From the Principal
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend.
There were a few teachers away last week, I had the pleasure of spending extra time in the classrooms and out on duty. A highlight was teaching a Maths lesson for Year 5, it was so great to see our year 5 students so engaged in Area problems and measuring rectangles applying their knowledge to real life problems, well done!
Excursions:
Congratulations to our Year 3 and 4 students for their outstanding behavior on their excursion! Our Year 4 students gave us such a great update last week and at Chapel as well. It was wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed learning about National Parks and the Earth. Wattamolla Beach, where they visited, is one of my favorite places in the world and what a beautiful place for an excursion and to learn more about the beauty of God’s creation!
Our Year 1’s and 2’s also had a great experience last week with a physics incursion!
Good Luck:
Good luck to our Year 5/6 girls’ and boys’ basketball teams competing today at the Gala Day! I know you’ve all trained hard, and I’m sure you’ll represent the school brilliantly. Go HPCS!
Changes to Year 5/6 Classes:
Two weeks ago, I informed Year 4 and 5 parents about upcoming changes to our Year 5/6 classes for next year. You can read more about this change and the rationale behind it here. Please feel free to reach out to me or Mrs. Davila if you have any questions.
Looking Ahead to 2025:
Around this time each year, many parents inquire about next year’s teachers. I know some of you may have preferences and thoughts. Please note, I have complete confidence in our teaching team for 2025, each teacher brings dedication and skill to their role. We want excellent teaching and pastoral care for every child and I know our staff are fully committed to that. In saying that, I do know that many of you and our students are keen to find out. Next week will include an update on staffing. This process is like putting together a puzzle with many pieces to ensure the best fit for our community. I’ll also be sharing a few other updates for 2025 in next week’s addition.
On Monday, 25th November we are going to be having a whole school orientation day for 2025! This will be a normal school day, however, on this day, students will spend time with their teacher for next year, helping them feel prepared and confident for the start of 2025.
Thankfulness:
For those who joined us for Chapel on Friday, we were blessed by Dan, our guest speaker from CRU, who spoke about thankfulness. He gave the example of “being thankful to wash the dishes”. I’ve never thought of being thankful to wash dishes, as it is one of my least favourite things to do in the world! But Dan reminded us that “we get to wash the dishes because it means we have food.” The point is not about doing the dishes, but rather it was about looking for the positives and being thankful even in situations where it is so easy to only see how we are inconvenienced and annoyed about something. As we near the end of the year, let’s keep gratitude at the forefront of our minds in the busyness and different demands at this time of year, even if it is hard to see. God’s goodness is all around us, sometimes we just need to look at things differently.
My door is always open,
Joe Britton
Lunch Orders
Our Term 4 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 Friday for Term 4, starting Friday the 18 October 2024.
If you would like to volunteer and help out with the lunch order preparations, please be so kind as to email Mrs. Jordaan.
Please see below the menu and associated link for you to order the lunch orders for the term.
Week 5, 15 Nov: Sausage Roll and watermelon with or without a drink (click here)
Week 6, 22 Nov: Meatballs and potatoes with rice in sauce with or without a drink (click here)
Week 7, 29 Nov: Chicken burger with or without a drink (click here)
Week 8, 06 Dec: Sausage sizzle and ice cream with or without a drink (click here)
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).
Stage 1 Science Incursion.
Stage 1 participated in a Science workshop with Fizzics Education to further engage in their learning of light and sound. Students took part in a 90 minute hands-on workshop where they conducted experiments, exploring the way light and sound move and extending their knowledge of how light and sound are seen in their everyday lives.
Students of the Week
Congratulations to the following students for receiving Merit Awards this week:
Kindergarten – S
JJ T. for consistently displaying school values and following directions!
Sean F. for working hard in Maths!
Rafael R. for his amazing effort in Writing!
Scripture-Rae L. for outstanding effort in Writing!
Elizabeth A. for showing excellence in Spelling!
Lamees K. for showing courage this week in swimming!
Kindergarten – G
Bernice U. for her impressive reading skills.
Sarah P. for being a wonderful role model to her peers.
Theo S. for being a kind and generous friend.
Ethan K. for making great strides in working more independently.
Natalie M. for showing confidence in her Math skills.
Tevita M. for showing confidence in his work.
Tina B. for her bravery in overcoming challenges.
Year 1
Levi S. for improved handwriting.
Tim V. for excellent behaviour both in and out of the classroom
Harvey S. for fantastic compound sentences
Oscar B. for brilliant comprehension skills
Gabriel B. for a strong work ethic
Jessica J. for her kind and helpful nature
Ava S. for improved writing skills
Ari K. for consistently doing her best
Year 2
Nathaniel M. for using great positional language to describe objects.
Ava A for treating others with a Christ-like attitude.
Alexis S. for using a range of past tense verbs in Writing.
Sarah R. for her segmenting in Soundwaves.
Elizabeth G. for her engagement in Reading Groups.
Ava H. for constructing amazing persuasive arguments in Writing.
Melissa B. for amazing creativity in Drama lessons.
Bradley D. for identifying 3D shapes.
Year 3
Mia I. for consistently applying herself in our areas of learning.
Nathaniel M. for using action verbs in his narrative to engage the reader.
Hope K. for excellent contributions to class discussions in Geography lessons.
Gianna B. for taking on teacher feedback positively.
Gabriela D. for her great effort in completing addition and subtraction tasks.
Erka P. for being a focused and diligent student.
Max W. for being a great manager in Science lessons.
Caleb C. for his great teamwork and communication skills in Sport lessons.
Aubree C. for using action verbs in her narrative to explain a character’s emotions.
Mia E. for applying herself to research tasks and showing resilience.
Elijah F. for challenging himself in addition and subtraction sums.
Year 4
Oliva G. for great listening during PDH.
Leon K. for reading with expression and fluency.
Oriana P. for her amazing acrostic poems.
Benji R. for his analysis of poems in Literacy.
Theoni Y. for giving great encouragement to Kindergarten.
Willow S. for her engagement during our Stage 2 excursion.
Aurora F. for being a kind helper to Kindergartens.
Hudson S. for his meaningful encouragement to peers.
Rai B. for being a great buddy during Orientation.
Year 5
Azaria A. for a brilliant effort in reading.
Gustavo O. for an excellent effort when playing basketball for sport.
Emily H. for demonstrating impressive skills when calculating area in Maths .
Patrick O. for his positive, enthusiastic and consistent effort in all subjects.
Year 6
Tyler G. for his openness to accepting and incorporating feedback.
Levi K. for crafting and delivering a captivating Definition poem titled “Friendship.”
Lovee S. for effectively using emotive language to craft an impressive Free Verse poem titled “This Is Me.”
Save the Dates: Upcoming Dates
8 November: Year 4 Chapel
11 November: Year 5 + 6 Basketball Gala Day
13 November: Kindergarten Swimming Lessons
15 November : Year 3 Chapel
18 November: Year 3 +4 Basketball Gala Day
19 November: 2025 School Captains Speeches
20 November: Kindergarten Swimming Lessons
22 November: Pet Safety Incursion – Kindy, Year 1+2
22 November: Kindergarten Graduation Chapel
27 November: Year 6 Fun day
28 November: Year 6 @ Jamberoo
29 November: Christmas Chapel
4 December: Year 6 Graduation Dinner
5 December: Presentation Night
6 December: Graduation Ceremony
6 December: End of Term 4