Principals' Report

It’s been a wonderful fortnight of learning, with many exciting events happening!

Senior School Production

Momentum is building for our senior school production ‘Leave No One Behind’. 「だれひとりとりのこさない世界に」

Students and teachers have been busy with rehearsals and excitement is building! We welcome all of our school community to attend the production. The details of the production are as follows:

Performance Dates: 5 & 6 September

Starting Time: 7.00pm

Venue: South Oakleigh College, Baker’s Road, OAKLEIGH SOUTH

Cost: $15

Tickets will be available online through TRYBOOKING and the link will be forwarded soon.

Book Week is coming!

21-25 August is Book Week. The theme is ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’.

We are planning to have a Book Week Parade on Friday 25th August at 9:15am, where students can dress up as favourite book character. More details will be released soon….but start planning your outfit!

2023 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian

Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

All families are invited to participate in the survey.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.Please speak to the school office if you would like more information.

2024 Enrolments

We are taking enrolments for the 2024 school year.

If you know of any neighbours, relatives or friends who are looking to enrol for 2024 please direct them to our school office or website for information about our school. Tours can be organised by contacting Office Manager Gill Penfold

Any of our current families who have younger siblings starting at the school should enrol now!

Using the crossings

Our crossing supervisors have asked that I remind families about crossing the roads safely.

Please be patient! The crossing supervisors may be on the opposite side of the road to where you are and they have to wait for a safe ‘break in the traffic’ before they can enter the road. Therefore, you must wait as well and not enter the crossing. Other tips are:

Always stand behind the line while waiting at the crossing
Wait behind the line until the supervisor has clearly blown their whistle twice
One sharp blow of the whistle means stop immediately and if on the crossing exit quickly and safely.
Only cross between the white lines ensuring that you are visually sighted by the supervisor.
Do not ride bikes across the crossing, bounce balls or run. Walk safely!
Follow the directions of the supervisor.

This will enable everyone to be safe around the crossings.

Drivers also need to follow the road rules and wait patiently when turning into Grange Street. We thank you for your cooperation.

Important Dates for Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Island People

Over the next fortnight, there are a number of significant dates for our First Nations People

4th Aug – National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day

In 1988, the first National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day was established on 4 August and was set against the backdrop of protests led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their supporters during the bicentennial year. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people felt that a day was needed to celebrate their childrento give them confidence and make them feel special and included. The date 4 August was historically used to communally celebrate the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children who were taken from their families at a young age without knowing their birthday- the Stolen Generations.

Credit: https://www.aboriginalchildrensday.com.au/what-is-childrens-day/

9th Aug – International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

There are an estimated 476 million indigenous peoples in the world living across 90 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.

In order to raise awareness of the needs of these population groups, every 9 August commemorates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, chosen in recognition of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in Geneva in 1982.

As one of the oldest indigenous populations in the world, this is an important date for our First Nations People.

14th August- 1963 Yirrkala Bark

Petition to Parliament Anniversary

Indigenous Australians, known as the Yolngu, have been living in Arnhem Land for thousands of years, mainly living in the settlement of Yirrkala. The Arnhem Land Reserve was established in 1931 to protect the people and the ecosystem where they lived in harmony. Reserves were not managed by the government and gave Indigenous peoples semi-autonomy over their lives.

In 1952 large deposits of bauxite were found near Yirrkala. In February 1962 the government gave authority to a Swiss company to mine bauxite near Yirrkala. The Aboriginal Community knew nothing of this until they heard it announced in the ABC news!

On 14 August 1963 the Yirrkala bark petitions were presented to the Australian Parliament’s House of Representatives. This was the beginnings of years of petitions that were repeatedly ignored by the government and the judicial system.

Only in 1978 finally the Yolngu eventually received native title to their land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, which established a procedure for transferring 50% of land in the Territory to Aboriginal ownership.

The Yirrkala bark petitions were the first example of a native title litigation in Australia. They paved the way for the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission and the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

Credit: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/yirrkala-bark-petitions

Principal’s Day

Friday August 4 is Principal’s Day. This is to highlight the great work that Principal Class employees do in leading their schools. We are very fortunate to have Naomi Mori-Hanazono as our Assistant Principal in this school. Naomi works tirelessly to support students, teachers and the bilingual learning at Huntingdale. She also is an excellent support to me as Principal and together we work well as a team. Naomi’s work is often ‘behind the scenes’ as she organises the timetables, student support, visitors, casual relief teachers, Watashi Mo and bilingual teaching and learning to name a few of her roles. Thank you, Naomi, for the work you do!

Parent Conduct- discussing issues and approaching other families

Occasionally, incidents occur between students at school. When this happens, the school liaises with the involved students and their families to sort out a resolution. This is done in a respectful and in some cases, confidential manner to all involved.

We ask that parents do not share and discuss these issues amongst themselves on the school grounds or via social media. We also ask that parents do not approach other parents or students to sort out disputes as this can often cause more upset. We ask that you contact the school and meet with either the classroom teacher, Naomi or me to discuss this so we can help with a resolution in a constructive manner.

Have a great fortnight!

Ruth Biddle

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

We are almost half way through Term 3 and its getting warmer and I can feel Spring coming on.

Foundation’s 100 days Celebration

Our Foundation students have reached a milestone of 100 days of school. They celebrated it on 2nd August with many fun activities.

They took park in some Literacy activities and Numeracy activities counting to 100. We are so happy to see our foundation students make excellent progress and enjoy coming to school to learn.

Haiku and Abacus (Soroban) lessons

On 1 August, we had special visitors. Four teachers from Japan came to visit our school. Grade 3, 4 and 5 students enjoyed Haiku lessons and each student created two Haiku with seasonal references, which will submitted to a Haiku Contest (BashoSai) in Japan. Grade 2 students enjoyed learning Soroban (Japanese Abacus). The visiting teachers and HPS teachers met after school and discussed how maths is taught in Japan and Australia and also how we could improve our teaching and how we could support students learning.

Buddy Session

5B and 2C students had a buddy session where the senior students explained to the juniors about the movement of the Earth, Sun and Moon, using 3D models they created.

They also prepared a very detailed information text and worked really hard in groups to make their presentation engaging and interactive. They created small activities and finished with a Q&A session.

2C students were really engaged and enjoyed learning new things from their buddies. We had a robust discussion with both grades about what things worked really well and areas for improvement they have identified in order to further improve their presentation skills. It was an exciting opportunity for both grades to enjoy learning from each other, and develop invaluable skills of presentation and active listening.

Monash Tech School

On Thursday the 27th of July, selected students in grade 5 and grade 6 “Design Thinking” extension program participated in an online learning session.

The session was run by two teachers from Monash Tech School, both with expertise in digital technology. The focus of the session was drones, and in particular how to safely plan the route of a drone.

The legal requirements and limitations of drones were explained to the group. Students were then set the task of planning the most direct route for hypothetical businesses in the city of Monash. The route was to avoid prohibited areas such as hospitals and airports.

The HPS students worked very efficiently and made valued contributions to group discussions.

Thank you for Mr Magart leading students’ discussions.

NDIS information

Please find some updated NDIS information.

If you have any concerns about your child’s development, you may be able to receive the support. Your child doesn’t need a diagnosis to get help if your child is younger than 6. Please see the flyer below for more information.

Book Week

We would like to celebrate Children’s Book Week. We will have book week parades with students dressed as their favourite book character on Friday 25th August. We are also having our whole school incursion-Showko Comedy-Rakugo Performance.

School Uniform

It has been very cold and windy recently. Please make sure your children come to school with warm clothes with school colours.

Lost Property

Lost property is mounting up again. Please check the tub in office to see if anything belongs to your child. Please remember that if you put your child’s name on their lunch box, jacket, hat, etc., there is a better chance of them finding their owner. At the end of each term items left are disposed of responsibly.

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal

School Council