Welcome to Week Eight of Term One. I cannot believe how quickly our first term is going, we are almost at the end of term. A reminder that Term One will conclude at 2:30pm on Friday 4th April.

Welcome to HPS

In the last fortnight, we have had two new students begin their learning journey with us at Highvale. Welcome to HPS to the following new students: Aaliyah M 4U & Anaaya M Prep FY. We are sure you will love being members of our community. If there is anything that you would like to discuss or need assistance with, please contact the School Office on 9887 8000. We are always here to help!

This week we also welcome two staff members to HPS, Dominique Wiegand and Sophie Stokes. Dominique will join us in the German position as Soleda Graham goes on maternity leave. Sophie joins us as an Education Support (ES) and will work across the school in all year levels. They come to us as experienced professionals with a passionate interest in what they do.

Birthdays

A child’s birthday is a very special occasion and every fortnight I will share this celebration by including the children’s names in our newsletter.

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrated their special day during March:

Jaanu T, Sebastian Y, Amber K, Shawn N, Zara Z, Kurtis L, Carter C, Owen X, Almeer K, Harper K, Kai Yan D, Markus H, Anna W, Ben G and Eleni K.

Attendance

At Highvale Primary School we firmly believe that attending school every day plays a crucial role in shaping a child's educational journey. Regular attendance allows students to fully engage in classroom activities, discussions, and hands-on learning experiences. It provides them with the opportunity to grasp new concepts, ask questions, and collaborate with their peers. Consistent attendance helps build a strong foundation of knowledge and skills, enabling children to excel academically. This term, we will be reinforcing the importance of attending school every day.

Congratulations to the 216 students who have been at school every day so far in March. Some of these students include: Mirreeha A Prep FY, Aarieya N Prep FY, Noah L Prep B, Eddy L Prep B, Isabella M 1S, Carter C 1S, Violet G 1D, Leanne L 1D, Markus H 2S, Aarna K 2S, Xin Xin D 2M, Surveen B 2M, Sander H 2J, Zara L 2J, Vivaan D 3CBB, Luke D 3CBB, Vimal A 3J, Calvin C 3J, Megan C 4A, Shawn F 4A, Kaiyan D 4U, Jun Ler E 4U, Zoe L 5S, Joshua L 5S, Faith C 5D, Chloe C 5D, Aarna D 6S, Zachary C 6S, Eugene C 6D & Elkan G 6D

Remember: it is not ok to be away!

Highvale Sports Carnival

On Wednesday the 26th of March all students will participate in the annual HPS Sports Carnival onsite from 3:00pm-4:30pm. Throughout the afternoon, students will rotate through a series of fun games and activities which aim to develop and enhance Fundamental Movement Skills. Students are encouraged to dress in their House colours on Wednesday. Parents and carers are invited to attend the HPS Sports Carnival. Please note that you will be asked to walk around the outside of the activities when following your child’s group and NOT across the middle of the basketball courts and oval. When the Sports Carnival ends at 4:30pm all families will need to exit through the front gate and students will need to be marked off. If you would like to pick your child up from school as normal at 3:30pm, please email your child’s teacher. No students will be allowed to walk home by themselves, all students will need to be collected by a parent/ guardian.

If your child will be attending TheirCare, please email your child’s class teacher. The Theircare educators will come and collect the students from the Sports Carnival. We can’t wait for this special whole school event.

NAPLAN

We have officially completed our NAPLAN assessments. We believe our students performed very well, however, we will get student results in term two. Congratulations to all of our Level Three and Five students and teachers!

Allied Health Professionals

If your child sees/has seen an Allied Health Professional such as a psychologist, speech therapist or occupational therapist, could you please share the reports from these sessions with your child’s classroom teacher. Often there are recommendations in these reports that may assist us when catering for your child in the classroom. We have a speech therapist, provisional psychologist and counsellor onsite at HPS.

If you would like your child to access any of these services, please speak to your child’s teacher.

Healthy Harold

Over the past fortnight, Healthy Harold has visited HPS and seen all of our classes. Topics covered included physical health, safety and social and emotional wellbeing. All modules are aligned to the Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education Learning Area and other Learning Areas and General Capabilities. Check out our Student Voice section of the newsletter for more information on Healthy Harold.

Kelly Sports

Next term we will begin a new sports program with Kelly Sports. On Tuesday afternoons, our students in Years Prep – Six can participate in an 8 week basketball program. On Thursday afternoons, our students in Years Prep – Four can participate in a multi sports program where students will do soccer, hockey, cricket and other sports in an 8 week program. This is an extra curricular event and parents will need to pay Kelly Sports directly. To build excitement and attract numbers Kelly Sports will come and run free clinics during school hours with all HPS students in the last week of this term. Hard copies of notices will go home with students after the free sessions. We are hoping to attract lots of students and encourage students to stay active, participate in team sports and have fun with each other!

Lunchtime Clubs

We have begun our Lunchtime Clubs Program. This term we have offered STEM/ Coding, Mindfulness, Choir and Soccer. Next term we will offer Mindfulness, Choir, Robotics, Extension Drawing and Green Team. These Lunchtime Clubs are led by our teachers and seem to be attracting large numbers of interested students. Term Two Clubs will be advertised in Week One of Term Two.

Camps

We are very excited about our Camping Program, which provides our Years Three, Four, Five and Six students the opportunity to attend School Camp. Our expression of interest compass event suggests that most students will be attending the Camps this year.

Our Year Five & Six Camp to Sovereign Hill will be August 11-13 and our Year Three & Four Camp to Phillip Island will be September 8-10.

School Council

Our School Council met on Tuesday night to conduct normal monthly business and to elect office bearers for 2025. I am now in the position to announce all positions and the full membership for 2025. Members include: Carly Epskamp, Kelly Soccio, Fiona Figg, Chris Vat, Lee Tan, Lubna Ukani, Kashmin Dhillon, Katharine Blaze, Vishaal Jegdish and Natalie Robinson.

Office Bearers include:

Lubna Ukani - President
Kashmin Dhillon – Vice President
Fiona Figg - Secretary
Chris Vat – Treasurer

A huge thank you to all of our parents who volunteer their time to be a part of our school council and offer their thoughts and ideas. This makes HPS the wonderful place that it is!

Cadbury Fundraiser

Earlier this week we distributed the chocolate boxes for families to sell. Thank you to each family that has volunteered to sell a box or two. From each box of chocolates that is sold the school receives $20. This money will go towards creating more sheltered areas in our schoolyard for the students to access. If you’d like a box of chocolates to sell, please come to the office as we have spare boxes available. If all chocolate money could be returned to the school before the end of term that would be most appreciated.

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

Kids Help - kidshelpline.com.au phone 1800 55 1800

Parent Line - betterhealth.vic.gov.au phone 13 22 89

Headspace - headspace.org.au phone 1800 650 890

eSafety Commissioner - esafety.gov.au - Advice for parents and carers to help children have safe experiences online

Have a great week ahead HPS families,

Carly Epskamp

Acting Principal

carly.epskamp@education.vic.gov.au

Harmony Week