Notices Sent Home this Week

2017 Instrumental Music programme information – to instrumental students
Speech Day afternoon tea preparations – Prep to Year 4 families
2017 Hockey Clinic – to 2016 Hockey players
Swimming Intensive 2017 - current Year 2, 3 & 4 students
Numeracy Interview times – Piccino to Year 4 students
Year 2 2017 String Programme Letters
Year 5 End of Year Mini Golf Excursion – Year 5 students
Chamber Singers Senior Carols Service information and permission slip

Speech Day - Tuesday 6th December

Final Speech Day reminders for families. This event will be held in the Simons Auditorium at 1:15pm. Please join us for this celebration of learning, recognition of our Year 5 students final Junior Campus year and to farewell Mrs McClure and welcome Mr Nelson.

No blazers are required this year
Summer crested shirt for boys and school coloured hair ribbons for girls
Haircuts: Most of our students have haircuts just before Speech Day – to ensure that they are looking their best!
No lunch orders available
Afternoon tea platters can be dropped into the Junior Campus Family room before school
End of day pick up / dismissal is from Senior Campus Tim Murray Room at 3:15pm for ALL Prep to Year 5 students – please advise the class teacher that you are collecting your child
Afterschool Care must be pre-booked so we can organise transport back to Myrniong
Please note that the Pizzicato Strings students require their instruments and music for a Speech Day rehearsal on Monday 5th December. They will leave their instruments at school overnight to ensure they are ready for Speech Day on Tuesday.

St Mary's Christmas Parade - Saturday, 3rd December

If you are able to come along and cheer our Early Learning to Year 2 students as they parade along Gray Street at 10:00am on Saturday, we would love your support.

2017 Booklists Due

2017 BOOKLISTS DUE – Friday, 2nd December

A reminder to families that tomorrow is the final day for submitting your 2017 Warrnambool Book list to school. After Friday Booklists must be submitted online or sent directly to Warrnambool Books.

Raffle Prizes

Congratulations to Molly Walker and Eleanor Tehan who won the ToyWorld gift card (Prep to Year 2 raffle draw) and the SportsPower gift card (Year 3 & 4 raffle draw) from the Year Five Games Day.

Final Day of School Arrangements

FINAL DAY OF SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS – Thursday, 8th December

Next Thursday is the final day of the 2016 school year. The last day of the year is always a lot of fun with a number of special arrangements:

Uniform – Children wear their House Uniform to school on this day.

Old Fashioned House Sports – If you are yet to witness this event, I can highly recommend it. With teams comprising Prep to Year 11 students there is a real sense of fun. The event starts at 9:30am and runs through to 12:30pm.

Head of Junior Campus BBQ Lunch – Other than a snack for morning tea and some fruit, you won’t need to pack a lunch on this day. I will provide a BBQ lunch for all of the children. It is best if children only bring disposable packaging on this day so they don’t leave behind containers.

Final Assembly – Our Junior Campus House Captains will lead the Final Junior Campus Assembly for the year. Everyone is welcome. Assembly commences at 1:45pm and should conclude by 2:30pm.

Finishing time – Students will be dismissed at 3:15pm as per usual.

No After School Care - Please note, as you prepare for the end of term, there is no After School Care on the last day of term.

End of Year Reports

From 3:30pm on Thursday, 8th December you will be able to access your child’s Semester Two Report via SIMON’s Parent Access Module. If you are having difficulty in accessing Internet from home, please advise us and we can print a report as needed.

How to access your report:

Go to The College home page: http://www.hamiltoncollege.vic.edu.au and click on the Parents Login link in the toward the bottom right hand corner. The screen below should appear.
Enter your Username and Password and click on the LOGIN button. (If you have misplaced your logon details, contact Susie Holcombe, email address holcombes@hamiltoncollege.vic.edu.au ).
Clicking on the name or the portrait of your child will take you to the individual student details page with a menu down the left hand side.
Clicking on the Student Assessment and Reporting tab will give you a list of current and past Student Reports for your child.
Clicking on the report you wish to view will allow you to download the pdf document for this report. (The most current report will appear at the bottom of the list.)

* Please note that student self-assessments will be sent home with students in the final week of term.

Student Absences

You will notice an attendance rate (expressed as a percentage) on the first page of your child’s report. Please note that a 95%- 100% attendance rate is within the normal range.

0-10 days absence per year – This is within normal range. A student with this attendance rate should be able to take full advantage of the planned classroom and specialist programmes for the year.

12-20 days absence per year – This attendance rate is below average and likely to impact on a student’s ability to access classroom and specialist programmes. If sustained, a student with this attendance rate could miss up to one year of schooling between Prep and Year 8.

22-40 days absence per year – This attendance rate is well below average and will have an impact on learning and progress. At this attendance rate, a student could miss out on up to two years of schooling between Prep and Year 8.

40+ days absence per year – This rate of absence is equivalent to approximately one school term per year. At this rate of absence a student could miss over two and a half years of schooling between Prep and Year 8. A student missing school this regularly will not be able to make the progress that they are capable of.

Christmas Activities Fun

Thank you to Miss Ross for coordinating a festive House morning this week. The children worked in their cross-age groups and House teachers to decorate biscuits, construct decorations, create movie trailers on iPads and share Christmas stories.

Uniting Church Hamper

I was very proud of the Year 5 Dinner organising committee who, on Monday, went to great pains to ensure that they spent their funds wisely in the purchase of decorations and then chose to donate the rest of their funds to the Uniting Church food hamper. With the $90 savings from their decoration budget, they bought Christmas puddings, juices, bon bons, short breads, hams and all manner of other Christmas cheer. They felt that, as the money was raised at the Year 5 Games Day, this was a way for everyone to contribute to the hamper.

Nativity Service Tomorrow

A final reminder that we will gather at the Uniting Church for a Service of Worship led by our Piccino to Year 2 students for our Nativity Service at 10:15am. Please note that this is likely to be a standing room only event for family and friends! We hope to see you if you are able to join us.

Business Success

Congratulations to the Year 4 students who made $685 at HIRL last week. $500 repaid their business costs to The Foundation for Young Australians and $185 was donated to their chosen charities. They raised another $179.00 at yesterday’s playground stall. Thank you to all the families who supported the Year Four class in their first business ventures.

Week Ahead

Monday, 5th December– Junior Campus Speech Day rehearsals

Tuesday, 6th December– Junior Campus Speech Day 1:15pm MPAC, no lunch orders, dismissal from Senior Campus

Wednesday, 7th December – Prep to Year 4: Class Parties, Christmas at the Movies and KK sharing. Year 5:Mini Golf Excursion

Wednesday 7th December – Christmas Service 7:30pm – Chamber Singers

Thursday 8th December – Old Fashioned Sports 9:00am – 12:00pm, Junior Campus BBQ 12:50pm

Thursday 8th December – Junior Campus Final Assembly 1:45pm – 2:30pm

Thursday 8th December – End of Term / School Year at 3:15pm (No Afterschool Care)

Thursday 8th December – Junior Campus Reports released online at 3:30pm

Miss Ieva Hampson Head of Junior Campus

Parents and Friends

Christmas Cakes & Calendars

P&F Christmas Party