Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 4, Thursday 20 February
Dear Parents/Carers
Week 4 already! What a super busy term so far… the new playground has been planted and the forest area is looking super!
One of the things we are so proud of at Parkhill is our grounds and promoting nature play. We are so very lucky to have so much open space and so many beautiful trees. Our garden space is particularly well established and the children just love the learning that happens in that part of the school. I was hugely concerned and super disappointed when the class who was trying to work in the garden this morning reported missing produce. Someone in our community had actually taken the zucchini from the garden! The children could not complete their cooking session and the activity had to be changed at the last minute, this is really sad. I am trying to think of a way to discourage this behaviour in the future as it impacts the children’s learning. We will float some ideas with our Student Representative Council and maybe discuss it at Assembly too.
CYBERSAFETY
The online world is part of everyday life for many children and young people. It is a huge virtual playground where they can play, learn and socialise. It can be accessed by computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices.
Parents can help children get the most from the online world by being involved from the start and helping them learn safe and responsible use. You don’t have to be an expert. Knowing where to find things out and get help is what’s important.
More and more we are seeing children as young as Y2 having their own YouTube channels, social media platforms and unlimited access to the internet – this is massively concerning. Many parents are unaware of the things their children are watching and accessing online and the chat they are having via social media and gaming.
Please be aware of your children’s online activities, what they are posting and where.
Many of the platforms have age restrictions which apply and most of those are 13 and above. This really means that no students at Parkhill should be using TikToc, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/advicecybersafe.aspx
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/are-they-old-enough
ESSENTIAL AGREEMENTS:
At Parkhill, we use Essential Agreements to drive the culture in our learning and working environment. Our Essential Agreements are co-created by all stakeholders and outline what behaviours we aspire to develop in order to make the learning environment and culture positive, supportive and productive. Essential Agreements help us to go beyond the rules and think about the ‘why’.
Parkhill Primary School: Community Essential Agreement
We care for ourselves, each other and our environment.
We show respect by speaking with kindness and listening to understand.
We value learning time.
We show unity by helping each other and ourselves.
We are honest and take responsibility for our actions.
We are persistent and have high expectations.
We strive to be positive role models.
HELPING OUT:
There are many opportunities to help in and around the school. We have some working groups and committees that help us as a school to operate and your voice is massively valued and important to us. This year we will have:
Policy Committee (meeting monthly)
Finance Committee (meeting monthly)
Marketing Group (meeting monthly as needed)
Uniform Group (meeting monthly as needed)
If you would like any information about these groups or committees and are interested in being part of them, then please email me or call the office brady.elaine.e@edumail.vic.gov.au
UNIFORM SHOP
Our uniform shop will now operate offsite. Through the website below you can place your order and pay online. If you order on a Monday your goods will be delivered to school on Thursday and popped into your child’s classroom tub. Hats will be sold through the office directly!
http://www.aplusschoolwear.com.au/SearchResult.aspx?Labels=PARKHILL%20P.S
If you are unable to order online then your order can be faxed or email to info@agsprints.com.au.
Please do let us know if you have any difficulties with the service so we can give feedback to the company and ensure the processes are successful.
REMINDERS:
Morning drop off: Supervision on the playground is only from 8:45am. So many children have been arriving at 8am. These children should attend OshClub. They are not allowed to be unsupervised and left on the playground. Please do seek other alternatives.
Parent Teacher interviews will be held on 10th/11th March. More information will follow soon.
School photographs are on 12th March - again more information will follow soon.
Have a wonderful weekend
Elaine Brady
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Monday 24 February - Pancake Breaky for Parents/Carers of F-3 Students
Wednesday 26 February - 4/5H & 4/5O Mission to Mars Excursion
Friday 28 February - Leadership Assembly
Tuesday 3 March - Cup Cake stall
Wednesday 4 March - 4/5D Mission to Mars Excursion & Pancake Breaky for Parents/Carers of Y4-6 Students
Monday 9 March - Labour Day Holiday
Tuesday 10 March - Parent Teacher Interviews (more details to follow)
Wednesday 11 March - Parent Teacher Interviews (more details to follow)
Thursday 12 March - School Photos
Tuesday 17 March - Twilight Sports
Friday 20 March - District Athletics (Selected Students)
Friday 27 March - Term 1 Ends 2.30pm
Student of the Week
F/1C - Hudson L
F/1S - Kingston T
F1M - Zac B
2/3B - Xavier T
2/3L - Chloe T
2/3T - Carmen B
4/5D - Collin J
4/5H - Jasper W
4/5O - Sakura M
5/6C - Lazar A
5/6G - Victoria R
4/5D STEAM
This week in STEAM, 4/5D had a cracking new challenge. Student teams had to drop an egg from the top of our art deck to the ground and figure out a way to minimise the damage!Students named their eggs and drew faces on them so that they could really start to develop a strong bond. And this was around the time one egg sustained it’s first fracture.
Things weren’t looking good.
Students had over an hour to plan, design, build and test a solution before the challenge began. The designs were wide-ranging and creative. Some involved delicately crafted parachutes that attached to paper baskets with cotton string. Other teams simply wrapped their eggs in as much scrunched up paper and cotton wool as they could find! The process offered up some great discussion about gravity and the role of friction and air resistance. Thankfully for the eggs, some of these concepts stuck and were apparent in the final designs.
However it must be said that some eggs… didn’t make it. Other eggs sustained a range of major to minor fractures. Only a select few got away completely unscathed.
Luckily all the action was recorded on our ipads so our next session will involve frame by frame analysis of exactly what went wrong. Oh the horror!
John Monash Science School
Our Mini Mathematicians and Little Scientists had their first lesson at John Monash Science School last week. The Little Scientists heard about a project they will need to work on, as well as lots of fun experiments including nitinol! The Mathematicians became codebreakers and used codes to make an almost unbreakable code for their partners.
Maddi's New Snake
Our new library is open for business!
After lots of preparation: furniture construction and arrangement, book stacking, book reshelving, label making, cataloguing and creating, by our library assistant, Mrs Williams, the library is open!
Lots of excited students came into the library at its first opening on Monday.
Chloe said, “I like how there’s more space and it feels like there’s more books”
Bella said, “I quite like the new library, there are lots of different spaces for people to interact”
Mobile phones policy
Last term, the policy committee introduced the new mobile phones policy mandated by the Department of Education. The policy requires that if students bring a mobile phone to school they will need to hand it to their teacher at the start of the day. Teachers will then store the phones securely. Students will need to remember to collect their phone at the end of the day. Teachers may incorporate mobile phones into students’ learning during the day, if it is suitable. Students are expected to follow the Acceptable Use Agreement and use phones appropriately. Read the full policy https://parkhillps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mobile-Phones-policy.pdf
Pancake Breaky
We hold two breakfasts during each term for our parents and caregivers. Usually everyone brings something to share and we enjoy a chat and breaky together.
For our first two "Bring it Breakys" of the year for 2020 we're changing it up and Parkhill would like to bring the breaky to you our wonderful parents and caregivers!
So we will be having a Pancake Breaky.
Please join us for Pancakes
F - Y3 parents Monday 24/2 from 8.50am in the F - 2 Kitchen Area
Y4 - Y6 parents Wednesday 4/3 from 8.50am in the 4 - 6 Kitchen Area.
Bring yourselves and your pre - school aged little people.
See you there!
Choir Corner
It was absolutely fabulous to see the arrival of so many new and also familiar faces for our first choir rehearsal of the year.
The sound of over 60 students singing always sparks joy for us on a Friday!
Thank you to all the parents who made the effort to arrive promptly to rehearsal it does make the morning run smoothly for everyone.
If there are any students who weren’t able to attend choir last week but would still like to participate, please come along this Friday at 8.10am.
Don’t forget to put in your calendar that our first choir performance of the year will be at school assembly 3pm on Friday 13th of March.
If you have any questions email Kirsten on kirsten@careermastery.net.au
Marinda and Kirsten
First Aid
We have a confirmed case of chicken pox in the F1 area and quite a few children have been unwell in the Y4/5/6 area with gastro or a virus.
Please keep your child at home when they are feeling unwell and remind them of the importance of washing their hands throughout the day.
We do have antibacterial hand wash in all the classrooms for the children to use.
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