Healesville Primary School
NEWSLETTER
Thursday, 17th February 2022
From the Principal's Desk…
Hello everyone,
Our first three weeks have flown by. Already we have had an amazing whole school swimming excursion. Our grades three to six held an exciting house swimming sports that saw Watts winning and breaking a very long drought. Whilst that was happening our preps, ones and twos had fantastic fun in the little pools. Thank you to Ali Bryan for organising such a successful day and to all our staff who assisted. Today our students also competed in the district swimming sports – congratulations to all who represented our school – you have done an amazing job and should be very proud of your achievements.
As a staff we have begun our training for the Let’s Talk Program. Let’s Talk is a new initiative being introduced at Healesville Primary School. The ethos of this program is ‘Letting everyone talk safely about their ideas and concerns to cultivate a more connected, caring, and collaborative culture at home, school, university, workplace and in our community’. Let’s talk stands for Letting Everyone Talk Safely – Tell, Acknowledge, List and Keep in touch. To be Seen, Heard and Valued. On Monday we have fifteen students from HPS and two students from P6I (Yarra Ranges Special Development Unit) beginning their training to become Let’s Talk Buddies. These students will learn about different questioning techniques and sentence starters to start up conversations. Towards the end of this term, we will hold a launch at assembly to celebrate our undertaking of this program.
On Thursday this week I attended a meeting regarding some changes to dealing with COVID in our schools. It has been decided to continue with the roll out of RATs until the end of term one. Once we get our deliveries the office will notify the community that they are available for collection. From Monday, parents and carers will no longer be required to check in using the QR code. As we already have our quota of air purifiers, we will not be receiving any more.
In week five we are planning to hold parent teacher meetings; I am waiting for clarification on whether this can be face to face or will need to be held via webex or a phone call. I am hoping to have an answer for this on Monday. Please save the afternoon/evening of Tuesday 1st March to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss any issues you feel the teacher needs to know. Teachers will also be able to explain to you how your child is settling into school with their new class. Our prep teachers will not be having parent teacher interviews instead they are holding a parent information session at 9am on Thursday 3rd March. There will be more information regarding these dates next week.
In this newsletter the School Improvement Team (SIT) have written information regarding their areas of responsibility. As a SIT we meet every fortnight to discuss and plan how to keep moving our school forward. Bek and Chris work across the whole school to plan with teachers and model best practice in teaching Literacy and Numeracy. Bek Clarke has explained our Literacy Program for this term, Chris Kent has explained our approach to teaching Numeracy and Sharyn Borg has written an update to our School Wide Positive Behaviour program. It is amazing – already our values of community and learning have half filled their tubes with tokens.
This year we also have two leading teachers working with us around the teaching of Literacy in our classrooms. Steph Kobel and Tim Mulhall are employed by North Eastern Region and are part of the Differentiated Support for School Improvement Team. They will work two days a fortnight in all classrooms for the year. We are extremely fortunate to have such a great team join our staff and I am sure our teachers will continue to grow in knowledge and expertise.
Tracey
Junior School
The Junior School kicked off the new year with a new learning space. The children were very excited to see all the colourful decorations in our “Under the Sea” communal area and their new classrooms.
The grade 1/2s have been busy setting up their classroom rules and routines and getting used to their new teachers. In Literacy, they have been setting up their Reading & Writing workshops where they are generating ideas for writing and getting their book boxes organised with good fit books. In Maths, they have been working on Place Value, practising lots of skip counting and revising 2D shapes. They have been learning about their place in our Community during Inquiry lessons.
Our new Preps have made a fantastic start to their schooling and are now completing full days at school. They have learnt how to unpack their bags, line up, glue work into their books, play on their own in the playground, share materials and take turns in activities. They have learnt how to write and say the sounds SATPIN. They have been practising writing numbers to 10 and counting forwards and backwards. No wonder they are exhausted! They will begin learning about Community Helpers in Inquiry sessions next week.
All grades have started Specialist subjects-PE, The Arts and STEM and are very enthusiastic to head off with the teachers to explore different areas of the curriculum.
It was wonderful to see Brooke back this week in our classrooms teaching Cultural Education.
All Junior classes have been learning and revising our School Wide Positive Behaviour Rules and how these operate both in class and around the school. Lots of tokens have been earnt from displays of great behaviour.
Last week we had an excursion to the pool to watch the rest of the school swim in their races. There was great excitement and lots of cheering for our siblings and friends, as well as a chance to play in the smaller pools.
We are thrilled with the way all children have returned this year and how easily they are back into routines.
Thank you, parents for your continued support and your patience with all the dojos over the past few weeks-there is always a lot of communication and organisation needed at the beginning of a new year.
Kind regards,
Emily, Kelly, Ali, Georgia and Sharyn
Literacy
This term we are excited to be getting back into our reading and writing workshops in literacy. Teachers are guiding students to explore mentor texts, building a rich vocabulary and developing a deeper understanding of stories and author’s craft. Classes are establishing solid routines to build knowledge and skills in spelling, grammar and handwriting. Our literacy intervention program is also getting underway with Rosie House and Fenna Hogg working with students in small groups to develop fundamental literacy skills.
If possible we encourage parents/ carers to speak to class teachers about assisting with reading in the classroom. We encourage parents /carers to make reading a positive routine at home, reading with or to your child, and having discussions with your child about what they have read.
Bek Clarke
Mathematics
This year is an exciting time for Mathematics at Healesville Primary School. As a school we are now moving into the second year of our involvement in the PMSSI Initiative. The overall focus of this program is to improve the way Mathematics is delivered across the school.
Students work on Maths for 1 hour per day from Prep- Year 6. There will be a continuing focus on daily number talks, with children being encouraged to talk about their thinking and how they go about solving problems. This year we are looking to implement and imbed the use of challenging open ended tasks which allow all children to access each question and focus on using different strategies from their mathematical toolkit to solve a problem and then be able to discuss how they solved the problem in front of their peers and be able to justify / defend the strategies which they used. As the year goes on your children should be able to talk to you about how maths is changing at Healesville Primary School.
There will also be a fortnightly Maths Corner in the School Newsletter with simple practical tips for working on Maths at home, as well as a Maths Challenge for a specified level of the school with a small prize awarded at the following assembly. This will begin next fortnight.
If you have any questions in relation to Mathematics at Healesville Primary School, please feel free to contact me at school.
Christopher Kent - Numeracy Leader
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Update
How lovely it is and how proud I feel when I walk into the office and see how many tokens our students have collected for displaying good behaviour and following our school values. We have already filled half way in the token holders for Learning & Community. Junior School Council met last week to decide on some whole school rewards which will be announced soon.
As well as whole school rewards, each class is now using individual rewards. Once a child receives 10 tokens, the class teacher will be able to reward them; Junior School Council also came up with some wonderful age appropriate ideas for this.
Our next step in this program is for the staff to develop a set of behaviours that we determine as “minor” and “major” and how these will be dealt with. We will set up flow charts showing each step of these as well as calm down areas in our classes and how our buddy classes operate if students need to be removed. This will ensure everyone (students, staff and parents) knows the steps of the process and all incidents, behaviours and consequences are treated consistently. Once the staff have worked on these and agreed to them, they will discussed with the students and given to our School Community for viewing.
For our new parents at Healesville Primary School, I have added our 5 whole school rules that each class and Specialist teacher uses, for you to be familiar with and discuss with your children at home. These 5 rules also operate in our playground and on excursions.
Thank you for your support.
Sharyn Borg
Well-being Co-ordinator
Letter from the Watts House Captain - Brookely H
This year's House Swimming Champions are WATTS!
Watts finally won after 30 years. Watts amazing captain Brookley made sure the Watts legacy was secure. When I found out we won I was speechless at such a historical event. And then out of the blue I was swooped by the Watts legend Mrs Williams. We both did a big bomb into the pool. Mrs Williams cried and it was such a great moment.
It was the preps first swimming carnival, and they did such a great job. Well done to all the other houses and their captains for giving everything ago a being so supportive of their team on the day.
Thank you to all the teachers for organising and running the day.
Thank you to all the students for trying their hardest and making this swimming carnival the best.
Always remember to use the power of YET and you will have success.
Brookley H, Watts House Captain.
Please not all dates/events are subject to change.
Tuesday 1st March - Parent - Teacher Interviews 3.40pm-7.30pm
Monday 14th March - Labour Day Holiday
Monday 21st March - House Athletics
Wednesday 23rd March - School Photos
Tuesday 29th March - Prep '2023' Open Night
Wednesday 6th April - District Athletics
Friday 8th April - Last day of term 1
Tuesday 26th April - First day of term 2
Student Awards
Billie M - for being an outstanding role model to others and for supporting classmates.
Makenna G - For being an outstanding role model to others and for supporting classmates.
Prep B
Nacey L - Confidence Award
Eva L - Learning Award
Prep H
Sebastian K - Confidence Award
Ava A - Confidence Award
1/2LB
Hannah G - Community Award
Hudson B - Learning Award
1/2B
Lexie G - Confidence Award
Savannah C-Y - Community Award
3/4P
Robbie K - Community Award
Jackson S - Confidence Award
Phoebe L - Learning Award
Nate A - Respect Award
4W
Mason E - Community Award for always helping out in the classroom and taking the initiative to do things without being asked.
5/6H
Kevin C - for his proactive approach to his learning.
5/6F
Asher B - For IT support and patience.
Matilda G - for Kindness and helping to make a harmonious classroom.
5/6B
Ella B - For helping in the classroom and being kind to others.
P6I
David B - Confident Award for being confident in new surroundings.
Lewis H - Learning Award for learning to come back to P6I when the bell goes.
Privacy Collection Notice
Password: HPS
Tennis Coaching - Free Trial
Please book in via the contacts below - all ages abilities welcome
WAYNE BROOM - ph - 0437008788 www.classictennis.com.au
Tennis Australia/USPTA Club Professional Coach
COVID Resources
COVID RESOURCES
Emerging Minds COVID-19 translated resources
These COVID-19 resources have been translated into 18 languages and are available for you to share with the parents and families you work with.
- This factsheet has five tips to help parents and carers use play to support children’s mental health during COVID-19: Using play to support children during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
- Emerging Minds has developed a toolkit which includes a range of resources to help practitioners and families navigate child mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Supporting children's mental health during a pandemic toolkit - Emerging Minds
Vaccine development: a guide for families | Raising Children Network
This informative guide from Raising Children Network provides clear and reliable information on how the COVID-19 vaccine development and approval process ensures safety, effectiveness and quality.
https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/health-daily-care/immunisation/vaccine-development-a-guide-for-families
COVID Testing in Yarra Ranges
https://www.each.com.au/coronavirus-covid-19-screening-clinics/
Staying informed about COVID expsoure sites
Here you'll find the current list of COVID-19 exposure sites
This website/app provides a handy visual to stay abreast of new exposures - https://covid19nearme.com.au/state/vic
LINKS FOR THE PARENT PORTAL - TO REGISTER & LOG IN
Please use this link to REGISTER for the portal:
(please note, you will need your access key to link your child.
https://sentral.hps.vic.edu.au/portal/register
You only need to register ONCE.
Once you've registered use the following link as your usual login.
Please use this link to LOGON to the portal:
(once you have registered).
About Us
Email: healesvilleps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: www.hps.vic.gov.au
Location: Healesville Primary School, 2 View St, Healesville VIC, Australia
Phone: (03) 59624053
Facebook: facebook.com/healesvilleps