CURRICULUM NEWS
Friends
The following is an excerpt from a useful book called “Children aren’t made of China” by Wilson McCaskill. Wilson recently held a parent session for “Play is the Way” at our school.
“Friends”
I think it takes children more skill than we appreciate to make good friends. Good friendships are those made with people who have a strong set of virtues and the courage to stick with them. These friendships I prefer to call strong friendships rather than good friendships.
A strong friendship is virtues based. A strong friend is concerned about your welfare and wellbeing and will not assist you in behaviours that are destructive or detrimental to yourself and others. Having strong friends keeps you safe and having weak friends puts you at risk.
A weak friend supports and encourages negative behaviour. Weak friendships can be addictive because they require little adherence to virtues and condone the avoidance of responsibility and accountability. The also cushion the discomfort that comes from the twinge of conscience.
This could be a good discussion to have with your child and listen to their idea of what makes a strong friend.
Nick Tolliday – Student Wellbeing Team
Cross Country
A fortnight ago about 60 valiant H.P.S cross-country runners embarked on an adventure to Nortons Park in Wantirna South to take on other successful students from other schools in Oakleigh District. All students ran showing the school values of courage and personal best. 18 H.P.S kids achieved 10th place or better (as well as a couple of emergencies) to earn a spot at Division level to take on students from other Districts from the Monash-Waverley area. The combined effort of all our place getters and runners earnt H.P.S the pennant as winners of the event on aggregate points, which capped off a wonderful day all round.
On Tuesday 29th of May, the Division qualifiers again were ferried to Nortons Park by their ever-loyal tribe of parents for a colder, and much more intense level of competition. With a changed course and bleaker weather, our students again showed bravery and effort in their running. Three students, Adele Fisher (10th), Kohen Umezu (9th) and Hugh Barter (12th) qualifying for the next, and even tougher round of running at Regional level.
Adele mentioned that she, "just had to stay calm to finish in the top twelve," and thanked H.P.S for all their support. Hugh commented, "thanks for the school's encouragement and thanks to Mr H for the training." Kohen stated that, "I was nervous, but when I finished I felt great, but also really tired!"
I am extremely proud of all the kids right back from the House event, all the way through!
Keep it up,
Mr. Herskope
Community Captains News
Hello, we are the Community Captains and we are going to tell you a bit about what we do around the school.
Recently, we served at Mother’s Day morning tea, giving our lovely mothers some delicious scones. It was a pleasant morning and we were happy to be a part of it. Thank you to all the mothers who came.
We do weekly news at assemblies regularly, so everyone can keep informed of what is happening around the school and in other grades.
We are also a part of the Student Leadership Council (also known as SLC). We have meetings with the class representatives and teachers where the students get to have a say about what they think is important and how the school should improve. We have also planned for future fundraisers at the school. This term, we are planning to have a ‘Crazy Hair Day’ and in Term 3, a ‘Footy Colours Day’ which will both be fundraisers to buy the new art tabletops. The fundraiser in term 4 has not been decided yet, but it will be a donation for a humanitarian cause.
We hope to continue to serve as responsible captains throughout the rest of the year. If you have an idea that you would like to share, please contact us.
Duncan, Nathan, Gauri and Ariel