend to view the lessons.

End of Year Volunteer Award

Each year our school benefits greatly from volunteer assistance and as a way of recognising someone who has made a significant contribution in their support of students, class activities and school events, an annual award is presented. If you would like to nominate a volunteer for this award please do so in writing by Friday 13 November. In your nomination please include the following information:

·        Your name and the name of the volunteer being nominated.

A brief summary why this person is being nominated (1-2 paragraphs).

Our final Principal Tour for 2020 is on Friday 13 November from 09.15am - 10.30am. We welcome you to register either on our website or by calling the school  8356 2117- it is essential to register as we continue to follow Covid-19 protocols.

Remembrance Day poppies will be available for a gold coin donation at school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings before school.  All money collected will go to the Returned Soldiers League (RSL).  Look for our poppy sellers on the Metcalfe Lawn from 8.30 am.  Please support and honour those who have fought for our country.  Thank you.

On Thursday  29 October, Henley Beach PS took 46 students to compete in the District Athletics.  This was held at Henley Memorial Oval and also served as a selection trial for the Airport Team.  Our school competed really well; all students participated in their events achieving good times and distances whilst showing all the values of good sports. 

We had some fantastic individual performances, many placings and many more PBs.  The students at school who do athletics put in strong performances across multiple events.  We also had many exciting performances from those students who don’t participate in athletics outside of school.  Our relay teams were strong across all age groups with almost all teams placing in the relays, many of them coming first.  We are now waiting to see who will go on to represent Airport at the State Championships. 

At the end of the day our school won the Large Schools Airport Division.  This has been held by another school for many years so it was an exciting win and can be attributed to the fantastic team effort on the day. 

During Week 2, Henley Beach Primary School’s Year 6/7 SAPSASA Basketball team competed in the State Championship that was held at St. Clair Recreation Centre. Picking a team for the competition proved to be a very difficult task this year as we had much talent - a good problem to have as a coach. We ended up with a very well balanced squad that comprised of six Year 7s and three Year 6s. The boys’ dedication to the team was impressive! During each training session the team went their hardest but at the same time really started to gel as a unit.

I would really like to thank Rylan M. (Year 7) for agreeing to help out during trainings by being an extra number during our scratch matches. Rylan did a fantastic job of helping our centre players practise and he also listened carefully to the feedback he received and improved each week. Watching him improve was definitely one of the highlights for me and I appreciated him giving up his lunchtimes to help us out. I would also like to thank Jack L. who was a member of our team but unfortunately could not play in the competition due to injury.

At the competition, I am proud to say that the boys won all of their 6 group stage games. Each member of the team played tough but fair, unselfish basketball. It was evident that there was a real ‘we before me’ mentality in the group as each time down the court they looked for the best option to score. Down the other end of the court, we didn’t allow our opponents to score easy points with tough defence that put constant pressure on the ball carrier. After almost every game, the opposition coach would thank me for a great contest and congratulate the boys on how well they played together. I was also proud of how well the boys responded when the umpire’s calls didn’t go our way or when an opponent played a little too rough.

Our results were:

Vs. Pedare 26 - 13

Vs. Gulfview Heights 28 – 14

Vs Vale Park 20 – 10

Vs Greenwith Primary 28 – 19

Vs Fulham Gardens 33 – 0

Vs Ocean View College 27 - 6

Our two speed demon point guards Kailash K. and Callum M. did an impressive job of pushing the ball up the court as quickly and as safely as possible. Cameron K. was our lockdown defender who guarded the opposition’s best ball handler at every opportunity. He played with an energy and tenacity that no opponent could match. Jensen F. and Ollie H. shot the lights out from everywhere on the court as well as always being there for the outlet pass when needed. Michael M. and Christian S. both did an impressive job of driving through our opponents' defence and either finishing it off with a skilfull layup or dishing the ball to an open teammate for the easy finish. And our big centre, Daniel S, owned the middle of the key every game and our opponents just didn’t have any answers for his height and skill.

Unfortunately, it appeared as if fatigue played a part in the Grand Final where we played a talented team in Burnside Primary. We fought hard but just didn’t have the legs to go with them in the end going down 6 - 30. They were deserving winners on the day and we congratulate them on their achievement. Although the boys left disappointed, they can hold their heads up high knowing that the school and community are proud of the way that they played and represented Henley Beach Primary School.

I would like to thank Janine Hart for all of her help with scoring each game as well as offering her ‘Uber’ services to safely get the boys there and back. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The whole school enjoyed celebrating Book Week. The day started with the costume parades. There were lots of fabulous costumes on display and a few Where’s Wally’s!

Students shared their curious character designs and descriptions. 

Each class displayed their work in the STEM area and there were viewing opportunities throughout the day.

A big thank you to everyone involved!

If your child is away for 3 days or more you are required to submit a doctors certificate to the front office.

Niina Marni,

Next week is NAIDOC Week. The theme for this year is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’. This recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. We are spiritually and culturally connected to this country. This year it is being held later which means we can celebrate it during this term rather than during the July school holidays. There will be different activities with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focus in classrooms throughout the week. For more information go to  https://www.naidoc.org.au

NAIDOC.

Nukkan!

We had a small but productive working bee at the start of the school holidays, clearing beds, conditioning the soil and planting some spring seeds. A big thank you to Leah and Audrey for their dedicated efforts!

This term I will be opening the garden to students on Friday lunchtimes, so that those who don’t get to do Grub Club with their class can explore our beautiful garden, visit the chooks and try some produce. The strawberries and broad beans are delicious at the moment! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to help out on Friday lunchtimes (12.45-1.30pm) with the large volume of students visiting the garden. Please contact Nancy via the office if you are available.

On a sad note, we have just lost one of our chooks (the old red hen) to old age. Thank you very much to Audrey for nursing in her last week.

 

Some good news for sustainability! We now have an outdoor bin recycling station located on the end of the year 6 classrooms opposite the gym. These are colour coded just like our classroom bins. Please talk to your students about the bins and recycling at school and home. We would like to encourage the whole community to get involved in these recycling efforts!

 

Have you tried any of our canteen-made lunches? We currently have butter chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, sausage rolls, chicken burgers, zucchini slice, pizzas and popcorn chicken.  All made in-house. With warmer weather here we are also making fruit flavoured slams instead of commercially bought ice blocks. These are  $1 and a perfect treat to cool down. Sold only over the counter.

If you have some time after drop off on Wednesdays we'd love to see you in the canteen https://signup.com/go/SRNeYue