Heights Happenings – 2025 – Term 3, Week 2

Welcome to Term 3

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter holiday break, with the kids recharged and ready to get into another term of learning and enjoyment.

As always, there’s quite a bit planned for the term so here’s a quick preview of what’s to come:

• Smile Squad will be back next week to do check ups for some students.
• The Year 5s will work with a local artist named Andrea Mclaughlin to learn about a range of artistic techniques that will inspire them to create their own art work.
• The Year 5 camp is coming up in week 8 (September 8-10), with the kids and staff going to Adekate Camp in Dean, not far from Ballarat. This is the first time our school has gone to this camp but looking at the photos and reading the info on the website, the kids are going to have a great experience. They will visit Sovereign Hill on Day 2 to experience colonial life in the gold rush era of the 1800s.
• Our multi-age activities will focus on friendship, respect, anti-bullying, and positive mental health this term, with special themed days such as Wear it Purple Day and R U OK Day.
• A highlight of Term 3 is Book Week, especially the book character dress-up day on August 18. There will also be a Book Fair and a musical production called Treasure Hunt happening during that week.
• Excursions to look forward to are the Year 1 visit to Melbourne Museum, Preps going to Puffing Billy and Year 6s visiting the National Gallery of Victoria.
• We have two student-free days later in the term for you to add to your calendars. The first day is Wednesday 3^rd September which is a Professional Practice Day for teachers, and the next is Tuesday 16^th September for Three-way conferences. More information about booking your child in for onsite supervision for Three-Way Conferences will be sent out in a few weeks.
• The School Disco is happening after school on Friday 8^th August, so that’s something special for the kids to look forward to. The disco is run and organised by a committed group of parents, and I’m very thankful for all the work they’ve done to make this event happen.
• Finally, we will finish off the term on Friday 19^th September with a Footy Dress Up Day.

All of these events are additional to the educational experiences our kids receive every day in their classroom, which are just as significant as the extra-curricula activities that happen throughout the year.

What a Show!

Over the last two nights, our students put on a performance of Rock Bottom that was colourful, funny and completely unforgettable. From the moment the curtains opened, the kids had the whole audience laughing and cheering their way through the show. Who knew that a show about an inventive cave girl and her adventures with hilarious stone‑salesmen called the Juans, a sabre-tooth tiger named Tiddles, a vacuum‑cleaning mammoth, prehistoric birds, and a baby dinosaur Rex hatched from a mysterious egg would work so seamlessly?

Over 500 students performed across two nights, with every one of them stepping up and giving it their all. The main cast were simply brilliant. The chorus kept the song and dance energy high, and the backstage crew worked like absolute pros, making sure every bone, axe, tree and rock was where it needed to be.

These productions require a huge team of staff and volunteers working behind the scenes to keep everything running. A massive thank you to everyone who helped bring Rock Bottom to life. There are too many people to mention in this message, so if you’ve got the production program please take some time to read the names of people who have helped us out. They are all amazing

Mr Simon Fox continues to set the bar very high, continuing the strong tradition at Boronia Heights of having outstanding school productions. His direction gave every student a chance to shine. No school that I’ve previously worked at, and I’m tipping not many schools in Australia, does a production quite like the way BHPS does it, so we’re very lucky to have Mr Fox leading Performing Arts at our school.

I can’t wait for the next show in 2027. If Rock Bottom was anything to go by, it’ll be something special once again.

100 Days of School for Preps

Congratulations to all of our Prep students for reaching the milestone of 100 Days of School. The kids and teachers had a celebration day on Wednesday, with a fun day of dressing up, parade, playing games, learning about everything to do with “100”, and enjoying a yummy lunch with cake and party food. I loved seeing the kids dressed in their senior citizens clothing – they looked amazing. They’ve had a wonderful start to school life and have learned so much in such a short time.

Have a great weekend!

Mat Anderton
Principal

Year 5 Visual Arts Incursion – Meet the Artist

Last week, our Year 5 students were visited by local artist Andrea McLaughlin for a special Visual Arts incursion. Andrea shared her experiences as an artist and brought in a selection of her original artworks for students to view up close.

Students had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about Andrea’s creative process, particularly how she uses animal photography as inspiration for her paintings. They began developing skills in grid drawing and sketching as the first steps toward creating their own animal artworks.

In the coming weeks, students will continue learning painting techniques to bring their animals to life!

Year 2 – Old Joe’s Creek Artworks

Following their excursion to Old Joe’s Creek in Term 2, the Year 2 students have now completed their stunning artworks. Using symbols to represent the plants and animals they observed on Wurundjeri land, each piece reflects their learning about Indigenous culture and caring for Country.

Help Us Create Our New School Mascot!

Some classes have already started designing their ideas in Art lessons and now it’s time to open the mascot design competition to everyone! See the flyer below for how to get involved.

Mascot-Design-Comp-1

Tara Henstock
Visual Arts Co-ordinator

DISTRICT BASKETBALL

Last week we had our Boys’ and Girls’ basketball teams compete in the Rowville District Basketball tournament. The competition was very strong, with both our teams competitive without being able to secure a win in the early games. I was extremely pleased to see the improvement throughout the day and their persistence paid off, with both teams securing a win in their final minor play-off match to finish the day on a high. I want to thank the students (Oaklee & Lucy 5A, Piper, Ryan & Tyler 5B, Madi & Harper 6A, Harvey, Huddie, Jemma & Evie 6B, and Isaac, Levi, Caleb, Jacob, Jasmine, Nevaeh, Layla, & Ava 6C) for their dedication to training sessions and their behaviour and effort on the day. I also want to thank all of the parents who helped coach (Brent Airs & Daniel Robb), score (Candice Komodromos & Sarah Way), or simply support the kids throughout the day in such a positive manner.

DIVISION SOCCER

This week we had our Boys’ Soccer team competing at the Knox Division Soccer finals after finishing 2^nd at the District competition. They had a great start to the tournament by winning 6-1 against Our Lady of Lourdes Primary. Next, was a tightly contested 2-2 draw with Mountain Gate Primary. A victory in the final pool game would have seem them progress to a playoff match, but unfortunately we lost 0-3 against Holy Trinity. Again, I have to commend the behaviour of students and the incredible support crew of parents that were there, I’m really proud of the way we conducted ourselves throughout the day regardless of the result. Congratulations to the team of for making to the Divisional stage!

It’s another busy term with many events still to come:

District Athletics 15^th August – training has commenced, please check the Compass event details or email Mr Warren for training days and times.

Year 5 Hoop Time 22^nd August – training to commence on the 6^th August.

Summer Interschool Sports on the 28^th & 29^th August.

Year 4 Hoop Time 5^th September – training to commence on 21^st August.

Division Athletics on 17^th September for those lucky enough to make it through.

Year 6 Hoop Time 18^th September – training to commence on 4^th September.

Dates to remember in Sports 2025

Shae Warren
Physical Education Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

Attendance

Please remember if your child will be absent ALL day, you need to enter an absence note on COMPASS. The office will be following up all unexplained absences.

Compass will automatically generate an SMS at 10.00am if your child is not at school. Please note that if you are bringing your child in late, ignor this SMS as late arrivals get signed in on the COMPASS Kiosk at the office on your arrival.  However, if your child is going to be absent for a complete day, you must approve this absence with a ‘note’ on Compass. This will avoid you receiving additional correspondence from the office to follow up this unexplained absence.

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.

Term 3 eSafety Free Webinars

Dear BHPS Parents and Carers,

The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is the Australian Government’s independent online safety regulator. Their purpose is to help safeguard Australians at risk of online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences.

They have a range of free webinars for parents and carers. These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences.

Please follow this link for more details: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

Here is a link to the parent resources page to support parents and carers with eSafety information for children: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

Have a great weekend!

Sarah Weichert
Wellbeing Leader
sarah.weichert@education.vic.gov.au

Senior Playground Expansion

Plans are well underway for the Senior Playground Expansion, based on the children’s selections. Children are now choosing the colour scheme. Work is expected to commence in October.

Leah Hodgson

Assistant Principal

Library News

Book Week Celebrations are coming … August 18^th – 22nd

On Monday 18^th August, we will start with our Book Character Dress up day. Students can come dressed as their favourite Book Character and we will hold a whole school parade at 9.15am. We welcome our school community to come along and have some fun with us as we share our costumes. You may like to decorate a hat, decorate a t-shirt or use any items you have at home to represent your favourite book character.

On Thursday 21st August we have an incredible incursion with a live performance titled Treasure Hunt. Perform Education will provide us with an educational musical adventure linked to this year’s Book Week theme, Book an Adventure. The production will run two sessions, Prep – 2, aimed at junior students and a 3-6 production for senior primary students. This incursion has been booked with an early bird fee for families of $8.55 per student. This is payable through Compass.

Our annual Book Fair will begin on Monday 18th of August and finish Friday 22nd of August. The Book Fair will be open to students during their Library session where students can bring cash in a named envelope to purchase new, fantastic quality and popular books. Junior and senior fiction books, activity packs, journals, picture story books and non-fiction books will all be available for as little as $2 and up to $30. Book Fair will also be open to families between 3.30pm and 4pm each day, in the Library. In order to run a smooth and successful Book Fair we are asking for parent volunteers to help us out after school each day for half an hour. If you are available and able to support us as a cashier or supervising, can you please fill in the form below and return it to the school office or email me at leanne.bentley@education.vic.gov.au Your time and support is always greatly appreciated.

Cash sales and EFTPOS will be available at the Book Fair.

________________________________________________________________________________

I can help out at the Book Fair on these days (please tick the days you are available):

Name:                                                                                                                  Contact number:

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Leanne Bentley

School Disco

Thank you to those parents who have volunteered for the School Disco on Friday 8th August.

We look forward to seeing the kids (and parents) have a ball dancing the night away.

Thank you to Rachel and Holly for organising this wonderful event.

Chocolate Fundraiser

Thanks to those who have already returned the $60 payment for the box of chocolate and a massive thank you to those who have taken additional boxes.

All money is going towards the extension of the senior playground.

Upcoming Events

Father’s Day Stall will be on Tuesday 2nd September. There is a call out for Parent Helpers on Compass today.

Save the Date for the great BHPS Trivia Night on Friday 17th October. All donations appreciated.

Leah Hodgson
Boronia Heights Hubsters

CARE Ticket Winners

Principals Award Winners