Huntingdale Primary School

Principal and Assistant Principal's Page

Principal's Report

It has been a very busy fortnight with many exciting events around the school.

 

Hats On!

It is now ‘hats on’ for all of our students. They will need to wear a hat outside for sport activities, recess, lunch and all outdoor activities. Please ‘dig out’ your child’s hat for them to wear. All hats must be the Huntingdale bucket or legionnaire hat. If you have lost yours, please purchase one from our uniform supplier PSW. This policy is reflected in our uniform and sunsmart policies which are on the school website. 

 

Reminder- 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

Cost:      $15

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

Tickets will be available online through TRYBOOKING using the following link:

https://www.trybooking.com/CKMHT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Vision Update

In 2016, School Council sought input from staff, students, and parents to create 'Lighthouse Moments.'

'Lighthouse Moments' is a strategic document prepared for the school, and guides school staff and School Council in guiding their planning and decision-making. 

Our vision is made up of 4 themes. Each theme comprises of 3 directions. 

As a member of our school community, School Council is looking to refresh this vision and seeks your feedback and input.

 

We are asking all of our families to do a short survey to give us feedback about our vision. 

 

Please complete the survey using this link:

https://forms.gle/ETNfffV9bs3K8eVz9

 

We look forward to your response!

 

District Athletics

On 21 August many of our 3-6 students competed in the district athletics. We had a very successful day, with the following students qualifying for the divisional event:

Shot Put- Alisa

Discus- Gene, Timmy

Triple Jump- Connor, Monika

1500m- Aiden, Alannah, Aca, Monika

100m- Keitaro, Isabella, Joshua, Ari, Alisa

200m- Isabella, Joshua

800m- Mannix

Hurdles- Marcus, Joshua

Relay- Keitaro, Matthew, Lui, Joey

Relay- Joshua, Aiden, Isaac, Hinata

Relay- Eshter, Anna, Hannah, Allanah

Relay- Ari, Kenny, Aca, Connor

 

Reminder- 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 is 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.

 

Thank you to the families who have already responded to the survey. We would like more families to take the survey. You can complete the survey using the following link https://www.orima.com.au/parent and use the PIN 356543

 

Family House Colours Competition

Throughout this year, ‘Our House Spirit’ has been working with our Year 6 Captains on their leadership and organisational skills. This program has worked through our school house system- Hokkaido (blue), Honshu (red), Kyushu Green) and Shikoku (yellow).

 

Each term, the leaders have been challenged to organise events, most which have been based at school. This has included lunchtime sports, a house picnic and assisting with the school fun run.

 

This term, our leaders are extending their ideas to the school community and have created a competition for families to take a photo together in their house colours! Your child will know the house colour they are in.

 

The details are below and we would love to see as many families as possible take part to build community spirit!

 

 

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!

 

13th September Anniversary of 

the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, with a majority of 144 countries of the UN ‘in favour’ of the Declaration. It is a legally non-binding resolution which outlines the individual and collective rights of indigenous people including their ownership rights to cultural and ceremonial expression, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other issues such protection of their intellectual and cultural property. The goal of the declaration is to encourage countries to work alongside indigenous peoples to solve global issues and those affecting them. 

 

Code Camp

Next Term Code Camp will run their Minecraft Engineers Program after school. The details are as follows:

Class Type: Minecraft Engineers 

Day: Mondays

Dates: 09 OCT to 27 NOV

Times: 3:45pm - 5:00pm

Please find the booking link HERE

As it is a new program option, Code Camp can offer a $15 saving for parents who book by 25th September. 

Please use the following discount code when booking on our website: AST4EB

 

Save the Date

We are having a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle on 25th November at The Links. More details to come. We would appreciate as much help as we can have on that day.

 

Have a great fortnight!

Ruth Biddle 

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

With Science Week in week 6, Book week in week 7 Literacy and Numeracy week this week our students are having such a variety of activities each week. 

 

RoboGals

On Tuesday 22nd August 2023 selected students from HPS took part in the Robogals program at Monash University. The program provided students with the opportunity to experience STEM based learning using Lego Spike Prime robots.

Students also had the opportunity to construct a robot from a kit using a circuit board and 3-d printed parts.

The students worked with engineering students and were able to ask questions about careers in STEM.

Overall, the students had a great time they were wonderful representatives for Huntingdale and seemed to really enjoy catching the bus. 

 

Thank you Mr Magart and M.Harada sensei for leading students through the day.

 

Book Week

Last week at Huntingdale, we celebrated Children’s Book Week.

Every year, the Children's Book Council of Australia holds Book Week across Australia to promote the importance of reading and the joy that children can find in it.       

Schools, libraries, booksellers, authors, illustrators and children come together to celebrate Australian literature in a whole host of events and parades, with the week culminating with the Book of the Year Awards.

At Huntingdale, the library was open to all students at lunch times. They were invited to come in, browse, read and share. There were sessions where students could listen to stories read in a range of languages, including English, Japanese, Italian, Welsh, French and Hindi. The children also celebrated literacy with rich activities in their classrooms.

The theme this Book Week was ‘Read, Grow, Inspire,’ which focused on how literature has the capacity to develop a child’s inner world and how it can plant the seed of inspiration for them to express their own creativity. By creating an annual event out of reading for everyone to look forward to, children are likely to look back with fond memories and continue reading in later life.

We thank the children and families who created inspired costumes for our Character Parade and to the senior Student Leadership Council representatives who presented so well.

Rakugo Incursion

RAKUGO is 400 year old Japanese comic storytelling.

It is a form of entertainment best described as Japanese sit-down comedy or comic storytelling with 400 years of history.  During a show, the Rakugo performer sits on a small pillow dressed in a kimono and acts out the whole story by themselves, equipped with only a fan (Sensu) and hand towel (Tenugui) to help convey ideas.

A Rakugo story is told through the conversations between characters, therefore the performer must be able to play the role of each distinct character by changing personality, facial expressions, mannerisms, speech, etc.  In most cases, the characters have strong stereotypical personalities and characteristics so that as the performer switches from one character to another the audience readily detects the change.

To be a professional Rakugo performer you have to ask a Rakugo master to become their protégé and only a person who completes 3 years of training can be accepted as a professional Rakugo performer.

 

Our students enjoyed the performance and laughed so much. It was so good to see our students delighted in the comedy all performed in Japanese.

 

Working Bee

Thank you to those parents and children who were able to attend our  working bee last Saturday.     The garden beds around the main classroom block were “planted out” and look lovely.  

Seeing so many families come along and have a BBQ together was great.

Thank you, Ben for organising the working bee. We must also send a special thank you to Rose and her staff at Bunnings, Oakleigh Links for their donations and advice.

 

Instagram-Huntingdale Primary School

We are excited to let our community know that we have recently launched our school Instragram page. 

 

Please find the below the QR code if you would like to join and connect with our community.

Father’s Day Breakfast 2 September

Save the Date

Team Kids will be hosting a Father’s Day breakfast for all the fathers and grandfathers at our school. 

 

Date: Friday 1st September

Time: Before School (7:30am onward)

Place: STEM room

 

Please come along and enjoy breakfast and have a relaxing time with other fathers/grandfathers.

 

5/6 Production

Our bi-annual school production「だれひとり とりのこさない世界に」“Leave No One Behind” is happening in on Tuesday 5th September and Wednesday 6th September.

 

There are still a few tickets left and we would love you to join us for this momentous 2-night event, where all grade 5 and 6 students come together to create magic.

 

Foundation to Grade 4 parents are also invited to purchase tickets to come along and see what our grade 5 and 6 students have been working on. It is a great opportunity for this amazing school community to come together!

 

Tickets can be purchased at:

https://www.trybooking.com/CKMHT

 

Better Place Australia

Child and Teen Counselling and Family Mental Health Support is Available 

Children and teenagers lead busy lives filled with school, family and social commitments. For some, changes in home, family and school environments can be stressful and filled with anxiety. Children and teens may find difficult to cope with these changes and face challenges with social and educational commitments or meaningfully engage with their support and social networks as a result.

Support is available to families that are struggling during this difficult time.

Better Place Australia offers Child and Adolescent Counselling, Mental Health Counselling and Adult Counselling services to youth and their families who are struggling with a range of the following issues:

  • Separation and family violence
  • Stress and anxiety from changes in home, family life or friendships
  • Social issues and isolation
  • Significantly increased screen time
  • Motivation to learn
  • Mental health

Better Place Australia is a government-funded organisation with offices around Victoria offering services in Counselling, Psychological services and Mediation.

We have appointments available now and offer phone and video options to families needing support. 

If you would like to discuss further about our services can meet the needs of your students during this challenging time, please call 1800 639 523 for more information. Visit betterplaceaustralia.com.au to find out more.

If you would like to have a session at school for your child, please contact Naomi at school.

 

Learning starts at 9am

Teachers open their classroom door at 8:50am allowing students to set up for their learning. Our teachers start their mini-lesson at 9am each day, during which they share the learning intension and success criteria with students.  If students come late in the morning, they will miss this important part of the day.  Therefore it is very important that students arrive on time. 

 

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal