Principal Address

Dear Families,

I pray you have had a wonderful week.

We have been focusing on kindness in our series on school values at Chapel. I loved what Pastor Beca shared this morning about our words; it was such a powerful illustration. She invited one of our students to come up and squeeze toothpaste out of a tube, then try to put it back in. It made such a clear point: our words are easy to let out, but once they are spoken, they cannot be taken back.

It is so true, no matter how hard we try to take back our words, once they are out there, it is too late. What a great reminder at the start of the year that our words have power, the power to tear down but also the power to build up.

Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all of our students for their efforts at the Swimming Carnival on Wednesday. The conditions could only be described as difficult! Perhaps it is the fact that most of Summer we are in air conditioning these days, however, I don’t ever remember being so hot. The sun was strong. However, our students smiled, persevered and handled the challenges with maturity and resilience. We adjusted the program so students could participate in additional activities and spend more time in the splash pool and free swimming. Despite the weather, they embraced the day wholeheartedly. The day only claimed one injury – our new sports coordinator Miss Stephenson who hurt her foot as she was fantastically organising the day so well, we continue to pray for her full healing. I was very pleased to see so many students listening and applying lots of sunscreen, well done!

WhatsApp Groups

Many of you are already in the year group WhatsApp groups. This year, our parent admins have moved all groups to create a HPCS "WhatsApp Community”. This initiative is intended to further support connection and build community among families. There does seem to be a few Kindy WhatsApp groups floating around so we are endeavouring to sort this out.

We have done this to ensure:

Only an admin can approve new members.
No outside individuals will be added.
A centralised location for those with multiple children in the school.

A few important reminders:

Our hope is that these groups would continue to help foster connection, community and are used for the occasional, helpful reminder.
These groups are not official communication channels. All official communication will come through the school generally via email, newsletter or through hard copy permission notes.

2027 Enrolments

As you may know, we are experiencing huge demand for our little school at the moment.

Non-sibling spots are extremely limited and enrolment interviews for 2027 will take place at the end of term. If you have cousins, friends from church, or others in your circle who are considering joining our community, please let them know it may still be possible for them to get a place but they must apply in the next month or so, or they almost certainly will miss out.

Mrs Jordaan should have contacted all existing families, regarding sibling enrolment, however, if you have a younger child and you have not completed the application form, this needs to be done ASAP.

Parent Prayer Meeting

Next Friday we have our Monthly Parent Prayer Meeting after Chapel, it would be great to see many of you there. Hosted by Josh and Mel Fattal.

Separation Anxiety & Morning Drop-Offs

I have noticed an increase this year in parents remaining in the playground in the mornings, and a number of children struggling at drop-off. We are now three weeks into term, and for many families it is time to begin transitioning to a confident drop-and-leave routine. Your children will be okay.

Often the longer we stay, the harder it becomes. A cycle can develop where children cry, we stay longer to comfort them, and unintentionally the anxiety increases rather than decreases. I am out there most mornings, and want to assure you our students settle very quickly once dropped off and engage with friends and staff. That said, we recognise that some of these issues may be multi-faceted.

Our school counsellor, Miss Shanae Norton, will be running a parent workshop on separation anxiety at 9am on Tuesday 17 February in the Library. Shanae is a superb school counsellor and clinical child psychologist, and she will provide practical strategies to support children. Even if there are only a handful of people who are interested, that will be fine. Please click here to register: Separation Anxiety Workshop Registration

Kiss and Drop

Next week is also a great time to begin transitioning to our Kiss and Drop system, which is fully supervised by staff each morning.

Thank you for partnering with us so faithfully.

My door is always open.

Mr Joe Britton

Principal