Hill Street News

 A Connected, Creative, Caring Learning Community. 

Term 4 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.

It has been another wonderful two weeks of learning and exploring for our students. I believe the highlight for our students has been the reopening of part of the morning muster grass area. As soon as it was open, students took to the area and really enjoyed the feel of the new grass. We also have had a number of school improvement work the past two weeks with some of our classrooms being painted. During this time students moved into an empty classroom or the library and remained there a few days after their room was painted. Students told me that they love the new colours in their rooms. 

The School Swimming Scheme concluded on Friday. This program provided students with essential and potentially life saving skills and is very important. A huge thank you to Ms Witts for organising swim school for us as well as the many teachers who took students to the pool. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

While students were at swim school, back at school students learnt about water safety and created a game board and collaboratively completed tasks on how to keep safe.

Online safety for every student and every family is important. The esafety website is full of very important information.  There are short videos and easy-to-read advice sheets to help you talk with your children about online safety. Please click on the following links for more information: 

 https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/resources

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/resources/online-safety-book

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice

Well done to all the Year 5 student leader candidates who presented their speeches on Wednesday. They were articulate and clearly demonstrated that they know what is required of a leader. They should be very proud of themselves. This year we tried online voting which was very successful. Voting has been completed and the 2024 Student Leadership Team consisting of 5 girls and 5 boys will be announced at the Presentation Day ceremony.  

On Thursday 30 November, Mrs Batalis and Mr Clarke lead parents/carers through our PBL & school discipline parent consultation session. They explained a behaviour system that we are trialling that rewards our students for good behaviour and also informs parents/carers earlier of any behaviours of concern before they result in a letter home. Thank you to our parents/carers who attended and provided feedback.  As with all systems, we will be reviewing this system in the coming weeks. Feedback from our parents/carers is most welcome.

Congratulations to all our support class students for their contribution to the Department’s Connections Showcase! We are very proud of you all!

A huge congratulations to our Principal's Award recipients! A fantastic achievement! Well done to Nicholas, Jake, George, Joud and Jingling! We are so proud of you all!

A massive congratulations to Taylor on her PBL trophy! We are so proud of you Taylor!

Congratulations to Ms Dulaurens on 30 years of service with the Department of Education!

A very warm welcome to Mrs El-Esh who started with us full time this week. Mrs El-Esh is our new permanent Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction and is supervising Stage 3 until the end of the year . We look forward to Mrs El-Esh's contributions to the students, staff and MHPS community.

Many thanks to Mrs Davis for all her work as Acting Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction this year. Mrs Davis will be completing a whole school literacy and numeracy handover with Mrs El-Esh.  Mrs Davis returns to her Assistant Principal position at her substantive school in 2024 and we thank her for all her contributions to MHPS. 

Mr Aggett is leaving us at the end of the year to take up a promotion position at another school. We wish Mr Aggett all the very best in his new role and school and thank him for all his contributions to MHPS.

As a result of a recent merit selection process, I can now confirm that Ms Morgan Douglas is the successful applicant of a full time Learning and Support Teacher. Congratulations to Ms Douglas on her appointment. She will start with us at the beginning of 2024 and we look forward to her contributions to MHPS.

On Monday 4 December our Year 6 students will be engaging in a Community of Schools High School transition day and attend their farewell that night. A huge thank you to all the staff and parents/carers who are working behind the scenes to ensure our Year 6 students have a night to remember.

On Wednesday 6 December we have our End of Year concerts and MHPS famous family picnics at lunchtime where there is always plenty of food. We look forward to seeing you there. 

A reminder that we have Presentation Day on Tuesday 12 December 2023 from 9.15am-11am and MHPS has Got Talent on Thursday 14 December 2023 in the school hall. Students will receive their reports on Wednesday 13 December 2023.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 

Kindest regards

Elizabeth Markovski

TERM 3 CALENDAR 2023

The end of the year may be near, but the learning and fun does not stop in Kindergarten!

In math, KD have been introduced to skip counting by 2's using practical materials, which builds off their recent learning about equal groups. Skip counting is a necessary skill for students to learn as it helps to quickly count groups, identify patterns in numbers, and lays an overall great foundation for multiplication facts and times tables.  To help consolidate their learning, KD students then engaged in an interactive skip-counting game, which they very much enjoyed!

K/1S are embarking on a division exploration in maths, where they are discovering how collections can be shared equally and realising that sometimes, it's not always possible.

This week KC delved deeper into the world of measurement. Students conducted their own investigations to discover objects in the room that were as wide as their arm span and were delighted to find that their arm span was actually the same as their height. 

Students also had a blast finding classmates with matching arm spans and heights. Additionally, we introduced the fact that their foot size is equivalent to the space between their wrist and elbow and challenged them to seek out items in the classroom that shared the same size.

Stage 1 have been very busy during the last 2 weeks,  exploring division and learning how to share between 2 or more people. They have made a park from Lego during geography. Year 2 students have been working hard on improving their computer skills, especially their typing skills in readiness for Year 3! In Math, students have been working hard on word problems. Stage 1 students have had fun learning different skills during SISA as well. We have all been very busy rehearsing for our end of year concert. Don't forget the concert is on next Wednesday.

The year is coming to an end soon. A few reminders that our students who need to:

• remember to bring a hat to school everyday;
• bring their drink bottle to school everyday;
• return their library books and home readers;
• return their note for the Meerkat Productions performance Tuesday 4 December. There is no charge to attend.

Swim School 

Stage 2 students have come to the end of a two-week swim school where they've made great progress in swimming and safety. They've focused on essential skills like staying safe in emergencies and practising basic strokes like freestyle and backstroke. During the program, students gained confidence in different water depths. Students back at school created Water Safety board games to learn about water safety at home in the bathroom, kitchen and also in the backyard where pools and ponds can be found.

Police Youth Liasion Visit

A special visit from Senior Constable Jo highlighted the importance of online safety. Students discussed app age restrictions, discovering that many require users to be at least 13 or 18 years old. Constable Jo stressed the need for parents to choose age-appropriate apps and closely monitor their children's online activities.

Learning Routines 

In class, students chatted about how teacher feedback helps them learn better, creating a positive and open learning environment.

Attendance 

Attendance awards were handed out to our students, recognising students' commitment to being active learners by arriving at school every day. Stage 2 students were very proud of this achievement and enjoyed the opportunity to be acknowledged.

End of Year Concert 

Students are busily preparing for the End of Year Concert, and all parents and carers are warmly invited to attend and enjoy the show.

In Weeks 7 and 8, Stage 3 participated in Swim School at Roselands Aquatic Centre. All students have demonstrated growth in their swimming skills. The swimming teachers mentioned how impressed they are with our student’s behaviour as well as the improvement in their swimming skills. Students who did not attend the program participated in water safety lessons at school utilising the resources provided by The Department of Education as well Surf Life Saving Australia.

All Year 6 students are excited about their Farewell on Monday December 4 at the Lantern Club.

In 3-6BP, we have been learning about the Earth’s ever-changing surface. We explored the different layers of the Earth and made playdough models to represent the different sections.

In 1-2S, students have been investigating the observable changes that occur in the sky and on the land. Students have monitored the daily weather changes and discussed how these changes influence their daily lives. In mathematics, students have been exploring fractions and learning how to tell the time using analogue clocks.

In 2-4M Maths, the students are learning about positions. They used the toy animals to place them on the grid when Miss Martins described the positions they needed to be on.

Whilst students have been at swimming, students in K-6K have been completing various STEM projects. We looked at ways to make glasses and focused wrapping and twisting techniques to join materials. Students were also challenged to see if they could get their toy cars to move across a river using masking tape.

MERIT AWARDS

PRINCIPAL'S AWARDS

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

Parents are encouraged to check lost property by the end of Term 4 to ensure students have all their belongings. Any non-uniform items will be sent to charity at the end of the year. 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.

TK Newsletter (w7).pdf

team kids 29.11.23.pdf

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