Acting Principal's Report

The weather has warmed up over the past fortnight. At assembly this week I reminded students that they need to wear their Huntingdale hat outside each day. Other hats or caps cannot be worn. If students do not have their Huntingdale hat they will be asked to play in a shaded area. Hats also must be worn for all outdoor activities such as sport. If your child has misplaced their hat, please invest in buying a new one as it will be something they need.

2018 Grade Placements

In November, classroom teachers will be working on class lists for 2018. Parents are invited to write to me regarding class placements for their children. This information will be shared with the relevant teachers and the insights gained by your comments will be considered by staff when children are placed in their new groupings for 2018. It should be noted that there is no provision to request teachers.

Please remember that class placement is taken most seriously by staff and consideration is given to the child’s intellectual, physical, emotional and social development as well as the cohorts of children. All information received from parents is considered in this context. Please ensure you write to me by tomorrow (16/11/17) as staff will begin working on class lists soon after. Please note that if you made a request last year to Mrs Gray you will need to write another request this year if it is still relevant for your child.

Staff create spreadsheets for each year level with key information including; Current classes, Literacy (English and Japanese) achievement, Numeracy achievement, Behaviour, Gender, Discussion contributors, Friendships, and other information e.g. specific learning needs as the basis of developing new classes. Once the classes are devised we cross check these classes with staff across the school to find the best fit.

If you are planning on moving interstate, to another country or away from Huntingdale and are yet to notify the office please do so as soon as possible. Numbers have a significant bearing on our planning and we appreciate early notification where possible. If you hear of anyone wishing to attend Huntingdale in 2018 please send them to the office to enrol.

Watashi Mo

Just a reminder that our Watashi Mo Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 27th November at 3.00pm in the staff room. We chose this time as it is close to the end of the school day and many parents are already around the school. We hope to see you there.

Car Park

Our car park is a very busy place, particularly before and after school. I ask that parents take extra care when driving in and out of the car park. In recent weeks we have had a parent’s car being hit by another and a note was not left. Parents are double parking and also using the car parks designated for staff. Please take care out there!

Supervision before and after school

It has come to our attention that several students are arriving at school alone before 8.45am. A yard duty teacher commences at 8.45am and before this time parents must supervise their children while at school. If you are unable to be here, please book your child in before school care.

Family Zone

I was recently alerted to a great product called ‘Family Zone’, which is a cyber-safety platform that enables parents to monitor their child’s devices and content they see on the internet. I encourage parents to visit the website

https://www.familyzone.com/au/ to get more information.

Volunteers Morning Tea

Each year we celebrate the great work from our parent volunteers in the school. We are holding our annual Volunteers Morning Tea in the staffroom from 11.00-11.30am on Thursday December 7th to thank you for your contributions to the school. Whether it’s participating in literacy sessions, volunteering on camps or excursions, attending sports days or participating in ICU Weeks, you enrich the experiences of the children at our school. If you are able to attend the morning tea, please let Gill know at the office.

Update your details

At school we often need to contact parents for a variety of reasons. Recently we have discovered that many families’ telephone numbers and email addresses are not valid. If you do change telephone numbers, email, and/or home address or there is an update on personal/medical/family situation, it is most important that you contact Gill in the school office to let us know so we can update the school records. We thank you for your cooperation with this. Please note that updating your details on an excursion permission is not enough, because those details are only for the excursion day and cannot be guaranteed to reach the office.

Apartment Update

We recently found out that the proposed development at 2-4 Grange Street was approved by VCAT. School Council is working through a range of strategies around this and we will keep the school community informed.

Achievements

Scarlet from 1D had her dancing and music concert on the 29th of October. She performed Jazz, Ballet, Tap dancing and piano all on the same day. She worked hard on her piano and her dancing as she wanted to improve from her efforts in last year’s concert. Her dedication resulted in her receiving an outstanding improvement award

for the second time in her piano.

"I was nervous but I had fun dancing in front of everyone. I was really tired because I did two concerts in one day but I was happy I got an award for piano again this year. I am going to try and practice hard so I can get an award again. I like dancing and piano. - Scarlet"

A reminder that we ask that any parents who have a child who has achieved something special at any time to please take a photograph and write a short sentence or two about what the child did, when it happened and what it means to the child and send this through to the school account at huntingdale.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au Achievements could be getting an award from the local footy team or ballet performance or library book club or gaining their Grey Wolf Award at Scouts or any other hobby your child pursues we’re here to celebrate Personal Best in whatever form that takes.

Please enjoy reading the Community Captains report.

Have a great fortnight!

Ruth Biddle

Acting Principal

Acting Assistant Principal's Report

Hope you had an enjoyable day on Melbourne Cup Day with your family. It is only 6 more weeks until the end of this term. Foundation children started to practice their item for Christmas Concert. I can not wait to see great development and achievement to celebrate with family at the end of the year.

Keeping Kids Smiling Program

So many children participated in the “Keeping Kids Smiling Program”, with Link Health and Community Oral Health Services and enjoyed the experience of the dental visit.

All children who received a dental check-up were sent home with a post-exam letter detailing findings of their examination. Parents of those children identified as requiring further dental treatment are encouraged to arrange a further dental appointment at Link Health and Community, or at their family dentist.

Let’s keep our children smiling with healthy teeth!

Movember!

Dear all HPS dads,

Mr Herskope and other male teachers are participating in a very important charity called “Movember”.

Please feel free to join in the team and logon on to

Mobro.co/huntingdale2017. His team number is 2264873 and we can’t wait to see your moustaches develop! For those dads who can, we will have a “Mo Day” at the end of the month as well!

Mr Herskope, Mr Tolliday, Mr Thomas and Nishikubo sensei will be sacrificing their top lips and starting fundraising right way.

Looking forward to see who joins in, you can send your photos to

Huntingdale.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au as well as the Team page.

It has been beautiful weather recently. This is a timely reminder for students to bring their hat to play outside and to put on sun screen before going to school.

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Acting Assistant Principal

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