Hill Street News

 A Connected, Creative, Caring Learning Community. 

Term 2 Week 4

Acknowledgement of Country 

We would like to pay respect and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay respect to Elders both past and present and emerging.

It has been another wonderful two weeks at MHPS where we have seen our students learn, grow and refine their skills. There have been so many excited students who have shown me their fantastic work when I have visited classrooms.  Our students participated in National Simultaneous Storytime on Wednesday 22 May and watched Aura Parker read her book ‘Bowerbird Blues’.

Our DanceSport students have shown growth and they have been busy practising various dances as they prepare for the 2024 DanceSport Gala with thanks to Miss Tzanellis and their DanceSport coach Mr Campbell.

This term our staff are engaging in Soup Day each week. Our staff have gathered to enjoy a variety of delicious homemade soups. It is a wonderful opportunity for staff to relax, socialise, and take a well-deserved break from their busy schedules. The warm, comforting soups help rejuvenate our team, reinforcing the importance of taking time for self-care and connection.  A huge thank you to Ms Witts for her pumpkin soup and Mrs Leggio for her vegetable minestrone soup - our staff have certainly enjoyed the home made soups on offer!

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea is an initiative by the Cancer Council, aimed at raising funds for cancer research, prevention, and support services. Cancer affects many individuals and families in our community. By coming together for the Biggest Morning Tea, we not only raise essential funds but also show our solidarity and support for those touched by cancer.  Our greatest thanks to Mrs Sklavounos who organised our MHPS Biggest Morning Tea and our staff came together to have a cup of tea/coffee, something nice to eat and raised over $500 for much needed research.

Consistent attendance is fundamental to your child's academic success and overall development. Students who attend school regularly are more likely to perform well academically. Regular attendance ensures that students do not miss out on lessons and opportunities to engage in classroom discussions. School is also a place where children develop important social skills. Regular attendance helps students build relationships with peers and staff, fostering a sense of community and belonging. Good attendance habits also set a strong foundation for future success. Punctuality and responsibility are important life skills.

If your child is absent due to illness or other valid reasons, please notify the school as soon as possible. This helps us keep accurate records and ensures that we can provide support if needed. Please know that holidays overseas or interstate during school time should be avoided to ensure minimal disruption to your child's learning.

Arriving on time is also very important. Late arrivals can be disruptive to the class and cause your child to miss important instructions and activities at the beginning of the school day. Please see below for minutes lost and the amount of learning time your child actually loses per year.

How You Can Support Good Attendance:

• Create consistent morning and evening routines to help your child prepare for school each day.
• Encourage healthy habits to reduce illness. If your child is feeling unwell, ensure they get the necessary medical attention and rest.
• Stay in touch with teachers and school staff about any attendance-related concerns or challenges your child may be facing.

Throughout the school year, we will be acknowledging students with outstanding attendance records.

Thank you for your commitment to your child's education and for supporting our efforts to maintain high standards of attendance. Together, we can ensure that every student at MHPS has the opportunity to succeed and thrive.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a few incidents of damage to fixtures and the playground has had more rubbish than usual. These are disappointing and go against the values of respect and responsibility that we strive to instill in our students. We are taking these issues very seriously and have implemented the following:

• Damaged facilities are being repaired promptly to ensure that all students have access to clean and functional toilets
• We are educating students about the impact of vandalism and the importance of respecting school property. 
• Students are encouraged to report any incidents of vandalism or inappropriate behaviour. This will help us address issues promptly and maintain a safe environment for everyone.
• Staff are monitoring students' use of the toilets throughout the day as well as litter in the playground. 

We believe that addressing this issue requires a collective effort, and we ask for your support in the following ways:

• Please talk with your child about the importance of respecting school property and the consequences of vandalism. Encourage them to take pride in their school and to report any inappropriate behaviour they may witness.
•  Praise and reinforce positive behaviours at home that align with our school values of respect, responsibility, and community

By working together, we can ensure that our school remains a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for all. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your ongoing support.

Our school uses School Bytes for online permission notes and payments that can be accessed through the parent portal.  

How to give online permission and make payments

1. Open the parent portal link – https://portal.schoolbytes.education/auth/login – and log in to your portal.

A list of events will be displayed.

If pay is selected you will be redirected to a secure Service NSW payment page to enter your credit/debit card details to finalise payment.

Click anywhere outside the receipt prompt to return to the parent portal. A receipt will be automatically emailed to you.

How to make a payment on School Bytes

1. Open the parent portal link – https://portal.schoolbytes.education/auth/login – and log in to your portal.

A list of events will be displayed.

If pay is selected you will be redirected to a secure Service NSW payment page to enter your credit/debit card details to finalise payment.

Click anywhere outside the receipt prompt to return to the parent portal. A receipt will be automatically emailed to you.

Our students are thoroughly enjoying lunch time clubs.  Our gardening club students even got to take some produce home this week!

In line with the updates to Department policy in April 2024, please be advised of the following:

1.School-based sport and physical activities 

Personal injury statement In the event of injury, no personal injury insurance cover is provided by the NSW Department of Education for students in relation to school sporting activities, physical education lessons or any other school activity.

2.Representative School Sport Pathway

Personal injury statement In the event of injury, no personal injury insurance cover is provided by the NSW Department of Education for students in relation to school sporting activities, physical education lessons or any other school activity. The Department’s public liability cover is fault-based and limited to breaches by the Department of its duty of care to students that may result in claims for compensation.  

For events outside NSW, parents/carers who have private ambulance cover are advised to check that their cover extends to interstate travel.

The NSW Supplementary Sporting Injury Benefits Scheme, funded by the NSW Government, provides limited cover for serious injury resulting in the permanent loss of a prescribed faculty or the loss of use of certain prescribed parts of the body. The Supplementary Scheme does not cover medical costs or dental costs. 

On Friday our students had their first games for the season.  We had very excited students and coaches as they made their way to PSSA. We are very proud of all our teams and the effort our students put into their games. A huge thank you to Mr Clarke, Mr Karagiorgos, Miss Tzanellis and Mrs Clasper for taking our teams to PSSA. Congratulations to the following teams on their wins: 

•  Junior boys soccer who played against Undercliffe PS 
• Senior boys soccer who played against Hampden Park
•  Junior Girls Soccer who played against Punchbowl PS 

National Sorry Day is on 26 May. National Sorry Day serves as an important reminder of the ongoing journey towards reconciliation. It is a day to reflect on the past injustices suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to commit to building a more inclusive and respectful future. Let us all take this opportunity to remember, educate, and work together towards a more just and equitable society.

National Reconciliation Week (27 May - 3 June) is a time for Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The National Reconciliation Week theme for 2024, Now More Than Ever, is a reminder to all of us that no matter what, the fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will and must continue.

Last Friday in Koori Club, students created their own mini Gunya. A Gunya is a traditional temporary shelter made by First Nations Peoples using a solid wood frame that was then covered in sticks and leaves. A huge thank you to Mr Clarke who facilitates culture and connection for our students each week. 

Congratulations to Miss Canning who participated in the Ultra Trail Australia running event in the Blue Mountains last weekend. We are so proud of her achievement!!

As a result of the recent merit selection process, I am pleased to announce that Mrs Pippett has been permanently appointed to our school.  Mrs Pippett has significant English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) teacher experience and will start with us on 11 June 2024. We look forward to Mrs Pippett's contributions to the students, staff and MHPS community!

Our students have had a very busy two weeks learning and achieving. Congratulations to Noah, Shreyaa, Frances, Adam, Evan, Natalia, Zane, Murtaza, Iva, Koby and Ezio for their fantastic work in maths and writing! 

A huge congratulations to all our Merit award recipients!

Thank you for your continued support and collaboration. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Kindest regards

Elizabeth Markovski 

TERM 2 CALENDAR 2024

Over the last couple of weeks, students have been engaged in hands on learning activities during maths lessons. They have been investigating a ten frame and how it is used to recognise the quantity of counters added and how many more are need to be added to make ten. It is important for students to be able to automatically recall number bonds to 10 or friends of 10 as it makes addition calculations simpler and faster. Number bonds to 10 can also be used when solving subtraction problems. The pairs/bonds of numbers that add together to make 10 are: 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, and 5 and 5. Students have also been exploring 2D shapes in the environment around us. They have enjoyed identifying and using 2D shapes to create their own mathematicians house. 

Students have been exploring imagery and symbols in our mentor text 'This is a ball'. Students created monster puppets and used imagery skills we had explored to construct sentences describing an imaginary scene with their monster. 

Year 1 and Year 2 students have had a fantastic two weeks filled with exciting and engaging lessons and activities!

Students explored characters in the text called ‘The Good Egg’ and ‘Spoon’. They enjoyed learning about character traits and re-created their own interesting characters. The students in 1N appreciated the story so much that they performed an item at assembly based on the story ‘Spoon’. They had a wonderful time hosting and the audience got involved dancing to the music.  In Year 2, students have explored the text ‘Koala Ark”. They focused on using prepositions and persuasive writing.
 
 All students have keenly participated in daily literacy sessions where they have practiced their reading skills using a variety of fiction and non-fiction books. Students are encouraged to participate in daily home reading by reading their levelled books. Home reading reinforces the learning that occurs in school and supports children’s reading and language development.

Stage 1 math lessons have been buzzing with lots of new learning happening! Students engaged in hands on activities using counters to count on, squares to measure length and even frogs on a log to model division. 

Students have enthusiastically participated in fitness activities and games to develop their skills in skipping, ball games and basketball.

In Stage 2, students have been exploring various forms of vocabulary as part of their genre unit this term. They are learning to analyse texts to identify adverbial phrases, simple sentences, and subject-specific vocabulary while working with Mrs. Labos. This includes studying multi-genre texts that both entertain and inform, and finding relevant examples within them.

In mathematics, students are focusing on fractions. They are learning to identify the numerator and denominator of fractions and are practicing recording parts of a whole using halves, thirds, and quarters on a number line.

Students in Stage 2 explore the variety of language choices used by authors, which helps the reader to understand the purpose and genre of the text. Students record their ideas on sticky notes and create complex sentences.

Stage 3 students have been extremely busy engaging in active learning experiences across weeks 3 and 4 of this term. In the library this term, all classes are working hard in an inquiry research task with Mrs Drury to research ‘sustainability’ and how it can be applied in the real-world. This supplements the literacy program for this term in each class.

In English literacy sessions the students are well into the quality texts of an eBook titled the ‘Bright New World’ and examining the techniques used by the author to get her message across. The theme for our literacy program for the first 5 weeks of this term is ‘Genre’. Students are exploring the different styles of genre that can be used to persuade people. They listened to a podcast about The River Ord and crocodiles. They realised after listening to it that it was giving informative information about crocodiles however presented as if they were exploring the river with the narrator. Many of the students enjoyed this genre as they could close their eyes and imagined themselves there with all the different sounds along the river.

In Numeracy sessions, students are again engaging in deep learning. They are working together to solve mathematical problems especially solving multi-step word problems involving decimals to the third place. Students continue to use multiplicative strategies to solve algorithms. Lots of sweaty brains and collaborative learning has been evident in these sessions.

Some excitement amongst the Stage 3 students who have enjoyed playing a new sport, ‘European Handball’. It is a fast game which takes playing from ice hockey, basketball and football.

Some friendly reminders:

· Please be prepared for our stage Multicultural Public Speaking competition on Wednesday 29 May, 2024.

· Please come prepared for PSSA games on Friday’s.

ES1 and stage 1 spent some time writing lovely words to describe their friends in their class. They also enjoyed exploring what colour eyes and hair their friends have. Stage 2 has been learning about genres and explored the text, Iceberg, by Claire Saxby. Students created a collage of an iceberg using a variety of paper materials. In maths, students have been learning to measure the perimeter of quadrilaterals and to measure different objects using centimetres. In Science, students are investigating features of living things. They sorted animals into groups based on their features they can see. Stage 3 has been investigating different ways to add three numbers together using strategies like ‘friends of ten’ and ‘counting on from the bigger number’. In celebration of the upcoming Reconciliation Week, Stage 3 students have been working together to create a class artwork based on the Mimosa bush.

This week our school participated in National Simultaneous Storytime. The book that we read this year was Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker. There were over 2,306,779 registered readers and we were one of the 20,581 locations across Australia.

To celebrate this event, students in Kindergarten identified and coloured in blue objects collected by a Bowerbird, Stage 1 constructed a scene from the story, Stage 2 wrote about someone that they loved and Stage 3 wrote a shape poem about Bowerbirds.

Author Visit

On Monday 3 June we are having Kate and Jol Temple visit our school to talk about being an author and illustrator. This will be a great experience and is at no cost to the students.

Kate and Jol have written a number of books that we have in the library and many children have at home.

If you have a copy of any of their books at home, make sure you remember to bring them to school on the day so that they can sign them for you. If you would like to purchase any of their books to have them sign for you when they visit, you can do so by scanning this QR code and they will be sent to the school in time for the event.

It is a requirement that students attend school, and all non-attendance days must be explained. If your child is away from school, please make sure that you communicate with the office about the reason for this. Some of the reasons may include:

• sickness – with identification of what type of sickness not just ‘sick’ 
• medical appointment 
• travel  
• attendance at urgent or exceptional family circumstances. 

It is also important that all children are at school by 9am. The diagrams below show the lost time and its cumulative effect on missing out on school.

Our preferred method of payment is online, this can be accessed through our school app or website. Feel free to contact the front office if you require any help with this.

If you are unable to make payment online and wish to pay cash, please ensure you have placed all money in an envelope or zip lock bag clearly marked with your child's name and class and what the payment is for.

school bytes instructions.pdf

Term 2 keyboard class ad.pdf

App checklist for parents.pdf

The lost property has recently been organised in different sections. Parents are encouraged to check lost property regularly to ensure students have their belongings. Any non-uniform items will be sent to charity. This will be done every few weeks. Please ensure that all belongings are clearly labelled so that they can be returned to the student.  

Please see images below of driving offences in school zones.

Should you have concerns about:

• your child’s progress:   Please contact the school by phone or email to make an appointment to discuss issues with your child’s teacher.
• your child’s welfare:   Minor issues - please contact the school by phone or email to make an appointment to discuss issues with your child’s teacher                                               For more serious concerns, contact the office. Please let the office staff know about the nature of your concern and arrange a suitable time to talk with the appropriate staff member.
• School policy or practice: Please contact the office and let the office staff know about the nature of your concern and make an appointment to see the principal and/or appropriate member of staff.

Please click on the link to access how to make a complaint in various languages https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/translated-documents/making-a-complaint-about-our-schools

The Respect at School posters are part of a project to address occupational violence at schools. Occupational violence describes physical, verbal or online abuse by students or parents and carers towards school staff. This initiative aims to raise community awareness of the respectful behaviour expected by the department in our public schools.  

Please remember there is only a 10-minute park from 8.00am-9.30am and 2.30-4.00pm on school days. Please note the signs and make sure you keep to the 10-minute limit. 

Please help keep our school safe.  If you see anything unusual happening in the school grounds at any time, please call School Security on 1300 880 021.

Newsletter Term 2 2024 Week 5 & 6 McCallums Hill (1).pdf

02 9759 4396
mccallumhi-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
McCallum Street, Roselands NSW 2196
mccallumhi-p.schools.nsw.gov.au