Principal's Newsletter

It’s hard to believe that it is the end of the term!

It’s been a busy term of events including using our new building, Creating Our Learning Community (COLC) unit of work, our foundation students starting school, having assemblies on the basketball court, foundation DET assessments, the school nurse visiting, district swimming, interschool sport, John Monash Little Scientists, Mathematicians and ‘RoboGals’ Programs for selected Year 5 students, school council elections, meeting our new Student Leadership Council, Member for Clarinda Heang Tak presenting our Year 6 Captains badges, announcing our Year 6 leadership roles, Parents as Partners Night, division swimming, Year 5/6 excursion to Westall SC, Nihongo Sports Week, our colour fun run, Watashi Mo events selling second hand uniform and icy poles, Year 3-6 Camp to Waratah Bay, Year 5/6 Gala Day, Cultural Diversity Week, Cultural Dress Up day and parade, school athletics day, Japanese Language parent sessions and the Harry Potter Dress Up Day and lolly sales! Phew!

Athletics

On March 25, the weather held off so we could run our school athletics day. Students from Years 3-6 walked to Davies Reserve to compete in a range of athletic disciplines including, running, throwing and track events. This event allows students to be selected for the district athletics event later in the school year. When I visited the day, it was lovely seeing students cheering one another, trying their personal best and having fun. It was wonderful that so many parents attended to support their children. We look forward to a successful district sports event!

Fizz Kids

Huntingdale Primary School is pleased to offer an after school Science Program commencing Term 2.

The company 'Fizz Kids' has been running programs for several years. They run a bunch of exciting science activities to interested students after school each Thursday.

The class runs for F-5 and parents register via their website.

The flyer is attached for your information.

Team Kids

Team Kids will be running their holiday program over the school holiday period. If you wish your child to attend please register by following the links at:

https://teamkids.com.au/venues/huntingdale-primary-oshc/

Assistant Principal's Report

End of Term 1 is fast approaching. Our Grade 6 leaders are getting confident standing up in front of the school community, trying hard to be a good role model and looking after the new Foundation students well.

Last week we celebrated the Cultural Diversity week.

Cultural Diversity Week

We celebrated the Cultural Diversity week last week. Cultural Diversity Week is an important date on our calendar. With Huntingdale families coming from over 30 different cultural groups it is a true celebration of multiculturalism and diversity of our school community. It was a great opportunity to open our doors to our school community to share our cultural experiences. On Monday 22nd March, our Community Captains launched the Cultural Diversity Week at assembly. Parents were invited to share a story, memento, dance or music from their culture. Thank you all parents who came and shared their culture in class. Some classes had a cultural diversity activity with buddy classes as well. On Friday 26th March, members of the Student Leadership Council did a speech and lead the cultural week parade. Our Taiko group treated us to a performance to conclude our gathering. It was great to see that so many parents joined the celebrations.

Watashi Mo

Dear Parents of HPS community,

As you may all know, we lost four precious lives in the tragic Glen Waverley house fire within our community during the school holiday at the beginning of this year.

Two of the girls, Ako and Uta, were supposed to start grade 4 and grade 1 this year. Their baby sister Enna was supposed to start her first year at kinder right next to the school. Their mother Kaoru was a warm hearted person and all of them were so loved and always surrounded by their friends.

To remember the time we spent with them, our Grade 4 parents group are planning to purchase a bench with a plaque with their names and dates of their passing and donate them to the school to put them near the school playground where they used to play and chat together.

This sad news impacted all of us. We’d like everyone to have a seat on the “Memorial Bench” and see the view they used to see and talk to them sometimes so they can live in our hearts forever and also for us all to heal our broken hearts from losing our loved ones.

In order to purchase these benches, we are aiming to raise $2000+ from the school community through donations and fundraising.

The donation box is set up in the office.

Also on the last day of this term (after school on Thursday 1st April), as all the children are dressing up in Harry Potter themed costumes (or in black), Watashimo is also opening a Harry Potter themed lolly stall (like Honeydukes, the sweet shop from the story) and selling a bag of lollies and snacks for $2 each. The eldest daughter Ako loved everything about Harry Potter and we think it’s a good way to think about them.

All the money collected will go towards to purchase the benches and plaques.

New Taiko Club Members

Congratulations to the following students who have been chosen to be part of the Taiko Club to represent Huntingdale Primary School. We appreciate the efforts of everyone who attended the audition for the Taiko Club and it was a close selection in the end.

Hana Gellatly 4/5B

Alannah Harlowe 4A

Ewan Lacey 4A

Tulasi Nadar 4A

Abby Opi 4/5B

Zara Tiepermann 4A

Foundation and Year 1 Parent Japanese Classes

Foundation teachers Yuko Iida and Kiko Watanuki implemented a successful parent education session in which they explained how our bilingual program works and also some basic Japanese phrases. Our parents got to experience some of the activities, games and phrases our students use at school. It was a well attended session. Thank you Hatigan sensei and Osugi sensei for running these sessions. Thank you, Mr Thomas, Miss Olsson and Ms Karchnak for looking after the little ones.

School Uniform

During my stints on yard duty I have been reminding students about wearing school uniform, school hat and school bag. Students who have been wearing items that are not school colours have been asked to remove them and not wear them at school. On the whole, students’ uniform has been looking very good, with most students wearing school colours with pride.

We understand that from time to time children may not be in school uniform. If this happens, please write a note in your child’s diary explaining the reason why.

Student Support

One of my main roles in the school is to coordinate the student support services: academic, social and behavioural services. This includes programs we offer ‘in house’ as well as external services provided by the Department of Education and other external agencies.

Generally the process happens in the following way:

A teacher may have a concern about your child and will discuss it with you or you as a parent may have concerns about your child which you would like to discuss with the teacher.
These concerns are then usually discussed with me so a decision can be made on which service can be accessed as being the most appropriate for your child. Permission forms are then signed.
Contact is made with the service provider who will then discuss the referral with the parents and/or the teacher.
A decision will be made on what sort of support the child will need. This could be an assessment, therapy, home program, referral to another agency or in school support.

This process is confidential with only the key stakeholders - myself, the classroom teacher/s and service providers sharing the information.

Often a parent could have concerns about other children in the school. We as a school cannot discuss the educational, academic or social circumstances of other children who are not your own or detail support services they may be accessing. This is confidential. Please rest assured that all efforts are made to support students in the school as much as possible.

Medical Alerts

Some students at our school have health plans and medical alerts. The school needs to have up to date and correct information about your child’s health needs so we can plan and act accordingly for a range of school activities. It is the parent’s responsibility to:

Provide up to date health/medical plans to the school about your child
Replace expired medication such as epipens and asthma medication
Ensure that if you child needs to take medication at school you sign a permission at the school office
Alert the school if your child’s health has changed

We thank everyone for their cooperation with this.

Have a lovely holiday with your family.

Naomi Mori-Hanazono

Assistant Principal