Issue 29, Friday 7 October 2022
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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
Dear Parents/Carers
Welcome to Term 4 of what has been, and will continue to be, a huge year at Parkhill.
This term is exciting with swimming carnival (date still to be confirmed), Fun, Food and Carols, yearbook, school student leadership, transitions through the school and new incoming Foundation students. We say goodbye to our Y6s and enjoy celebrating their primary years with our wonderful graduation events including Big Day Out. There will no doubt be many other awesome things happening… the Colour Run is just around the corner!
On Monday we are having new AFL goal posts installed on the oval – a massive thanks to the PFA for funding this I am 100% certain they will be very, very well used!
We have some minor construction work planned for this term too. We are having the ramp in the Foundation playground hard surfaced and some other access points throughout the school grounds brought in line with disability access standards. The details of the works will be posted in upcoming newsletters as there may be some disruption to classroom access, etc.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our Parent Forum on Tuesday. The forum is set up to celebrate some key achievements from 2022 and to give a snapshot look at how our teachers plan to meet student needs. We will be visiting the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model that will come into play in 2023 during the forum.
Social Emotional Learning
Emotional intelligence…what is it? Emotional intelligence is about being smart about emotions. It is specifically about a person’s emotional self-knowledge and self-acceptance, sensitivity to the cues of others and showing empathy (which can be defined as the ability to see and feel something from the other’s point of view). It’s the ability to regulate your own anxiety and anger so that you can talk about emotionally charged issues in a constructive way. These skills are challenging for many adults, so how do we teach our children to become emotionally intelligent young people?
- Acknowledge your child’s perspective and empathise it. Even if you can’t “do anything” about your child’s upsets.
- Allow expression. Children can’t differentiate between their emotions and their “selves”.
- Listen to your child’s feelings.
- Teach problem solving.
- Role model – play it out.
Discussing emotions at home is super important to help support the healthy development of a well-balanced emotionally intelligent child. We often find girls are encouraged to discuss their feelings but boys less so. The article below unpacks the different ways you can work with boys to help them become aware of their emotions.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_raise_boys_who_are_in_touch_with_their_feelings
At school this year we have been using the catastrophe scale throughout the school to encourage children to discuss problems and conflicts that occur and help them to relate the incidents with their own feelings. This happens through explicit social emotional learning sessions, restorative practices and buddy sessions. You can use this language at home too:
Have a super weekend.
Best wishes,
Elaine Mitskinis
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
School Forum: Tuesday 11th October, 7-8pm in the Library
School Council invites you to our second School Forum for 2022. We have leaders from across the school to provide further insight into the work being done this year, and the way in which planning within the school is carried out. Our key themes for discussion will be:
- Celebrating STEAM – offering some background about the program and a showcase of what has been happening in 2022.
- How the school is using data to inform planning – with an insight into some recent data relating to school and community engagement; and examples of the way in which data available to the school is used to shape planning for the whole school and within the classroom.
Please join us in person, or if you can’t get there, online: https://meet.google.com/bcg-busn-vsz. We look forward to seeing you!
Dan Edwards
School Council President
Walk to School Month
October is Walk to School Month. This term students will be tracking how often they walk, ride or scoot to school. It would be terrific if you could help your children to get active and involved by:
- Coming up with some fun routes, including picking up friends along the way or visiting a park or playground on the way home;
- Having relevant road safety discussions.
Walking to school helps to build independence and confidence and is a healthy alternative to driving. We hope that you can help your child to participate in Walk to School Month!
SRC
Interactive Parent Night: Mental Health Coping Strategies - I Am Mindful
WHEN: Tuesday 25 October 2022
TIME: 7:30pm – 8:30pm
HOW: The presentation will be made over Zoom (link to follow)
Keynote speaker event: Stephanie Silver, Positive Psychology Practitioner and Founder of I Am Mindful
For: Parents
Overview: I Am Mindful (I.A.M) is a prevention focused and evidence-based school program designed to help young people and their support system learn lifesaving evidence-based mental health coping strategies. I.A.M is supported by The University of Melbourne and The Melbourne Clinic Psychiatric Hospital. In this parent only event, learn through a hands-on, psychoeducational and interactive approach how to help support your child to cope with tough times in a fun and healthy way. This will include information on the I Am Mindful classroom boxes and coping planning resources that your children will have access to this year as well as how you can purchase your own I Am Mindful mental health toolkit for your family if you would like.
Key outcomes:
- Learn about ‘The I.A.M school program and how it will be rolled out at Parkhill Primary School in 2022.
- Learn how The I Am Mindful Mental Health Toolkit can be used at home as well as at school to assist with emotion regulation and distress tolerance.
- Understand what the I Am Mindful coping plan is and how it complements the I.A.M Mental Health Toolkit.
- Explore how the coping plan can not only help your child but also you and your whole family.
Parkhill Yearbook Cover Competition
The Parkhill Yearbook Cover Competition is officially open! Students can work by themselves or with a partner or two. Make sure you include the name of the school, the word “Yearbook” and the year (or we have to disqualify you). You can submit any number of entries – 1 or even 100!
Students can submit their cover competition entry through the submission portal. Submissions close Friday 21 October.
We can’t wait to see your cover designs!
Division athletics
Yesterday’s Division Athletics was a great opportunity for some Parkhill students to represent the school and have a go.
Y6:
Long Jump – Jack D (3rd)
80m Hurdles – Jasper W (3rd)
4x100m Relay – Jack D, Will M, Noah S, Jasper W (5th in heat)
Y5:
Triple Jump – Somo M (3rd)
Despite limited training and the weather changes (from reasonable to wet), the five Parkhill students competed with determination, effort, sportspersonship and positivity.
Thanks to Mr Sciacca and all the parents who supported the students.
James W
Parent of Jasper, Y6
PARENT PAYMENTS
Thank you to the 67% of our school community who paid their Parent Payments for 2022. Parent Payments cover all the essential stationery needs for your child’s education, including exercise books, scrapbooks, paper, art and craft supplies. It also covers stationery and consumables for STEAM, LOTE, PA and PE, the Garden Program and all the online subscriptions that the students use, e.g Mathseeds, Reading Eggs, Seesaw, etc. We try and limit the amount of stationery and resources students need to make it affordable for parents. Without the valuable contribution that parents make by paying these Parent Payments, we wouldn’t be able to provide programs like the STEAM or Garden program or we wouldn’t be able to purchase and replace iPads, laptops, etc.
What happens when Parent Payment contributions aren’t paid?
Students of families that don’t pay do not miss out on their essential stationery needs or online subscriptions. The school makes sure these are provided to all students. However, with 33% of the community not paying this year, the school has had to divert $12,869 from other places to cover the short fall. This included taking money from essential programs like STEAM and Garden and not replacing/fixing broken iPads and laptops. It has even affected things like being able to provide PE equipment for the kids to take out at recess breaks and toys for them to play with in the sandpits.
Parent Payment information for 2023 will be sent to families via Compass under Course Confirmations in November. Even though these are voluntary payments, we ask that you please consider paying these valuable contributions as the ongoing financial support from families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students.
For more information on the Parent Payment Policy, please click on this link:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/parent-payment/policy
School Council & Finance Committee
Fence-raiser - Stake your claim!
You may have noticed some plaques with family names appeared on the inside of the new fence overnight (have a look along the Cassinia Ave side). These were part of a fundraiser held during the Trivia Night last term.
If you missed out on that fundraiser, we now have another opportunity for you to purchase a plaque and have your family/kids names on the new fence!
Plaques are $150 each, all proceeds go directly to funding the fence.
You can register for your plaque here:
Smile Squad is coming to Parkhill!
Dear Parkhill Primary School families,
The Smile Squad team from Link Health and Community is coming to our school soon.
Smile Squad is the Victorian Government free school dental program.
This means all students can get a free dental check-up, preventive services, and treatment at school.
How to access free dental care
We need your consent before we can provide services. Consent is usually provided by a parent or guardian.
Sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic
Please complete and submit the consent form by 28/10/2022.
The Link Health and Community Smile Squad team look forward to seeing you soon.
New Library Paint
Parkhill’s Buildings and Grounds team partnered with the Edge Church Building team to spruce up the library with a fresh lick of paint. A big thank you to Taubmans for donating the paint and Edge Church for paying for the new skirting boards. Special thanks to Noel Martin for leading this project.
Library News
Dear Parkhill Families,
Welcome back to Term 4, and we hope you have all settled back to the start of term.
We are super excited about our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair next month!
Theme: Paws for Books
Date: 18-23 November
Please stay tuned for more information about the Book Fair.
The latest Scholastic Issue is out now! Here is the link to the online catalogue for your browsing pleasure – Book Club Issue 7 2022.
This is a bumper issue filled with the Best Books for 2022, savings on packs and a range of books costing $6 and under, as well as the $3 value book Scholastic offers each issue.
Books as Gifts?
Scholastic has turned on the Gift Function for this issue – this feature enables book orders to be tagged as a gift and delivered to school marked accordingly. Arrangements will be made for you to collect your orders from us. Please select this option if you want the book order as a surprise gift for your child.
Orders can be placed at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or by using the LOOP app. Remember there is no obligation for you to make a purchase.
The cut-off date for orders is Wednesday 19 October.
Please get in touch if you have any queries or need a hand with your order angelita.williams@education.vic.gov.au.
Angelita Williams
Librarian
Canteen Closure Dates
Please note that Flexischools lunch orders will be unavailable on the following dates due to events at Ashwood High School:
Tuesday 11th October – Athletics Sports Day
Y6 Graduation Icy Pole Sales
It’s Term 4 and Icy Pole sales are back on Fridays!
Unfortunately, due to flooding in Lismore, our usual icy poles are no longer available as the factory was destroyed (amazing how the things you hear about on the radio and see on TV don’t feel real until they impact us personally). As a result, Y6 students are going to be selling Zooper Doopers at $1.00 each from next week.
Alex Davies
Y5/6 Teacher
Hats!
A reminder that hats need to be worn outside by students during Term 4. Please make sure you send your child to school with a hat. Hats can be purchased from the school office.
PFA News
COMEDY NIGHT
Comedy Night is back! Bring your family and friends. Show starts at 8pm. Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase before the show and during the intermission. www.comedyforacause.net/PH
COLOUR RUN
It’s the day all Parkhill Primary children look forward to every year – Colour Run!! Thursday 27th October will see all the kids with smiling faces covered in the colour. Let’s raise money to improve the playground & equipment.
Sign-up at the following link – https://chuffed.org/project/parkhill-colour-fun-run
Sign up instruction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RfB_Z8flV5JCLMfGXf7lSM5qE-UepGeE/view?usp=sharing
NOTE: You will need a different email address for each child.
DON’T MISS A THING!
Join our Facebook page.
Search for us using the name “Parkhill Primary School Community Page”.
Then click the “join group” icon.
A group administrator will confirm your association with the school and approve your request.
If you would like to be on our email distribution list and receive communication and minutes from our meetings please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com
Contact us on WhatsApp – https://chat.whatsapp.com/DtYmFR9RjrZ7ayDpYAVy6L or email parkhillpiranhas@gmail.com
Lunch Orders
You can find the links to the lunch orders on the website under Quick Links.
FLEXISCHOOLS LUNCH ORDERS
community notices
