Dear Parents,

We’ve had a lovely week at school.

Camp

Our Year 4–6 camp is coming up next Wednesday to Friday and it has definitely been dominating the conversation around the playground for our older students! I know our students are super excited. Our students will be safe and they will have an excellent time. At the same time, camp brings with it some responsibilities, which I have been over with the students already and we will reiterate again on camp. It may be worth discussing these with your child as they prepare for a slightly more unstructured environment. It is also a good reminder that children are not staying in five-star accommodation and it is not possible for students to call you each night to check in. It is a quintessential Australian experience, and one that will help them grow in resilience and independence and they will have a lot of fun with their friends.

More Congratulations for Toakase

We also want to celebrate once again the amazing achievements of Toakase in Year 6. After winning the CSSA State Athletics Shot Put and coming 2nd in Discus two weeks ago, she has gone on to even greater success. At the CIS Championships she placed 5th in discus, but she won the shot put which makes her the leading shot putter across every independent school in NSW! Toakase is the first student in our school’s 46-year history to win a CIS athletics event and only the second student ever to win a CIS event, after one of our students won a CIS swimming event all the way back in 2010. Absolutely incredible! Even more amazing she was only 20cm off breaking the record. She has now qualified for the NSWPSSA Championships in October. Well done Toakase, we are so proud of you!

Student Success

I’ve also been so encouraged this week by the way students are applying their classroom learning to make a real difference in our school. A special mention to Mia A, Gianna and Naiya, whose class have been exploring sustainability. They put together a thoughtful plan and proposal for me, complete with pricing and diagrams! They want to run a mufti day on Thursday 25th September to raise money for extra bins, ensure every class has recycling facilities, and promote greater awareness about protecting our environment. They are now working on posters and further details, which we’ll share with you in next week’s newsletter. However, the mufti day is locked in for the last Thursday of term. I am so proud of their initiative and care for our world. This continues the great work of Joshua in Year 5; so wonderful to see the way our children care for our environment.

Along the same lines, our Year 6 students have been working on invention projects. I’ve been very impressed with their creativity, but one that stood out to me was Lucy’s invention designed to help people with epilepsy, inspired by her sister’s experience. It was an absolutely thoughtful and well-considered idea, with everything carefully thought out. She designed a watch that gives reminders and sends out alerts, has emergency tracking and tracks brain waves. What a reminder that learning should be applied, not just taught.

Summer Uniform

Finally, we’ve been going back and forth about whether to make an early summer uniform changeover. With the weather still unpredictable, we have decided to wait until next term. Students will officially change to summer uniform from the first day of Term 4, Monday 13th October 2025.

To assist with the transition, the uniform shop will be open during the second week of the holidays on Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th, and Friday 10th October from 9:00am–3:00pm. For those who can’t make it during the holidays, the uniform shop will also be open on Thursday and Friday (after chapel) of the last week of term. You can also email uniform requests or make appointments at uniforms@hpcs.nsw.edu.au.

This morning our Year 1 Green class led us in a beautiful chapel. I was so impressed with the song they wrote together, even referencing cockroaches! They reminded us that even creatures we might overlook have a God-given purpose. How much more do all of our amazing students have an incredible purpose in God’s world? We are truly blessed as a school community to be contributors to the purposes that God has with our young people.

My door is always open,

Mr Joe Britton

Important Dates