Principal Report

It’s hard to believe that we have almost reached the end of the 2023 school year! As I reflect on the successful year we have had, it is a credit to the students, parents and teachers. In 2023, the school:

Acknowledges the efforts of our wonderful Parents Association ‘Watashi Mo’ in fundraising for the school and organising a range of community building events. This has been a great way to reconnect people. A highlight was the Family Fun Night in Term 3.
Provided a range of extension programs in science, design thinking, numeracy, music and literacy to stretch the abilities of students in Year 3-6.
Began a partnership with ‘Our House Spirit’ to develop student leadership skills and increase student voice in their learning.
Was a finalist in the Victorian Education and Excellence Awards in the category of ‘Dr Lawie Shears Global Teaching and Learning’.
Achieved NAPLAN results in Year 3 and 5 which were above like schools, network and state averages.
Improved its physical facilities with the additions of a new basketball court, garden beds around the new building, the electronic sign, fences and a new letterbox!

I acknowledge the work of school council in overseeing the governance of the school.

While these results are excellent, we still have areas on which we can improve. I will summarise our Annual Implementation Plan in early newsletters next year with key areas being improving attendance, implementing mental health and extra support programs within the school and focusing on ‘kindness’, behaviour expectations and the role parents and the school have in this.

In 2024 we have much to look forward to, including Huntingdale Primary School’s 70th birthday celebrations on November 15, our school review in Term 3 and the proposed Japan Trip in Term 4. Parents are able to take part in the school review process and the school reviewer will seek input from you.

2023 Graduating Class

Last week the 2023 Graduating Year 6 class celebrated their final days of primary school. They had an all-day celebration, with a black and white dress up theme. Students watched graduation videos, enjoyed signing their graduation book, having a special morning tea and bento box lunch and a rotation of activities.

In the evening, families were invited to the graduation ceremony to round off the primary schooling.

A number of awards were given, and we congratulate these students:

Steve Dimopoulos, State Member for Oakleigh & Minister for Tourism, Sport & Major Events & the Environment- Community Spirit & Leadership Award	Ruby & Noa
Clare O’Neil, Federal Member for Hotham & Minster for Home Affairs & Cyber Safety- Community Spirit & Leadership Award	Mars
Rotary Club of Waverley Sports Award	Gene
Monica Scully Achievement Award	Taketo
Academic Award	Shunsuke
Sports Award	Alannah
Japanese Achievement Award	Hannah & Evie
Team Kids Award	Taka

I wish all of our graduating class- Matthew, Anna, Marcus, Taka, Rudra, Nadan, Aditiya, Taketo, Janna, Mimosa, Alannah, Yiorgo, Ewan, Samuel, Abby, Ky Nam, Jessie, Sophie, Akari, Adhira, Evie, Lui, Emma, Maisa, Gene, Isabella, Hannah, Mars, Adele, Hideki, Samyong, Noa,, Nate, Jimmy, Tulasi, Ruby, Joey, James, Keitaro, Shunsuke, Joshua, Zac, Lea, Haruma, Leo, Isla and Karena all the best in the future with their schooling.

Clare O’Neil - Community Spirit & Leadership Award

On 13 December, I had the pleasure of accompanying Mars and his family to receive a ‘Community Spirit and Leadership Award’ given by Federal Member for Hotham & Minster for Home Affairs & Cyber Safety, Clare O’Neil.

Mars is our Community Captain and is the ‘leader amongst leaders’ at our school, displaying outstanding communication and organisation skills. As well as showing high academic achievement, Mars is highly respected by his peers, having great ideas when planning the ‘house spirit’ school activities for students. He is highly responsible and follows through on actions.

We wish Mars all the best as he moves into secondary school.

Christmas Concert

What a fabulous night it was last Thursday, with perfect warm weather, to celebrate our Christmas concert. it was a wonderful celebration of community, performing arts and Christmas. Our students performed very well on the night and all the practice certainly paid off! A highlight were the ensembles as well as the guitar solo from Fukaya sensei! Thank you to Smith sensei, Nishikubo sensei and Fukaya sensei for organising the concert and to other teachers for their support. Thank you to Watashi Mo for organising the Christmas raffle. Congratulations to the following winners:

1. Emma X – 2A

2. Abigail F – 5B

3. Giulianna M – 2B

4. Pasha B – 3B

5. Tanvi K – 3A

6. Emmelyn U – 5B

7. Mimi T – 2A

8. Nami I – 1C

9. Isaac G – 2B

Raphael M – FC
Layla L – 2C
Ryo Y – 1A
Ting Yong K – FB
Monika C – 4A
Kento F – 3B
Layla L – 2C
Whitney C – 4B
Rei N – FB

19. Gabby L – 5B

20. Leon H – 1A

21. Luka S – 4B

22. Harper M – 2C

23. Danny T – 4B

24. Tristen R – 3B

25. Kaede U – 4B

26. Elin J – 5A

27. Olivia/Aiden C – FC

2024 Staff

Our 2024 staff is as follows:

Year Level	Name
Principal	Ruth Biddle
Assistant Principal	Naomi Mori-Hanazono
Office Manager	Gill Penfold
Business Manager	Rosella Dossi
Teaching Assistants	Wakana Karchnak, Yoshiko Hayashi, Mayu Harada, Mayumi Cake, Kaoru Kruitoff, Honami Ando, Ryoko Kellam, Junko Nakazawa, Hitomi Matsumura, Rei Mimura
Chaplain	Susan Hanger
Japanese Specialists- Music & Drama	Eiji Nishikubo, Tomoko Smith, Yukiko Shoya, Ryoki Fukaya
English Specialists- PE and Visual Arts, STEM	Linda Ooi-Chan, Nick Tolliday, Dan Thomas, Rebecca Wood & Ari Gorney
Support Programs	Literacy Support- Maria Perrella, Zoe Chiu EAL- Chris Everett Tutoring- various teachers
6A	Linda Ooi-Chan & Keiko Harada
6B	Ari Gorney & Yukiko Shoya
5A	Nick Tolliday & Eiji Nishikubo
5B	Ryoki Fukaya & Nick Tolliday
4A	Pete Magart & Hisae Hatigan
4B	Hisae Hatigan & Pete Magart
3A	Jo Ewart & Kumiko Nagata
3B	Kumiko Nagata & Jo Ewart
2A	Pansy Leung & Moe Osugi
2B	Moe Osugi & Pansy Leung
2C	Tadashi Hanazono & Alyson Wakely
1C	Alyson Wakely & Tadashi Hanazono
1A	Maria Mathews & Kiko Watanuki
1B	Kiko Watanuki & Maria Mathews
FA	Maria Perrella & Yuko Iida
FB	Yuko Iida & Zoe Chiu
FC	Rebecca Wood & Tomoko Smith

We welcome new teachers Zoe Chiu and Pansy Leung. Both did their teaching rounds with us this year and Pansy will be known by students who attend Team Kids as she worked there over the last 2 years. Both have also done casual work at the school.

We say a temporary goodbye to Amelia Olsson, who has taken a year off to travel and work in Japan with her partner Simon. We wish them both all the best and we’ll see Amelia back in 2025.

Nozomi Koyama will also be leaving us at the end of the year as she is expecting her second child early in March and will commence family leave. We wish her and husband, Ruben, all the best.

Start of the 2024 School Year

Please make note of these dates:

Wednesday 31 January- Years 1-6 will start.
Thursday 1st February - All Foundation students will start.

As per DE policy Foundation students are required to undertake literacy and numeracy assessments which occur on Wednesdays in February. Students are only required at school when their allocated testing time is. The dates foundation students are not required at school are 31 January, 7, 14 and 21 and 28 February.

2024 Curriculum/Student Free Days

Each year DE allows government schools to have 4 curriculum days, where students are not required to attend school. Our curriculum days are:

29 January 2024 (statewide day)

30 January 2024

15 April 2024 (first day of Term 2 to prepare for the school review)

7 June 2024 Staff Professional Practice Day (Families can have an extra-long weekend as this coincides with the Kings Birthday Public Holiday)

26 June 2024 (Parent Teacher Meetings)

2024 School Start Time

Each day the first bell rings at 8.50am to signify that students can enter classrooms. From 8.50 am to 9.00am students can prepare their belongings in the classroom, be marked off the roll, hand in notices and be prepared for teaching instruction to begin at 9.00am. School will finish at 3.30pm each day as per normal. To help your child be ready for learning, please arrive at 8.45am each day.

Last day of Term- Finish Time

The last day of Term 4, Wednesday 20th December all students will finish school at 1.30pm. We expect all families to be offsite by 1.45pm. Team Kids will operate for those families who wish to use the service.

School Uniform

The Summer holidays is the perfect time to assess your child’s school uniform needs.

Parents are asked to buy items with our Huntingdale logo including- teal polo shirt, jumper, jacket, school bag, hat and school dress. These can be purchased from PSW in Ormond.

All students must wear a Huntingdale hat and will need this from the first day of Term 1.

Other items that are navy blue such as shorts, tracksuit pants, leggings, tights and skort can be purchased from PSW or chain stores such as K-Mart and Target.

Any accessories need to be in navy blue not black. Black is not our school uniform colour. Our school uniform colours are navy blue and teal. The Dress Code Policy can be viewed on the school website.

We look forward to seeing all our students in their Huntingdale uniform in 2024.

I hope that our families have a wonderful festive season, a well-earned break and some family time. I plan catch up with my extended family, to go camping and spend some time in the city going to the cricket, tennis, basketball and art galleries.

See you all next year!

Ruth Biddle

Principal