Hill Street News

 A Connected, Creative, Caring Learning Community. 

Term 3, Week 10

Acknowledgement of Country 

We would like to pay respect and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay respect to Elders both past and present and emerging.

We have had another successful term at MHPS with our students having so many engaging educational experiences in and out of the classroom which have facilitated growth, learning, and connection. We have had very successful NAIDOC Week and Education Week celebrations, External Validation, Public Speaking, DanceSport, Combined Public School Music Festival, Book Week, Breakfast Club and Science Week and so many other events. I would like to thank all our staff, parents, carers, the P&C, our volunteers and mentors who together strive to ensure our students grow, have opportunities and experience success. 

As you are already aware, this term our school participated in External Validation (EV) a process undertaken within the NSW Department of Education every 5 years. External Validation has allowed the school to reflect critically on and evaluate its practices, processes, and procedures to determine strengths and areas for improvement by examining evidence from various sources. As the school will move into a new School Improvement Plan in 2024, we will begin collecting data and information from students, staff and the community in Term 4 to help inform a situational analysis to inform future improvement targets and initiatives. We are very much looking forward to your feedback.

Our students had a wonderful end of term celebration on Thursday with Crazy Hair day, mufti dress and a school disco in the hall. Many thanks to our school leadership team who came up with the proposal to have a Crazy Hair Day, Mrs Davis who coordinated the disco, our P&C who organised the DJ, food and drink and were there to ensure everything ran smoothly and to Mrs Davis, Mrs Ristovski, Mrs Sklavounos and Mrs Batalis for supervising at the disco. It is the true partnership we have with our community that enables all school events to be successful. As you can tell from the pictures, our students had the best time! I am sure they all had a good nights sleep after all the excitement and fun.

On 13 September, our students participated in the Freaky Forces Science Show which was kindly organised by Mrs Batalis. Our students an amazing time exploring forces and motion during the Science Incursion. 

The Tell Them From Me Survey will be available next term for parents/carers and students in Years 4, 5, and 6. This survey provides an opportunity for both students and parents to provide valuable feedback on their school experiences. Students will complete the survey during school hours, and there will also be a separate survey for parents to complete during this time. More details, including the survey's opening date and how to participate, will be shared in the coming weeks. Your input is important in providing feedback to improve our school environment and as we are moving into a new school improvement plan year in 2024,  I strongly recommend you participate in the Parent/Carer survey next term. More information will be shared via an Enews once the survey window opens. 

Through a merit selection process, there is a successful candidate (pending a 10 day appeal) for the Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction position. I will provide you with the name of the successful candidate when we return to school.  We are still undergoing a process for a full time Learning and Support teacher.

Mr Spiteri will be back to teach 1/2S and Mrs Gardner will return to teach 1E in Term 4.  We look forward to having them back with us next term. Miss Holborow will take 2O for the first two weeks of term 4 while Ms O'Connor is on leave and Miss Wang will take 4K in week 1 while Mr Karagiorgos takes leave. 

To help your child transition into ‘big school’ we have Leap into Kindergarten sessions for pre-schoolers who are eligible to enrol in Kindergarten at MHPS next year.  This will allow your child to become familiar with our school by getting to know teachers, other students and the Kindergarten rooms. The program will run on Thursdays (Weeks 1-8) commencing at 11.30am and concluding at 12.30pm.  Please call the school office on 9759 4396 to book in your child.

Congratulations to our DanceSport students who received their participation medals at our whole school assembly on Friday as well as our stage winners for the Public Speaking competition. It was also wonderful to see so many students receive awards at the assembly. Well done to all!

Not only am I proud of our students achievements but I am also very proud of our parent's accomplishments. Congratulations to our MHPS mothers who completed their 5 week Food Safety and Barista course this week! We look forward to celebrating many more of the achievements of our parents and carers!

To assist us in planning for 2024, could you please notify the office if your child will not be returning to McCallums Hill Public School next year. This does not include Year 6 students going to high school.

Before heading back to school in Term 4, we encourage students to check their school equipment and ensure they have everything ready for the start of the new term. The holidays are a great opportunity to replenish pencils, pens and other equipment. 

Please help keep our school safe. If you see anything unusual happening in the school grounds at any time, please call School Security on  1300 880 021

I wish you all a wonderful end to Term 3. May the upcoming break provide much-needed relaxation and rejuvenation. Please stay safe and take care of one another.

Looking forward to seeing everyone back at school for Term 4 on Monday 9 October 2023.

Kindest regards,

Elizabeth Markovski

TERM 3 CALENDAR 2023

Our K/1S, KC and KD, students have been engaging in various exciting activities in mathematics. In K/1S, students used craft sticks to explore the concept of growing patterns and how they can be used in different ways. They also utilised skip counting strategies to determine the total number of sticks in their patterns. In KC, we have been delving into the world of number patterns, skip counting and ordinal numbers. In KD, students have been focusing on comparing lengths and identifying equal and unequal groups. These vital concepts lay the foundation for multiplicative thinking and enhances their understanding of other mathematical concepts that will follow.  

As we near the end of Term 3, we would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and efforts of our students. It has been a busy term, but our students have shown great growth and resilience. We would also like to show gratitude for the unwavering support that our parents and carers provide to our students on a daily basis. As we head into the holidays, we hope that your time away from school is filled with joy and relaxation. Take this opportunity to recharge and spend quality time with loved ones. We will see you in Term 4!

K/1S embarked on a creative journey by creating our own version of Wombat Stew to Possum Stew. We researched new Australian animals to craft our version of Possum Stew and brought the story to life through role-playing. 

Wow, how time flies when we’re having fun learning! We have had such a busy and productive time over the last couple of weeks. Some of the activities include;

• Students learnt about light that is made by humans, light that is made by nature, sounds that are made by humans and sounds that are made by nature in science. Students had an enjoyable library lesson and loved borrowing some books.
• We had some very creative hairstyles for Crazy Hair Day.
• During computer lessons, students have been working on speed and accuracy via typing club website.
• Stage 1 have been focusing on reading and comprehension. We have done partnered work to identify meaning in different texts.
• Year 1 students completed their drawing of their frogs and then painted them during art.
• Year 2 students are developing their writing skills by focusing on expanding sentences with ‘because, but and so’, and by looking at punctuation especially around proper nouns. They have also been exploring the text "I talk like a river" and it explores imagery and figurative language. In class, they have been learning about similes and metaphors and, they wrote their own similes.

Reminders:

• Colour Run - Monday23rd October 2023
• Over the holidays, check that all belongings are labelled. 
• Make sure you have a hat ready for Term 4.

Be safe and have a wonderful holiday.

We want to share some exciting updates from Stage 2 over the past couple of weeks:

Public Speaking Competition Success

Our Stage 2 students have been actively participating in classroom public speaking competitions with the goal of being selected to represent their class at the Stage 2 competition. Each student prepared and presented a speech on a topic of their choice to their classmates. Congratulations to all the participants for their hard work and dedication. Two students were selected to represent their class at the Stage competition. Congratulations to Haadiya, Maria, Laila, Elissa, Amir who progressed to the final round of the competition and congratulations to our overall Stage 2 Winner, Virginia of class 4K.

3B's Stage Assembly

3B had the privilege of leading our final Stage Assembly for this term. Their performance in the hall was creative, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their play based on the book, “The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland”. The hidden dangers of using social media and messaging apps are talked about but luckily, there was a happy conclusion to this story.

Exploring 'Freaky Forces' in science

Stage 2 students had an engaging and informative experience with "Freaky Forces," an event designed to deepen their understanding of science, specifically focusing on the forces of gravity and friction. It was an exciting learning opportunity for our students.

Term 3 Extracurricular Activities

Throughout Term 3, many of our students participated in various programs and events, including School Sports, PSSA, and Extracurricular Clubs led by our dedicated teachers during lunchtime. 

As we approach the holiday break, we are excited to share that many of these programs and events will continue into term 4. We look forward to your continued participation and support. Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable holiday season. Happy holidays to everyone!

Stage 3 has been working busily to wrap up their learning from Term 3 over the last fortnight. 

Freaky Forces and Science

Students thoroughly enjoyed the Freaky Forces Science incursion on 13 September. They investigated forces and motion and observed and participated in several experiments and demonstrations. Students have been involved in several class experiments. 

Mathematics Gymnasium Projects           

Throughout the Term, Stage Three have been applying various concepts and rich tasks in mathematics to work on constructing a Gymnasium. Our proud students have now completed these and will display them in an upcoming cross-class exhibition.

Literacy

6W have been engaging in digital literacy and using their whiteboard-surfaced tables to create summaries of the texts they are exploring.

Geography

Students have been working on a group project where they had to thoroughly research a biome and design a settlement with a map that could sustain a population. Students also collaborated to produce a management plan that factored in potential environmental impacts.

Crazy Hair Day

Stage 3 students enjoyed coming to school with crazy hair in Week 10! There are so many creative and fun hair styles on display. Students were also able to wear mufti in preparation for the afternoon’s school disco. How exciting!

We congratulate Stage 3 on their efforts this term and we wish everyone a safe and restful holiday break! 

1-2 S has embarked on an exciting journey to investigate the ever-changing world of weather and its impact on the ecosystem within our sensory garden. Our students have been observing and learning about how the change in weather conditions have left their mark on the plant and animal life thriving in the sensory garden. From sunny days to rainy afternoons, our students have keenly observed the transformations that occur. Their discoveries serve as a testament to the wonders of our natural world and the importance of nurturing it.

In our recent math group, the inquisitive minds of 2-4M have been engaged in an exciting exploration of measurement using unit cubes! With great enthusiasm, our young mathematicians begun to measure the lengths of various objects found in our classroom. Through this hands-on experience, students have learned the practical application of measurement and identified the longest and shortest objects in the classroom.

In maths, K-6K have been exploring exciting concepts of making 10, using a diverse range of objects and manipulatives. We have been using hands-on approaches to foster a deeper understanding of the mathematical concept, whilst also making it a fun and enjoyable experience. Whilst in soundwaves lessons, we have been identifying words that share similar final sounds. Developing phonemic skills assists helps students reading and writing ability as well as enriching the classes understanding of the world of language.

This Term has been a very busy Term in the library as we celebrated Book Week with an author visit, a book fair and a book character parade. I hope that everyone enjoyed our celebrations. During the holidays don’t forget that the local public library at Lakemba has some great books that you can borrow for your children to read.

The Storybox library has great stories that you can watch as well as fabulous activities if you are stuck for things to do in the holidays. Our username is McCallums and the password is books

It is a requirement that students attend school, and all non-attendance days must be explained. If your child is away from school, please make sure that you communicate with the office about the reason for this. Some of the reasons may include:

• sickness – with identification of what type of sickness not just ‘sick’ 
• medical appointment 
• travel  
• attendance at urgent or exceptional family circumstances. 

It is also important that all children are at school by 9am. The diagrams below show the lost time and its cumulative effect on missing out on school.

Our preferred method of payment is online, this can be accessed through our school app or website. Feel free to contact the front office if you require any help with this.

If you are unable to make payment online and wish to pay cash, please ensure you have placed all money in an envelope or zip lock bag clearly marked with your child's name and class and what the payment is for.

school bytes instructions.pdf

  Midford price list 2023.pdf

midford uniford online.pdf

Children Awards Flyer Poster 2023.pdf

 Spriggy_Schools_Flyer_DL_Bleed.pdf

Spriggy Schools Canteen Guide_ Adding Menu Items & Options (1) (1).pdf

Spriggy_Schools_Posters_A4_Bleed.pdf

 A checklist for parents -

App checklist for parents.pdf

Our administration staff have been organising and checking lost property regularly to ensure items are kept to a minimum. Any items that are labelled have been returned to the student. Non-labelled items will be sent to charity. Please ensure that your child/children have their items labelled clearly. 

Please see images below of driving offences in school zones.

Please remember there is only a 10-minute park from 8.00am-9.30am and 2.30-4.00pm on school days. Please note the signs and make sure you keep to the 10-minute limit. 

Please help keep our school safe.  If you see anything unusual happening in the school grounds at any time, please call School Security on 1300 880 021.

02 9759 4396
mccallumhi-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
McCallum Street, Roselands NSW 2196
mccallumhi-p.schools.nsw.gov.au