Principal and Assistant Principal's Page

Principal's Report

It has been wonderful being back at school this term after my fabulous holiday in the Mediterranean! It truly is a stunning place to visit with highlights being Mykonos and Rhodes in Greece, Malta and Barcelona- beautiful people, food, and sights. It’s nice to return home to warmer weather- spring has finally sprung! I thank Assistant Principal Naomi Mori-Hanazono for her work as Acting Principal during my absence. 

Victorian Education and Excellence Awards 

I am proud to announce to the school community that Huntingdale has been shortlisted for the 2023 Victorian Education and Excellence Awards under the category ‘Dr Lawrie Shears Outstanding Global Teaching and Learning Award’. You can see a full list of finalists at 2023 Victorian Education Excellence Awards finalists | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au). Our blurb is below.

Huntingdale Primary School is a global leader in bilingual education which is influencing and improving language learning and global education across the government school system. 

The primary school’s Japanese Bilingual Language Immersion Education program, where the Victorian Curriculum is delivered equally in both Japanese and English, is cited internationally as an exemplar of sustained school-level bilingual provision. 

Huntingdale’s inclusive approach integrates students’ diverse home languages into the content and delivery of the bilingual curriculum while contributing to the international advancement of innovative models of schooling, relevant to changing global contexts for student learning. 

Most recently, Huntingdale Primary School partnered with the Australia-Japan Foundation through The University of Melbourne to develop new research into culture in bilingual contexts. 

Developing and sustaining international partnerships and collaborating with local stakeholders, Huntingdale Primary School is empowering their students to become global citizens who understand their impact on the world and value the culture, language, and stories of all.

A team of our teachers have been invited to the awards ceremony which is on Friday 27 October. 

It is an honour to be shortlisted and whether we win or not, it is credit to the school community on the high-quality education we provide at Huntingdale. 

Planning for 2024

The school is well underway for planning the 2024 school year.

In November, classroom teachers will be working on class lists for 2024. 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 2024.  It should be noted that there is no provision to request teachers. 

Please do not send me requests for student friendships, as the students themselves will list friends they would like to be with.

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 email the school, huntingdale.ps@education.vic.gov.au directing the email to me by Friday 27 October as staff will begin working on class lists soon after. Please note that if you made a request last year that you will need to write another request this year if it is still relevant for your child. 

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 2024, please send them to the office to enrol.  If you have not enrolled any younger siblings, please do so as quickly as possible so that they can attend our kinder to school transition program.

If you have any further questions, please contact the school office.

Collecting your children early from school

We have had a huge increase in the number of children being collected from school early. This interrupts your child’s learning, often the class and the school operations. The school asks that, wherever possible, you make appointments out of school times. If this cannot be avoided, we ask that you do the following:

• Tell your child and the office (by using Operoo) they are being collected early so that they know and we can organise them.
• Collect your child before recess (e.g., 10.50am) or just after recess (e.g., 11.40)- it is very difficult to find your children once they are out at recess time from 11.00-11.30am
• Collect your child by 1.00pm. After this time, it is an extremely busy time in the office. Between 1.40-2.30 students are outside and it is difficult to track them down
• Collect you child by 3.00pm. After this time, it is extremely busy in the office with phone calls, parents making payments, inquiries and so on.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Swimming

An Operoo notice has been released about swimming. We need to notify the pool as soon as possible about the number of students attending. We would appreciate that parents respond the Operoo notice this week. Swimming for F-2 starts next week.

NAPLAN Results

The school’s NAPLAN results were released recently. Most assessments are performed online, except for the Year 3 Writing, which is still ‘pen and paper’ style. 

NAPLAN measures student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation. However, the results will now be presented in 4 proficiency levels. These are: exceeding, strong, developing and needs additional support. 

We received very pleasing results in both Year 3 and Year 5. 

Year 3- Top Two Proficiency Levels

Our Year 3’s results exceed state results. We equal or surpass similar schools in a number of areas. We can show some improvement in writing. 

Year 5- Top Two Proficiency Levels

Our Year 5’s results exceed state and similar schools’ results except in writing.  

Well done to our students!

Respectful Relationships 

This term’s Respectful Relationships lessons are Topic 8: Positive Gender Relations. Learning activities within this topic focus on building an understanding of the effects of gender-based violenceand focus on the standards associated with respectful relationships. Students develop the skills needed to solve problems, set boundaries within relationships, and play an active role within the prevention of gender-based violence. They develop peer support and help-seeking skills that can be applied in response to situations involving gender-based violence in family, peer, community or on-line relationships.

Reminder- Mobile Devices Policy

Dr David Howes, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education has asked Principal’s to remind families about the state-wide mobile devices policy. This policy can be found on our website at:

https://huntingdaleps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/M11-Mobile-Devices-Policy-2021.pdf

All students must bring their mobile phone, tablet or smart watch to the office to be stored in a locked filing cabinet. 

Supervising Children Before and After School

Before and after school, parents are responsible for supervising their children when playing games around the school including the oval, basketball courts and asphalt areas around the portables. I am on duty around the school to ensure that students have been collected from school, while Naomi and Wakana are in the car park to ensure children are safe there. Classroom teachers are not on duty as they are often speaking to parents or preparing for meetings. Parents, please ensure you are within ‘eyesight’ of your children both school aged and younger siblings for their safety. We thank you for your cooperation. 

Accident Insurance

At school minor accidents can happen. While this is unfortunate, we would like to remind parents that the Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents/carers of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs. 

Families can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers, and it is the responsibility of parents/carers to look into their preferred options in this regard.

Medical Plans and Update contact details

At school we often need to contact parents for a variety of reasons. Over the break many families’ telephone numbers, home address and email addresses have changed. 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 update your records on Operoo so that from there the changes will go through to the school. An early reminder that we must have your correct email address as school reports will be emailed this year to parents. We thank you for your cooperation with this.

Sun Protection at School

The Department of Education have asked schools to remind families that students must wear a hat for outdoor activities during Term 4. This includes recess, lunchtime, physical education, and outdoor learning activities. Students are encouraged to bring their own sunscreen (30+ or higher broad spectrum) to apply and fitting wrap around sunglasses. 

Parent Conduct- discussing issues and approaching other families/students

Occasionally, incidences occur between students at school. 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 approach children or other families 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 myself to discuss this so we can help reaching a resolution in a constructive manner. 

Have a great fortnight.

Ruth Biddle

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

Precious Plastic Monash School Day

Selected students (Keika, Devika, Kyle, Tiana, Cora, Hinata, Ai, Esther, Preda, Julia, Ethan, Anika, Olive, Sara, Alice, Myles, Hana, Kent, Meg and Enzo) from Year 5 attended the Precious Plastic Monash School Day on Tuesday 10th October. Students engaged and learned about plastic as a material and resource. They attended in -person at the Airport Lounge in Campus Centre, Monash University, Clayton. They learned about the material properties of plastic, the uses of plastics and the plastic recycling process at both the Precious Plastic level and Australia wide. Throughout the sessions, students took part in a series of exciting challenges and hands-on activities where they put their newfound knowledge and thinking caps to the test. 

This is what students made from the plastic.

Victorian High Ability Program

Congratulations to Clare to complete VHAP Maths and Mars, Isla and Cora to complete VHAP English. 

Students who engaged with VHAP in Term 4 received their certificates at the assembly. 

Student Support

One of my main roles in the school is to coordinate the student support services in the school- academic, social and behaviour services. This includes programs we offer ‘in house’ as well as external services provided by the Department of Education and other external agencies.

Generally the process happens in the following way:

1. A teacher may have a concern with your child and will discuss it with you or you as a parent may have concerns about your child which you discuss with the teacher.
2. These concerns are then usually discussed with me so a decision can be made on which service can be accessed and is the most appropriate for your child. Permission forms are then signed.
3. Contact is made with the service provider who will then discuss the referral with parents and/or the teacher.
4. A decision will be made on what sort of support the child will need. This could be an assessment, therapy, home program, referral to another agency or in school support.

This process is confidential with only the key stakeholders- myself, the classroom teacher/s and service providers involved.

Often parents will show concern about other children in the school. We as a school cannot discuss the educational, academic or social circumstances of other children who are not your own or detail support services they may be accessing. This is confidential.  Please rest assured that all efforts are made to support students in the school as much as possible.

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.

Instagram-Huntingdale Primary School

Please find the attached Huntingdale Primary School Instagram QR code.

You are welcome to join in and connect with our community.

Sun Smart

Students need to wear a school hat when they are outside. If they don’t have it, they need to stay under the shade. Therefore please make sure your child bring their school hat to school every day. Please write their name. 

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal