Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 20, Thursday July 18 2019
Dear Parents/Carers
Welcome back to term 3! I trust you enjoyed a relaxing break. It is going to be another very busy but productive term. Now is a good time to make an appointment to chat with your class teacher regarding your child’s report or just to generally check in with where they are etc… please do take the chance to do this.
THREE BREAK SCHEDULE:
Thank you to those of you have given feedback about the break schedule we have been trialling in term 2. We have taken on board some of the feedback from parents, students and staff about the pros and cons for the schedule. Throughout term 3 we will continue to have three breaks, however we will return food eating to the classroom as follows:
Morning tea: 10:30 – 11:00
Lunch eating (in class): 12:30 – 12:40
Lunch play: 12:40 – 1:10
Afternoon tea: 2:40 – 3:00
Again we will trial this throughout term 3 and look for feedback at the end of term.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING:
Raising boys, raising girls – same but different…
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=22587
Building positive relationships:
Learning to see another person’s point of view is important for getting along with others and building positive friendships. Understanding others helps children know what to do in social situations and is the basis for developing caring and responsibility. It’s not always easy for children to see the point of view of someone who is different from them. Being different could mean having a disability, coming from a different country, being a different age or gender, or having different values and interests. Children who are seen as different may be left out of activities. They may face discrimination because others think they are not as good, as talented, or as important as they are. Discrimination can have very negative effects on children’s self-esteem and mental health and wellbeing.
Taking others’ needs into account involves values of caring, compassion and acceptance of others. It also involves emotional skills for empathy. Learning to empathise with another person means learning to ‘walk in their shoes.’ It means being able to recognise and value their feelings and needs, even though they may be different from your own. Skills for empathy develop over time and include:
recognising your own feelings;
recognising others’ feelings;
listening to others’ opinions;
thinking what it would feel like if you saw the situation their way;
thinking how you can respond in a caring way;
doing something to help.
Some children find it easy to tune into feelings. Others need more guidance to learn empathic skills. Adults have an important role in supporting children to learn kindness and empathy
How parents and carers can help?
Research has found that the examples shown by caring adults have a big influence on children’s empathy. Parents and carers (as well as school staff) can also foster empathy by promoting values of caring and compassion and coaching children to be kind and thoughtful towards others.
Model empathy by tuning into children’s feelings (eg “Ouch! That must have hurt,” or “You must be feeling disappointed that your friend can’t come over”).
Help children think about how feelings affect other people (eg “How do you think your friend might be feeling?”).
Help children develop skills for understanding other people’s points of view by discussing the effects of discrimination and the importance of respectful and caring attitudes towards everybody.
Talk about situations that involve empathy (eg “What I liked about the story was how kind the hero was,” or “That was a mean thing to do. Don’t you think she should have helped her friend?”).
Notice when children are kind and let them know you value their behaviour (eg “That was a very thoughtful thing to do. I really appreciate it!”).
How to support children to accept and include others:
- Teach children that there is nothing wrong with being different and that each of us is different to somebody else.
Teach children that everyone has a right to be respected.
Help children develop skills for positive friendships and cooperative play.
Parents and carers of children with special needs can talk to their children’s teachers about how to support their strengths and about encouraging other children to include them.
Our annual swimming program will be running in term 3 through week 3, 4, 5 and 6. Details were sent home last week! Please do complete and return the slip as soon as possible – even if you do not intend on participating. The swimming element of the curriculum is very important and the school's swimming program run through Huntingtower is excellent. 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 has wonderful facilities that suit the needs of Parkhill.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/curriculum/Pages/swimming.aspx
Please do check out the calendar dates below for the terms events.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Elaine Brady
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Friday 19 July - Division Mixed Netball (selected students) & Final Swimming Payment due
Monday 22 July - 2/3G Melbourne Museum Excursion
Wednesday July 24 - Cupcake Stall
Friday 26 July - 2/3M Melbourne Museum Excursion
Tuesday 30 July - Y4 - 6 Swimming begins
Wednesday 31 July - 2/3L Melbourne Museum Excursion
Monday 5 August - F- Y3 Swimming begins & Y4 Convicts and Captains Incursion
Thursday 15 August - Story Time
Tuesday 20 August - March of the Fire Ants Incursion
Thursday 5 September - Swimming Carnival (please note change of date)
Thursday 12 September - Story Time
Friday 20 September - Term 3 ends 2.30pm
Student of the week
F/1S - Patrick C
F/1T - Chloe L
2/3G - Maryam S
2/3L - Carmen B
2/3M - Benji E
5/6A - Shannyn Y
5/6CS - Brooklen K
5/6H - Oliva G
STEAM - Y4
Sink or Float? Our question was: Do all heavy things sink?
Teacher Time Raffle
What a huge success the Teacher Time Raffle has been and once again thank you to our community for your fabulous support. Lucky students and their friends have been claiming their Teacher Time rewards, experiencing a variety of activities such as crafting dinosaurs in clay, rollerblading, dancing, playing board games, playing sport, gardening and cooking, to name a few.
The SRC look forward to hosting more events across the semester, so watch this space.
Andrea Crane
Y5/6 Teacher
OSHClub News
Welcome back to term 3!
Where is the year going?! We had a fantastic time at Vacation Care over the holidays with favourite activities including Inflatable World, Mini Chef Cooking Day, visiting the Melbourne Zoo with the Dino Park, making candles, and Back to School Party! It’s been fantastic to see how inventive, creative, and imaginative they are, and we love to see them playing and working together. They are such an inclusive and thoughtful group of children and we thoroughly enjoy their company.
Mastoora and I have some important news looking forward for the rest of the year.
I am sad to announce that I have decided to resign from my role as coordinator at Parkhill OSHClub. This has been a decision thought about for a while, and not taken lightly, but I wish to continue my development as a registered Early Childhood and Primary School teacher in a different manner. My last day at OSHClub will be the 9th of August. I have absolutely loved my time working with OSHClub and will miss you all, but I’ve decided that this is what is best for me in my professional and personal growth and development. Please could you pass this news onto your children, and feel free to ask me any questions regarding the handover to the next coordinator.
Mastoora has had some health issues over the last 18 months which have continued to persist. She has decided that she needs to put her health first and will be taking leave from 26th July until the 1st December this year. Another consistent educator will take over her assistant role for this time. We wish her all the best with her recovery.
Casual educators Victoria and Elise will continue to work with the program through this transition time, ensuring that the children have continuity of people that they and you as the families know.
We are looking forward to meeting the new coordinator, working together during handover, and assuring that the program has the best possible transition in this tricky time. Please feel free to come and chat to us about any of this, or just in general. We appreciate and enjoy having the connections with you as families as well as of course the children at the program!
Lizzy, Mastoora, Victoria, and Elise
0422 008 915
PFA News 18th July 2019
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
BUNNINGS BBQ - Volunteers required - 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 2 hour shift. It is another great way to meet other Parkhill parents. Please sign-up via https://signup.com/go/rrZtvtC
SCHOOL DISCO - Thank you to Helen
The school disco on the second last day of term 2 was a huge success. So many emojis!!! So many cool dance moves!! A huge thank you goes out to Helen and her team who put together and run the whole event. Another thank you goes to the parents and teachers who helped the F/1 students change into their emoji clothes and supervision. FYI - Did you know emoji first originated on Japanese phones in 1997! w(°o°)w “e” means pictures and “moji” means character in Japanese. Emoji then became popular worldwide in the 2010s. In 2015, the Oxford Dictionary named the word of the year.
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.
Parkhill Primary school
Email: Parkhill.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: wwww.parkhillps.vic.edu.au
Location: 4A Parkhill Drive, Ashwood VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9807 2239