Principal and Assistant Principal's Page
Principal's Report
At this time of year our thoughts are moving towards finishing off the school year and doing justice to all of the hard work and effort that has gone into the many learning opportunities that our community has been presented with over the course of 2015. This includes the tailored day to day learning opportunities that our children are presented with, the learnings our teachers and staff build every day when working with our children and parent community and the growth our parents have made working in parallel with their children and teachers. It can at times be difficult to maintain our focus on the ‘now’ rather than what might be ahead. It is important that whilst our planning is well and truly in 2016 that we do justice to the ‘now’ and remain present in 2015. This way we can finish the year in the fashion with which we’ve seen the year unfold; with courage, kindness, personal best and creativity.
Junior Rockers
At assembly on Monday 9th November we had Andrew from Junior Rockers come and introduce himself and sing ‘Rip Tide’ with us. The children certainly left the assembly hall buzzing. Next year Junior Rockers are looking to introduce singing, saxophone and drums to complement our already existing Instrumental Music program. Please go online to http://www.juniorrockers.com/apply to find out more information about the programs on offer at Huntingdale in 2016.
Germain St Kinder AGM
On Wednesday 11th November I attended the Germain Street Kindergarten Annual General Meeting. The kind words Lisa Gleeson used, as President, when speaking about Huntingdale were heart-warming. It is lovely to see this very logical link continue to flourish as I am sure it will over the coming years.
Listening to Karen Glancy the guest speaker, discussing play based learning, enabled me to reflect on the calibre of Prep, now Foundation, children that enter our school from Germain St Kinder. Having been at the school for eight years and having initially taught in the Prep/1 area I have seen the change in the children first hand. Over the past three years we have seen the children arrive with a thirst for learning, be more self-directed with their learning, be curious about the world around them and most importantly use their creativity to learn about this ever changing world. Our transition program is testament to this with the settled nature of next year’s Foundation children and their adaptability to the school staff, environment and requests on their learning as a whole. This is a real credit to Karen who started this process, the committee for their staff selection, and the staff who day in and day out strive to meet the underlying philosophy with which the Kinder as a group pride themselves on.
Minister Visit & School Captains
On Friday 13th of November we had Minister James Merlino, Hong Lim MP, Steve Dimopolous MP, Stuart Edwards from DET and their entourage visit our school to find out more about the outstanding work we are doing here. It would lovely to be able to update Minister Merlino on the work we do at Huntingdale and he was very keen to meet with us again to further understand the notion of bilingual education and the benefits to how we operate. It was lovely to see the interest the group had in the children and our schooling. It was quite heart-warming to listen to Stuart Edwards comment on the significant growth he has seen in Huntingdale over the past three years. Stuart appointed me to my current position and was delighted to see how the school has grown practically as he has seen in the data which we share on a termly basis but more obviously so in our Friday afternoon visit. Thank you to our Future Directions subcommittee for the work they did in making this visit possible.
Thank you to our School Captains for greeting our visitors and joining us on our tour. Jung Min and Damon certainly answered the questions the group asked and participated enthusiastically. Damon even mentioned he’d like to be a politician one day! Thank you also to our School Captains who shared our Remembrance Ceremony on the 11th of November at 11am. They very confidently led the ceremony over the PA and read the poem ‘In Flanders Field’, the Ode taken from Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’ and led us in a minute’s silence.
Working Bee
Thank you to the parents at our first Twilight Working Bee on the afternoon of Saturday the 14th. The school always looks so ‘spic and span’ after such a group effort. Thank you to the Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee for facilitating this event and Naomi Mori-Hanazono for being the staff member in attendance. The mulching, work behind the hall, taking the goal posts out of the oval – ready for our new ones in 2016 and the cobweb removal and any other jobs we’ve overlooked were all greatly appreciated. Volunteering your time in today’s hectic paced society is not easy, thank you for prioritising your children’s Primary School.
Regional Golf
Congratulations to Sean den Elzen who will participate in the 2015 Victorian Primary Schools Golf played at Keysborough Golf Club on Tuesday 19th. We wish you the best of luck playing again the 33 other golfers from across the state.
2016 Preparations
As mentioned in the last newsletter in any given year there are staff movements in and out of schools. Further to last fortnight’s updates we will also include Ms Holly Small to our 2016 staffing. Holly comes to us from a broad range of experiences teaching across a number of countries over recent years. Holly has worked at Huntingdale in 2015 as a Casual Relief Teacher (CRT) and we look forward to having her on staff for the 2016 school year.
Clk2sell App
Did you know there is an easy app you can download to your devise called ‘Clk2sell’? It is a 2nd hand uniform swap and share. Something to have a look into if you have any items you would potentially like to sell to other Huntingdale families. The more people selling, buying and sharing the more likely you are to find a match.
Advice for Parents from Department of Education and Training re: Paris
Children and young people may have seen and heard about the terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015. The authorities in France and countries around the world will help to support the people who have been impacted by this event.
Children often worry and know more than we realise. Adults may assume that children are doing okay if they don’t talk or ask questions about what has happened. Sometimes they have questions they may not ask unless we provide the opportunity. Most children and young people will experience normal reactions to something that is distressing and with support from trusted adults around them these reactions will subside. Routines are important when an event like this occurs. School can be very useful to support all children and young people.
Remember sometimes teachers and parents feel like we don’t have the answers. It is helpful to remind children and ourselves that there are people working hard to make the current situation better. It is wise for you to monitor your child’s exposure to television coverage, print media and social media. Some children and young people will want to talk about the tragic events and try to make sense of what they have both seen and heard. Other children will avoid any discussion around the events and will be reassured by routine and normality. Remember the importance of routine, sleep, exercise and healthy eating.
There is a range of things you can do to assist your child during events such as this, including:
o Acknowledge that the event was distressing
o Reassure children that they are safe
o Look for signs of distress (e.g. some children/young people might be scared)
o Normalise responses - typical response will range from anger to general upset or sadness
o Maintain a normal routine - keeping the structure at home or at school in place
o Allow children to express feelings as they arise
o Telling stories about how people manage during difficult times can be helpful.
o Separate fact from fiction e.g. children may express fears about unrelated events.
o Plan relaxing activities before bed – talk your child through a gentle relaxation, this might include using soothing music and talking them through relaxing tension in their body or simply reading something to them that induces relaxation (i.e. a favourite book).
o Speak in hopeful terms – chil
Assistant Principal's Report
Wow! A lot can happen in a fortnight! It’s a busy time of year both at school and in our personal lives. Make sure you balance your busy lives with some rest and recuperation so that you can keep going until the school holidays.
Inclusive Schools Fund Project
As Principal Kate Gray wrote in her report, Education Minister James Merlino visited us last Friday. One of the key discussions we had with him was our application for the Inclusive Schools Fund Project. Our project entails bringing in a Harwyn Pod at the end of the Japanese staff room to be a hub for our Student Support Services for all children. We have a wide variety of support programs including our Chaplaincy service, Blackburn English Language School (BELS), Literacy Support, Bridges, Mathematics Consolidation, Mathematics Extension, SSSO Support Services (Speech Pathologist, Social Worker and Educational Psychologist) just to name a few. This pod would act as a space to run these programs. At lunchtimes our Student Support teachers can provide this quiet place for students to play and offer support. Mr Merlino was excited to hear that we had put in an application and we eagerly await the outcome which will be in early December.
Carols in the Park and HPS Christmas Concert
This is the time of year I love- lots of Christmas cheer and Carol singing! It was lovely to walk around the Grade 1 and 2 classrooms and see them practice for our upcoming Christmas Concert. The children sound amazing and are really excited to perform for their families. Our Foundation students are having a lot of fun working on the Maypole dance as well and it is a joy to watch.
On Friday 4th December our School Choir, led by Smith sensei will perform at the annual Carols in the Park starting at 7.00pm. Our students have been working hard when practising their item which is being scheduled to be performed at around 8.30pm on the night. We wish them all the best!
Claire O’Neil Visit
On Thursday morning, Federal MP for Hotham, Clare O’Neil will visit Huntingdale Primary School. She will be giving Year 5 student Charli Cuthbertson a commendation award for The Hopman Writing Prize. Charli wrote a piece on ‘Animal Cruelty’ which Clare was most impressed with. This is a great achievement and we congratulate Charli on her efforts!
Pre-School to School Transition
On Wednesday 25th November we will have our final Kinder to Foundation Transition session. As Kate mentioned in her article, our new Foundation students for next year are a very keen and settled bunch. Credit to their parents, their kinder and also our Foundation Teachers and Support Staff - Maria Perrella, Olivia McAlpine, Alyson Wakely, Naomi Mori-Hanazono and Wakana Karchnak for preparing them so well. We look forward to our Foundation Information Night on Tuesday 24 November where parents will be given more detailed information about starting school.
Oval Use 18-20 November
Huntingdale Golf Club is hosting a major golfing event and are using our school oval for staff parking. Therefore our school oval will be out of bounds for all students during this time. We ask for your cooperation in this matter. Some parents have asked if there will be parking restrictions around the surrounding school streets. Please refer to the Tiqbiz notification dated the 13th of November entitled ‘Temporary Parking Restrictions’ and the attached document from the council.
Acting Assistant Principal
I will be taking leave from 23 November until 11 December. In my absence Naomi Mori-Hanazono will be Acting Assistant Principal. I wish Naomi all the best in this position and trust the school community will support her during this time.
Have a great fortnight.
Ruth Biddle
Assistant Principal