Principal's Report

Welcome back for Term 3. Hopefully your family saw some sun, some snow or perhaps just got to roast a marshmallow on the fire over your children’s break!

With no such thing as a ‘quiet term’, there are a number of new and important dates below to take note of, including a Beaut Blokes afternoon before Father’s Day, Parent Teacher Interviews, some Curriculum Days in Term 4 and the closing of 2024 enrolments. We do endeavour to get all events on the calendar on Compass as soon as possible to allow for forward planning.

I hope that this term sees your child continue to build on the strengths referenced in their Semester 1 report. 

Thank You!

Local Business Register

A huge thank you to Lisa Malherbe for developing the HPS Local Business Register. This wonderful resource is available on Compass (shared last week) and I encourage you to use it to support our families in their fields.

Second Hand Uniform Sales

Melissa Da Silveira, Megan Lester, Ana Garnek, Juliana Brum, Kirsten Whaley who through the Second Hand Uniform Sale raised $327 and also were able to recycle a lot of high quality uniform as a result. 

Recent Facility Upgrades

You may have noticed that significant planting has occured throughout our school, making a positive difference to the grounds and previously garden beds that were a little un-loved. Please help these plants thrive by keeping your children from playing on them or pulling leaves/flowers of them, and simply enjoying looking at them!

Over the coming week you will also see our bubblers be changed over to new ones that are not only bacteria resistant but fill drink bottles as well as act as a bubbler. Fundraising at events throughout the year has enabled this to occur and we know that all students and much of our community that use our grounds will appreciate and enjoy the upgrade.

Student Device Access at Home

You may recall in the last edition I raised concerns about data we had received from students regarding their sleeping habits, which directly connected to their checking messages and notifications during the night. In follow up to this, and other responses from the survey, our Grade 6s reported that over 80% of them are permitted to use their iPad in their bedroom, with 50% of students with phones allowed the same access. 

Privacy is often the argument as to why students may need their device in their room, or indeed access to an alarm or another utility their device performs. Experts in this field strongly suggest that devices should always be used in common areas of the house until there is a justifiable reason for privacy. As a parent, I recommend that a $15 alarm clock is a good investment in helping your child get good sleep and set up positive sleeping habits!

For some of you, Grade 6 will seem like a long way away, but setting up good habits early on makes the conversation much easier. For any motivation you may need, as I did, I encourage you to watch the Mirror Mirror or The Social Dilemma documentaries, they both terrified me enough to take action!

New & Important Dates

• 28th July: 2024 Enrolments close
• 28th August: Grade 3-6 House Athletics Day
• 1st September: Beaut Blokes Afternoon 
• 28th August – 1st September: Parent Teacher Interviews
• 6th November: Pupil Free Day
• 15th December: Pupil Free Day 

To stay up to date with all events and key dates, see the Compass Calendar. 

Celebrations

Congratulations to Isla H (Gr 3) who came second last weekend in the Rossignol Cup. The cup is a Giant Slalom race where the best of two runs counts. She participated in awful weather and showed great resilience to post a faster second run than her first. We wish her well for the rest of the season at the snow!