Thursday 23rd February, 2023

Hello everyone! My name is Kelly Laidlaw and I have been teaching at Healesville PS since 2018 starting as a CRT. I have been lucky to teach in different areas including PE and Performing Arts. This year I am excited to be teaching grade 5/6 and leading numeracy.

I am a lucky mum of two beautiful boys. We love our sports and unfortunately, I am the only one in our family that barracks for the mighty Pies. The boys and their dad are mad Demon supporters. We have a very energetic French bulldog Josie. She loves cuddles and going for walks. Our favourite place to go is our caravan where we live at the beach and enjoy the sun and sand 😊

Looking forward to a wonderful year at Healesville Primary School.

Hi, I’m Bek Clarke, and I have been lucky enough to be at Healesville PS since 2009 (on and off having babies in between). Those babies are now 4 and 6 years old, and we also have a little puppy at home. I love getting to work with students, staff and families. I have a particular interest in literacy and love words.

I love getting away on holiday - Apollo Bay is a favourite spot, I have been going since I was a kid. I’m also a keen reader, enjoy café-ing (is that a word?), running and following the Bombers (fingers crossed for a better year!).

As a small child, in England where I was born, I played at being a teacher. I used to get all the children in the street to be the pupils and I would teach them all using a little blackboard and chalk. Perhaps this is where my love of teaching began. I have been a teacher since 1973 and am still passionate about my job. I tell the children I am old and therefor very wise – and they believe me! I have taught in both Primary and Secondary schools and in both Government and Private schools.

I am married to a music teacher who is also a composer, conductor of orchestras, and jazz trumpet player. We are both still teaching Creative Arts in schools.

My two children are grown up with children of their own and so we are proud grandparents. Our two cavoodles are now our ‘children’ and are far easier to train than our human children. I have many joys but perhaps my favourite is painting big canvases in the studio my husband built for me. I also enjoy, gardening, reading, restaurant dinners, travelling overseas and jigsaw puzzles. Art galleries and museums are high on my list and a yearly visit to the zoo to visit my darling meercats.

Coming to work to spend time with your special ones makes getting up early each day a pleasure, I especially love when they bring me pictures they have made at home and share their stories about their families with me.

One day I may retire…….I may…….not yet!

Hi all, my name is Krystal. I am new to Healesville Primary School, commencing at the end of last year as the Business Manager, working alongside Linda in the office. I grew up in Healesville and now live here with my partner and two children. My eldest started Prep this year and although exhausted is loving the transition to ‘big school’. We have three dogs, Odin, Roxy and Bella and are welcoming a baby blue tongue lizard this weekend which we are all very excited about. Our family loves to travel and will take any opportunity to get away. We visited Cape York a couple of years ago which was amazing. Our goal is to see as much of Australia as possible. We have property near Ballarat and if we aren’t away will be there exploring while the kids ride their motorbikes. I am loving getting to know all the children at Healesville PS and look forward to meeting you all.

Hi, I’m Ava and I’m this year’s Myer House Captain. I have six people in my family including me, a Labradoodle dog called Penny and Billy the guinea pig. I spend nine hours a week doing acrobatics so you can see I really love this. I went to Queensland last year with our acrobatics club to compete in a National Clubs Competition. I do two floor routines called ‘Balance’ and ‘Dynamics’. I like the ‘Dynamics’, working as a trio, where you throw one of the team members in the air. When we were in Queensland, we had fun going to Movie World as well. I love camping in different places and going fishing, though I’m not always successful. In the future I would like to go on camping trips around Australia with my friends visiting the Great Barrier Reef and Alice Springs.

Hello, I’m Nate the Yarra House Captain. I have five people in my family. I like to ride my dirt bike which is a small motor bike made for dirt tracks and the bush. I ride around the Complex as well as at my uncle’s place where we’ve made a whole lot of tracks to ride on. I also really like to ride my mountain bike and will sometimes go to the bike track in Healesville. I love to go camping with family and friends, especially up the Murray. When we’re up the Murray I ride my bike, go swimming and fishing. I play footy for the Healesville Bloods. It’s good being in a team with my friends. Something I would like to do in the future is to travel around Australia and of course I’d take my dirt bike.

Hello, I’m the Chum House Captain. To start off I have six people in my family. Half of my extended family are from Northern Ireland. Our family travelled there recently. On our travels we also went to London and stopped off at Dubai on the way home. Some of my hobbies are drawing, painting, futsal and soccer. I like to draw objects, animals, landscapes and sometimes people. I play futsal for the ‘Bears’ futsal club at the high school. I love playing in a team with lots of friends. I play outdoor soccer for Healesville Soccer Club in a forward position. We travel to play against other teams on weekends. In the future I see myself being a professional soccer player, perhaps playing for the 'Matildas' and the women’s Manchester United Club which is in the UK.

At Healesville Primary School we love Maths. We love when the students excitedly share their thinking and clarifying, as well as defending their ideas when challenged by peers. By practicing these skills, they push through confusion and make sense of the world. A satisfied buzz surrounds the class as they solve what they thought they couldn’t at the beginning of the lesson. They feel successful as they finish each session.

I have been lucky enough to be able to head into each class every Wednesday where we have been investigating different open-ended tasks. This encourages the students to explore a range of different problem-solving strategies and the use of concrete materials to demonstrate and justify their thinking. We strongly believe in the importance of supporting students in the development of mathematical knowledge and skills they will draw on in their future lives.

In literacy this term the whole school is focusing on reading and writing imaginative texts. Students will explore characters, setting and plot. Starting with sentence level work in junior school, progressing to detailed and extended pieces in the upper school. Students are working towards analysing themes and messages in texts. There is a strong focus on building vocabulary and background knowledge to allow students to comprehend at a deep level.

The preps are developing foundational literacy skills, learning letter sounds and learning to blend and segment to read and write.

We are implementing a new spelling program across the school, with a focus on phonology in junior school, and morphology and etymology in senior years.

The year 3 and 5 students will be sitting NAPLAN tests from March 15, which will provide a snapshot of student achievement.

We are continuing to provide literacy intervention and extension programs across the school.

We encourage you to support your child’s progress through the home reading program, and volunteering in the classroom. Another great way to support literacy development is through lots of discussion using interesting vocabulary and explaining things, and talking about events happening in the world.

Wa wa HPS families,

After being away for Term 4 last year, due to a research fellowship, the students have made a brilliant start to Cultural Education for 2023. I will be in the classroom for a 6 week block in the middle of each term. This term I will revise previous years topics, particularly looking at Wurundjeri Country, and the Kulin Nation for the senior students. I aim to align with themes being explored during Inqury unit at each level, but do enjoy adding a point of interest too. Ask your children if they can remember the Woiwurrung name for platypus??

Cough, it’s dulaiwurrung!

Brooke Wandin

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