From the Principal
Dear Parents,
2024 is well underway and we had a great week at school.
A particular congratulations, to our Kindergarten group who have done so well in settling into the swing of school. They really are an amazing group of students and as I have been out in the playground, it has been lovely to see them making friends, having fun and playing.
I highlighted a Year 5 girl at Chapel today; Azaria Abdennour, who I’ve seen every day for the last two weeks, actively looking for new students and kindy students to go and play with and help them to feel settled at our school. In many ways she sums up the values I believe are so important in our young people/ to be open hearted to others and in a world that seeks to elevate self above all else, to be outward looking. I think it’s true that the less we think about ourselves, the happier we become. I am so heartened to see the way God is moving in the hearts of many of our students, who epitomise kindness and selflessness.
Kiss and Drop:
From next week, we are encouraging our Kindy families to make use of the Kiss and Drop from 8.30am, there will be a member of staff out there to help for the first few weeks of this. I encourage other families to begin to use Kiss and drop in the mornings, as we are receiving reports that just before school our carpark is far too crowded, and at times bordering on unsafe. A reminder to drive extremely carefully and to have grace for each other.
Homework:
I wanted to briefly touch on homework. Homework is a topic that seems to have very polarising views amongst our parent community. Some of you really want lots of homework for your children, others want none, others in between. In our parent surveys over the last couple of years, there has been a very mixed view of homework. I can see there are pros: such as, preparation for high school, sense of responsibility and building on content knowledge. I also can understand parents, who are busy and simply want to spend time with their family and not get into arguments with their children. As a staff we have decided on a number of things:
- No child will be punished/told off for not doing their homework. If you as a family decide that you don’t want your child to do homework, that is a decision that the school fully accepts. At the same time, we are also not publicising to students that “homework is optional” instead they are being encouraged to complete it in a positive way.
- We have scaled back the requirements for homework. Our 1-6 teachers will also be setting some longer term projects that have longer times to be completed and of a more open ended nature to engage our students in the learning process.
- We have also changed Homework from being Monday-Friday to Monday-Monday, allowing those of you who would like your children to do homework on the weekend that option.
- We want our students to read at home. I can’t emphasise this enough. It is clear that the research shows the link between consistent reading and academic achievement. It is so true that READERS BECOME LEADERS. I love reading with my daughter at night. We read everything from Llama books, to the bible and factual books about bugs. I’ll be honest, it used to be a bit of a chore and not something I was excited about, but often in life our disciplines become our desires and the more I have willed myself to be excited about reading, the more my daughter has wanted to engage. Now it is one of the highlights of our day. I say all of that to say, our kids should be engaging in literature, with our encouragement so that they can develop a love of reading and a richer understanding of our language.
Swimming Carnival:
We had a great day at Guildford Pool, for our annual swimming carnival for Years 2-6. A big congratulations to all of our swimmers and our staff for putting on such a great event. Particular thanks to Pastor Ethan for leading the organisation. Thanks also to our Co-Curricular captains: Aidan Cristian and Nomuna Tserentogtokh, for their excellent support in organising the event. There are some photos on the last page you can look at. Once again, a great thank you to May Bailey for her brilliant photography.
My door is always open,
Joe Britton
Lunch Orders
Our Term 1 Lunch Orders are open! Thank you again to Georgette and her team for providing this service to our school community.
Lunch orders will take place every second Friday for Term1, starting Friday the 9th of February 2024.
Please see below the menu and associated links for you to order lunches.
23 February: Chicken, Lettuce and Mayo Wrap, with or without a drink (Click here)
8 March: Ham, Cheese and Tomato Sandwich with a small Fruit Cup, with or without a drink (Click here)
22 March: Hamburger with Tomato sauce, Lettuce and Tomato, with or without a drink (Click here)
5 April: Chicken Pasta Salad with Peas, Corn, Carrots and Mayo, with or without a drink (Click here)
If you would like to volunteer for 90 min on a Friday to help with the lunch orders please contact Mrs Jordaan to sign up.
All of the information will be placed in the newsletters as well for your convenience.
A reminder our orders close on Thursdays at 11am.
If you have any questions, please email or speak with Mrs Jordaan (pa@hpcs.nsw.edu.au).
Our 2024 Student Leaders.
Each week we will introduce one of our four sets of captains:
- School captains
- Vice school captains
- Co-curricular captains
- Christian Service captains
This week we are pleased to introduce our two school captains: Levi Kaufmann and Ivona Kuzmanovski. We asked them a few questions and these were their answers:
Question 1: What is your favourite place in the world?
– Once I got to go to the snow fields and went show boarding for hours and that would be my favourite place.
Question 2: If you opened a store, what would you sell?
– I would sell little gadgets and souvenirs and artwork, because I love art and love building.
Question 3: If you could be any animal, what kind would you be?
– Well I love lions and I might want to be one, because they are big and they are predators, but maybe an eagle because I’ve always wanted to fly.
Question 4: What is one thing you would like to do at school in your leadership role?
– I want to make the school even better and help all children to have a good relationship with God.
Question 1: What is your favourite place in the world?
– My favourite place is in Macedonia, Ohrid.
Question 2: If you opened a store, what would you sell?
– If I opened a store I would sell home decor.
Question 3: If you could be any animal, what kind would you be?
– I would want to be a dolphin.
Question 4: What is one thing you would like to do at school in your leadership role?
– I want to make teach the kids more about God and the Bible.
Beale Street Gate Instructions.
The following arrangements will start Monday 12 February 2024.
Entry:
Gates will open automatically between the hours of 7:30am-9:30am on Mondays to Wednesday; Thursday and Fridays, it will close at 10:30am. The gate will reopen at 2:30pm-5pm weekdays. On Sunday the gate will open at 7:30am and closing 1pm
Entry when gate is closed:
When gate is closed pull up to the pillar and press the button for the organisation you are visiting. The gate will call a preset number at that office and a staff member will open the gate
To exit:
Drive to the sensor, where the yellow line is painted, in the driveway. Gate will automatically open and close 30 seconds after you clear the gate.
Please do not cover the gate sensors to hold it open this will damage the system.
Uniform Shop.
The unfirm shop will be open on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 08:00 am to 10:00 am.
If you require any uniform on other days, please make a booking in advance by contacting the front office or send an email to school@hpcs.nsw.edu.au.
Swimming Carnival Photos
Here are some fun photos taken at the swimming carnival on Wednesday.
Students of the Week
Congratulations to the following students for receiving Merit Awards this week:
Kindergarten – S
Emily Hoang for showing excellence and trying her best!
Rafael Rodriguez for showing courage in class!
Kindergarten – G
Jael Elgueta Farina for her kind, polite and friendly nature.
Tevita Moala for always showing good listening skills.
Year 1
Livia Toscano Martins for a wonderful and engaged start to HPCS.
Alice Fernandes Ramos for a mature approach to all areas of school.
Ezekiel Wilson for fantastic segmenting in spelling.
Year 2
Ava Hackathorn for applying critical thinking during reading comprehensions.
Isaac Kaufmann for sharing insightful thoughts during class discussions.
Year 3
Max Wollo for using reading strategies to problem solve words.
Caleb Christian for demonstrating how to be a safe and respectable learner.
Aubree Cifuentes for writing a paragraph using descriptive language.
Year 4
Oriana Paulo for always striving for excellence in all areas of learning.
Alannah Theodore for achieving the lesson criteria in her writing.
Jackson Ekmekjian for achieving challenge tasks correctly in Maths.
Year 5
Hanniel Wirawan for an outstanding effort at the Swimming Carnival!
Azaria Abdennour for being a responsible, kind and helpful class member.
Lucy Watling for showing perseverance and determination in Maths!
Year 6
Aiden Christian for having a responsible and positive attitude towards his learning.
Ivona Kuzmanovski for showing great encouragement towards others at the swimming carnival.
Save the Dates: Upcoming Dates
16 February: Year 1 Chapel
23 February: Year 6 Chapel
26 February: Zone Swimming Carnival
1 March: Year 3 Chapel
8 March: Year 2 Chapel
15 March: Kindergarten S Chapel
22 March: Kindergarten G Chapel
28 March: Easter Chapel
28 March: Easter Hat parade
5 April: Year 6 Chapel
12 April: Year 5 Chapel
12 April: End of term 1