Mary Street, NORTHMEAD, 2152

Phone: 9639 8448 email: thehills-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.thehills-s.school.nsw.edu.au

Principal and Deputy Principal’s Report

MONDAY

18 February

School Information Evening

7pm

WEDNESDAY

20 February IEP Meetings Commence

MONDAY

25 February

P&C Meeting

7pm

MONDAY

4 March Clean Up Australia Day

TUESDAY

19 March HARMONY DAY

Newsletter No.1

15 February 2018

Welcome back to The Hills School, 2019. It has been terrific to see all the students arrive happy, eager to learn and to re-

connect with valued school friends. We have also had the opportunity to welcome ten new students and their families to

the school and wider school community. It is great to have you all here at The Hills School. The staff would like to welcome

all students and families to a new school year and we look forward to working with you in a positive and collaborative way

to help your child to learn and grow and to achieve many great things.

The first formal school event is our annual School Information Evening, to be held from 7pm until 8:30pm at the school on

Monday 18th

February. This will provide parents and carers with a terrific opportunity to meet their child’s class teacher and

their School Learning Support Officer/s. There will also be an opportunity to meet other parents and carers of students

attending our school. We hope to see as many people there as possible. Just a reminder that this event is for parents and

carers only. We request that arrangements be made for your children to remain at home during this information evening.

We greatly appreciate all the effort families make so that parents and carers are able to attend the evening.

We would like to welcome some new members of staff to The Hills School. Welcome Sue Cook, Elisha Obsioma, Carol

Mitchell, Patricia Smith, Carly Waller and Renee Pieri. We also welcome Relieving Assistant Principal Caroline Cass, who is

Relieving Assistant Principal for Vita Williams while she is on leave. Assistant Principal Paul Hughes is also on leave.

Staff have been working hard over a number of weeks to organise and prepare quality teaching activities and positive

learning environments. Staff are looking forward to meeting with parents and carers at the upcoming Information Evening.

Teachers will also provide information to parents and carers regarding booking a time for Individual Education Plan (IEP)

meetings which will be taking place over the next few weeks.

A short reminder about absentee notes. It is a NSW Department of Education requirement that all students are to have each

and every absence from school formally explained. Staff diligently maintain a class roll each day and absence notes form a

crucial part of roll record keeping. All teachers are required to record the reason for student absence as part of the class roll.

There can be many reasons for a student being absent from school. Appointments and illness are two of the most common

and relevant reasons. We ask for cooperation from parents and carers to always promptly write the reason for their child’s

absence for any given day. This written reason can be communicated in a number of ways including: using the FlexiBuzz

app, writing a short note to the teacher, writing in the student’s communication book or completing one of the school’s

formal ‘Absence notes’. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this area.

Thank you to our students, families, and staff for all working hard together to set us up for another productive, positive and

fun year.

Peter Gurrier-Jones Neale Rudland

Principal Deputy Principal

Adina BC Brittany Clark (Teacher) Vanessa Fahmy & Toni Ferrabetta (SLSOs)

Vanessa, Toni and I welcome Jamal, Lucas, Zain, Minh Tan, Noah and Olivia to Adina BC in 2019! We have spent these first

few weeks getting to know our new classmates through play, learning our new class routines, cooking and painting pink pigs

to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Chinese Year of the Pig. We are looking forward to an amazing year.

Adina VW Vita Williams (Teacher) Ramona Bodnar (SLSO)

Adina VW have settled well into the 2019 school year. Ramona and I have been enjoying, learning and playing with the

children over the past two weeks. We have enjoyed painting, our daily walks on the bike track and playing with our friends.

We have revisited 2D shapes and practised our counting. We look forward to meeting with parents at the School Information

Evening on Monday, February 18 - Carly Waller (relieving class teacher).

Adina PS Patricia Smith (Teacher) Liz Oppel (SLSO)

In Adina PS, Liz and I welcome our students into the classroom, Jesse, Amruta, Anna, Eliza, Anish and Adi. Liz and I are

looking forward to working with our students and families in all the key learning areas and developing skills together. Our

students are participating in a combined music program each Friday and enjoyed singing and playing percussion

instruments in time with the songs. We are also looking forward to participating in the water program as well. Our activities

will include floating, learning dog paddle, using a kick board and enjoying the water in general. We are looking forward to

learning new skills and having fun in our upcoming water program.

Marlee KG Katie Groth (Teacher) Cheryl Rogerson & Eunice Yap (SLSOs)

It’s hard to believe that the start of the school year has arrived! I sincerely hope that all had a restful break and are

completely refreshed and ready for the school year. The teaching and support staff on Marlee KG include myself, Katie Groth,

as the class teacher and School Learning and Support Officers (SLSOs) Cheryl Rogerson (Mon-Wed) and Eunice Yap (Thurs &

Fri). We would like to welcome the following students to Marlee KG – Ashvini, Thomas O, Chelsea, Miguel, Tara, Tristan and

Omar.

Our start to the school year has been such a positive experience for all and I am looking forward to witnessing the students

individual journey’s as they continue to grow and achieve. We have recently had a guest speaker from ‘Sydney Stingless

Bees’ to talk to us about our school farm’s new addition – a bee hive with stingless bees! Throughout the year, there will be a

strong focus on developing many functional skills during Work Education or Technology programs in which we will be

organising, preparing and cooking for our weekly school café. I also look forward to meeting all my students’ families in the

coming weeks.

Marlee LW Linda Weiss (Teacher) Lorraine Kirby (SLSO)

Welcome to 2019. We have had a great start to the new school year. Students in Marlee LW are Shania, Lexi, Zikry, Sergio,

Keefer, William and Eric. This year we are lucky to have the two School Captains, Shania and Keefer and the Vice-Captain

William in our class. We have started our art program by making our book covers using our new gel press. We are looking

forward to a year filled with learning and fun.

Marlee AC Angela Corfield (Teacher) Janelle Poole (SLSO)

We welcome Rebecca, Elvin, Angelina, Sam, Jaisleen and Tahlia to Marlee AC. It has been a great two weeks for our class,

meeting up with old friends and making some new friends. As a class we have enjoyed time sitting around the smartboard

together, listening to the different music and stories that each of us enjoy. Marlee AC students start the day with a walk

outside with some fresh air which helps us settle into the day ahead at school. We are looking forward to starting our

community access program where we will be visiting various parks and exploring their local environments.

Happy Birthday

wishes go out to the following students from all your friends at

The Hills School:

Lochlan, Nika, William,

Isabella, Angela, Nilesh,

Chelsea, Thomas, Eziah,

Mustafa, Amelie, Ashez,

Pratyush, Eric, Aarav &

Albert

Welcome back to the start of a new school year, we hope

everyone has had a lovely break. A special welcome to all

the new families and staff at The Hills School, we hope the

first couple of weeks have gone smoothly for you.

P & C meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each

month and we would warmly welcome new members. We

actively encourage every parent or carer to attend at least

one meeting throughout the year as it is a great way of

meeting new people and keeping up to date with planned

activities.

The Hills P & C is involved in running the canteen, the

uniform shop and fundraisers such as Bunnings BBQ’s.

Volunteers are always appreciated and again it is a great

way of meeting people within our community and helping

your child’s school at the same time.

Our first meeting for the year will be on Monday 25

February at 7pm and it would be lovely to see you there.

Michelle Gough Pratibha Bhanushali Marjie Capple

President Treasurer Secretary

P&C News

Monday 18 February 2018 at 7pm

The School Information Evening is a great way to meet teachers and school team members. Teachers

will share important information on classroom activities, timetables and routines. This is a key

event for parents and carers only. Please arrange care for your child so that you are able to attend -

Thank you