Week 12 Term 2 2015 (Vol 23 No 12)

Vol. 23 No.12
Celebrating 139 Years of Excellence
COMING EVENTS
May
Friday 1st – 6th
• Book Fair
Sunday 3rd –
• WORKING BEE
Monday 4th –
• Mothers & Others Night
Friday 8th –
• Mother’s Day stall
Sunday 10th – Mother’s Day
Mon 11th – Tue 12th
• Junior Camp
Tues 12th – Thur 14th
• NAPLAN
Friday 15th –
• House Cross Country
Monday 18th – Fri 22nd
• Education Week
Wednesday 20th –
• School Council Meeting
Thursday 21st _
• Family Life Evening
Friday 22nd –
• Year 7 application for
placements to be
returned
April 30th 2015
PRINCIPAL’S COMMENTS
As I write this week’s newsletter, I am feeling overwhelmed by the events that
are happening in our world – globally, state-wide and locally. Globally, the
earthquakes in Nepal and the events in Bali, have been tragic and devastating.
I am so proud of our children, who care deeply about the suffering of other
people. Lachie CM and a team of children from the Middle’s grade, have
organised a fundraiser for the people of Nepal. Please read his article and
support him and his team in their efforts to make a difference. Lachie and his
team will be working on their ‘New Beginnings for Nepal’ fundraiser as a DL
project.
In state-wide news, I am deeply troubled by the findings that are emerging
daily from the IBAC (Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission)
investigation into corruption in the Education Department. Senior public
servants, senior executives and principals have been found to have engaged in
disgraceful conduct, stealing millions of dollars from Education Department
funds.
At Harkaway Primary School, as a school community, we have struggled
financially following a decrease in enrolments after the Black Saturday
bushfires and have worked tirelessly to repay debt that was incurred. In order
to do this, we have been extremely frugal with all spending. For example, we
have reduced staffing and cut funding from many budgets, including
curriculum and professional development. Knowing the difficulty our school
community has faced financially, I am shocked that people, whom I expect to
act with honesty and integrity, have stolen money from Victorian schools – our
school.
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, all schools undergo an accountability
process and accordingly our Priority Review commenced this week. We have
many achievements that are a highlight of Harkaway Primary School and are
worthy of celebration. There are also areas that we are working to improve,
including some aspects of our NAPLAN results. The review process will
examine our students progress, particularly in the areas we have been
focusing on. Please join the reviewers, Jill Jackson and John Keysers at a Parent
Forum to be held next Wednesday 6th May at 2.30 pm in the library.
Don’t forget the working bee on Sunday morning and Mothers and Others
next Monday 4th at 6.30. I hope to see you at one or both of these events!
Wendy O’Brien
Harkaway is a unique school community, providing dynamic learning opportunities where our
children are nurtured to develop excellent life-long learning skills and achieve their maximum
potential within a caring, accepting and optimistic environment.
Health Alert
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has issued an alert regarding Death Cap Mushrooms, which are growing in
Melbourne. Extreme caution is advised when picking and consuming wild mushrooms, as the highly
poisonous Death Cap mushrooms (Amanita Phalloides) have been found growing in and around Melbourne.
Death Cap mushrooms typically grow under oak trees and are 40 – 160 mm in diameter. The cap ranges in
colour from pale yellow green to olive brown and the ridges on the underside of the cap are white. The base
of the stem has a membrane ‘cup’. Consuming one Death Cap mushroom is sufficient to kill an adult. They
are sometimes mistaken for common field mushrooms or edible south-east Asian or European mushrooms.
Cooking, peeling or drying these mushrooms does not remove or inactivate the poison. There is no home test
available to distinguish safe and edible from poisonous versions of mushrooms, so if in doubt about wild
mushrooms, don’t consume. Please note, the school will be vigilant to monitor the areas under our oak trees.
LATE PASSES
Due to new policies and procedures please be aware that from now on ALL students who
are LATE need to have a PARENT/CARER sign them in the late book at the office. This
now also includes MONDAY mornings!!
LOST PROPERTY
There is an amazing amount of jumpers and jackets in lost property at the moment. Please
come and check through and remember to label all items!!
WORKING BEE
The first school Working Bee is scheduled for this Sunday 3rd May.
Please mark the date in your diary and come join in the happy band of workers who keep
our grounds tidy, safe and beautiful for our children. Your presence means a great deal to
your child’s environment at school. Thank you in anticipation. The Working Bee starts at
9.00am !!
If you are able to bring along any of the following it would be a great help.. Wheel barrows,
whipper snippers, leaf blowers, hand saws..etc
Harkaway Jacket and Vests
We are taking new orders for jackets, vests, and beanies with the Harkaway logo
embroidered on the front again. Prices are: jackets $35.00 each, vests $25.00 and beanies
$10.00 each. Sizes range from 6 up to 14. If you would like to order any come and see Jenni
or Sam in the office.
PRODUCTION NEWS!
We are in need of some really large boxes, fridge/dishwasher size! If by any chance you are
able to help please see Barb or Maria in the Seniors
New Beginnings for Nepal
Hello everyone, Lachie CM here. I’m sure you all know about the tragedy in Nepal with all
the earthquakes. Over 1000 lives have been lost, many more missing. They have no shelter,
food or water, so I feel as Harkaway kids we should help others in need.
With Mrs O’Brien’s permission, I am organising a fundraising event to help those affected
and Noah C, Will J, Marvin H and Celeste M are helping me. Mrs O’Brien, Mum and I have
agreed to sell and hang Tibetan prayer flags in our school. These flags are commonly seen
in Nepal and have special meaning to the people in Nepal. Each coloured flag has a
special meaning: Love is pink, Peace is blue, Courage is green, Wisdom is yellow, Happiness
is orange and Tranquillity is red. Next Friday, 8th May we will be selling small squares of each
coloured material for the $2.00 each. Each student and staff member will have the
opportunity to choose one or more meaningful flags to buy then sign their name on them.
The flags will be made into bunting to hang in our school. Every dollar raised will be
donated to World Vision’s Relief Fund.
Namaste
Lachie CM
Love is Pink
Peace is Blue
Courage is Green
Wisdom is Yellow
Happiness is Orange
Tranquility is Red
Birthdays
Birthday wishes to the following student having a birthday coming up this week!!
May
6th Jydden E
Awards
Merit: Chloe A, Lily B, Madison M, Daisy N, Bella M
Sport: Kealey L, Erin D
Art: Jessie N, Myra S-F, Ashlee C
Organisation: Emma Mac
Persistence: Jorja M
Family Life Evening
On Thursday 21st of May we are holding Family Life sessions. There are three sessions,
Juniors (5:45pm-6:45pm),
Middles (7:00-8:00pm)
Seniors (8:15-9:15pm).
The cost per family is $20 for one session or $25 for two or three sessions.
Next Monday 4th May!!
After School Care
Welcome to the After Care Program. We are glad to be here to
assist families who have work or other commitments and cannot
collect their children by 3.45pm. There are great snacks and fun
activities for everyone.
Saroja & Lisa will continue to provide terrific care for all of the children who take advantage
of this service.
Parents, if your commitments require that you are late to collect your child, consider
registering for Harkaway After Care…it is an inexpensive, safe and fun option for your child
every afternoon from 3.30 to 6pm. You can collect information and forms from the school
office. Fees are; $5 for the first ½ hour, $10 for the first hour and $15 after that…and there is a
Centrelink rebate available.
This semester the OSHC program are going to introduce the following new options:
Monday: Arts, crafts and games
Tuesday: Homework club
Wednesday: Reading
Thursday: Electronic devices
Friday: Maths activities
If you would like your child to participate in those activities could you please make sure that
they bring their homework books and materials on the appropriate days.
Food
We try to provide healthy snacks for all the kids, according to their dietary requirements, but
if you have any special dietary requirements that haven’t been addressed would you
please come and meet us at OSHC.
Thank you. Saroja & Lisa
The Cool Kids
The ‘Cool Kids’ have completely launched themselves into the new term and we still have so much to look
forward to …. Our camp arrangements are coming together and we will be meeting up with all parent helpers
this afternoon for an information session. Thank you in advance for making the effort and we know you will
have an awesome time, such a fabulous way to get to know staff, other parents and of course our gorgeous
kids! There are still some outstanding payments for camp, so please contact the office to finalise these
details.
The ‘Ice-creams’ have been very lucky to have Miss Jacobson, a student teacher, for the last couple of weeks
and we thank her for being a valuable member of the team and look forward to welcoming her back in
August .. we can’t wait!!
The children are very excited about our topic of ‘The Ocean’ and they are very busy researching answers to
their wonderings. The wonderings are questions that each child wants to know the answers to. We have
already talked about what we know and from these discussions, come what do we really want to investigate
further. DL is a fabulous opportunity to come into the classroom, so please have a chat to your child’s teacher
about when it’s all happening. As you can imagine with all of the Juniors embarking on their own
investigations, it does get extremely busy and the teachers would LOVE any extra help ☺
Each student has new learning goals for term 2, so please have a chat to your child and ask them to explain
all about their reading, writing and general learning goals. The Math groups are busy working on addition,
with the preps continuing their work on number recognition, modelling and matching collections of materials
to the numeral. As has been previously mentioned, these Math groups are fluid and depending on the topic
at the time, children will not necessarily remain in the previous group. A great deal of assessment and
evaluation takes place amongst the Junior teaching team, so that each child is working in the group that best
suits their learning needs.
Last Thursday we had an awesome turnout for the “kids take on adults” footy game. Thank you to all of the
parents that were able to come … we know it is very tricky to schedule these events around work and family,
but how much fun was it??????? AND the kids really love taking part in such a cool event, just another
opportunity to make such valuable connections with home and school for our wonderful ‘Harkaway Kids’!!!
Finally, next Monday night is ‘Mothers and Others’. We have some beautifully relaxing activities planned, so
come along and enjoy!! What better way to spend the evening than getting pampered???
Thank you for all your support and have a fabulous weekend … we hear there may even be sunshine!!!
The Junior team ☺
MELBOURNE STARS – Middles
DL
The children have been working on gathering information about the Famous Australian they have chosen to
study. The children have used resources at school to research their Famous Australian. Some students have
also been getting facts at home. The children are very excited about this theme.
Social Skills
Last week half the Middles had their final sessions about team work, accepting people’s differences,
friendship and bullying issues. These social skill sessions have been fabulous and everyone has learnt so
much. Thank you to the parents who supplied party food. We had the healthiest party food that we have
ever seen at a school party. Sensational effort! Next Thursday the other half of the Middles will begin this
valuable program.
Reading at Home
It is very important for children to read regularly at home. When you hear your child read, please record this
in their diary and sign it. On each day there is a shaded area where teachers and parents can write
comments. Children receive $100 dollars for each day they read. This week students received double dollars
for reading at home and having their diary signed.
On Thursday 21st of May we are holding the Family Life sessions. These will be held in the evening. For more
information see a separate article in this newsletter. Have a lovely weekend
Donna and Jennifer
SENIORS UNITED
This week has just flown by! Production is going really well with students becoming more confident with their
roles every day. We’re already getting a sneak peek at some of the songs and dance items that will take place
too!
Multiplication and Division is a huge focus in Math lately and so is Addition and Subtraction for some other
groups. So make sure you keep practising at home Seniors!
In writing it’s all been about the persuasive genre! We’ve been looking at ‘sizzling starters’ ‘enticing
arguments’ and ‘confident conclusions’. We’re really kicking goals with this style of writing. Thanks to Sue
Nelson who has offered to join us during these sessions to offer her expert advice!
On Wednesday, we enjoyed some beautiful weather for Senior Sport. This term we are learning about and
refining our skills in three groups; tennis, hoopball and soccer! The kids are improving in all areas and looking
forward to challenging other schools to a match later in the term!
Knox Sports was today! Congratulations to everyone who participated! It was an amazing day with lots of
encouragement, teamwork and persistence!
Enjoy the weekend!
From Senior United
Student Engagement & Wellbeing
Confidence- our focus for Term 2
Confidence will be the focus school wide, this term during our Kids Matter sessions. The students have all
begun discussing confidence, with many students setting goals for themselves regarding what they would like
to develop more confidence with. Confidence improves through building on small successes. Parents and
carers can help by:
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explaining to children that skills develop with practice
encouraging children to persist, when they don’t succeed straight away
praising effort, persistence and improvement
making sure that goals are achievable by breaking down large tasks or responsibilities into small steps
being ready to help when necessary, without taking over
Self-esteem is an important part of confidence. Having good self-esteem means accepting and feeling
positive about yourself. Confidence is not just feeling good, but also knowing you are good at something.
Particular ways of thinking are very important for building confidence. Helpful ways of thinking include:
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believing that, if you try, you can succeed
finding positive ways to cope with failure that encourage ‘having another go’
enjoying learning for its own sake, by competing with your own performance rather than that of others
making sure that goals are achievable, by breaking down large tasks or responsibilities into small steps
We look forward to a confident term at Harkaway!
The Student Engagement and Wellbeing team
FROM MRS ESKILDSEN……….
Today we are at the Mountain District Athletics Sports at Knox Athletics Track. I am sure that all our
wonderful Harkaway children will compete in a spirit of good sportsmanship and fun! Particular thanks to all
the parents you supported this event by volunteering their time to help out, be it running the high jump,
helping supervise and marshall the children or cheering the children on. Events such as this could not
proceed without you! Particular thanks to Simone Crothers, Kay Smith and Michael Inglis! Also thank you to
Corey Green, one of our ex-pupils who is doing work experience here every Monday and came along to the
sports.
The book fair arrived today and is open to the school community from tomorrow:
BOOK FAIR
Friday 1st May, 3.30-4.30
Monday 4th May, 6.00-6.30
Tuesday 5th May, 3.30-4.30
Wednesday 6th May. 3.30-4.30
Lunchtimes most days.
Regarding the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge….. Books that are shared can be entered, so please,
preps, sign up!! As mentioned, we will have a party or special lunch for all children who complete the
challenge. The user names and passwords will be sent home next week so that children can enter their books
online.
PLAYGROUP NEWS
"Pamper & Market Night Fundraiser
We are holding a Pamper & Market Night Fundraiser for the school Friday 16th June from 7-9pm.
We would love to hear from any parents or friends that would be available to provide pampering services
throughout the night (beauty, hair, massage, reiki etc).
We are also looking to hear from parents or friends who may wish to have their own Market stall on the night
($15 per stall).
The evening will commence with Champagne and amazing goodie bags.
Pampering Services, refreshments and Restorative Yoga will be available throughout the night.
We will also be drawing a Door Prize and Raffles thought the night.
Tickets $22
Book here: http://www.trybooking.com/134271
Facebook Event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/729091200542041/
School Experience coming up - Spread the word about our
wonderful school!!
LIVE OUT LOUD PROGRAM – SENIORS
HOW TO BE A GOOD TEAM WORKER
1. Make sure you have FUN.
2. You have to play nice.
3. Make sure you have honest COMMUNICATION.
4. All have the same IDEA.
5. You have to all make sure you can WIN.
6. Have team SPIRIT.
7. Have respect for each other.
8. STICK TOGETHER!!
By Mason M
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Harkaway Primary School have now introduced an EFTPOS machine into our school office. We hope this will
assist many families with making payments to the school.
The machine has both credit card and debit card facilities, and we are also able to take credit card payments
verbally over the phone. The school is only able to accept Visa and Mastercard. We will not be able to
process American Express or Diners Cards.
Below is a form which can be used by parents to pay for activities and excursions via credit card without
having to come into the office. This form can be returned with permission slips and payments. Receipts for
all payments will be sent home with your child. The authorisation form will be included on excursion notes,
and will also be available from the school office.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries about our new payment method. I am in the office on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and every second Thursday.
Kind regards,
Linda Lewis
Business Manager
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT AUTHORISATION
STUDENT NAME:
CLASS:
PAYMENT DETAIL:
CREDIT CARD
NUMBER:
EXPIRY DATE:
TOTAL AMOUNT:
PARENT SIGNATURE:
/
CCV NUMBER:
(on back of card)
$
DATE: