Henley Beach Primary School Newsletter

COVID-19 Update

Yesterday the Department for Education, in collaboration with SA Health, made an announcement regarding new expectations that will be in place for schools from December 10. How these changes will impact on our school community will be communicated in the coming weeks, for now, there are no changes to our current expectations and arrangements. If you have any immediate queries, please contact the school to discuss further. Throughout the COVID-19 period our school community has been very supportive and understanding. I am very confident that we will be able to manage the upcoming changes successfully and ensure that our school environment is safe for everyone.

Beach Day

Today the school held a beach day which was a fantastic opportunity for all classes to interact and play some games at a great location. The year 6 leaders did a great job in organising the event and much fun was enjoyed by all. A further community event that we are looking forward to is the upcoming school concert; further information about this activity has been provided in this week's newsletter.

End of Year Reporting Information

End of year reports will be made available to families on Thursday 9 December and will provide a summary of your child’s achievement for this semester. A student who receives a ‘satisfactory’ rating for their achievement is demonstrating what is expected at their year level, with the grade equivalent being a C. Students who are working above what is expected for their level will receive an excellent or good rating, the equivalent of an A or B grade respectively. Students who have yet to achieve their year level standard will have demonstrated partial (D) or minimal (E) achievement. End of year reports will be able to be accessed via an online platform. If you require assistance with setting up your login details please contact the front office for assistance.

2022 Class Planning

The organisation of classes continues to progress and will be finalised in the coming weeks. Every effort is being made to ensure each class has a balanced profile (gender, academic achievement, friendships). Based on current projected enrolments, we will have 14 classes (a reduction from this year due to the impending move of year 7s to high school). Later this term students will participate in a transition lesson whereby they will visit their new classroom and meet their teacher (if the teacher is currently working at our school). We acknowledge that children will respond differently to this change. They have a strong sense of anticipation when new classes are announced, and when they discover that they have not been placed with their ‘best’ friend, there can be a sense of disappointment and sadness. Teachers have worked with their students to reinforce a range of important dispositions and habits to support their learning, including developing a growth mindset and being resilient. The experience of transitioning into a new environment is a great way for students to build their awareness of these important life skills that they will need as adults. We ask that you support your child through this experience and frame it in a positive way.

We are looking forward to our end of year Christmas celebration on Tuesday 30 November. In finalising the arrangements for this occasion, a number of factors had to be taken into account and the goal was to try and find some middle ground that reflected COVID-19 perspectives and having an event that was inclusive of the community. 

• All children will need to have a parent/carer in attendance to provide supervision.
• Prior to the commencement of each session an announcement will be made on the PA system asking students to move to the Metcalfe Lawn to meet their teacher.
• Parents/carers watching the performance (who have booked a ticket) will wait outside the gym to enter.
• For safety reasons we request that no bikes or scooters are ridden on school grounds during the night.

Concert - ticket bookings opened at 6pm Monday 15 November

Due to HBPS COVID management plan our concert will be broken up into 3 concerts and only 2 parent/caregivers per child are allowed in the gym for each performance. Children under 2 can be on laps and an area will be set aside for siblings of children performing to watch the performance. Bookings can be made through Eventbrite through the link below or the QR codes on the poster.

You will need to QR check in and face masks are recommended on the night.

Show 1 - Reception to Year, 6.30pm - 6.50pm

Show 2 - Year 2 to Year 5, 7.10pm - 7.40pm

Show 3 - Year 6 and 7, 7.40pm - 7.55pm

Family Picnic

From 5.30pm we will be having a family picnic on the oval. This is a dry event so no alcohol to be consumed. Numbers are not limited to the picnic, but are for the concert.

Please bring your own picnic dinner or pre order a pizza from Santi Pizza (see QR code or link below; orders are now open and close on November 25) on poster. The canteen will also have a sausage sizzle, ice-creams and drinks to purchase over the counter on the night.

We are really looking forward to seeing families on the night.

This year we are proudly supporting St Vinnies by collecting a gift for children who would otherwise not have a present to unwrap on Christmas day. We are also collecting tins, jars, supermarket vouchers or gift cards to put towards a Christmas hamper. These collections will be donated to St Vincent de Paul for less fortunate families this Christmas.

Please do not wrap the gift, just put a tag on the item to identify gender and age.

Tags can be found on the tree in the office and the gift is to be placed in the box next to the tree (located in the front office).

Hamper items can also be placed in the box in the front office.

Collection closes Tuesday 7 December.

I have been out and about again this week popping in to maths lessons across the school.

Year 6 students are learning about making and growing patterns. In one class, during an explore stage, I walked into the room to find patterns everywhere  - on the tables, on the floor and on top of books, made of pop-sticks, paintbrushes, pencils, counters and pompoms. It was a very hands on activity which allowed students to explore physically what happens when you grow patterns. This leads in to using rules to work out the next number in a sequence. The other year 6 class has been exploring the term exponential growth and were giving definitions to prove their understanding (a pattern that grows rapidly such as doubling). They moved on from constructing physical patterns into identifying and using rules to find the next number in a sequence and were using specific terminology like term and sequence. An example they had was:

Questions included: what is the rule and what is the value of the 10th term… can you work it out?

Year 5 students were having the best time exploring 3D shapes in our world. This involved the handy use of ipads (always a favourite) and the great outdoors. Being able to use the outside environment always brings an extra level of engagement to learning and the year 5 students were enthusiastically discussing and exploring our grounds for 3D shapes.

Some year three students have been consolidating their understanding of time, particularly am and pm. Mapping their school day into am and pm was a useful exercise for grasping that pm starts at 12.00 (midday). As you can imagine, there was a lively discussion in the room about bed times!

Our reception students have been learning all about money and the different coins that we have in our money system. I was delighted to see that some of our students are already making one dollar by joining together different coins and doing this in multiple ways.

Maths Word/phrase of the Week

3D

We use the term 3D when talking about or describing shapes.

In geometry, three-dimensional shapes or 3D shapes are solids that have three dimensions such as length, width and height. 2D shapes have only two dimensions, i.e. length and width. Examples of three-dimensional shapes include a cube, cuboid, prism, pyramid, cylinder and cone. As the year 5s discovered, there are many examples of 3D shapes in our everyday lives, how many can you see when you are out an about? 

What a great day we had. The weather was perfect for gelato, and the children appeared to really enjoy it.

Many thanks to the older students who set up, served both recess and lunchtime, then cleaned up at the end of the day. Bravi!

Here’s, to next year!

The school held a Remembrance Day ceremony last week and our upper primary students did an excellent job of explaining the significance of this day, including reading poems written about World War 1. Penny Sigal, our Business Manager, also spoke to the students about her past and current role in the army. It was pleasing to observe the positive levels of respect displayed by students during the ceremony.

Canteen Summer Menu 2021/22 and Price Increases

Henley Beach Primary School Canteen is a Governing Council run business whose operations and finances are separate from school.  Canteen’s mission is to provide healthy food options to students and a value for money alternative to families. The Canteen is run primarily as a not-for-profit enterprise, however there is an expectation that canteen is self sufficient, so small profits are required to support continued operations (eg. staffing, equipment and maintenance needs).

Over the past few years the canteen has replaced almost all pre-packaged food with fresh food made by the staff and volunteers.  The two largest operational costs are the cost of food and wages.  While canteen has endeavoured to attract additional volunteers to keep wage costs at a minimum this hasn’t been sustainable, particularly given the uncertainty of recent times.  The rising costs of food is something that canteen has been closely monitoring. 

Although canteen has been able to absorb many of the price increases incurred this year (including the switch away from single use plastics to more sustainable packaging), continued price rises, particularly for packaging, meat and dairy items, can no longer be absorbed.

The Canteen Committee have carefully reviewed prices and have made modest increases where necessary.  We have endeavoured to ensure that the menu is appealing to a wide range of tastes, caters for many varied dietary requirements and continues to provide value for money.  The summer menu and price rises are effective on Qkr! immediately.

What has changed?

New menu items include:

·        Snack Box – choose from Chicken Schnitzel Strips, Herbed Chicken Strips (GF) or Potato Salad (V), served with seasonal fruit and vegetables, cheese cubes and pita/corn chips.  The new Snack Boxes are substantially larger than the Bento Boxes previously available and the fruit and vegetable content will change periodically.

·        Asian Noodle Salad – Chicken or Vegetarian

·        Crispy Chicken Strips Wrap – served with lettuce and mayo (can be customised)

New snack items (that can be ordered for lunch or purchased over the counter at recess or lunch) include:

·        Pasta Salad Cup

·        Potato Salad Cup

·        Seasonal Fruit Salad Cup

·        Vanilla Yoghurt with Fresh Berries

Canteen will also offer the following weekday specials in addition to the daily menu:

·        Monday – Cheeseburger

·        Tuesday – Tacos*

·        Wednesday – Hawaiian Pizza (Ham, Cheese & Pineapple)

·        Thursday – Nachos, Salsa Cheese (V)

·        Friday – Mrs Macs Beef Pie

*Tacos will no longer be sold over the counter; instead ordered on Qkr!. Students will receive vouchers to exchange for freshly made tacos over the counter at lunch time only on the day of purchase.

Many menu items can be customised where it’s practical to do so, please use the radio buttons on Qkr! to add or remove ingredients.

Feedback forms will be sent out with upper and middle primary lunch orders of new menu items, please encourage your children to provide constructive feedback.

The Canteen Committee thanks you for your continued support.

The upcoming Vacation Care program is now available. You can view this on the link below or you can pick up a program from the OSHC Room. We have designed a fun and engaging program with plenty of excursions to cater for all interests. Get in quick as many bookings have already been made!

As we get closer to the end of the school year, there are only a few weeks left to take advantage of the OSHC promotion. First session is free for new families, or for families who have not used the service yet this year.

• Christmas Concert  - Tuesday evening 30 November from 5.30pm
  
• Year 7 Graduation - Monday 6 December
• Year 6 Graduation - Tuesday 7 December
• Last Day of school  - Friday 10 December, dismissal at 2.00pm

This year the local churches will present their Christmas program at lunch time in the gym over two days.

Junior primary students program (including Year 3): Monday 29 November

Primary students program: Tuesday 30 November

Attendance is voluntary. Parent/caregivers have provided permission for this event as per enrolment data so additional permission is not required, however, we request that you make contact with your child's teacher if you do not wish for them to attend.

Supervision will be provided.