Hilltop Road Public School ~ Learn to Live ~ Phone: 9635 7722 Fax: 9687 1421

Email: [email protected] Website: www.hilltoprd-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

NEWSLETTER

Ms. Natalie See, PRINCIPAL

Miss. Doreen Cavallo, DEPUTY PRINCIPAL Miss Renee Cowpe, DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Newsletter

23rd September, 2016

Tony Podesta - 0418 414 780 - Tennis Talent Development Centre - Proud Sponsor of Hilltop Road Public School Newsletter

From the Principal.... First Aid Course On Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th September, a number of Year 4, 5 and 6 classes attended a practical workshop in our hall, presented by St Johns Ambulance. The session was a great follow up to learning that took place earlier in the year, during PDHPE programs. Students learnt about CPR and basic first aid and got to use bandages on each other, to make slings and to wrap wounds. I would like to thank Mrs Ozcelik for organising such a valuable opportunity for our students and St Johns Ambulance for facilitating the worthwhile sessions.

Rescheduled Father's Day Event Our Father’s Day Fun afternoon has been rescheduled to Friday 14th October, which is the first Friday after the holidays. The afternoon will run from 3.00-4.30pm and include the inflatable obstacle courses, games and a BBQ. We hope to see all our dads, uncles and grandfathers for a fun afternoon.

NSW Public Schools Taekwondo Championship Congratulations to Dilan Ozhan, Hannah Kassab, Yehye Kassab and Adnan Kassab who represented our school at the recent NW Public Schools Taekwondo Championships. Great work by these amazing students.

Walkathon The P&C are organising a major school fundraiser for the year, a Walkathon, which will be held on Friday 21st October. The theme for this event is ‘Crazy colours’! A simple course will be setup on school grounds for students to complete. Students can be sponsored per lap of the course, or a single donation can be made. All students will be acknowledged for taking part and prizes will be awarded for high achievement and sponsorship efforts. A major prize will also be awarded. Our target to be raised is $10,000. This money will go towards updating technology in the classroom, including new Infinity tablets and BENQ classroom displays replacing the interactive boards. More information will follow.

Regional Athletics Carnival On Wednesday 14th September, three Year 6 students attended the Regional Athletics Carnival at Blacktown Sports Centre. Latecia, Darius and Navarni all did their best and competed well on the day. Special congratulations to Latecia who finished 1st in the long jump and will now compete in the upcoming State Carnival.

Swimming Scheme Thank you to our families who have supported their child's involvement in swimming scheme. Please be reminded that your child's swimming skills will only continue to develop with additional practice. Thank you to our dedicated staff, Miss Racanelli, Mrs Sleiman, Miss Rowley, Mrs Boustani, Mrs Hood, Mrs Stewart and Mrs Maroun, who readily engaged in the intensive swimming program by taking a group and swimming each day. I understand this is not an easy task and your dedication is appreciated.

Celebrating the Arts Congratulations to our students who performed at Celebrating the Arts on Tuesday 13th September. Once again our Choir, K-2 dance group, Stage 2 and Stage 3 dance groups all enjoyed performing and proudly represented our school. Thank you, Mrs Sleiman, Mrs Lawrence, Miss Marketos, Mrs Boustani and Miss Crabbe for your time and effort in ensuring our students were able to shine on the night. Parents, your continued support is appreciated. Greystanes High School PBL visit On Tuesday 6th September, twenty Year 6 students attended Greystanes High School accompanied by Ms Close. They were invited to be the authentic PBL audience for Year 7 students. It was great to see PBL being continued in the high school setting and the students confidently sharing ideas, collaborating and cooperating throughout the day. Our Year 6 students completed rotations including, investigating endangered species in the local area, using Kahoot to find facts about mammals and recall information and researching and matching plants of the Cumberland Plain. Amy from Blacktown City Council also talked about Threatened Species Day and Max, the Swamp Wallaby, was shown to students as part of a discussion about protecting the Cumberland Plain. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Greystanes High School for inviting our students to be part of such a valuable learning experience.

David and Clare Price visit On Friday 16th September Hilltop Road PS welcomed back David and Clare Price, from England. They have an ongoing relationship with our school and were instrumental in introducing Project Based Learning to our staff a few years ago. David and Clare are here to conduct professional development with Hilltop Road Public School and staff from 65 schools across Sydney. They are running courses on Improvement Science, An Introduction to PBL and a Deeper Dive into PBL. Zoosnooze On Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th September, sixty Year 4 students attended an overnight camp to Taronga Zoo. Students arrived in the afternoon and after dinner they were treated to a sunset walk around the zoo and a classroom lesson, where they were able to touch and feel various animals. They were up at 6.00am the following morning and after breakfast were given a behind the scenes tour of most of the zoo enclosures, which included animal feeding. The remainder of the day was spent with the teachers taking them to various shows including the seal and bird show. The students were well behaved and had a great time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Cowpe for organising the camp and give special thanks to the teachers that attended and spent time away from their own families - Mrs Bansal, Miss Shabaz, Mrs Sikorski, Mrs Hanna, Miss Cavallo, Mr Balafas and Mr Anderson. PSSA Grand Finals On Friday 16th September, our Winter PSSA teams competed in the grand finals and after visiting the teams at the different grounds I am pleased to announce the following results :  Snr soccer won  Snr Rugby League won  Jnr Netball won  Snr Netball won Congratulations to all teams who played in the final round. The teams played well and were a credit to our school community for their sportsmanship and skills. Thank you to our teachers who train and coach our PSSA teams, we really appreciate your hard work and dedication. A big thank you also to the parents, our teams each week. Uniform Shop As of Monday 10th October, there will be price increases for some uniform items due to a rise in manufacturing costs.

Regional Spelling Bee On Wednesday 14th September, four students participated in the Regional Spelling Bee and did an outstanding job representing Hilltop Road Public School. Many students from lots of different schools within our region participated in the event and demonstrated great determination when attempting to spell some very tricky words. Congratulations to our Stage 2 competition representatives, Hans Villanueva and Adam Silindir and our Stage 3 competition representatives, Molly Phillips and Nicholas Etemadi for a job well done. A very big thank you to Miss Shabaz for all her hard work and organisation, ensuring our students were able to take part in this initiative. External Validation On Tuesday 13th September, Hilltop Road went through an external validation with two representatives from the Department of Education. Miss Cowpe, Miss Racanelli, Miss Rowley, Miss Cavallo and I went through the process and discussed our school context, vision and future directions. We presented evidence that was matched against the School Excellence Framework and justified our views about what levels we are at as a school. The team asked clarifying questions and were pleased with our overall judgements. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff especially Miss Cowpe, Miss Racanelli and Miss Rowley for all their hard work in ensuring Hilltop Road had such a successful outcome for the validation process. Child Fund - Year Two Water Initiative On Thursday 8th September, Year 2 held a Blue Fundraiser day as the culmination to their PBL project. All students were asked to wear blue mufti and buy blue jelly cups to raise money to purchase water purifiers for children in Honduras and the Philippines. The day was a great success and over $1100 was raised, allowing for 8 water purifiers to be purchased. On Tuesday 13th September, a representative from Child Fund attended our morning assembly and the cheque was presented. Congratulations to the Year 2 teachers and students for your effort and making a difference to others in the world. Thank you to Atlassian Thank you to the staff volunteers from Atlassian who have supported our Year 5 and Year 6 students working through an online coding program. Atlassian has a strong focus on giving back to the community and supporting students in STEM related areas. Thank you to Gerry Tan, Avi Knoll and Lawrence Ong who utilised their volunteer hours to facilitate the program. Holidays The last day for Term 3 is Friday 23rd September. All students are on holidays until Sunday 9th October. School Resumes School resumes for all students on MONDAY,10th October. Please note – there is no Staff Development Day at the start of Term 4.

Long Service Leave I will be taking long service leave from Monday 10th October until Tuesday 25th October. Miss Cavallo will be Relieving Principal during this time. Have a great holiday with family and friends. Thank you for a great term. Regards Natalie See Principal

Students K-6 students K-6 students K-6 students Year 5&6 students K-4 students Kinder 2017 students K-6 students K-6 parents Kinder 2017 students K-6 students K-6 families K-6 students Year 6 students K-6 parents K-6 students K-6 students K-6 students K-2 students K-6 parents 3-6 students Ready Set Go students K-6 students K-2 students 3-6 students Year 6 students K-6 students K-6 students Staff K-6 students

Newsletter Diary Dates Term 4 Event School resumes Father’s Day Fun Afternoon - rescheduled Crazy Colours Walkathon Junior Big day In Junior Big Day Out Kinder Orientation 2017 – session 1

Date Monday 10th Oct Friday 14th Oct Friday 21st Oct Wednesday 2nd Nov Wednesday 2nd Nov Thursday 3rd Nov

K-6 assembly (KG and 6K) P&C meeting Kinder Orientation 2017 – session 2

Thursday 3rd Nov Tuesday 8th Nov Thursday 10th Nov

Remembrance Day Service Grandparents Day K-6 assembly (KR and 5R) Milson Island camp week Parent Helper Thank You Morning Tea

Friday 11th Nov Wed 16th Nov Thurs 17th Nov Mon 21st-Fri 25th Nov Wed 30th Nov

Christmas Scripture Service K-6 assembly (KA and 6R) Carols evening K-2 Presentation Day Assembly P&C meeting 3-6 Presentation Day Assembly Transition Assembly

Wed 30th Nov Thur 1st Dec Fri 2nd Dec Tues 6th Dec Tues 6th Dec Wed 7th Dec Thurs 8th Dec

Disco K-2 Movie Day 3-6 Movie Day Farewell Talent Quest & Year 6 arch Last day of Term 4 Staff Development Day – Term 1 2017 Students return for Term 1

Thurs 8th Dec Mon 12th Dec Tues 13th Dec Thurs 15th Dec Fri 16th Dec Fri 16th Dec Fri 27th Jan 2017 Mon 30th Jan 2017