Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 18, Thursday June 20 2019
Principal's Message
Dear Parents/Carers,
Y3/4 camp is in full flow – the children have been engaged in outdoor activities since we arrived yesterday. The weather is a little chilly but we are wrapped up and always on the move! The fire is stoked and ready!
SWIMMING:
Our annual swimming program will be running in term 3 through weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6. Details came home this week regarding dates and payment. Please do complete and return the permission slip as soon as possible – even if you do not intend on participating. The swimming element of the curriculum is very important and the schools swimming program run by Huntingtower is excellent. However, it is important to note that a school swimming program is just that - it is not club swimming. The program is intended to cater for the majority of students at their ability. Huntingtower have wonderful facilities that suit the needs of Parkhill.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/curriculum/Pages/swimming.aspx
WORKING BEE:
COME HELP!!!.... We are running our first large working bee this weekend. There are a few projects that we are keen to work on and need your help! The working bee will run from 10:00 – 12:00 on Saturday 22nd June. Bring along your friends and family and anyone else who is keen to get their hands dirty. We will have soft fall, sand, weeding, sorting and other working bee tidy up jobs to do! There will be a light morning tea available throughout the session and house points for the children of the families that attend!
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! I urge you to find alternative arrangements so that your child is protected.
REMINDERS:
Policies:
Our school policies can be found online – including our Child Safe Practices. Please do have a look.
https://parkhillps.vic.edu.au/information/#policies
Disco:
Please see the PFA section below for details of the disco coming up next Thursday. The F/Y1 students will attend the disco during the school day – we have modified the environment and structure of the disco to ensure all of F/Y1 have a super fun time. Discos are loud and busy places and in the past we have found many of our younger students struggle to make it through 45 minutes. Children can bring their costumes to get changed at school on the day. See the PFA section for details of the older students' discos – tickets must be bought online.
Uniform:
Uniform can be ordered through the order form found at the office. 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
Term 2 ends next Friday (June 28) at 2:30pm. It will be a free dress day but there will be no gold coin donation.
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Saturday 22 June - Working Bee
Friday 28 June - Term 2 ends at 2:30pm
Student of the Week
F/1C - Edward B-S
F/1S - Miles V
F/1T - Xavier T
2/3G - Orson F
2/3M - Alicia M
4D - Samuel L
5/6A - Victoria R
5/6CS - Yashar M
5/6H - Thomas R
The Teacher Time Raffle - LAST DAY TOMORROW!
Tomorrow is the last day to purchase tickets for the Teacher Time Raffle. Head to the office ASAP to purchase your tickets!
The Teacher Time Raffle will be drawn by our SRC Captains in week 10 and announced at Assembly. The SRC have allocated these funds to assist in improving our playground space.
Here’s how it works:
Check out the experiences on offer.
Choose your favourites.
Buy raffle tickets at the office.
Write your child's name on each raffle ticket.
Place the raffle tickets in the bags corresponding to the activities your child wishes to win.
Cross your fingers!
Cost:
1 ticket = $1.00
5 tickets = $3.00
10 tickets = $5.00
Uniform Shop
The Uniform Shop will be closed next Thursday and will reopen next term. If you would like to place a uniform order, please contact the office.
First Aid
We have had reports of the following ailments throughout the school:
Head lice
Influenza
Y5/6 Soccer Round Robin
On Friday 14th June, selected students from Y5/6 attended the District Soccer Round Robin at Eastern Lions Soccer Ground. It was a beautiful winter's day with plenty of highlights. The girls and boys team did a fantastic job winning one game, drawing three and losing one. Caleb and Tessa were awarded best on field for their team. Well done everyone who participated and to the parents who came to support the school.
Dora Handby
Y5/6 Sport Coordinator
GATEWAYS
Aiden - "We got to build moving Lego. On the last one we made a submarine and a clam. The submarine moved at the back but we didn't get to test it. It was fun!"
Bella - "I enjoyed playing with Lego and programming a sea diver to move, and a boat. We made a coral reef at the end. I loved working with other people, meeting, and socialising with them. I made some new friends from other schools. It was fun!"
Science Week - Y5/6
This week Y5/6 got hands on exploring Earth and space science. On Tuesday students rotated around the three classrooms experiencing something new each time.
In 5/6H students learnt about the phases of the moon and recreated the different phases using torch light and a ball. Later, Oreos were used to visually represent their learning.
In 5/6CS students used toothpicks and marshmallows to build and explore shapes and then applied their knowledge of shape strength to designing earthquake-proof houses. The earthquake simulators really tested the strength of their buildings.
In 5/6B the real dimensions of the solar system were represented by a string and bead model. It put into perspective the actual size of the solar system and the proximity of planets to the Sun.
Students and teachers alike were thrilled with the day and can’t wait to get back into the STEAM lab next week.
Andrea Crane
Y5/6 Teacher
STEAM - Y4
Y4 students are learning about government and they took this concept into STEAM by planning what they want their new playspace to look like once the portable classrooms have been moved. Students then built a scale model using modelling clay to show their designs.
Art, maths and engineering, sure. But what on Earth does this have to do with government?
Well, classroom elections are taking place for our Y4 Local, State and Federal Government. Elected students will decide which level of government is responsible for driving school-level change before meeting and voting on the best model. Representatives will then take it to a final meeting with Ms Brady.
Good luck, Y4!
Alex Davies
Y4 Teacher
Choir Connections
We are very much looking forward to our rehearsal this week. With our Y3 and Y4 choir members away at camp, we have the chance to focus on some fabulous activities for our Y1 and Y2 choir members – it’s going to be a fun-filled session!
Remember to note in your calendars that our next choir performance will be during the last assembly of the term, Friday 28th June at 2pm.
See you all there!
Marinda and Kirsten
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!
If your child is in F/Y1, they will change into their emoji dress up at school.
The PFA is also looking for volunteers to help out with the disco. The jobs we need help with are setting up and decorating the hall, outside hall help, inside hall supervision, and pack up. Please sign up here: https://signup.com/go/wcxAiok
BUNNINGS BBQ - Sunday 28th July
Parkhill is taking over the BBQ at the Notting Hill store on Sunday 28th July. We are calling for volunteers to help out for a two hour shift. It is another great way to meet other Parkhill parents. Please sign-up via https://signup.com/go/rrZtvtC
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:
WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN - LAST WEEK!!!!!
Woolworths Earn and Learn promotion ends June 26th. 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.
Mandarin Classes
Nihao! Our first term of Mandarin lessons at Parkhill Primary will finish on the 19th June and term 3 classes will commence on the 24th of July. We have had some interest to start a beginners class for term 3 and if we get enough students we are happy to do so.
Our classes are designed for children from Prep school up to 12 years of age using Accelerated Learning Techniques or Suggestopedia (founded by Dr Georgi Lozanov). Accelerated Learning Techniques was designed by Dr Moni Lai Storz especially for Australian students in the study of Mandarin Chinese. Our textbooks are written in the form of a story with key Chinese words students have to learn in order to develop their linguistic skills. In each lesson students also learn about some aspects of Chinese culture.
Accelerated Learning uses storytelling, certain types of music, games, relaxation and positive suggestions to enhance the self esteem of the students as they learn. Boring memorisation and repetitions are taken out of the learning process. Our students learn while "doing" and having fun, hence using both sides of their brain.
We keep our classes small so that the children will have the teacher's utmost attention.
Anyone interested in their children learning Mandarin please email olga@accschinese.com or call Olga on 0421 709 414.
Dr Moni Storz
Academic Director
Australasian Centre of Chinese Studies
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