Henley Beach Primary School Newsletter

Over the past week there have been two incidents reported to the school involving unknown members of the community. The nature of these incidents is very concerning and addressing this situation is multifaceted. Staff have reviewed aspects of the school’s existing play time arrangements and some adjustments have been made, including determining areas that are out of bounds (to ensure children play in the line of sight of a supervising adult). Building children’s capacity through the Child Protection Curriculum is also a priority. This curriculum is taught throughout the year and teaches children to recognise abuse, the importance of speaking to a trusted adult if they are worried and to understand ways of keeping themselves safe. Further to this, the school will seek advice from the Department for Education regarding the suitability of existing boundary fencing. Henley Beach staff are very committed to providing a safe environment for all children and I encourage our school community to work together to ensure all students are safe.

If you wish to discuss this matter further please contact me.

School Community Survey

Thank you to all families who have provided responses via the recent school survey. The information has been very informative in regards to getting an insight into the areas valued by the school community and what aspirations our families have for the future. The sense of community, evident through friendly, supportive and respectful relationships is a highly valued element of the Henley Beach school environment. In terms of future aspirations, responses centred around building upon the positive work already happening within the school, including strengthening the teaching and learning opportunities for our students, the provision of a diverse curriculum and access to resources such as ICT equipment. I believe the school is well placed to enhance these areas and I am very committed to working with families, students and staff in progressing the school.

Home-School Communication

A valued element of school life is the presence of regular communication between home and school and all staff at are committed to ensuring parents and caregivers have the opportunity to discuss their child's learning progress. Teachers can be contacted at any time throughout the term, or alternatively, your child's teacher may also contact you if they have any areas that they wish to talk with you about. In light of COVID-19 guidelines, a level of flexibility with the format of these catch ups is necessary (eg. a face to face meeting, telephone call) which can be negotiated between yourself and your child's teacher. If you would like to speak with your child's teacher, please contact them via email, seesaw or calling the front office.

Curriculum Update: Literacy

One of the key improvement priorities for our school is to strengthen children’s writing skills and knowledge through engagement with the Brightpath program. Brightpath is a writing assessment program that enables teachers to compare and benchmark their students’ work with performance descriptors. This process enables teachers to clearly identify areas of growth at a class and individual level and adjust their work with students accordingly. In recent weeks all classes have completed a writing sample that has been assessed by their teacher against the relevant standards. Teachers have commented on the progress shown within their class, including students' ability to integrate the techniques and strategies within the Seven Steps to Writing program. This is a really pleasing outcome and something we will continue to build upon.

Sports Day Update

A decision has been made to re-schedule our school sports day to Friday September 18th. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 provisions we will be unable to have parents and other family members come onto the school grounds. Staff acknowledge that this is a disappointing outcome as sports day is a terrific school event, but we hope the community is understanding of this request. More information regarding the format of the day will follow in future newsletters.

School Grounds

The installation of the new basketball/netball goals and line marking has been completed and is a welcome addition to the school’s play areas. Thanks also to parent Simon Hutchinson for working with small groups of our students to plant trees along the perimeter fence lines.

Upcoming Dates

School Closure Day: Friday September 4th

Pupil free date: Monday September 7th

A special lunch will be available soon through the canteen on QKR.

Due to COVID-19 this will only be for students, as per the Principal's message.

Get your house colours ready.

SEAGULLS  , SANDPIPERS , PELICANS , HERONS

The year 7 to 8 high school packs will be coming home with your child this Friday 14 August.

It is Department for Education policy that the guidelines below are followed. Thank you in anticipation of your support with this area.

If your child has flu like symptoms or is sick please keep them at home.

If your child has/had vomited and/or diarrhea they must not come to school for 24 hrs.

If a child presents to class with these symptoms you will be called to pick your child up and take home.

Thank you to all the families who have paid their school fees for 2020.  A reminder to all families that school fees are a legally recoverable debt and are now overdue. If you think you may be eligible for school card assistance please make sure you have completed the online application form. A new application is required each year. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact me to arrange a payment plan.

Miss Cook’s Year 1 Class have been very busy writing alliteration poems.

 We would like to acknowledge the super effort that was shown by Harper. Great work Harper!

Last Monday, HBPS hosted Maths Hub, where some students from West Lakes Shore School came along for a fun afternoon of maths. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other and working together to solve a range of maths problems. Well done to the HBPS students who  represented our school very well: Charlotte, Angus, Holly, Holly, Alex and Madison from Year 6 and Amelia, Mor, Hayden, Charlie, Amelia and Dimi from Year 5.

Whole school Italian activities and special Italian lunch.

The Italian performance has been cancelled due to COVID-19 because the show is Melbourne based.

The cost of the performance will now cover the Italian special lunch  - note to follow.

Please see the office if you have any concerns.

For those that hadn't paid for the performance you will have the opportunity to purchase the special lunch on Qkr.

Bookings on 0401 121 087 or tammyhbpsoshc@yahoo.com.au

Did you know we now have a Thermomix in the canteen. This allows us to make a lot of recipes from scratch.

We are asking for volunteers, via 'Sign Up' to help out on a Wednesday with food preparation.

“Sign Up” is a web platform and allows volunteers to choose the dates that work for you.  Currently there is a link posted on the Henley Community Facebook Page to allow you to select a Wednesday from this term to come in with a friend after school drop off for an hour. Help will be needed to prep some food for our busy end of the week, most likely cutting carrots, cucumbers and preparing toasted sandwiches. 

If you have any questions in regards to this please feel free to send us an email to canteen.canteen878@schools.sa.edu.au or just select your date from the link and turn up. 

Of course, the usual clearances will be required and we ask that you tie your hair back and wear closed shoes for your safety.

Also keep an eye out for the Sports Day special later in the  term.

Thank you to all who have ordered this week's bacon and egg muffin special.  

Stay tuned for upcoming newsletters for updates and photographs on what we have been getting up to in the canteen.