Issue 14, Friday 19th May 2023
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The Parkhill Community touch the land and think of the Wurundjeri People and surrounding Clans of the Kulin Nation who cared for the land before us.
We share our gratitude to their Elders past, present and emerging.
As we touch this land we promise to treasure it; taking care of all its people, animals, plants and waterways.
We at Parkhill appreciate this land.
Thank you.
Principal's Message
“Good vibes” was the review from our Open Night this week. I heard many reports about the great atmosphere and it was wonderful to see so many of our families brave the cold to visit classrooms and see our closing presentation. Our M.A.D.D. mornings were a big success; with many a bright hat decorating the playground afterwards, and leafy frogs leaping home. Congratulations go to Andrea Crane, the brains behind the planning for the days. We had prospective families in both the Open Day and Night sessions. They enjoyed school tours with our very articulate school captains, who were not even challenged by a dark garden in the night. Upon their return, the captains delivered a wonderful retrospective of their primary school career which was illustrative of a caring school around them. Many thanks to our generous staff, who stayed back for the night to facilitate those good vibes.
Camps – we are getting closer to our camps every day, and the Y3/4s are particularly popping with enthusiasm and anticipation. Final numbers and dietary requirements will need to be sent to the camps soon, so please let us know if you would like your child to attend. If you are concerned about costs, please come chat with us at the office and we can work something out together.
Y5/6 Sovereign Hill Camp information session – will be held Wednesday 24 May, starting at 5:30pm. This is a new camp to Parkhill, promising a lot of fun with a feature costumed school during the stay. Students will head back to the old gold rush days, learning on blackboards and playing games that don’t have screens. Join us in the meeting room on Wednesday to learn more.
School Council – met last night and discussed the future principal candidate. We also went over Parkhill’s financial situation, and you will see a personal story from our Treasurer in this newsletter illustrating ways that you can help.
Community Hub Working Group – our working group is gathering and will meet soon to discuss a plan of action for the Community Hub. This will be a shared space in the library, where members of the community can meet, hang out, get tech support, and whatever else the working group deems suitable. Let us know at the office if you are keen to join the working group.
Building update – the Foundation playground is fully cleared and available to play. Build works are fairly quiet at the moment. Masterplanning working group is gathering currently and expressions of interest will be put out to the community shortly to join.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Michelle Smith
Acting Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Monday 22nd May is a curriculum day. Students do not attend school on this day.
Student of the Week
The Term 2, Week 3 recipients were:
Foundation: Ethan W & Charlie C
1/2A: Awan M
1/2B: Linc M
Y3: Aleah P
4/5A: Aiden K, Xavier T & Jake L
4/5B: Dylan R
Y6: Chloe T
Enrolments for Foundation 2024 open now!
Our enrolment applications for Foundation 2024 are now open! If you or someone you know has a child due to start school next year, please complete the enrolment form via the link below.
A journey of discovery - facts about funding for schools and how we can help
Two years ago I joined the Parkhill (PPS) School Council to work alongside passionate parents and teachers to make our little school the best it can be for our children. It started with just joining the school council to help where I can but this year it expanded to me volunteering to also chair the Finance sub committee (shout out to my finance committee members doing awesome work here).
It has been such an eye opening experience participating in these forums. Mainly because it is so heart warming to see the amazing spirit we have in the staff and families of PPS but also in that I have had the opportunity to learn about how our state education system works and the challenges that smaller schools face in managing their finances.
One common misconception I had about our public education system is that everything (all of it!!) surely is…… free? It’s all provided by the government….right? I was quite surprised to learn that is only partially true.
Our free education extends to the government paying teacher salaries and occasionally providing money for capital projects like our new gymnasium. Almost everything else is funded directly by the school. Items such as art supplies, pencils, notebooks, books, computer applications, utilities like electricity and gas, building works and maintenance, casual relief teachers and programs like the garden program, are all funded by revenue that PPS needs to generate.
I remember being shocked that the everyday supplies used by our children to learn were not provided by the government and when faced with the laundry list of things the school has to pay for I even wondered how any school survives. It is not uncommon and is the case at Parkhill where teachers buy some of these supplies out of their own money when schools no longer can afford to. Such is the dedication of our educators that they would spend their own salary to care for our children’s learning needs. This was a difficult pill for me to swallow.
Fortunately, there are several ways we can contribute to making sure our children get what they need and continue to enjoy our school. Parent Payments are a voluntary but vital part of the money we need to keep our school running. Currently 64% of families at PPS have made a parent payment. We are so thankful for them helping fund us. I would love to see that increase and I need your help to make that happen. For many families they may have simply forgotten, assumed they have paid already or perhaps just didn’t realise that these payments are vital in being able to provide for our children. Parent payment contributions are a lifeline for PPS and your support in contributing to them helps pay for a lot more than you may realise. Important programs such our gardening program, STEAM activities and much, much, more, rely on Parent Payments to keep afloat.
If you haven’t made a Parent Payment yet, please, I urge you to make one soon to help our school realise its full potential. You can easily make payments via the Compass app or in-person at the PPS office. We do understand that it is a tough financial situation with increased interest rates and a raised cost of living and therefore there are also ways to pay via a payment plan. Please contact Jo Ravida (jo.ravida@education.vic.gov.au) if you would like to make an arrangement like this.
Please also remember that the suggested amount to pay is the bare minimum we need to keep our awesome school running (our fees are some of the lowest in the Monash, Box Hill and Boroondara areas). If you have made a payment already and didn’t realise that the suggested payments are so vital to our school, you can still make more contributions. Simply ask the office how you can contribute towards supplies and other learning needs.
Education in Victoria is not 100% free and paid for entirely by the government, which is why Parent Payments are so important to us. I would love to see as many of our families contributing if they can, so please check if you’ve paid and that you’ve paid the recommended minimum as these funds really do go directly towards the learning supplies and tools our children deserve.
Jason van Lint
Parkhill PS Parent, and School Council Treasurer
Education Week Celebrations - MADD WEEK
MADD week was a huge success with students and teachers alike as we got together to get creative and celebrate Education Week and the Children’s Book Council of Australia short listed picture books for 2023. In care groups students rotated to each teacher, exploring a new picture story book and related activity. It was lovely to see children working together, enthusiastically creating and beaming from ear to ear as participated in activities such as making Book Week costumes, collaging frogs and lyrebirds from natural materials and making unique hats just like ‘Frank’. Check out our array of photos and ask your child which activity they loved the most.
Andrea Crane
STEAM Teacher
Y4/5 Polly Woodside Excursion
On Thursday 18th May, the Y4/5 classes went on an excursion to a boat in the Docklands called Polly Woodside. Built in 1885, it started transporting coal in 1904, usually holding less than 20 crew members. The Y4/5s got a tour of most of the ship. Our favourite part was when we got to hear real stories from sailors who actually sailed on the Polly Woodside. We got to learn and experience a few of the living conditions on the boat. The Y4/5s learnt much more about the sailors everyday lives, and about boats of the time. Overall we had a fantastic time and would love to go again.
Amara Y & Selena M, 4/5A
John Monash Science School - Little Scientist, Big Science Exhibition Night
Parkhill was proudly represented by Owen, Raphael, Rebecca and Ada on Tuesday night at the John Monash Science School exhibition evening. Our fabulous students participated in the Term 1 JMSS science extension program and then decided to conduct a personal science inquiry to present at the exhibition evening. I was very impressed with both groups as they worked in their own time to experiment and report on their findings. Ada and Rebecca explored DNA extraction from fruit and expertly assisted attendees to extract DNA of their own, while Owen and Raphael explored the effect of plane wingspan on distance travelled.
I would like to congratulate Rebecca, Ada, Owen and Raphael for their excellent conduct at the exhibition and their passion for science. Lastly, I would like to thank those parents who supported our students to attend JMSS. Without your transport and supervision our students could not make the most of these wonderful opportunities.
Andrea Crane
STEAM Teacher
Coding Indi
Foundation students were filled with wonder and enthusiasm as they had the opportunity to meet our junior school robots, Sphero Indi. Students were challenged to predict the role of each coloured square in coding Indi and then to use these colours to control Indi’s movement. I was impressed to see students predicting the correct position of the code, testing their thinking and then debugging the code to ensure that Indi moved as desired. I can’t wait share more colours with students and challenge them to solve a range of coding problems.
Andrea Crane
STEAM Teacher
NEVR Youth Concert
This year, our Y4-6 choir members have been given the opportunity to be a part of the NEVR Youth Concert. Students from primary and secondary state schools within the North Eastern Victoria Region will perform in a variety of massed concert bands, orchestras and choirs including the massed primary choir. Fifteen Parkhill students have been rehearsing with one hundred and twenty primary school students from other state schools to prepare for our performance at Hamer Hall on Monday 29th May. Tickets are available through the Hamer Hall website if you are interested in attending.
We would love to see you there!
https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2023/schools-and-teachers/nevr-youth-concert
Working Bee - Saturday 27th May at 12pm
Our main focus will be upgrading the staff car park! We will be laying 7 cubic metres of crushed rock, which will be amazing for all our wonderful staff but also for our Community as we free up the streets a little bit more for everyone.
If crushed rock spreading is not your thing, there is plenty of weeding and mulching work to be done.
Please BYO gloves, water bottles, weeding tools, mulching forks, wheelbarrows, etc.– there will be some tools to borrow but they are limited.
The main thing is to come and be social and have some fun within our Parkhill Community. Afternoon tea will be provided. Come for an hour, two, three or whatever your day can manage. We just love any assistance and a chance to chat together. We are hoping to see some of our new families from Foundation too, so they can enjoy being a part of our great Parkhill Community.
Upon arrival head down to the Community Garden and sign in (near the chickens!). We look forward to seeing you there!
Building and Grounds Team
Class Reps
Our class representative system connects parents with parents. Every year a Class Rep is appointed as the representative for your child’s class. The Class Rep then shares your contact details with the rest of the parents from your class for that year so that you can make contact easily for parties, shared events, social activities and so forth. We are seeking your permission for this to happen.
If you have not completed this form and would like to add your details to the Class Representatives lists, please click the following link: https://forms.gle/xeNZJeYw5ywiwGu96
Lunch Order Closure
There will be no Flexischools lunch orders on Friday 26th May due to events at Ashwood High School.
State Schools' Relief
State Schools’ Relief is an organisation that helps take the financial sting out of purchasing uniform items. If you need assistance purchasing uniform items for your child/ren, please contact the office and we can assist you.



Bread Bag Collection


Hi Parkhill, it’s that time of the year again when I am looking for lots of bread bags. Wonder has once again teamed up with 1500 Aussie schools to help collect bread bags and reduce soft plastic waste. As a registered school the more bread bags we collect the more points we accrue. We can then redeem these points on new sports equipment. Last year we filled 2 large boxes and Mr Sciacca received 6 soft balls to boost his dodgeball ball collection. This year lets aim for 3! So collect away, the more bread or wrap packets we collect the more equipment available to our students!
Andrea Crane
STEAM Teacher
PFA News
President: Zoë Littlewood
Treasurer: Chris Fagan
General Members: Adam Keens, Emma Gullan, Lih-Shan Yam, Marinda Tanner, Sarah Bakri, Trish King, Vanessa Cowley
School Disco


DISCO VOLUNTEERS
We need help decorating the library for the school disco, and parents to help with the sessions. It’s a great night with the children doing their dance moves.
Sign up link – https://signup.com/go/aFYKCRf




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Search for us using the name “Parkhill Primary School Community Page”.
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Lunch Orders
You can find the links to the lunch orders on the website under Quick Links.
FLEXISCHOOLS LUNCH ORDERS





