Dear families and friends,

Swimming Program

Swimming lessons at HILAC have begun this week and all the children have been participating with great enthusiasm. The preps have been assigned older buddies to help them in the change rooms and so far only a small number of socks and tops have gone missing! Swimming is a tiring activity so a good night's sleep is needed by everyone during this program.

Next week we will be swimming on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Monday will be a normal school day.

On Friday, December 1st, our last swimming day children are allowed to buy a bucket of hot chips from the pool kiosk. These need to be pre-ordered so please let your class teacher know if your child is wanting an order by Wednesday 29th November.

Hot chips cost $3.50 (sauce optional & free) Money to be collected by teacher.

Emma Kearney Talk - Wellbeing

Mrs G was very excited to welcome local legend, AFLW superstar and North Melbourne AFLW Captain, Emma Kearney to talk to the Year 2-6 students yesterday. Emma joined us via Webex and gave an inspirational talk about 'Grit' and how to overcome setbacks. Thank you Mrs G for giving this opportunity to our students. Check out the great photos on the Wellbeing page.

No lunch orders from Bridge Cafe

Reminder that due to our swimming program there will be no Bridge Cafe lunch orders on Friday 1st December and also on Friday 8th December as we will be in Mount Gambier on an excursion.

Readers Cup

On Monday, Miss P will be taking Darcy, Justin Holly, Tilly and Mietta (Addison is on the team but will be away) to Branxholme PS for the Annual Readers Cup. They will have an author meet and greet, play book quizzes and present their "Titanic" film they have created. Good luck to you all.

Transition Days

On Wednesday we welcomed back kinder students, Harry and Mark into the F/1 classroom. The boys stayed on until noon and hopefully are becoming more comfortable with the school environment. Their next transition day will be a half day on 6th December.

Scholastic Book Club - Issue 8

The final order for 2023 is out now! Please place orders via the Scholastic online LOOP ordering system as indicated on the brochure.

Orders will will close on December 1st.

First Aid on UEducateUs

We have begun sending a message home through UEducateUs to inform parents of any incidents involving your child/ren requiring first aid. The message will indicate what has happened, what the injury is, any treatment provided and whether there is a need to contact the school. This is a way to keep families up to date with what has happened at school through the day. It is also a great way to keep a time record of all incidents that have occured. More serious incidents will still be notified by telephone.

This is still in its trial period so any feedback is welcome.

Big Summer Read

Further in this newsletter there is information about a reading competition being held by the Hamilton Library between 1st December and 31st January. There are some wonderful prizes up for grabs:-

First prize: $500 Harvey Norman Voucher
Second prize: $300 Daktari Voucher
Third prize: $100 Family Pass for Halls Gap Zoo

We will have some flyers to hand out next week to all the children in relation to same. Please have a read of the information and join in on this great initiative.

Have a great weekend

Sally Purnell

Acting Principal

Bags for Xmas Hampers