5 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

Important Dates

Principals Report

Wow, wasn’t Easter a wonderful time, I hope you all had a relaxing break. As per normal the term has been a very busy one with many wonderful activities taking place. The children in years Pre Primary and Year 1 have all taken part in their on-entry testing and reports from those should be going home shortly. Thank you to all the teachers involved as it is a major undertaking.

I was extremely impressed with the work that was undertaken to support Harmony Day on March 21st. The day started with a terrific assembly, led by the children in Room 1, thank you to Mrs Cardy and Mrs Salleo for the preparation of the assembly. The Chinese Choir amazed everyone with their beautiful singing and graceful dancing. Mrs Cunningham had the whole school singing, I Am Australian, by the Seekers, causing many people to have extra moisture in their eyes. Throughout the morning the students were involved in a range of rotational activities focusing on living in harmony. This was followed by an amazing long sharing table for lunch. Thank you to every family that supported this with their donations and for the parents that came and participated, it was a fabulous day. Many thanks to the organising committee for the superb job they all did.

Another great morning was the Easter Bonnet parade. It was fabulous to see nearly 100 parents at the Easter Bonnet parade on the 28th March, thank you for attending. Thank you also to Mrs Cunningham for teaching the Easter songs to everyone. The children’s hat looked sensational. A big thank you to the fundraising committee of the P & C for all the work they did in organising the Easter Egg raffle. There were many smiling faces that left last Wednesday who had won a prize in their class raffle. Thank you also to all the parent community who got behind this event with donations of Easter eggs and buying the raffle tickets. It was an amazing effort.

ANZAC Day 2018

Hampton Park Primary will be holding an ANZAC service on Wednesday the 2nd May starting at 9am. The service is an important part of our school calendar as it allows students to reflect on the ANZAC qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice. All students who have relatives that have served are encouraged to wear their medals to our service. Similarly, any students who belong to scout groups or similar uniformed organisations are welcome to wear their uniforms. Parents and caregivers are very welcome to attend.

Grip Leadership Seminar

On Tuesday 20th March our student Councillors attended the Grip Leadership Conference at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. They were challenged to transform their thinking of leadership, given practical strategies on how to be an effective leader and role-played scenarios of problem solving. Our 6 students (Daniel, Jazmyn, James, Jenna, Jaxon and McKenzie) worked alongside 200 other Primary School leaders in tasks and activities, and had a whole lot of fun as well - dancing, singing and games. A focus on the day was how to lead like a strawberry and not a watermelon: "using the metaphor of these two fruits looks at the important element of ‘integrity’ in leadership and communicates the importance of being the same person on the inside that they project on the outside."

They loved the responsibility and challenge of the day and have brought back many ideas of how to lead the rest of our student cohort by example and effect positive change around the school. We are very excited to see these students continue to be highly dedicated, driven and capable leaders. After all, "Nothing is ever TRANSFORMED without CHANGE."

Dylan Goddard

Commencement of Next Term

Please note that unlike past years term two commences on Monday 30th April. Please also remember that the canteen is swapping days next term to Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Next Assembly

Room 9 will be leading the next whole school assembly on the 11th April. All parents are welcome to attend. The assembly commences at 8:45 am.

Birthday Celebrations

We like everyone else like to celebrate birthdays. The teachers are very supportive in assisting children to have a great day on their birthday. There is however some logistical issues that we would like to overcome. It is extremely difficult for a classroom teacher to be able to cut up cakes and distribute slices of birthday cake. The school is very happy to support the distribution of cupcakes or similar individual items. In order for parents to know what their child has consumed, food wise during the day, the cupcakes or similar items will be distributed at the end of the school day. This also supports children with food allergies as their parents know what they have eaten.

Summer Carnival

This week we have another activity with the interschool sports day on Thursday 5th April at Altone Park. All family and friends are more than welcome to come and support the teams. The selected children from years 5 & 6 participate in one of the following sports – Flag Belt Rugby, T20 Blast Cricket, Ultimate Frisbee or Volleyball. Notices have been sent home with those children who have been selected to take part. I wish all teams all the best and urge them to remember the reasons we play sport - for Fitness, Fun and Friendship.

Harmony Day

On Wednesday 21st March we celebrated Harmony Day. The students and teachers wore a myriad of national costume to reflect their country of birth and orange, the colour of Harmony Day. The undercover area was decorated in Friendship Bricks designed by each student. Room 1 hosted the assembly and lead the entire school singing, ‘I Am Australian’, with the Chinese choir who performed under the guidance of Mrs Lee.

When we returned to class all students took part in 4 rotations planned by individual classroom teachers. These included bocce, cooking, origami, songs, games and so much more. The students learnt about the culture of the country in a fun and interactive way.

Our Long Table Lunch was again a massive success. Our tables were heaving with delicious food provided by our parent community. Parents enjoyed a picnic with their children on the lawn area. We all enjoyed trying new food from different nationalities.

A big thank you to everyone involved in the organisation including: The Harmony Day Committee, Room 1, parents, the clean-up crew and our awesome harmonious children. We had a day to remember.

Community Notices

Helping Hands

Thank you to everyone who has brought in cans so far. We have had over 700 cans come through our doors in the past few weeks. Half have been taken in for recycling and we have raised $2.40.

We still have a long way to go before we reach our goal to purchase and paint a buddy bench, so please keep the cans coming.

Sincerely
Sam Smedley
Co-ordinator
Helping Hands Hampton Park
0428 614 999