Heights Happenings – 2023 – Term 4, Week 3

Congratulations to Ms Searles and Mr Bride

We are so pleased to announce that Ms Allanah Searles and Mr Josh Bride gave birth to their son, Sullivan Henry, in the early hours of Sunday 15^th October. I’m sure everyone will join me in congratulating Allanah and Josh as they welcome little Sully into the world.

2024 Enrolments

With planning and preparation well underway for 2024, it is vital that we are aware of enrolment changes for next year. If you know that your child/children will not be attending Boronia Heights Primary School in 2024, it would be appreciated if you would inform teachers and the office staff as soon as possible. Your attention to this will assist us greatly with forward planning.

Class Placements for 2024

Over the coming weeks our teaching staff start to meet to place students in classes for 2024. A great deal of consideration and thought goes into this process. Teachers analyse academic data to ensure an even spread of students, discuss social relationships and individual student needs to ensure that we provide the best learning opportunities for all our students.

If you have any information about your child’s academic, behavioural, physical or social factors which you would like us to consider when deciding class placements please put any requests in writing to me by emailing Mathew.anderton@education.vic.gov.au.  All requests must be received by Friday 27th October.

Please note that it is not appropriate to include requests relating to particular teachers. Your requests will be shared with the teachers to assist them to develop the class lists. If you have particular concerns that you do not wish to be shared with the teachers, please make contact with me.

Thank you in anticipation of working with us and for your understanding as we set our school up for more high-quality teaching and learning next year.

Market Night 20^th October

We are looking forward to our Market night at BHPS on Friday. The ‘Hubsters’ have been incredibly busy to make this community night a success.  We are looking forward to having our school community, friends and family join in what will be a lovely night. The weather looks like it’s going to be very kind to us too. Hot food will be available for snacks and dinner with over 50 stalls including our staff stalls ready to sell up big.  The Market stalls will be open from 4:00pm and closing at 7:30pm.

A massive thank you to the parents that have already put their hands up to support their child’s classroom stall or indeed if they have a stall themselves, however we are still in need of support for classroom stalls, please… please…. please contact your classroom teacher to volunteer, even if it is for 30 minutes.

Looking forward to seeing everyone out and about on Friday enjoying our school grounds and starting your Christmas shopping early.

Colour Run 22^nd November

You all should have received information regarding our upcoming Colour Run.  Thank you to those families who have already obtained sponsors.  Please remember that you do need to let your classroom teacher know if your child will not be participating.  If your child has asthma, please make sure that all medication is at school and up to date. Also, we have been informed that the colour may be difficult to wash from blonde hair, I think I am going to be wearing a hat or shower cap even (no photos please on the day!!!). We are encouraging children to wear a white t-shirt to show the brilliant colours up. Sunglasses and a wrist band will be supplied.

We will be asking for parent volunteers to help cover our children in colour next week. More information to come.

This term has started with a bang, so many excursions and incursions happening and many events to put in your diary.

Conflict in the Middle East

With the constant news reports on TV, radio and social media, it’s hard to escape the reality of what’s happening in Israel and Gaza at the moment. Many people in our community may be affected by these devastating events, with staff, students, families and carers potentially having family and friends caught up in the conflict. Please be assured that if your child needs support in understanding what’s going on, or perhaps they may have seen something that’s extremely upsetting, we are here to help. At our school, this includes speaking with your child’s teacher first, and they can support you in getting referrals to see our School Welfare Officer, Sarah McIntosh, if needed. You may also wish to contact external services including:

• headspace: 1800 650 890
• Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636.

Garden Helpers

On Thursday afternoon we had some amazing parent volunteers help tidy the gardens near the shade sail and grade 4 rooms. Thank you so much to Catherine Devlin (and Catherine’s friend, Rebecca), Steve Geddes, Kerry Bibby and Deb Boettcher. These parents were ably helped by Aayla and Luke in Grade 6, Owen H, Darcy and Kayder in grade 4. They weeded and spread mulch through the garden to make it look extra special for our Market Night. We are very appreciative of their time and effort to support our school.

Referendum result

As a school, it is important that we maintain impartiality when it comes to matters such as elections and referendums. We are lucky to live in a democracy where people can express their opinions on key issues of national importance. Having said this, I want to recognise the impact the referendum result may have on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families. For many people, the referendum has been – and will continue to be – a sensitive topic, and it’s important that we continue to engage with each other in respectful ways.

Support is available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families by contacting Yarning SafeNStrong on 1800 959 563 or 13YARN.

Thank you to community members

A beautiful community member and close neighbour, Daphne, has donated knitted goods for our Market Night. Daphne has no close links with the school at this time – she’s just done this out of the kindness of her heart. We thank Daphne very much for her contribution to the school.

We are also lucky to have received a donation of mulch from Tom at TLC Trees in Bayswater. This mulch is greatly appreciated, so thank you Tom!

Have a great week.

Mat Anderton
Principal

We are very fortunate to regularly receive fruit, snack, cheese sandwich and food hamper donations from two organizations, FoodBank (through their Breakfast Club program) and Eat Up. Apples, oranges, Messy Monkeys and fruit cups are put out into all our learning spaces for students to help themselves when they need an extra bite to eat. Cheese sandwiches are made into toasties for students for their lunches, when and if needed. I thank the parents who come in each week to help put the fruit out as well as cut it up for our students. Having healthy snacks available gives our staff the opportunity to also talk about the importance of good nutrition so that our students are able to learn to the best of their ability in the classroom as well as be physically alert and on the ball. Staff will often grab a piece of fruit to munch on, this role modelling good eating habits.

The Foodbank website has quite a number of recipes and other resources for parents to take a look at. These recipes are not only healthy but will not break the bank. Take a look!

https://www.foodbank.org.au/cheap-recipe-ideas/?state=vic

I am aware that there are many families across Victoria who are struggling with the rising cost of living and paying the rent. Some of these families are part of our school community. In the last 12 months over 540,000 households in Victoria went hungry due to lack of funds, sometimes skipping meals or going whole days without eating. Over 365,000 children lived in severely food insecure households. Interestingly, over half of food insecure households in Victoria had someone in paid work (data from Foodbank Hunger Report). These are sobering statistics about our state. If you need food support, or other support for you and your children, please do not hesitate to reach out. I regularly receive food hampers for families. There is also a mobile market of fresh and perishable foods coming up in November – I have 30 invitations to give away.

Sarah McIntosh
Student Welfare

2024 Parent Payment Information

2024 Parent Payment information was sent out last week. Click here to access a digital copy. The COS portal for book pack orders is now open. Login information is found in the Parent Payment information packs.

Orders placed before 11th December will be delivered to your home by 24th December. Orders placed before 8th January will be delivered to your home prior to Term 1 commencement.

2024 CSEF

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.

Payment amounts this year are $150 for eligible primary school. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

You can download the form here.

Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.

Name Your Belongings

We know you treasure your uniform and books. Please remember to label all uniform, books and belongings coming to school. Like most years, we have had an incredible amount of lost property through the year. The majority was unnamed, along with illegible tags. We would love lost items to boomerang back to your kids.

Researching with Technology in Year 6

Throughout Term 4 the Year 6 students have been using digital technologies for our Integrated Geography Unit to research countries of the world. They have been researching and gathering information about a country of their choice.

This week students have been creating significant landmarks from their country and making presentations to demonstrate all the research and information they have found, ensuring they are using reputable and trustworthy websites.

District Hooptime

Last Friday, the 13^th of October, we had our All Stars senior girls head to Knox Basketball Centre and compete at the Division Finals. We drew the 1st game, won the 2nd game, lost the 3rd game, and won our Final. Very proud of the girls and the amazing effort they all put in. A huge shout out to Brent Airs who coached the girls as well as Kobi Rout and Jess Williams who helped score all the games.

SEDA AFL Incursion

We were lucky enough to receive two FREE days for an AFL Incursion run by SEDA and their students. Around 15 SEDA students and their teacher taught 50-minute lessons to each year level across the last two Thursday’s. Students spent time handballing, learning how to kick a drop punt and practised their aim and targeting to name a few. From what I heard and saw at the incursion everyone involved had an amazing time despite the cold and rain at times. A big thank you to Andrew Browne and the 15 SEDA students who came out to provide our school with this opportunity. We absolutely loved it!

Lawn Bowls Incursion

In Term 3, through applying for a grant we received funding for a sporting incursion. This week the Grade 3 and 4’s, started their Lawn Bowls incursion in P.E. lessons. They have been learning the fundamentals of bowls and taking their time to master the intricacies of the sport. We look forward to another week of lessons next week with Declan and Lucas from Chirnside Bowls Club.

Upcoming Sporting Events

• Regional Athletics team competing at the Tom Kelly Athletics Track on the 19^th
• Division Girls Cricket team competing at Kings Park on the 20^th

Good luck to all teams. Results will be in the next school newsletter.

Taylah Smith
Physical Education Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

CARE Ticket Winners

Student of the Week

BHPS Market Night is a great night!

Colour Run – 22 November

Our Colour Run is fast approaching.