Parkhill Primary School Newsletter

Dear parents and carers,

Today we welcome back our Y5 and Y6 students from camp. They spent the last four days at the Candlebark Farm in the beautiful Yarra Valley doing a range of activities that tested their skills and persistence. We are so fortunate to have been able to provide this experience after rescheduling several times due to the disruptions of lockdowns. It was a really lovely way for the Y6 students to finish their primary school journey. A big thank you to Chris Logan for his organisation of this camp and to all staff and parents who supported the students over the week.

Unwell children

With COVID-19 prevalent in the community and the closure of local schools around us, we need to be extra vigilant in slowing the spread. We ask that students be kept home if unwell, even with the mildest of symptoms. The DET requires that if your child has any of the symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) outlined below, however mild, they should get tested and they must remain at home until they receive their results: 

• fever 

• chills or sweats 

• cough 

• sore throat 

• shortness of breath 

• runny nose 

• loss of sense of smell or taste. 

In certain circumstances headache, muscle soreness, stuffy nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea may also be considered symptoms. For further advice please call the 24-hour COVID-19 Hotline: 1800 675 398 

Please be aware that if your child presents at school with any of the above listed symptoms, you will be contacted to collect your child as soon as possible. 

Reminders

• Working Bee tomorrow – 8am until 12noon. Any volunteer support would be greatly appreciated.  You can register on the following link https://forms.gle/XNZ8aHg1KDUHxHoU6

• Fun, Food & Carols – Thursday 2nd December – 5pm

We look forward to bringing our community together and reconnecting with Parkhill families at these two important events.

Thanks,

David Wells

Acting Principal

Saturday 27 November - Working Bee

Thursday 2 December - Fun, Food & Carols

Friday 3 December - Y2/3 Eureka Tower excursion

Tuesday 7 December - Move Up Day

Friday 10 December - Y2 Sleepover

Wednesday 15 December - Y6 Graduation

Thursday 16 December - Y6 Big Day Out

Friday 17 December - Term 4 and 2021 school year ends at 1:30pm

Please note that these events are subject to Covid-19 restrictions and are subject to change and/or cancellation.

Pre-sale for the Parkhill 2021 Yearbook is now open. Please click on the link below to secure your copy.

https://www.trybooking.com/BVIOB

They will be delivered to your child in December.

We have had a wonderful time meeting all the kinder kids coming to Parkhill Primary over the last three weeks. This week, they all received a gift bag full of goodies to help them get ready for school.

Here are some of our lovely Foundation 2021 students showing the bags that they decorated and some of the goodies that we put into the bags.

Anne McGregor 

F/Y1 Team Leader

Compass access was sent out on Monday to parents. If you haven’t joined us on Compass yet, have a search through your email inbox!

Compass will be our central platform to communicate, with many features added as we go along. At the moment though, you will be able to receive communication from your child’s class teacher, email them, easily manage attendance notifications, update your details and receive your child’s report at the end of the semester.

To login in, follow these steps https://drive.google.com/file/d/11yVmaoBlxALr3-647lp_zC_pu75UHO3X/view?usp=sharing 

Any questions, please ask Michelle on michelle.smith@education.vic.gov.au

School Council met last Thursday for our November meeting. A key part of this meeting is the review of the Draft School Budget for 2022. The development of the budget is a significant undertaking, and we thank Jo Ravida for the work put into providing this detail. Overall, the finances of the school are sound. However, as detailed in our letter to parents a couple of weeks ago, an important part of the school funding is the Parent Payments. If you have not had a chance to review the Parent Payments statement emailed to you by the school on November 5, please have a look. For more information, see our letter passed on to you through Class Reps in the week of November 8, and note that there is support available in relation to these payments.

Council is also very excited about the Working Bee coming up this Saturday! As well as weeding and tidying the grounds, we will be painting the Admin/Library exterior with paint donated by Taubmans and volunteers from our school community and the Edge Church. It’s a great way to (re)engage with parents, and make our school beautiful in time for Fun, Food & Carols on Thursday!

As always, School Council members are eager to hear from you anytime. 2022 Councillors are: Melo Conti, Wendy Douglas, Dan Edwards, Chris Logan, Anne McGregor, Pip Papageorgiou, Jo Ravida, Jay van Schyndel, Clare Sherman, Michelle Smith, Sumi Sundram and David Wells.

Dan Edwards

School Council President

Executive Committee:

President: Rossanne Clay                  

Vice President: Kylie Brown

Temp Treasurer: Chris Fagan

Temp Secretary/Communications: Trish King

Temp Council Liaison: Elle Delmee

General Members: Vanessa Cowley, Marinda Tanner, Jo Argaet, Sumi Sundram, Kylie Touloupis

SOCK FUNDRAISER UPDATE

Awesome work, Parkhill! Your purchase of funky footwear raised $171 for our school! We hope you’re all happy with your funky new socks!

Note of thanks to Trish King for linking us in with this fundraiser.

FUN, FOOD & CAROLS

It’s less than a week away! On Thursday 2nd December, we will be hosting the annual Fun, Food & Carols night for the school community. It’s a celebration where we come together to eat, laugh and sing before the summer holidays.

There will be a sausage sizzle, ice-cream stall, bake stall, plus other food and gift stands. Our children’s choir will lead us in singing carols, there will be STEAM activities for the kids and a free petting zoo. For a token you can do face painting, dunk-a-teacher or jump on the bouncy castle. We’ll also have a special visit from the big man in red!

You will be able to pre-order special Parkhill Fun, Food & Carols tokens using EFT or credit card. You’ll then exchange these tokens for rides, a sausage, a plate of rocky road, a raffle ticket or two… Whatever your heart (or nagging child) desires! It’s going to save you from fishing around between the car seats for loose change! You will be able to pre-order these tokens from the office from Monday. You can then collect them from the school office from Wednesday or collect them at Fun, Food & Carols. More details to come… Keep an eye on Facebook or Flexischools. Please note: tokens will only be accepted at PFA-run stalls. Cash will still be required for privately-run stalls.

BAKE SALE

Dust off your wooden spoons and crack a few eggs because we need you to whip up some delicious baked treats for the Fun, Food & Carols Bake Sale stall!

Massive thanks to those who have already offered to provide some delicious baked treats! We’re still looking for more items to help this stall be a big success on the day. Items are to be delivered to school on the day of the event in a disposable or named container. PFA and Bake Sale helpers will transfer your delicious treats into fancy packaging for sale and you’ll be able to collect your container from the stall. All items will need to be accompanied by a list of ingredients and allergens. Please email parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com with details of what you can provide.

HELP OUR PARKHILL COMMUNITY 

We have missed our school connection but now we have a golden opportunity to rebuild, recharge and reconnect. You can help us make this event fun for our young ones and build a stronger community in the process! Spread the word! Invite friends and family! You can also help by:

Lending items on the day. Please notify us if you are able to lend these to us for the night:

• Any size marquee

Donating items for the raffle prizes or bric-a-brac sale, such as bottles of wine, vouchers, things from your emergency gift stash, regifted new items that just weren’t what you wanted last Christmas…. These can be dropped to the office or contact us to arrange a pick-up. Thanks to those who have already dropped things off at the office or let us know!

Volunteering for:

• Setup crew

• Packdown crew

• Face painting

• Baking for the bake stall

• BBQ cook/seller

• Food seller

• Dunking machine/jumping castle monitor

We currently have about 50% of slots filled, so a big shout of thanks to those who have already signed up! If you’ve been meaning to and just haven’t got around to it yet… help us out by clicking below please?

Becoming a stall holder - here are some details:

The market will run from 5.00pm – 7.30pm. If you are interested in being a stall holder, or know of someone who would like to hold a stall, please make contact with Rossanne Clay at parents.friends.secretary@gmail.com or 0480 171 847.

Cost of Stalls:

• Stalls selling non food & drink related items - $20

• Stalls selling food & drinks - $30

• Student stalls - $10

JOIN OUR PARKHILL PFA

We are looking for new members to help us fill roles temporarily til the end of the year and permanently for next year. In particular, we need someone who already has a money handling police check to act as treasurer on the night to count all the money we are going to raise at Fun, Food & Carols.

And we need permanent roles for the following for next year:

• PFA Representative on school council who attends both PFA meetings and School Council meetings
• Secretary who does our newsletter for us each week
• PR/Communications who takes care of our Facebook page and gathers photos to create updates about our events