Hill Street News

 A Connected, Creative, Caring Learning Community. 

Term 1 Week 8

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.

We have had another wonderful two weeks at MHPS. This week we celebrated Harmony Week. In our school, we are very lucky to have a wonderfully diverse community. It is the rich cultures, backgrounds, and experiences in our school community that make each of us unique, and our strength comes from embracing our differences and working together towards a shared commitment to learning, growth, and mutual respect.

On 21 March we celebrated Harmony Day and World Down Syndrome Day, a day where we celebrate the lives, achievements, and contributions of individuals with Down syndrome around the world. Down syndrome, a genetic condition, also involves unique abilities, talents, and perspectives that enrich our world. In our school, we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every individual is valued, respected, and embraced for who they are. It is through embracing diversity—whether it be in abilities, backgrounds, or beliefs—that we cultivate a culture of empathy, understanding, and acceptance.  

Our students really enjoyed showing each other their national costumes and there was also wonderful display of orange for the Harmony Day parade. Our greatest thanks goes to Mrs Knezevic and Ms Navelle for their organisation of this event. 

Every year, Kingsgrove North High School provides opportunities for twenty Year 5 students to participate in STEM activities. STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Our students have enjoyed going to our local High School and participating in fantastic activities. Many thanks to Mr Clarke for accompanying our students and KNHS for providing this opportunity for our students. 

A reminder that the last day to bring back the expression of interest consent form is Thursday 28 March, 2024.

On Thursday afternoon we held a scheduled emergency evacuation drill. We regularly conduct evacuation, lock downand lock out drills to prepare everyone in case of an emergency. The procedures were followed and completed within 17 minutes. I am very pleased with the mature way our students conducted themselves and also the success of our procedures.

In the last newsletter, it was requested that parents/carers do not walk with students to their classrooms during school hours. School hours are from 9am to 3pm. Please note that there have been several parents/carers that have been seen still walking to student's classrooms after 9am and before 3pm. Please know this request is important for the following reasons:

• safety and security
• minimising disruptions
• student independence
• privacy and confidentiality

Ensuring privacy, confidentiality, student independence and the safety of all as well as the opportunity for our staff to do their jobs without interruption is essential for successful school operations. Please know that this matter will be monitored daily. 

The Respect at School posters at our school 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. 

At MHPS, it is important that every student, teacher, staff member, and parent/carers feels valued, respected, and safe. We are committed to fostering an environment where diversity is celebrated, differences are embraced, and kindness is demonstrated.

Respect is not just a word we mention throughout the school day; it is a principle we practice daily. It means treating each other with dignity, empathy, and understanding. It means listening to one another, even when we disagree, and finding common ground to move forward together.

Physical and emotional safety is paramount. Every individual should feel secure in expressing themselves without fear of judgment or harm. Bullying, harassment, discrimination, and any form of violence have no place in our school and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

All staff are dedicated to upholding these values and ensuring that our school remains a place where everyone feels respected and safe. We encourage each member of our community to take an active role in promoting respect and kindness in every interaction, both inside and outside the classroom.

Let us continue to work together to create a school environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and safe. Together, we can make a positive difference in the lives of our students and our community.

Congratulations to our swimming carnival award recipients Valentina and Ali!

Looking forward to celebrating the Easter Hat parade and our first Iftar dinner with you all next Thursday 28 March!

Kindest regards

Elizabeth Markovski 

TERM 1 CALENDAR 2024

Kindergarten have had a fantastic two weeks packed with fun and engaging activities!

In English, students are continuing to work on their phonics and engaging in art activities to further consolidate their learning such as creating directed drawings and using different materials to create artwork.

In English, Students have been studying the book ‘Edward the Emu’ by Sheena Knowles. We looked at the character features and actions while retelling what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story. Students enjoyed acting out different zoo animal actions and learning about verbs.

In Maths, students are exploring number bonds to five through recognising different numbers that make five (e.g. 3 and 2.) They are doing this by using objects such as double-sided counters and playing an interactive dominoes game where they created their own part whole relationship using blocks.

Kindergarten students were so excited to celebrate their first Harmony Day at school where they learnt about embracing differences in each other and belonging. They also enjoyed the anti-bullying incursion last week, where they learnt strategies for dealing with being bullied and making bad decisions in response to it as well as becoming supportive bystanders.

We are looking forward to having more fun and learning so much more in the next two weeks!

Last Friday 15 March, Stage 1 had a fantastic time at the Meerkat Productions performance on Anti-Bullying. Our students took away some very important messages about kindness and inclusion from the show.

Over the past two weeks, Stage 1 have been working hard in their classrooms. As well as working through our units of work for English and Mathematics, we have been busy covering our Science and History topics too. In English, Year 1 have been learning about Narrative texts, discussing characters, setting and sequence of events in a story.

In Mathematics, Year 1 have been working on measurement and exploring the concepts of shorter and taller, ordering and comparing the length of objects and exploring the area of 2D shapes. In Science, students experimented to discover if things became hard or soft when they are heated or cooled.

Year 2 have been reading the book 'Sophie Scott goes South' by Alison Lester and learning all about the main character’s adventures in Antarctica! In Mathematics, we are exploring Length, Area and Mass. We have been measuring the length of items using informal units such as small blocks, dominoes and paper clips. We had lots of fun making playdough as part of our Science unit on understanding different Materials and their purpose.

Stage 1 had a wonderful time celebrating Harmony Day and parading in their amazing cultural costumes on Thursday morning. On this day, we also acknowledged World Down Syndrome Day 2024

Reminders:

•  Please bring in your PBL Star awards once you have collected 10 to move to the next level.
• SISA (Sports in Schools) program continues for Year 1 & Year 2 -Mondays in Week 9 and
• Easter Hat Parade in Week 9
• Parent /Teacher Interviews in Week 11 – More information to follow for these events.

We would like to take the moment to share with you the highlights of the last two weeks at school. Our Stage 2 students have been actively engaged in various exciting activities, learning experiences and moments of joy.

Our students attended the Meerkat Production Show. The show focused on themes such us bullying, problem solving and self-image. It is designed to teach students strategies for dealing with being bullied and making decisions in response to it as well as becoming supportive and not bystanders. 

Additionally, students were invited to come to school dressed in their traditional cultural costumes or wear orange to celebrate Harmony Day under the theme " Everyone Belongs".

Year 3 students participated in NAPLAN testing. It's a national assessment that tests students' ability in the domains of literacy-reading, writing and language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)- and numeracy.

Stage 3 have been busy working through the English and Mathematics curriculum. We are coming towards the end of the English unit, The Wild Robot. Through reading the book, students have been exposed to a wide range of vocabulary. We have been attempting to use this strong language in our narrative writing. We have focused our learning around measurement in mathematics. Students are developing their understanding of various units of measurement and how we use measurement in our daily life.

Year 5 recently completed their NAPLAN assessments. Well done to all students for their effort in getting through the assessments in a responsible and sensible manner. No matter what the results are, we are proud of your efforts.

A group of 20 year 5 students attended a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program at Kingsgrove North High School. The students had fun using laptops to explore coding programs to create dance animations and control robot movements. The students are excited to continue the STEM program for the remainder of the term.

PSSA tryouts were on last week and Stage 3 students trialed for soccer, touch football and netball. Congratulations to those students who were successful in making one of the senior teams that will represent McCallums Hill next term.

Last week we were lucky enough to have Meerkat Productions visit our school to teach us how to deal with bullying behaviour. The show gave us strategies for dealing with being bullied and making good decisions. It was enjoyed by all students who attended.

K-2/C have been busy in the classroom over the last few weeks. In numeracy they have been practicing their counting and writing numbers.

In literacy they have read lots of new stories and wrote sentences about the stories. They have been practicing holding their pencils correctly and using finger spaces when writing. In their sentences they have used nouns, verbs and adjectives!

For harmony day they painted hands in a fun heart activity. They then placed their hands on a tree along with classmates.

3-4SB have had a week full of fun and learning. Students have been consolidating their numeracy and social skills through play across a wide range of activities. We have been working on activities that strengthen our knowledge of quantifying numbers and additive strategies. 

3-5R had a lot of fun this week preparing for Harmony Day. We read books about inclusion, wrote acrostic poems and enjoyed participating in the whole school parade. 3-5R enjoyed working hard on their hands for the Harmony Tree and reflected on ways that we can be better friends to our classmates.

4-6M have had a busy two weeks focusing on applying our place value knowledge and skills to solve word problems in maths. Students used virtual manipulatives on the interactive whiteboard to represent three-digit numbers and solve addition and subtraction problems. As a class, we conducted some field work, where we estimated, measured and collected data to compare lengths of the different playgrounds across our school. We used trundle wheels and checked our work by measuring areas more than once and used the results to work out how many lengths were needed to make 100m and 1km.

We have a school subscription to Story Box Library and you are welcome to use it at home to watch the many wonderful stories that are available.

Our username is McCallums and the password is books. 

Library Lessons

Library lessons for this term will be on the following days:-

Please remember to bring a library bag on your library day so that you can borrow books to take home. 

Monday: 4K, 2T 

Tuesday: KD, 2O, 5/6C, 6W 

Wednesday: KS, 5L, 3K 

Thursday: 3/4V, 1N, 1MC, 1/2G

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

  hurstville minotaurs flyer.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 this information in various languages https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/translated-documents/making-a-complaint-about-our-schools

The Respect at School posters at our school 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.

Term 1 2024 Week 8 & 9 McCallums Hill.pdf

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