Term 1 – Week 6 – 4th March 2021

Dear Parents and Carers

Extra-curricular activities

We are having a wonderful term with the students enjoying a ‘back to normal’ school approach with lots of learning and great opportunities for participation. We have many activities on offer including: Green Team (K – 6), drama (3 – 6), art (3 – 6), 3D design (Stage 3), Science Club (K – 2), girl’s STEM (3 – 6), chess (K – 6), bike club (Stage 3), Irish dance (K – 6), coding (3 – 6), debating, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, library activities (K – 6) and Craft club (K – 2). In addition, there are sports games and outdoor activities including in our nature play areas. We are in need of some more resources for nature play so please refer to the flyer later in the newsletter. Thank you Bron and Jo for putting that together.

In terms of music, we are thrilled to have the band back together this week and welcome our new additions to the group, and we are very excited that choir can now return to the spotlight. We will also be offering bongo lessons to the students commencing next term, so look out for the Bongo Bash!

The students at this school are very fortunate with the amazing range of extra-curricular activities we have on offer and I express my sincere gratitude to our amazing teachers who put themselves forward in their own time to offer these opportunities. Thank you.

Curriculum

The NSW Curriculum outlines three cross curriculum priorities that need to be taught in NSW schools. Two of these priorities include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture and Sustainability. We started last week with a traditional smoking ceremony to bring 2021 in with optimism and to symbolise our commitment to the recent Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) Partnership Agreement. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was lovely to see that some parents could come along and participate in the ceremony. Our three cultural leaders, Eliana, Rose and Eli did an outstanding job and the boys playing the yidakis provided a serene and meaningful backdrop to the event. Thank you boys. In addition, I have connected the school with Youth Express to work with Jon Morris in building cultural knowledge within the school. We will be working with Genus Passi who is a Torres Strait Islander man and we are so excited about the knowledge and skills he will bring to the school.

We have commenced the year with a strong focus on our Sustainability Philosophy. On Monday,

the students attended the No Plastic Boy assembly and learnt a lot about the impact of soft plastics on the environment and how our daily practices can have positive influences on the health of the world. As a school, we have now embarked on a goal to reduce soft plastic use across the school. Thank you for your support in this attempt.

The Green Team harvested a great crop of vegetables for sale last Friday from our beautiful garden. Great work everyone and congratulations on having great green thumbs!

Design Thinking

We are always excited about the real world opportunities that we offer our students to help them strengthen their design thinking skills and critical and creative thinking. Every class participates in STEM activities at various levels of difficulty. Stage 2 students are participating in Level 2 activities and in addition, a group of students are working on the Gregson Park project. Stage 3 students have commenced their projects working with Richmond Agricultural College and the Centre for Excellence on the No Bees No Future program. The students are very excited and engaged in the project and I am looking forward to great results moving forward. NBN television visited the school last Friday to film our involvement. If you missed the news it can be viewed on the link below:

https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2021/02/26/no-bees-no-future-new-education-program-helps-bolster-future-food-security/

IMPORTANT – Change of Staff Development Days (SDD) – Pupil Free day

At the start of Terms 1, 2 and 3, schools are allocated a Staff Development Day (SDD) or in the old terms, a pupil free day. These days are allocated to provide staff with an opportunity for intensive professional learning. This year, our teachers are undertaking intensive training in High Potential and Gifted Education and undertaking a mini-certificate in Gifted Education through the University of Sydney. As part of this, all teachers will need to participate in a 2-day face-to-face workshop with the university at the beginning of Term 2. These dates are Monday 19th April and Tuesday 20th April. NO STUDENTS WILL COME TO SCHOOL ON EITHER OF THESE DAYS. The additional SDD will be transferred from Term 3 which means there will be NO SDD in Term 3 and all students will commence school on Monday 12th July. This change has been supported by the P & C and The Director of Education. All teachers are thoroughly enjoying and benefitting from this intensive learning which will only serve to improve outcomes for our students. I will send out regular reminders about these changes.

P & C Meeting

We held our first P & C Meeting for the year last week and it was lovely to welcome many new faces and share some ideas. The P & C have organised a Welcome Picnic on Friday 12th March (flyer later in the newsletter – thank you Nina!!). The picnic is designed so that parents and children can get together, have a chat and extend friendship and connections. I hope to see you there. I have also included my P & C Principal’s Report for your viewing.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews will be held on the 23rd and 24th March. All interviews will run for 15 minutes. If you have concerns and would like a longer period of time then please contact your child’s teacher and make a separate meeting time outside of these days. All bookings can be made on the Parent Portal which will be available for bookings from 8.00am tomorrow (Friday) morning. Click on Interviews and then your child’s name. I strongly recommend parents/carers to come along for the discussions.

Take care and warmest regards Meredith Lindsay

Sport and upcoming Knockout teams at Hamilton Public School

Sport is important and has many benefits for young people. It improves physical fitness, teaches important life skills and increases the chances of them becoming active adults.

Besides being fun, sport can help students perform better at school, relax more and worry less. Sport also teaches valuable lessons in working with others and how to be gracious in defeat.

Over the next couple of months, there will be several representative trials held at school. The school cross country carnival is 2 weeks away and trials for boys and girls basketball teams, soccer teams and touch football are also coming up. These trials will held during school time, and announcements will be made at assemblies for when they are to be held.

School Athletics Carnival

Our whole school Athletics Carnival will be on Wednesday 26th May at the Fearnley Dawes Athletics Track, Newcastle. More information will be shared closer to the date.

Zone Athletics will be Friday 6th August.

Zone Swimming Carnival

Last Wednesday, 32 of our students headed to the Newcastle City zone swimming trials at Lambton Pool. This was the biggest competitor entry that HPS has put forward to zone and what a fantastic day of action in the pool. Students were easily identified in the water wearing the brand new Hamilton Public School swimming caps.

So many students exceeded expectations, many finishing with personal bests times. Charlie M. ripped up the water and finished the 50 m free scoring herself a 6 second personal best. Powering through the water, Will K.’s swimming was another highlight. He finished the day with two new personal best times and a third place in the 50m freestyle. Super fish Lillian H., who makes butterfly look easy, had an outstanding swim in the senior butterfly race placing third. Competing in her first zone carnival, Catherine H. also impressed with a third place in the 50m freestyle.

The action heated up at the end of the day in the junior relays where both the boys and the girls (8-10 years) teams won their heats convincingly. Swimming strongly, the senior teams also gained places in their heats.

Congratulations to all students who competed at the carnival, you all should be very proud. Catie, William and Lillian did proceed to the Regional Carnival, held yesterday and we look forward to reporting their achievements in the next Newsletter.

Cross Country Carnival

Our school cross country will be held at school on Tuesday 16th March, 2021 commencing at 9:10 am and concluding at approximately 11am. This carnival is for students who are turning 8 years or older this year.

The children will be walking to Gregson Park for this carnival. Students will run in their sports uniform. Please apply sunscreen and mosquito repellent at home prior to coming to school.

Parents are welcome to come along and spectate. If you are available to assist on the day (time keeping etc), please let the office know.

The Cross Country Zone Carnival

For our students who qualify, the Cross Country Zone carnival will be held on Friday 23rd April (Week 1, Term 2).

Kellie Smith

No bees, no future.

Every third mouthful of food we eat is a result of bee pollination. With that in mind, the name of this engaging program is quite apt. Working in partnership with the Centre of Excellence from the Richmond Agricultural College the Stage 3 students and teachers have begun a semester long project to better understand the critical role both native and European bees play in ensuring crucial biodiversity and food security. This integrated approach to learning will involve students synthesising skills from English, mathematics, science and technology, geography and creative arts to both study bee patterns in our school and develop and deliver a project to promote pollinators in our community. As the photos testify, the first immersion day last week was highly engaging and our young citizen scientist are looking forward to their continued work on this project.

Zane Osborn

Library

The Premier’s Reading challenge has started for 2021, with students in K-2 asked to read 30 books and students in 3-6 asked to read 20 books. We will be adding the books to our online log during library lessons. K-2 students will do this as a class and students in 3-6 will complete this during library lessons independently.

Our library monitors for 2021 are; Lilly S, Eliana, Eva and Lilly H. They are doing a fabulous job carrying out their duties on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the library is open at lunch time. Watch this space for reports written by the monitors themselves.

A big thank you to Eamon and Asha who donated some wonderful books to our collection, these books should be on the library shelves soon!

Band In 2021

We were very excited last week to have a large number of talented musicians audition for the band. As Zone Swimming was also on, some students missed out and they will have the opportunity to audition this week. New members of the band will be informed of their success as soon as possible. We are all looking forward to learning new songs, performing and showcasing the amazing talents of the kids at Hamilton.

Yours in music

Jen Manning

SMOKING CEREMONY 2021

We had our smoking ceremony on Tuesday last week. All of the school gathered around the yarning circle and listened to our culture leaders speak. As the boys played the digeridoo, one by one the classes went through the smoke to cleanse their bodies.

It is an Aboriginal tradition to cleanse our body and grounds with the smoke of native plants which has cleansing properties and assists in the removal of negative thoughts. We are lucky to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and helpers to teach us about this wonderful culture.

By Hannah, Eva and Abigail

Plastic Free Boy Presentation

On Monday 1st March, we were fortunate enough to listen to Arlian (aka Plastic Free Boy) talk about his passion to create a plastic free world. He also played a terrific video that he has made on the topic. It was a thoroughly enjoyable

and informative presentation carrying a very important message which created a platform for us to launch our own Hamilton Public School soft plastic initiative. We would like to thank Oliver and Ella who led the assembly. Their professionalism was outstanding. We would also like to thank Zoe, Liam and the Randon family for creating an instructional video about how to recycle soft plastic at the supermarket.

Hamilton Public School Soft Plastic Recycling Program

Each class has been given their own soft plastic recycling box which will be regularly emptied into a collection bin (one at the canteen and one in the Infants area). Green team members have been tasked with

taking the soft plastic to the local supermarket to be recycled. As a school, our aim is to reduce the amount of general waste going into landfill.

Clean Up Australia Day

Our final task on Monday was to clean up the school grounds. It was exciting to be able to effectively separate and dispose of rubbish in order to reduce our impact on the environment. In some areas, it was great to see that students were actually disappointed due to the lack of rubbish that they were able to collect. Minimum Mess Monday has begun. It is a day where we are encouraging every child to bring a waste free lunch and recess.

Recycling Compost Soft Plastic General Waste

School Photos

School Photos will be held on Wednesday 17th March (Week 8). Envelopes for ordering photos have been sent home, and these envelopes are to be returned on the day only if paying by cash. Orders can be placed online at www.newcastleschoolportraits.com using the shoot code 210276. There is no need to return the envelope if your order has been placed online. Please ensure that your child is in their full school uniform on this day. Student leaders, sports captains and year 6 students are asked to be at school by 8:40am for their group photos. Students in Aboriginal dance and Didgeridoo groups are asked to bring their NAIDOC shirts for their group photos.

Dates for the Calendar

We are currently planning for the following events to take place.

Date Event March 8th 2.00pm Assembly – presentation of Green Team and

SRC badges March 16th Cross Country Carnival March 17th School Photos March 19th National Ride2School Day March 22nd Harmony Day March 23rd Kindergarten – Year 2 Parent / Teacher interviews March 24th Years 3 – 5 Parent / Teacher interviews March 30th

Coffee in the Courtyard- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families invited

Nature Play Spaces at HPS

Call out for donations

Our nature play spaces in the school playgrounds are needing a boost of materials for the children to play with. These are much loved and heavily used play areas in break times and after school by OOSH. Please bring in any of the following loose parts / nature items to the school now! (and throughout the year). You can now enter the school to drop them off directly to the

playgrounds.

• Piles of sticks

• Stones / rocks

• Clay

• Branches, leaves

• Seed pods, gumnuts, pine cones

• Logs and stumps

• Any non-toxic garden cuttings (please avoid anything with thorns, sharp spines, termites or noxious / fast spreading weeds)

• Metal/wooden items for the bush kitchens - pots, pans, bowls, sieves, spoons etc (no plastic)

• Bigger loose parts like tyres, thick rope, poly pipe, big spools, crates etc.

You can keep an eye on the nature play activities via

https://www.instagram.com/HPSnatureplay/

Contact parent volunteers Bron or Jo Lin

meandyoumove@gmail.com for any queries.

Tudor Street, HAMILTON NSW 2303 P 02 49693577 F 02 49615148 E hamilton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au W www.hamilton-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

HAMILTON PUBLIC SCHOOL Principal’s P & C Report 17th February 2021

It has been a very positive start to 2021 especially with the easing of some of the covid restrictions. We were able to run an orientation session at the beginning of the year which enabled the parents of Kindergarten students to attend an information session and have a tour of the school. This ensured a smoother transition could take place and was very beneficial. The school and community are looking forward to a year of reconnecting through the various activities and opportunities we will be able to offer if conditions remain the same. All staff are prepared for any changes to teaching and learning that may occur, however, we are feeling positive about the road ahead. Calendar Dates

• We are currently planning for the following events to take place. February 22nd and 23rd - writing of student plans; PLPs and SLSPs February 23rd – Smoking Ceremony March 1st – Clean Up Australia Day – No Plastic Boy presentation March 9th – Coffee in the Courtyard- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families March 19th - National Ride2School Day March 22nd – Harmony Day March 23rd – Kindergarten – Year 2 Parent / Teacher interviews March 24th – Years 3 – 5 Parent / Teacher interviews

Infrastructure • Due to the positioning of a street fire hydrant in the Dixon Street end of the Blue Gate Garden,

assets had to readjust the perimeter fence line in the holidays to ensure the hydrant was available for access by fire engines if required. This alteration resulted in the removal of the beautiful lilly pilly trees which offered great protection to the garden. Suzy will plant new ones this term.

• The school was successful in achieving a $35,000 grant through the department which will now allow us to complete the refurbishment of the school library. These funds will be used to recarpet the room, purchase additional bookcases and chairs, replace window blinds, fans and lights and install Velcro boarding on the walls. The children are very excited about the many changes that have already taken place to make the library a very inviting place to enter.

• The school staff are currently reviewing all infrastructure and amenities within the school to identify future targets for improvement. These will be outlined at the next P & C meeting.

• The primary school fixed equipment is currently restricted due to a fall in which a child broke their arm. Any accident on site always results in an investigation. The fixed equipment will remain off limits until the area has been reviewed which I hope will take place in the coming week.

New School Plan

• I will complete the final draft of the next school improvement plan (2021 – 2024) in the next few weeks in preparation for publication at the end of the term. The plan contains three strategic directions that are centred on improvements in the areas of Learning, Teaching and Leading. The plan revolves around high impact professional learning and strong working

Tudor Street, HAMILTON NSW 2303 P 02 49693577 F 02 49615148 E hamilton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au W www.hamilton-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

HAMILTON PUBLIC SCHOOL partnerships between students, teachers and parents. I look forward to sharing it at the next meeting.

Change of Staff Development Days (SDD) • To support one of the professional learnings to be undertaken in the new plan, we are wishing

to alter our School Development Days for Terms 2 and 3 (as flagged in the previous meeting). This year, all teachers are undertaking intensive development in High Potential and Gifted Education and will become certified through the University of NSW. This is a $15,000 investment in what we have identified to be the next step in teacher development. Many teachers at the school already hold expertise in this area, however, we are looking at developing consistency across the school so as we meet the needs of every learner. This program has already commenced however, part of the training requires two intensive consecutive days at the beginning of Term 2. What this means: What this means is that we will transfer the SDD from Term 3 and add it on to the SDD in Term 2 this will result in two Staff Development Days at the beginning of Tern 2 and NONE at the start of Term 3.

New Coffee Shop

• There is a coffee shop, the Common Circus, currently being installed in the church hall in Dixon Street opposite the school’s main entrance. It is my understanding that they are renting the space from the church. The hours of operation will be between 7.00am – 4.00pm. I intend to work with the owner to ensure that this area remains safe for our students. I am conscious of the driveway to the carpark which offers no visibility to departing vehicles, of children approaching the school from the left. In addition, I will be endeavouring to ensure the installation of fencing or bollards across the edge above the footpath in order to prevent any vehicles accidently reversing off the edge onto the path below. I am trusting that the owners will consider and act on requests to keep our children safe.

the Y | Hamilton OSHC

Hamilton Public School, 1a Dixon Street, Hamilton1300 009 679 | ymcansw.org.au/hamiltonchildcare@ymcansw.org.au

WEEK 1

MON5 APR

EASTER MONDAY

SERVICE CLOSED - NO CARE AVAILABLE- -

TUE6 APR

WORKSHOP - My Pet Dinosaur Just Dream Productions will visit today bringing along their life-like dinosaurs for an

interactive and factual show.$78.00 $15.02

WED7 APR

DAY CAMP - Tie Dye DayTie dye a canvas bag and accessories like scrunchies and bandanas. $56.00 $10.78

THU8 APR

DAY CAMP - Creat ive Crafts All day craft activities including slime making, create with repurposed items and

various paint creations.$54.00 $10.40

FRI9 APR

DAY CAMP - Lost Treasure Go on a treasure hunt around the school and become a pirate for the day. $54.00 $10.40

FULLFEE

CCSREDUCED

FEE*

WEEK 3

MON19 APR

WORKSHOP - PJ Pizza and Movie Day Wear your favourite PJ?s and relax. Make some spa treats and yummy pizza

from scratch.$57.00 $10.97

Timetable activities and prices subject to change. Please view our website for the most up-to-date information.*Reduced fee amount listed is a guide only, if eligible for maximum 85% Childcare Subsidy (CCS). Individual eligibility will vary.

For your individual fee reduction, check your childcare subsidy by logging into MyGov and complete your CCS Assessment.

WEEK 2

MON12 APR

DAY CAMP - Mini Master Chefs Come along to bake some treats, design your own apron and develop your

cooking skills.$55.00 $10.59

TUE13 APR

WORKSHOP - Zumba Dance Party! Come along to a high energy dance party and learn Zumba with an instructor from

Cube Sports! $78.00 $15.02

WED14 APR

WORKSHOP - Soccer Skills Cube Sports will be here to coach and develop your soccer skills! $78.00 $15.02

THU15 APR

DAY CAMP - Science Experiment Day All day science experiments including reaction, invisible ink and walking

water experiments.$54.00 $10.40

FRI16 APR

DAY CAMP - Back to Nature Let?s use our hands to upcycle and make take home D.I.Y woodwork and

gardening creations$54.00 $10.40