Principal's report

What glorious weather we have been having! Let’s hope this will continue!

Education Support Week

This week we celebrate our Education Support (ES) staff and the work that they do. Our ES staff include Business Manager Dr Rosella Dossi, Office Manager Gill Penfold, Classroom ES Coordinator Wakana Karchnak, Classroom based ES staff- Honami Ando, Yoshiko Hayashi, Ryoko Kellam, Junko Nakazawa, Kaoru Kruitoff, Maya Harada, and Mayumi Cake. Our groundsman is Colin Mallows and ICT support is William Wong. We also have some wonderful ES staff who ‘fill in’ when staff are sick including Hitomi, Ariene and Rie.

Our ES Staff are wonderful at supporting the students, teachers and families at Huntingdale. Some of their work is unseen but is important to the running of the school.

Teachers organised a morning tea for our ES staff and grades created a thank you card for each person.

Happy Mother’s Day

We hope that all our mothers had a fabulous Mother’s Day with their families. It was lovely to see so many mothers enjoy morning breakfast with their children on Friday. Thank you to Team Kids for organising this event.

Children’s Day

You may have seen the “Koinobori” display at the front of the office recently.

This was to mark Children’s Day which is May 5th. You can find information on children’s day using the following links:

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVivjZdIhaI

Article: https://matcha-jp.com/en/239

Koinobori Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlSlSZagVc

Tango no Sekku: https://www.japan.travel/en/sg/story/celebrating-boys-japan-traditions-tango-no-sekku/

Annual Report

The 2022 Annual School Report is available on the school website after being approved by the Department of Education. It can be located at:

https://huntingdaleps.vic.edu.au/our-bilingual-school/ (Follow the link and scroll down to the bottom)

ChatGPT and generative Artificial Intelligence

You may be aware of, or indeed be using, new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies that have become publicly available. One of these technologies, ChatGPT, has received a lot of media coverage this year.

At the beginning of Term 1, 2023, the Department of Education restricted access to ChatGPT in Victorian government schools. This was because the terms of service restricted access to those aged 18 years or over. Those terms have now been changed to permit access for those aged 13 years and over. As a result, the interim restriction on ChatGPT has been lifted. Secondary school aged students who are at least 13 years old can now access ChatGPT. However, ChatGPT cannot be used with primary school- aged students.

Huntingdale Primary School will not be using this as part of our teaching and learning programs with students or any other generative AI tools that collect personal information.

Please remind your child that they should not enter any personal information such as name, age, or address into generative AI platforms they might be using at home as this can be a risk to their privacy. This is because content typed into some generative AI tools may be used and reused by the platform and its users.

One area of concern with generative AI tools relates to student assessment. We are aware of these concerns and will use existing assessment policies and processes to understand what students know about the topics being taught and ensure that assessments are completed without undue assistance.

Cross Country

Today around 50 Year 3-6 students competed in the Oakleigh District Cross Country at Norton’s Park. What glorious weather they had to run in! Well done to the following students who placed high enough to progress to the division level of competition:

9-10-year-old boys

2nd- Aca

11th- Kenny

9-10-year-old girls

4th- Monika

5th- Rhea

6th Marilyn

8th- Emilee

10th Amelia

11th- Vicky

11-year-old boys

4th- Leo

9th- Aiden

11th- Isaac

12th- Hinata

11-year-old girls

2nd- Alannah

4th- Ruby

12-year-old boys

2nd- Aditiya

4th- Taketo

6th- Joseph

11th- Leo

12th Hideki

Have a great fortnight!

Ruth Biddle

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

It is dark and cold in the mornings. Winter is on it’s way. Please dress your children in a warm jumper and rain coat if needed and enjoy the winter weather.

Bilingual Book Fair

Thank you so much for Watashi Mo’s support to run the Bilingual Book Fair. Children enjoyed choosing books and time to read with friends. I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the parent helpers who helped run the fair

Education Week

This year, Education Week runs from Sunday 14 to Saturday 20 May. The theme Active Learners: Move, Make, Motivate celebrates the many ways students learn, through physical activity, hands on learning and student voice.

Education Week is an opportunity for our school to celebrate and share with you how we encourage our students to be active learners.

Our school is proud to encourage active learners through Bilingual Education.

This year Huntingdale Primary School is 69 years old. Since we opened in 1954, we have serviced the educational needs of students in the local area. In 1997, the school implemented an English/Japanese bilingual teaching model. In 2017 the school progressed to teaching a 50/50 model where 50% of learning is taught in English and 50% is taught in Japanese. In 2023 our year F-5 students are learning through this model showing increased skill and ability in Japanese language acquisition. The school is also part of the Oakleigh Education Plan with South Oakleigh College and Oakleigh South Primary School which is focusing on working together in the areas of STEM, school pride and transitions and Japanese learning.

Education Week is an opportunity for our school to highlight our education journey.

Huntingdale Primary School will be celebrating Education Week with an Open Day for our current parents on Wednesday 17th from 9:15am to 10:45am. You are welcome to visit your child’s classroom. Parents’ morning tea is run by Watashi Mo from 8:45-9:15am. Art Show is in the Hall from 9-11:30am. Our Grades 3-5 students will have some of their works on display in our STEM Room from 10.00am to 11.00am and everyone is very welcome to pop in.

Japan Festival

Our Taiko Group will perform at 10am and our Junior and Senior Choir will perform at 10:25am. Please

come along and enjoy the performances as well as Japanese food and cultures.

Japan Festival (jcv-au.org)

Lost Property

Lost property is mounting up again…Please check the tubs in office to see if anything belongs to your child. And, please remember, that if you put your child’s name on their lunch box, jacket, hat, etc., there is a better chance of them finding their owner. At the end of each term items left are disposed of responsibly.

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal

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