Rolling Hills Primary School Newsletter

Principal Report 

Dear families,

 

Thank you for the time, patience, and understanding you have shared with our teachers and staff over the last two weeks. We are grateful. We are also appreciative of the ongoing physical distancing and mask-wearing efforts around the school. A reminder that masks indoors must be worn. 

 

Well done on surviving being your child's teacher for a third (and hopefully final time) occasion. 

 

The flow for everyone does get a little disrupted, but it does help us remain safe as a community. In some ways being 4 weeks into the term, it offered a little 'reset' for children to gather their energy and come back with more stamina. 

 

Thank you

To the teaching teams and specialists for hosting their Information Nights this week. The 34 and 56 sessions were informative and succinct. Just what was needed to help us understand the big changes as our children transition through school. Tonight we have the Prep and Grade1/2 team nights. They are online on Thursday, 25th February,

  • Prep will be hosting their info session from 6:30 – 7:15pm
  • Gr 1-2 from 7:15 – 8:00pm

Please join our zoom room on

https://zoom.us/j/94595878065?pwd=VDFRak5wd3VIWG0wMWtTYlc3NEF0Zz09

Meeting ID: 945 9587 8065   

Passcode: Info2021

You can join the zoom meeting a few minutes early – you will be placed in a waiting room.

 

Let me know if they are helpful. We will also compass post the information after. 

 

Changes to the school day

The slight change to the school day to 8:45am is up and running and for most families, the adjustment has been working. A reminder of the new times are:

 

8:45 School starts

8:50-11:00 Morning session 

11:00-11:30 Recess

11:30-1:30 Middle session

1:30-2:30 Lunchtime

2:30-3:30 Afternoon session

 

Thank you for supporting the change. 

 

Parent-Teacher - Getting to know you

 

2nd MAR PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS – 3.40-7.20PM

4th MAR PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS – 3.40-4.40PM

 - book on Compass. 

 

Parking in and around school

New signage for the kiss and go area was fitted yesterday. There is a new drop zone. There is a new pathway. There is one more large sign to go up this weekend. New line marking will be organsing to help direct the flow of traffic. Thank you to those parents who have helped guide this process. The feedback is welcomed and appreciated. 

 

Please go all the way around the circuit until you see this big sign. Thank you.

We are still waiting to hear more from the council on traffic changes outside of the school. I will keep you posted. 

 

Special working Bee - Friday 19th February

I quick thank you to Paul Cantlay for helping dig the holes for the new safety fencing near the Boorai. Thank you also to Brett Hobson (and William), Jamie Westerndorp, and Mr. Van Haaster for all lending a hand that morning.

 

Curriculum Day 

The staff participated in a curriculum day on Writing with Narissa Leung from OzLitTeacher. We looked at how to engage children in more authentic writing opportunities. We use the 6+1 writing traits. We explored/refreshed these in detail on the day. Improving writing outcomes is one of our big goals this year. 

 

On Monday 1st March we will be undertaking more PD with a literacy consultant Misty Adoniou. Misty will be working across all the Yarra Ranges schools in the next 3 years. She will consult with us in 2022. In the afternoon all staff will complete either Level 2 First Aid or CPR training. 

 

Laptops @ home

Thank you to those families that shared they would like to re-home a school laptop. This was for those families that do not have a digital device at home. I will be in touch in the first week of March to confirm we have devices for you. 

 

Emails

We now have emails for grades 3-6. We will use them, to begin with to login into school software like Google Docs, Squizya , and Duolingo. As part of introducing any new forms of communication, we need to be focussed on teaching children to use them appropriately and safely. This will be part of the teachings next week. 

 

COSTCO 

Great news Costco have issued us with a community grant to help pay for some books for our classroom libraries. This is very generous and we hope to send two staff members next week on a shopping spree. 

 

Book Drive

If you have books at home that are great quality and you do not need them anymore we are running a book drive starting on Monday. Outside the library there will be a box for you to drop books in at drop-off and pick-up. We would like books that children will want to read. We also do not want huge collections. 3-5 donations from a child/family would be more than enough. That would be 1000-1500 extra books. 

 

General reminders

Just a few quick reminders for this next two weeks

  • school nominations have closed for parents and staff. The parent nominations did not need a ballot. There is a staff ballot happening this week.
  • hats and sunscreen are needed....summer is finally arriving next week
  • If you haven't paid any fees for 2021, feel free to pop in and see Jenine or me and we can have a chat
  • P&F Rainbow run is coming up - Friday 26th 2:45pm followed by a welcome picnic / BBQ. THIS HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO 26TH MARCH. See you then!
  • Parent-teacher - Getting to know you interviews are the 2nd March (3.40-7.20pm) and 4th (3.40-4.40pm) - book on Compass.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Craig Bradley