Principal and Assistant Principal's Page

Principal’s Report

What a lovely fortnight it has been, beautiful weather, classrooms humming with learning and events happening around the school. I feel so proud as I walk around our school, talking to students and parents and seeing the excitement of our students learning.

Parents as Partners Night

It was lovely to see so many families attend the ‘Parents as Partners’ event last night. I spoke to many families who enjoyed meeting their child’s teachers, collecting their information pack, walking around the school grounds,  connecting with other families, participating in wellbeing activities in the STEM Room with Mr Thomas and enjoying an icy pole on the basketball court- thank you to Watashi Mo, parent volunteers and students for helping to sell these. 

Parents play a crucial role in their child’s education and it’s vital that you have good communication with the school and your child’s teachers. Are you worried about something with your child? Don’t leave it! Message your child’s teachers via See Saw or arrange to have a meeting so we can help.

School Captain and Year 6 Leaders Badge Ceremony

Last Monday if was a lovely day, celebrating our School Captains and Year 6 Leaders. In the absence of MP Clare O’Neil who was unwell, we were fortunate to have Mark Picone, Assistant Principal of South Oakleigh College to talk to our students and present their badges. Mark’s speech was heartfelt and relevant to our students. He detailed the support of his older brothers, becoming captain of his local football team, then joining the Student Representative Council in secondary school as hallmarks of his leadership development. Mark encouraged students to take on as many opportunities as they could and also reminded them that you ‘don’t need a badge’ to be a leader- that being a good role model all the time is just as important.  We wish all of our student leaders a fantastic year. They will be working with Mr Thomas, myself and Hanazono sensei and ‘Our House Spirit’ to develop their leadership skills. 

Student Voice

Over the past 12 months, the school has targeted work on improving student voice and agency in their learning. During our ‘Creating Our Learning Community’ unit of work, students revised how they have voice and choice in their learning.  Some of the ongoing strategies we employ to enhance student voice include:

• Student Voice ideas box- this is found in the office. Students have the opportunity to write their ideas which are then shared at assembly.
• Year 6 Captains- Our Year 6 Captains participate in a ‘Our House Spirit’ leadership course and are responsible for arranging team building events for students in the school.
• Student Leadership Council- Students can share ideas with the SLC, especially fundraising and event ideas.
• Student Forums- Throughout the year I run different forums/surveys to ask for feedback from students. As we have our school review this year, I will be asking students for their feedback.
• Lunchtime Activities- Students often have ideas for clubs and activities during lunchtime. Where possible we run those activities. Some examples are the yoga club and having the library open every day for students.

Over the next few newsletters, I will share further ideas on how we include voice and agency at our school.

 School Council Nominations Outcome 

At the close of nominations on Friday 16 February we received less nominations than positions, therefore not needing to conduct any voting process. 

The total council is as follows:

We welcome our new councillors Travis McKay and Peter Tran. I’d like to thank Gemma Thomas and Takuya Katsu for their work on school council for a number of years.

I look forward to a successful year of school council. We have many exciting events happening this year including our school review, 70th birthday and Japan Trip.

Oakleigh District Swimming Competition

Last week a number of our students (and their parents!) got up bright and early to compete in the Oakleigh District Swimming Competition. The students all tried their ‘personal best’ and attained the following results: 

Gabby freestyle 1st, breaststroke 1st 

Patrick freestyle 2nd, breaststroke 1st

Ellie T breaststroke 1st

Ethan L freestyle 2nd, butterfly 1st

Sumiko backstroke 4th 

Sophie freestyle 3rd, breaststroke 1st

It was a great effort by everyone, with Gabby, Patrick, Ellie, Ethan and Sophie all progressing to the Division  competition on 1st March. We wish them all the best!

Annual Implementation Plan

The Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) is a document which outlines the one-year goals and strategies of the school. It is created using the goals in the 4 Year Strategic Plan. Over the next few newsletters, I will outline the key goals in our 2024 AIP. The first goal is a common goal across all Victorian Government Schools.

2024 Priority- Learning Dimension- Support both those who need scaffolding and those who have thrived to continue to extend their learning, especially in numeracy.

At Huntingdale we will:

•  Consolidate a bilingual approach to teaching mathematics in F-6, focusing on language and reasoning skills, meeting students' individual learning needs and improving learning growth.
• Consolidate teaching writing F-6, with a focus on targeted teaching, meeting students’ individual learning needs and improving learning growth.
• Consolidate the Tutor Learning Initiative across the school targeting students who are behind the expected level in literacy and numeracy, targeting students in Year 2, 3 & 4 and those identified as ‘needing attention in 2023 NAPLAN.

One of the key events this year is our school review. In upcoming newsletters I will detail how you can be involved in the review process

Kindness

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a Kindness newsletter. You can view it in the attachment below.

We have had some really great feedback from parents about our focus on kindness. This has included ‘how do we tell our child to respond appropriately when someone is unkind?’ As a school, we will be working on learning tasks on how to respond when people are unkind. 

Have you had a discussion about kindness in your household?

Do you role model kindness around your children in your everyday life? 

Collecting your children early from school

We understand that, at times, students need to be collected from school early. This interrupts your child’s learning and sometimes the class and 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 your 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. 

Toilet Behaviour 

This year we have already seen a number of incidences involving boys putting toilet paper in the urinals causing them to flood. We ask all families with boys to talk to them about the importance of using the urinals correctly. Teachers have been asked to remind boys of this and it helps if the message is emphasised at home as well. Thank you!

Unacceptable Behaviours 

Overall, the behaviour and conduct of our students is excellent. From time to time, students can be upset at school. It is natural for people to be upset in life- usually this passes in a short time. However, it is not acceptable to display physical behaviours towards other students or staff such as pushing, slapping, hitting, kicking, punching or deliberately damaging someone else’s property or the school’s.

If this does happen, we will thoroughly investigate the incident and hear all sides of those involved. Parents will be contacted to discuss the incident, with supports put in place. These supports will be monitored. 

It is important to note that younger children are still learning. They will make mistakes and as teachers, parents and adults, we must support and role model to them what acceptable behaviour looks like, acknowledging when they do the right thing, emphasising the behaviour they should show and discouraging negative behaviours. Harsh and negative judgements, especially about other children are not helpful. There is always a reason children misbehave and we need to understand this. I ask that your approach the school in a constructive way, so we can hear your concerns, with the aim of looking after the welfare of all children. As always, I am happy to talk to families about this.

Promoting healthy swimming

The Department of Education has asked that I share this information to the school community. 

Swimming is a great way to stay fit and active, and an important skill for life and we all need to take steps to stop the spread of germs at the pool. 

This summer, the Victorian Department of Health advises that there has been an increase in the number of people infected with cryptosporidiosis (crypto) – a type of gastroenteritis. Some people are attending pools while infectious, which spreads the infection to others. 

To keep pools safe and clean for everyone, please follow these healthy swimming steps before we dive into the pool: 

• do not swim if you have diarrhoea
• shower and wash with soap before swimming
• wash your hands with soap after using the toilet
• avoid swallowing pool water
• change nappies in nappy-change areas only.

Please follow the above steps to support everyone’s safety in pools. Please also keep your child absent from swimming lessons if they have had gastroenteritis or diarrhoea in the 14 days before the lesson. 

Families with any health concerns should see their doctor or contact NURSE-ON-CALL by phone: 1300 606 024 (available 24 hours).

Find out more

For more information on protecting against gastroenteritis, families can refer to the following Better Health Channel pages:

• Healthy swimming, including a video with transcript
• Swimming – keeping the water clean
• Gastroenteritis in children.

Have a great fortnight!

Ruth Biddle

Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report

Every summer is a unique creation of Nature. 

This summer might be new for everyone, but its light, rainfall and growth constitute a unique character which has visited us. 

Parents as Partners Night

It was wonderful to see many families at our Parents as Partners Night yesterday. This is a ‘key’ evening for both teachers and parents - to disseminate information about what is happening at school but also for the teachers to be introduced to your child’s first educator- YOU! We hope that you went away with valuable information about our school and also received your ‘pack’ containing key documents. Please see your child’s teacher if you have not received one. The Foundation Teachers also reported on what a successful night their 1:1 interviews were. It is lovely to reflect with parents how well their child has settled into school and for the parents to give some insight into their child’s learning and interests. The partnership does not begin nor does it end on one night. If you have any further questions or concerns about your child, you can always make an appointment to see your child’s teacher or share some great news after school when the teachers are on duty in their rooms. 

Thank you very much to our parents who showed their willingness to share their expertise for our children’s learning. I hope there are many opportunities to invite parents this year. If you are willing to help out, please ensure you have a Working With Childrens Check (WWC).  If you need any information about a WWC, please call at the office and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Watashi Mo

Thank you to Watashi Mo for organising the icy pole sale. It was so popular and we sold many very quickly. 

If you are able to contribute your time, please contact Watashi Mo. Thank you so much for your support in advance.

Year 5 Online session with Yuzato Primary School 

Year 5B students had an online session with Yuzato Primary School in Osaka City. We introduced each other and conducted activities online. Our students did the quiz about Australia. They did a quiz about Osaka and Manzai (Japanese comedy) and sang a song about Osaka’s soul food. I am from Osaka city as well, so I really enjoyed it as well.

Hinamatsuri

March 3 in Japan is Hinamatsuri, a special annual holiday set aside to commemorate the growth, happiness, and prosperity of young girls. Also known as Girls' Day, this unique festival is celebrated differently depending on the region of Japan you're in, but most customs will include some similar features, like a set of cute hina dolls, peach flower decorations, as well as festive food such as hina-arare (multi-colored rice crackers) and chirashizushi (sliced raw fish with rice).

I hope you had an opportunity to have a look in a library yesterday.

SHIN’s Performance

Japanese professional Taiko Group “SHIN” will come to our school and perform. 

Date: 7th March 2024

Time: 9am-10am

Place: Basketball court near the oval

The entire community is welcome to come along.

School Tour

Foundation students will come to school every day from March. 

I am busy taking school tours for next year. Prospective Parents are amazed to see our Foundation students listen and follow all instructions in Japanese.  It is great to see that our foundation students are independent and getting ready for the morning routine (e.g. saying goodbye to parents at the door, changing into indoor shoes and putting their bags away. 

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 to 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.

Often parents will show concerns 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 be rest assured that all efforts are made to support students in the school as much as possible.

School Uniform, Hats and Bags

During my time on yard duty I have been reminding students about wearing school uniform, school hats and school bags. Students who have been wearing items that are not school colours have been asked to remove them and not wear them at school.  On the whole, students’ uniforms have been looking very good, with most students wearing school colours with pride.

We understand from time to time children may not be in school uniform. If this happens, please write a note in your child’s diary explaining this.

Medical Alerts

Many students at our school have health plans and medical alerts. The school needs to have up to date and correct information about your child’s health needs so we can plan and act accordingly for a range of school activities. It is the parent’s responsibility to:

• Provide up to date health/medical plans to the school for your child
• Provide in-date medication such as epipens and asthma medication
• Ensure that if you child needs to take medication at school that this is signed off at the school office
• Alert the school if your child’s health needs have changed.

We thank everyone for their cooperation with this.

Have a lovely fortnight

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal