Issue 34, Friday 3rd November 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
We are officially just on halfway through the term now and looking towards the end of the year: well done to our students on your continued enthusiasm and engagement! There are some big weeks to come and we are all looking forward to an exciting end of year.
As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, here are some of the results from the parent survey. Thank you again to everyone who was involved in giving me some useful information and opinions regarding our school vision, our profile, and things like our uniform and assembly times. In regard to the short answer questions in the survey, Question 1 asked what the Parkhill “brand” meant to people: overall the two highest rated words were “community” and “connection” with other words like “small, bespoke” and “caring” coming in high too. Following this, Question 2 of the survey asked “do you think Parkhill PS would benefit from a name change?” You can see in the pie chart opposite that 76% of the 86 respondents thought this would be beneficial. In regard to this, many respondents suggested a name that reflects our geographic location would be valuable for our school – for example, using ‘Ashwood’ in our name. Chart 2 reflected upon our logo and name: from the responses many people felt a logo refresh would be a good thing to consider for the future, with our motto remaining the same. Thank you again to all the people who responded to this survey. This information is, at the moment, all data now for our community to think upon and consider: it is by no means set in stone, and simply for further thought!
The latter part of the survey considered our uniform and assembly: thank you again to the people who responded as this was all interesting and useful information. As you know, next week after the Cup weekend, we will be changing our assembly to Fridays at 3pm. Next week – with some help from our “Parkhill Uniform Fashionistas” – I’ll share further thoughts from our community regarding uniform.
As Monday is a Curriculum Day for Parkhill, I wish you all a relaxing and restful mid-term long weekend. Have a wonderful four days everyone!
Jo Jolly
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Reminder: Monday 6th November is a curriculum day. Students do not attend school on this day.
Student of the Week
The Term 4, Week 4 recipients were:
FA – Emma R
1/2A – Dominik P
1/2B – Poppy G
3A – Layla M
4/5A – Selena M
4/5B – Nikita V
6A – Layla L
Athletics Carnival - Change of Date
Our Parkhill Athletics Carnival is moving to a new part of the year!
The Athletics Carnival will now be held on Wednesday 14th February, 2024.
With the carnival in the new year, we will have the latest times with which to select our District Athletics teams and competitors, and students will be able to practice their events closer to the time.
We’d love to have help on the day of the event, so if you are available please let us know at the office, or contact Mr Sciacca.
Hayfever
We have a lot of students coming to first aid with symptoms of hayfever. Hayfever can be very uncomfortable and symptoms can be distracting for the affected child. If your child is prone to hayfever and usually takes an antihistamine to treat their symptoms, please make sure you provide some medication to the school office so we can administer it to your child if they need it.
Please contact the office if you have any questions.
Child safety and wellbeing at Parkhill Primary School: information for families and the school community
The Victorian Government’s Child Safe Standards further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The recently updated standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Parkhill Primary School has reviewed and updated our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the standards. These are available to view on our website https://parkhillps.vic.edu.au/.
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact the Policy committee via Michelle on michelle.smith@education.vic.gov.au.
Junior Advisory Group Meeting
On November 1st, our SRC students were invited to attend a Junior Advisory Group Meeting at Monash Council Civic Centre along with four other local schools. Our purpose was to speak with our local councillors and ask questions, while our councillors connected with their community. While there was a lot of listening, our student representatives asked terrific questions. We learned some interesting things, such as the size of their budget, how they learn what it is that the community wants and how they agree on the best course of action.
SRC students were exceptionally behaved and the muffins were delicious!
A big thank you to parents who provided transport.
Alex Davies
SRC Coordinator
Will it or Won't it Freeze
What fun Y3 had this week observing the liquids they sent to the freezer last week. There was discussion a plenty as students observed that the rubbing alcohol did not freeze at all and that the honey became very, very thick but didn’t really freeze either. The vegetable oil surprised us all as its frozen state lasted for a very short time. Those who blinked almost missed seeing it in it’s solid state. What a great way to prove that we need to remove energy from liquids to make them solid. Perhaps you could experiment with which liquids freeze and don’t freeze at home.
Andrea Crane
STEAM Teacher
Garden Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to assist in weeding the kitchen garden area. If you or someone you know is able to pop in for a morning or two to help, we would greatly appreciate it! Please contact the office if you are interested.
Library News
Dear Parkhill families,
Books are my favourite adventure, and the book fair is the ultimate destination…
The countdown continues: 10 school days!
Chance to win a voucher
We are once again giving our students the chance to win a $10 voucher to use at the Fair. There are 3 activities on offer:
- Years Foundation to 3 – colouring activity page
- Years 4 to 6 – submit a book review
- All year levels – design a book fair poster
A winner will be picked from each year level for the colouring and book review activities. There will be 1 winner each from the junior and senior school for the book fair poster.
Activity pages were distributed to classes this week. Entries will need to be submitted by next Friday 10 November. There will be a box in the front office to drop off your entries or your child can give their submissions to their class teachers.
Parent helpers
We would love your help at the Fair if you are available Monday 21 November to Wednesday 23 November:
- 8:45-9:15am
- 3:15-3:45pm
Book Club Orders
Orders from Issue 7 were sent home yesterday.
Library Books
I have emailed reminder notices home this week and we will appreciate it if you are able to look for books at home. Thank you to families who have been in contact to advise the status of missing books.
Kindly email me if you cannot find your books. I will update the system so that your child will be able to borrow books from the library. If your child has any outstanding loans, they will not be able to borrow from the library.
If you have any questions or would like to help out at the Fair, please get in touch via email or leave a message at the office.
Enjoy the long weekend.
Angelita Williams
SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION WITH 12 MONTHS FREE INTERNET AT HOME
The Australian Government has established the School Student Broadband Initiative to provide free home internet for one year for up to 30,000 eligible families with school-aged students.
The initiative aims to boost education opportunities. NBN Co is leading the rollout of this initiative across the country.
How the School Student Broadband Initiative can help your child
Children who can access online learning at home as part of their education are more likely to engage in classroom activities.
Access to fast internet at home can also support children to build their digital skills, learn how to safely use the internet and take part in a world that is more reliant on digital technology.
Eligibility
To be eligible, families must:
· have a child living at home enrolled in an Australian school in 2023
· not have an active National Broadband Network internet service at their home* (having a mobile internet service does not affect eligibility)
· live in a premises that can access the National Broadband Network through a standard connection. NBN Co will check this for you after you apply.
· register interest with your school and complete a consent form to be assessed for eligibility.
*If an address has been disconnected within 14 days prior to an eligibility check – the address will be classified as ineligible. There may be cases where exceptions can be made, please contact the School Student Broadband Initiative team at SSBI@education.vic.gov.au to discuss further.
How the School Student Broadband Initiative works
If you are eligible, your home internet service will be provided at no cost for one year with a participating internet provider over the National Broadband Network. Each internet provider has its own step-by-step process to get you connected, which may involve you providing identification.
Once you sign up, the internet provider will help you set up your connection. The initiative does not include devices such as a computer or tablet. Other members of your household can use the internet service provided through this initiative.
The one-year period will start from the day your service is activated with your chosen provider. At the end of the one-year period, you will not be placed onto a paid service by your internet provider without your consent. The Australian Government is considering options beyond the one-year free period.
How to apply
· Print the consent form below or collect one from the school office.
· Complete the consent form and return to the school.
· NBN Co will use student address details on the consent form to confirm eligibility.
· If you are eligible, NBN Co will issue a voucher for your family to use to sign up with a participating internet provider. This will be provided to you by your school.
Please note: NBN Co will review the home address for eligibility. No personal information other than your main home address will be shared with NBN Co. Please see the consent form for details about how personal information will be used.
Find out more
For more information about the School Student Broadband Initiative, visit https://www.infrastructure.gov.au
OG Comes to Parkhill 2024!
Continuing our MSL and synthetic phonics journey in 2024, we are proud to host the Orton Gillingham training at Parkhill Primary School. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone working in education or allied health (such as speech pathology or occupational therapy) to take up this week of training here at Parkhill. The first four days are basic certification with an optional fifth day of advanced morphology training. Hosting a training week also means that we can send our own staff at a reduced rate to this valuable PD. If you know of any people who OG training would appeal to, please book via the links at the bottom of the flyer.
PFA News
President: Zoë Littlewood
Treasurer: Chris Fagan
General Members: Adam Keens, Emma Gullan, Lih-Shan Yam, Marinda Tanner, Michelle Wickman, Trish King, Vanessa Cowley, Iona Tsykalo, Jo Argaet
Colour Run
Instructions to sign up for the fundraising portal
NOTE: Chuffed.org only allows one child profile per email address, so please use a different email address for each child OR set up a profile for your family (but you will only be able to assign your funds to one class if this is the case).
Sock Fundraiser
Put your best foot forward… The PFA is doing a SOCK fundraiser again this year! This is a great gift or stocking stuffer idea with fun designs available for every sized foot. Socks are priced at just $7 or $8 per pair and our school will receive a percentage from every pair sold. We will also receive a bonus if we sell over 100 pairs – now that’s a goal worth aiming for! Order yours by Sunday 26th November for pre-Christmas delivery via school before the end of term.
Make sure you use this link when ordering for our school to benefit:
https://www.sockablefundraising.com.au/collections/shop-socks?ref=PARKHILLPRIMARY
Fun, Food & Carols
It’s almost that time of year! Look forward to seeing everyone there.
We are inviting anyone that would like to have a stand to please contact Zoe (0459 841 337) to book. Regular Stands are $20, students stands are $5.
Christmas Raffle
Christmas is on the horizon and ticket books for our annual Christmas Raffle can be found in your child’s school bag on Wednesday! Buy the whole book yourselves or ask family and friends to buy a ticket or two to support our little school.
Donations are also needed to make our Christmas raffle a success! We are looking for a “big ticket” item that people will be keen to win as the 1st prize, as well as lots of smaller treats to make prize hampers. These might be things such as Christmas baskets, wine, chocolates, biscuits and shortbread, small games, Christmas craft packs or other smaller items that can be combined to make a festive prize!
Please drop donations for raffle prizes at the office by Friday 24th November and please get in touch with PFA if you can connect us with a major 1st prize item!
Extra ticket books will be available from the office for keen ticket sellers and we will also be selling tickets at Fun, Food & Carols!
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
Order Here – https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/9r34937
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
If you are unable to print a copy of the form, please see the office and we can provide one to you!
