Wednesday September 15th 2021 601 Chisholm St. Ballarat Telephone: 03 5332 4544

Email: black.hill.ps@education.vic.gov.au www.blackhillps.vic.edu.au

Office Hours: Monday—Thursday 8.30-4.15pm Friday: 8.30—4.00pm

School Hours: 8:50am—3:30pm

Friday 17th September Last day of term 3—2:30pm dismissal

Monday 4th October First day of Term 4

Wed-Fri 6th-8th October 3/4 Camp—Campaspe Downs

Holidays

Our holidays begin this Friday with an early finish at 2:30pm for the end of term. It seems strange to be going into holidays after remote learning, but we hope this means we will all be returning to onsite learning at the beginning of Term 4! On behalf of the staff, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. With the reduction to restrictions, we hope you can enjoy some warmer weather and get outside and have some fun.

Term 4 promises to be very exciting! It is always a busy term, so it is super important that you keep an eye on the school’s calendar. You can see important dates on our new school website and in the newsletter. Our school concert will be filmed at school and a copy available for purchase in lieu of tickets and attending in person. You will be able to enjoy the concert at home with the whole family.

Some important Term 4 dates for working families include:

22nd October – student free day: curriculum day. The staff are learning about supporting students with complex needs.

2nd November - public holiday – Melbourne Cup Day.

22nd November—student free day: Report writing day.

16th December - end of Term 4 for students. Early dismissal 2:30pm. We will be farewelling our Year 6 students on this day.

17th December- student free day

Camp Australia will be operating on all student free days for families who work.

SunSmart

Black Hill Primary School is a Sun Smart School. All students need to have their school wide brimmed hat on to play outside at all times from this week! Please dig out your child’s hat and make sure they have it in their

Dates for the family diary...

bag and that it is labelled with their name.

Our Sun Smart policy provides guidelines to:

• Ensure all students and staff have some UV exposure for Vitamin D.

• Ensure all students and staff are well protected from too much UV exposure by using a combination of sun protection measures whenever UV levels reach 3 and above.

• Ensure the outdoor environment is sun safe and provides shade for students and staff.

• Ensure students are encouraged and supported to develop independent sun protection skills.

• Support duty of care requirements.

• Support appropriate OHS strategies to minimise UV risk and associated harm for staff and visitors.

An important part of our policy relates to the use of hats when outside:

Slap on a hat

• All staff are required to wear hats that protect their face, neck and ears.

• All students are required to wear the school’s broad-brimmed hat, whenever they are outside.

• Students must provide their own SPF 30 or higher broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen.

• The school also supplies SPF 30 or higher broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen for staff and student's use.

• Sunscreen is applied at least 20 minutes (where pos-sible) before going outdoors and reapplied every two hours if outdoors such as camps, outdoor excur-sions and sporting events.

Continued on page 4…….

Urgent!! If you have a child starting in Prep next year, please enrol them ASAP.

Permission forms due back— 3/4 Camp—Campaspe Downs—URGENT! 5/6 Camp—Somers—Please come and collect notes from office P-2 Swimming

Team News

Prep/1/2 Team

It has been a pleasure to be back on site with our students! Children have spent time socialising with

each other, getting back in to our classroom routines and revising previous learning while staff have

been forward planning so that we are ready for Term 4.

Some important reminders:-

The Grade 1/2 ‘Shrek’ day tomorrow will now be postponed until Term 4, day and date to be confirmed.

Now that the warmer weather will be more prevalent, it is imperative that students come to school each day with a water bottle and a broad brimmed hat.

Swimming will start in Week 2, Term 4 so please return the green permission form and the white medical information form by the end of Week 1, Term 4.

Have a lovely holiday, stay safe and look after each other!

Regards,

The Prep and 1/2 teams.

Team News

3/4 Team

Wow! What a term we have had. Our 3/ 4 students have done an amazing job with their resilience and flexibility, being in and out of remote learning and face to face teaching this term. The 3/ 4 teachers are very proud of the dedication students have displayed towards their learning. This week in writing we have had lots of fun creating riddles and revising our addition and subtraction strategies. Have a relaxing and safe break.

5/6 Team

This week in remote learning, the 5/6’s have been completing a CSI task – Who stole the town jewels?

Each day students have been required to complete a clue so they can eliminate suspects. Some of these

clues involve binary code, fingerprint matching and DNA sequencing! This week also involves creating

some hilarious ‘how to’ videos, completing a movie review, helping design their class magazine pages

and completing a variety of craft and fitness challenges from their home learning grids.

During the last week of term, we have focused on fun and relaxing activities to wrap up a very

challenging remote learning period. The 5/6 team would like to thank the ongoing support of families

and the maturity of our students to push on through adversity!

From Page 1…….

• Students are encouraged to apply sunscreen before going outdoors (verbal and written reminders from staff).

The whole SunSmart school policy can be found on our school website under the school resources tab: https://www.blackhillps.vic.edu.au/school-resources

Camping program Term 4

We have a number of exciting camps planned for Term 4. Years 3/4 are booked to attend Campaspe Downs Camp Wednesday 6th October to Friday 8th October (first week of Term 4). Hopefully you have all got your forms and payments in if intending to attend as we are final-ised numbers with the camp this Friday. We are very hopeful this camp will go ahead.

Years 5/6 are booked to attend Somers’s Camp Wednesday 27th October – Friday 29th October.

Later in the year, Year 2 students will attend Sovereign Hill Camp on 3rd and 4th of November for their first camping experience.

While the lock downs have impacted on so many events at school, we are still very hopeful that all our camps will go ahead. For that to happen we need to have confirmed numbers and payments in by the due dates.

If camp is cancelled, any money paid will be refunded. As the restrictions stand now, camp would not be able to go ahead. However, when we returned to on site learning in every other instance, camps have been able to go ahead so we are guessing this will be the case next term as well. Unfortunately, we can’t confirm one way or the other until closer to the date. We encourage you to get payments and paperwork returned so that we can plan for either eventuality.

Concert Update

Concert preparations are continuing despite remote learning, and we are just as excited as ever about it. The theme has so much to enjoy and connect to. Vanessa will still be offering concert practice sessions for our year 5/6 classes while in remote learning. Make sure you log in for concert practice remotely. I have heard that the students at home have enjoyed the opportunity

to log in and practice with Vanessa.

The concert will be performed and filmed at school. We have some great options to ensure you get to see the whole event and allow us to stay within the regulations and restrictions that involve mixing of students from across year levels and the numbers of people we can have at any venue.

Underclothes for concert—we want you to continue to gather these items and have them ready to bring into school when we return to onsite learning or drop then into school. Teachers have a tub ready in their classrooms to collect them. Remember to place the clothes in one bag and ensure it is clearly labelled.

TRANSITION PREP 2022

We are now beginning the planning for 2022 and early in Term 4 we will be beginning to plan the number of classes and staffing.

If you know of anyone in our community considering enrolling for 2022, please encourage them to do so ASAP. Prospective parents can access the virtual tour from our school website. www.blackhillps.vic.edu.au

If you are not sure if your preferred school is in your designated neighbourhood school zone, you should read about school zones and how they work. You can also use findmyschool.vic.gov.au to find your local school.

Birthdays

I would like to acknowledge all those students who have had birthdays over the past week. Your book marks will be given to you by your teacher.

Happy Birthday to:

Kind regards,

Donna Bishop

Principal

PLATINUM SUPPORTERS

Emma 56C

Jorja 56D

Lily 56E

Jet 34E

Ryan 34B

Sophie 0PA

Rohan 0PA

Riley 0PB

Felix 0PA

Services and support for students and their families It can be challenging to process and manage changes to routines and the uncertainty that comes with COVID-19 and related restrictions – including moving to remote learning.

To support our school community during this time, resources and support are available for parents, carers and families.

These resources will help to support the mental health and wellbeing of our students and the young people in our care during this time.

I encourage everyone in our community to access these resources and take care of themselves during this time.

Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our students remains our priority this year, especially during the continued COVID-19 pandemic and while students are learning from home during the current restrictions.

Here are some resources that you might find helpful.

A Quick Guide to Student Mental Health and Wellbeing resources is available for students, parents and carers looking to access expert guidance and resources to support wellbeing.

For students, the guide includes resources to support their own mental health and wellbeing.

Advice and resources for students about ways to adapt their learning during COVID-19, to look after themselves and where to get help.

Wellbeing activities featuring AFL and AFLW players with tips on managing stress, staying active and gratitude.

Smiling Mind mindfulness activities for senior secondary school students, including short videos, online tip sheets and meditations.

The guide also includes resources and supports for parents and carers to help them build their child’s physical and mental health and wellbeing. This includes:

• resources to support children’s physical, mental health and wellbeing.

• Wellbeing activities and conversation starters for parents of parents of primary school-aged children and parents of secondary school-aged children

• Raising Learners podcast series

• how to talk to your child about COVID-19

• headspace is running webinars for parents and carers about offering support when they are concerned about a young person’s mental health.

Wellbeing guidance for parents and carers is also available:

• on the Department’s website

• headspace has created a video providing tips to support parents and carers during lockdown

• through the confidential parent support hotline, Parentline, available 8am to midnight, seven days a week, Phone: 13 22 89.