Hill Street News

 A Connected, Creative, Caring Learning Community. 

Term 4 Week 9

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.

Welcome to our special edition Newsletter! We sure have had a very eventful week 9 at MHPS. There have been many highlights over the week with the Year 6 Farewell, Thank You afternoon tea and the most spectacular end of year K-2 and 3-6 concerts. 

On Monday 4 December, our Year 6 students had their farewell dinner at the Lantern Club. I would like to thank Mrs Sklavounos, Mrs El-Esh, Mrs Koutsoukos, Mrs Ristovski, Mrs Khanh, Mrs Batalis and the stage 3 staff for their excellent organisation of this event. Thank you also to our P&C, Mrs Helou and Mrs El Sayed for their organisation of the cake, balloons, and DJ.  Our students thoroughly enjoyed themselves, treating staff and fellow students to songs on the microphone. I am sure it was a night they will never forget.

On Wednesday 6 December, parents/carers and community members were treated to a spectacular show in the hall. Many thanks to the End of Year Concert committee and the executive team for organising this event and to our teachers who have put many hours into making sure the performances went well. We love our community's support of our students and it was so good to see so many of our parents/carers stay for lunch!

On Monday 4 December we had the pleasure of thanking our wonderful school helpers - our scripture teachers, LAMP & Social Literacy mentors and P&C members for their valued contributions to our school. We thank our community for their continued support of our school and look forward to the continued partnership in 2024.

On Tuesday 4 December, Mrs Labos and Ms Witts led parent workshops on EALD and Literacy in the library. Our attendees informed me that it was a very informative session. Our greatest thanks Ms Witts and Mrs Labos! 

Schools are required to formally report student achievement and progress to parents/carers at least twice per school year for each student enrolled at the school. Reports will be distributed on Wednesday 13 December 2023. 

The Common Grade Scale shown below can be used to report student achievement in both primary and junior secondary years in all NSW schools.

A    The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations.

B     The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations.

C     The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills.

Please note: If a student receives the same grade for two consecutive reports they have made progress. For example, if a student receives a Grade C in the middle of the year and again at the end of the year they will be making progress. 

Between the two reporting periods the student will have learned new knowledge and skills of a more advanced nature. In order to receive a Grade C on the second occasion the student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills in relation to this new and more challenging material.

 In other words, if your child has maintained the same grade by the end of the year, they have demonstrated a sound knowledge of all of the new skills which are more advanced in nature.

 
 D    The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills.

E     The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.

A to E grade scale translations

• Arabic (PDF, 44k)
• Traditional Chinese (PDF, 76k)
• Korean (PDF, 48k)
• Spanish (PDF, 32k)
• Turkish (PDF, 32k)
• Vietnamese (PDF, 32k)

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher. If you would like to discuss your child’s report with their teacher, please contact the teacher to schedule an appointment. As part of our partnership with you, we ask that you do take some time to review your child’s report with your child. During this time, celebrate their achievements and acknowledge their challenges. Remember, they have worked hard over the last six months to get to this point. Also pay careful attention to the recommendations for future learning (where to next) and general comments and let them drive your conversation.

Stage 2 had a fantastic time at Symbio Wildlife Park with thanks to Mr Clarke for his organisation of this excursion. Our greatest thanks to our staff who ensured our students had a great day.

On Friday I had so many students visit my office to share their wonderful work. It is so lovely to see students' smiles and excitement as they share their work with me. There was great work from KC, 3B and our culture group led by Mr Clarke.

I would also like to acknowledge the great work of every student of 6W for their fantastic poems following a stimulus piece. 6W shared these at the 3-6 assembly on Friday. Well done 6W!

As a result of an Expression of Interest process, I can confirm that the following temporary staff will be at MHPS in 2024: Mr Karagiorgos, Mrs De Lautour, Mrs Mustapic, Ms Navelle, Miss Canning, Mrs Calleja, Miss Holborow, Mrs Gray, and Mr Lofong.

Mrs Hammoud and Mrs Isaacs will remain on maternity leave in 2024 and Miss Withers will also be on leave for most of 2024. 

I would also like to advise that Mr Nalder and Mrs Primerano have accepted positions at other schools in 2024.  We thank Mr Nalder and Mrs Primerano for all their contributions to MHPS - I am sure they will be missed.

Congratulations Mrs Sklavounos and Mrs Moussa on your Beverly Hills Network Awards. 

Mrs Moussa, on top of her role as P&C President has been instrumental in securing a lot of furniture and resource donations for our school as well as securing assistance for families in need as well as source and supply the food for the breakfast club this year. 

Mrs Sklavounos has had a very busy 2023 having fulfilled a number of roles from Assistant Principal, Assistant Principal Special Education as well as having relieved as Deputy Principal a few times. She has completed these roles with the utmost diligence and care. She is highly organised, resourceful and puts students at the centre of all that she does. Mrs Sklavounos is also responsible for the efficient running of the LAMP and Social Literacy programs.  

Thank you again Mrs Moussa and Mrs Sklavounos for all you do for the students, parents and staff at MHPS.

We are also so proud of Abbas who received a Public Speaking Award at the Principal Network Awards on Tuesday. Well done Abbas!

We have been considering the current financial situation for families and I would like to reassure you that there is no expectation that parents/carers buy end of year gifts for staff.  Our greatest gift is seeing our students learn and grow.

For those parents who would like to buy a staff member a gift, please know that if a gift value exceeds $50, the staff member must follow departmental processes for gifts $50 and over.  

McCallums Hill Public School has been advised that a member of the school community has recently tested positive to COVID-19. Students and staff across the school who worked with this group of students may have had contact with a person who was infectious with COVID-19. You are reminded that students and staff should not attend school if they are showing any symptoms of COVID-19. These include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of smell/taste, muscle/joint pains, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, extreme tiredness, unexplained chest pain or conjunctivitis (eye infection). If symptoms occur at any time, your child should not attend school and is encouraged to seek medical advice. The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff across NSW are paramount at all times. 

Thank you to all our parents and carers that attended our 2023 McCallums Hill Public School End of Year Concerts last week. We appreciate you sharing this special occasion with us. It was fantastic to see so many parents and carers attend. This reinforces the strong parent-teacher and school partnerships that we have built here at McCallums Hill PS. 

We kindly ask you to take some time to complete the End of Year Parent Feedback survey by clicking on the link below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=muagBYpBwUecJZOHJhv5kXLvL6106btLlmz4vIS3rPdUQ0tRVFFNWUpaR0s5UVc4RTE2UU1UTFhYVi4u

Looking forward to celebrating our final week of 2023 with you all!

Kindest regards

Elizabeth Markovski

TERM 3 CALENDAR 2023

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

 Spriggy_Schools_Flyer_DL_Bleed.pdf

Spriggy Schools Canteen Guide_ Adding Menu Items & Options (1) (1).pdf

Spriggy_Schools_Posters_A4_Bleed.pdf

 A checklist for parents -

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.

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 4 2023 Week 9 & 10 McCallums Hill.pdf

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