Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 15, Thursday May 30 2019
Principal's Message
Dear Parents/Carers,
Week 6 already – how time flies!
As a school we have recognised Reconciliation Week through our Buddy activities. The 2019 theme for National Reconciliation Week is Grounded in Truth: Walk Together with Courage. This theme reminds us that at the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To foster positive race relations, our relationship must be grounded in a foundation of truth.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long called for a comprehensive process of truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history. Our nation’s past is reflected in the present, and will continue to play out in future unless we heal historical wounds.
I had some wonderful news earlier this week – Will Fowles announced our $4 million rebuild money! I have snapshot of the letter below!! This is super exciting for the future of Parkhill, with the plans around redeveloping the Roger Beech Hall.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING:
Growing Grit - You’ve probably heard the word grit mentioned in the context of raising kids who go on to fulfill their potential. Children who are resilient and confident in themselves. Angela Lee Duckworth is an American academic, psychologist and popular science author who describes grit as:
“Gritty people have a growth mindset; when bad things happen, they don’t give up.”
“...passion and perseverance toward long-term goals...”
There are some really interesting articles around this topic – see below:
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=22587
FULL STEAM AHEAD:
So lovely to see all of the STEAM homework that comes back into school from our grid – keep working through the domains and see what else you can make/test/do at home…
BEFORE SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS:
It is important to note that there is NO supervision on the schoolyard until 8:45am. Children should not be on the playground before this time and certainly not as early as 8:15am. It is cold in the mornings at the moment and I am seeing more and more students arriving between 8:10 and 8:45 – this is too early!
HEAD LICE:
Although not a nice subject to be talking about it is something we are all aware of and connect with primary school. We have had a number of reported head lice issues in classes across the school. It is very frustrating for you to be continually treating your child for head lice and it can be quite distressing. Although we know that school and childcare centres are their favourite place, we really need to work together to ensure we are all doing regular checks of children's hair to try to minimise the spread of head lice at Parkhill. There are many ways to treat/prevent head lice – please check out the information in the link below. Regular combing helps with checking hair.
https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/head-lice
REMINDERS
Uniform:
Just a reminder that uniform can be ordered through the order form found at the office or via the shop on Thursday from 8:30am. Very soon online ordering will be made available through our website – watch this space!
Sick Children:
There are lots of yucky viruses floating around school at the moment. To ensure we do our best to keep these illnesses at bay please try to keep your child at home if they are sick. Coughing, sneezing and runny noses spread germs around the classroom.
Elaine Brady
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Friday 31 May - Y5/6 Sport (CANCELLED)
Monday 3 June - GATEWAYS Journeys Program Day 2 (selected students)
Thursday 6 June - Stargazing Evening
Monday 10 June - Queen's Birthday Public Holiday
Wednesday 12 June - Bring it Breaky
Monday 17 June - GATEWAYS Journeys Program Day 3 (selected students)
Tuesday 18 June - REACH Writing Assessment (selected students) - NOTE CHANGE OF DATE
Wednesday 19 June - Friday 21 June - Y3/4 Camp Weekaway
Thursday 20 June - Story Time
Friday 28 June - Term 2 ends at 2:30pm
Student of the Week
F/1C - Elena R
F/1S - Blake S
2/3G - Lucas K
2/3L - Xavier T
2/3M - Aimer S
4D - Hamish L
4O - Demi R
5/6A - Chloe B
5/6CS - Noah C
5/6H - Steven D
First Aid
There have been reports of the following ailments throughout the school:
Influenza
Head lice
Please keep children home from school if they are unwell.
Y3/4 Camp Weekaway Payments Due
A reminder that all payments for Y3/4 Camp are due by Friday June 7. Please contact the office if you are yet to complete your payments.
Education Week in F/1T
Here are some of our aspirations!
When I grow up I want to be ……….
"An artist because I love art." Zerrin
"A science teacher because I love STEAM and mum is a scientist." Connor
"A ballerina because mum used to be a ballerina." Keira
"A vet because I love animals." Santanah
"A builder because Dad is a builder." Ryan
"A principal because I want to be the boss of school." Jessica
"A science teacher because I like doing science experiments." Kira
"A firefighter because I could put out fires." Callum
"A chef because I get to eat food." Andy
"A student because I love school." Owen E
"A teacher because my neighbour is a teacher." Dabi
"A vet because I like dogs." India
"A science teacher because I love STEAM." Stephie
"A racing car driver and a worker like Dad." Rhys
"A magician because I love doing tricks." Caleb
"An AFL footballer because I love playing footy." Somo, Harley and Owen S
"A Parkhill Primary School student because I want to be a student forever." Alfie
PFA News
Committee Members
Office Bearers:
President: Vanessa Cowley
Vice President: George Andrakakos
Treasurer: Sumi Sundram
Secretary: Nadine Phillips
Committee Members:
Shadow Treasurer: Fiona Crellin
Communications: Eva Conley
General Members: Jason Van Lint, Elle Delmee, Mark Havas, Lisa Jacobson, Wendy Douglas, Janneke Storteboom, Leanne Knight, Kylie Touloupis, Donna Edwards, Katrina Battle
If you would like to be on our email distribution list and receive communication and minutes from our meetings please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com
TERM TWO KEY DATES - Please lock these dates into your calendar!
BOGAN BINGO - Last chance to buy tickets is today! This event is on this Saturday!!!!!
You may be asking - what is Bogan Bingo? Well … one of the hosts calls out the bingo numbers and his budding DJ plays songs from the 80’s and 90’s that rhyme with those numbers. Then throw in some jokes, trivia, air guitar, Cold Chisel and your finest bogan dress ups and you have a bonza of a night planned. There will be some great auction items up for grabs on the night. These include (but there is more!) some great sporting memorabilia which has been donated by Taylormade Memorabilia (https://taylormadememorabilia.com.au/) and a fitness session from Hopscotch Fitness, a local business offering a fabulous PT/Myotherapy service (www.hopscotchfitness.com.au).
Tickets are $25 per person (BYO drinks and snacks). It is on Saturday 1st June. Doors open at 7pm, for an 8pm start. Organise a group of Parkhill parents or friends and get your tickets now via www.trybooking.com/BCOFW.
DONATIONS NEEDED FOR BOGAN BINGO
The PFA is looking for donations for the Bogan Bingo night. These donations will be used as prizes which will be raffled off, won or auctioned during the night. Prizes can range from alcohol, food, house and garden items - whatever you think parents would enjoy. All funds raised go to Parkhill Primary.
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS - Now available
Entertainment books are now available for you to purchase. They cost $70 and provide over $20,000 in discounts to all the things you love to do...dining, attractions, shopping, travel and more! They are filled with up to 50% off or 2-for-1 style offers, they are a great way to discover new favourites and enjoy the value at the same time. The proceeds of the sold books goes to Parkhill Primary School. Please order one now via this link:
DON’T MISS A THING!
Make sure you keep up to date with all school happenings by joining the ‘Parkhill Primary School Community Page’ on Facebook. This is a closed group to maintain privacy and can only be accessed by Parkhill families. Search for us using the above name, send a request to join, the administrators will verify your details and then you can scroll until your heart’s content!
WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN now on!
Woolworths Earn and Learn promotion is running again starting May 1st. Parkhill has been registered to benefit from this generous program - last time we collected over 17,000 stickers, an amazing effort which helped purchase much needed sports and robotics equipment for our school programs. Let's see if we can smash that this year and collect even more!
There is a Parkhill collection bin at our local Ashwood Woolies and there is also one placed in the office. If you can please collect a sticker sheet from Woolworths or the office to attach your stickers to before handing them in that would be very helpful. We cannot submit stickers that are not attached to a sheet - from previous experience kids find this quite a fun activity so let's get them doing the sticking for us. You can photocopy blank sheets if you need more.
The promotion runs from 1st May to 26th June and all stickers collected provide our teachers with the opportunity to order any resources they need from the Modern Teaching Aids website, a well known and valued online resource portal for all Australian education services.
Please ask all friends and family to contribute as many stickers as they can to the Parkhill cause.
Parkhill Primary School
Email: parkhill.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: www.parkhillps.vic.edu.au
Location: 4A Parkhill Drive, Ashwood VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9807 2239