November 17th, 2015 Issue 34

Website: www.hvps.vic.edu.au

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

18/11 Prep Info Session 7pm

19/11 Grade 6 Graduation

Photos taken

21/11 Melbourne Shopping

Trip

23/11 Last day for Library

borrowing

The P.I.P. Parent Information Paper

Prep Information Evening—Tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, we will be running our information session for parents of 2016 Preps. The night com-mences at 7pm and will run for about an hour to an hour and a half. We will be providing information about having a smooth start and also expectations about the Prep year. We will be answering questions which parents might have around any aspect of school. We look forward to seeing our current parents and new parents there. Prep to 2 Maths Day—the Prep to 2 children had a very successful Maths day today at Castlemaine North and returned having enjoyed themselves immensely. Swimming—Our swimming program will be commencing Tuesday 1st De-cember and will take place over the following two weeks. As with last year, we will only be guaranteeing five days of swimming. Full details of the pro-gram will be sent home shortly. We have changed the focus of our swim-ming program to ensure that we teach water safety skills, given the rise in childhood drownings recently. As a result there is a request inside the news-letter for some items from home to support our program. Planning for 2016—School Council has passed the budget for next year and the staffing arrangements are completed. Staffing will be the same as it currently is, with Art, Music and French being our specialist areas. Howev-er, we are still accepting enrolments for next year, so if you know of anyone, please encourage them to come along to school and talk to us. Teapots—Have you seen the teapots yet? All children in the school partici-pated in making a teapot for the “Time For Tea” exhibition. They are set up in our assembly area and the children and Ms Redlande have done an amaz-ing job. It is planned to make this part of our Applefest contribution for the Art Show. Book Fair—All the children have done their wish lists and the Book Fair begins tomorrow and finishes on Friday. It will be open before school each day from 8.30– 9am and each afternoon from 3.35 till 4pm. Please support this as it also gives us a chance to build our resources in the school library. Library—A reminder that borrowing finishes next week and all books MUST be returned to the library by 1st December for stocktake. Any books which are not returned or lost must be paid for by the end of the year.

Today’s P-2 Maths Day at Castlemaine North PS

Lunches & Duty Roster Duty begins at 12:30 and should be done by about 2pm. In most cases food will be pre-prepared,

ready to heat and serve. If there are leftovers please enjoy them or take them home. Andrea 0400 678988 or Veronica 0416 374563

Thanks again to everyone who supports the school lunches program! ********************************************************************************************************************* November Menu Duty 20th Pasta bake and raisin, eat & choc-chip cookies Lauren & Rebecca 27th Mild Chicken Curry & caramel slice Andrea & Jacq

Payment per week is $3/main and $1/Dessert to be paid by 9am each Wednesday.

READING NIGHTS

for Grade 3/4

250 Owen

225 Georgia

200 Georgie, Charlotte

175 Hannah, Megan

100 Hunter

******LAST CHANCE ******

The last major fundraiser for the school this year is our annual

Warehouse Shopping Tour

Saturday 21st November

Book today by contacting Lorella on 0422 286 393. Cost is $65 per

adult or $32.50 per U/17 student. Bus departs Stanley Park on Saturday

21st November at 6.30am or pick up at Woodend Kinder at 7.15am.

For a list of outlets, please pop into the office and grab a complete copy.

Great chance to get that Christmas Shopping done!!

Please check your child’s uniform—if you find your child has brought home the wrong

one—maybe it is labelled with another child’s name—please return it to the of-

fice ASAP. We have children that have lost labelled clothing!!

This is a timely reminder to EVERYONE to label their children’s uniform items as well

as drink bottles, lunch boxes and anything else they might bring in from home.

We need the following items to assist with this

years swimming program at HVPS:

Plastic bottles

Items that float ie corks, old bath toys etc

Items that sink and won’t rust

Old life jackets

An esky

Any items that might be useful for rescuing

people in the pool

Please bring any items in to the office.

THANK YOU!!

Dear all,

This Thursday after assembly, in response to a special request from the Grade Prep/1’s, there will be a visiting coconut! The coconut has agreed to be used in a demonstration of how to open a mature coconut without a saw and without smashing it onto the ground. Thanks to a special technique shared with Madame by an old French New Caledonian connection, we shall all be able to see this technique reproduced at school then, if so desiring, have a taste of the said coconut (which has also agreed to be eaten). Parents and caregivers are asked to inform the school if your child is unable to partake of coconut (which is actually a seed) in which case they will still benefit from the demonstration but not the tasting.

Sincères Salutations,

Madame Higgins

BRAIN FOOD—reminder to all families that brain food is eat-

en by the children around 10am while DO-

ING their school work. This means that

brain food needs to be dry, healthy & bite-

sized—NOT sticky or juicy. Thank you.

Harcourt Valley Primary School wishes to express

its deep sorrow over the recent attacks in France

and offer our profound condolences and solidarity to

the victims, their families and the grieving people of

France. This article from Michael Grose of Parent-

ingideas.com may help you to have important discus-

sions with your children…….

Terrorist events in Europe in recent days have reverber-

ated around the world. Graphic images have been

brought into our living rooms and onto our devices via

the media over the last few weeks, and will continue to

do so in the immediate future.

But what about the impact of the event and the subse-

quent media coverage on children and young people?

As adults we all want our children to live carefree lives

and keep them from the pain and even horror of trage-

dies such as terror attacks. In reality we can’t do this.

So what is a parent, teacher, or other caring adult to do

when such events fill the airwaves and the conscious-

ness of society?

Here are some ideas:

1. Reassure children that they are safe. The con-

sistency of the images can be frightening for young

children who don’t understand the notion of distance

and have difficulty distinguishing between reality and

fiction. Let them know that while this event is indeed

happening it will not affect them directly.

2. Explain what happened. Sounds obvious but it’s

important not to simply assume that children and young

people understand what’s happened. Be calm and stick

the facts, using a map to show older children where it

happened.

3. Be available. Let kids know that it is okay to talk

about the unpleasant events. Listen to what they think

and feel. By listening, you can find out if they have mis-

understandings, and you can learn more about the sup-

port that they need. You do not need to explain more

than they are ready to hear, but be willing to answer

their questions.

4. Help children process what they see and hear, par-

ticularly through television. Children are good observ-

ers but can be poor interpreters of events that are out of

their level of understanding.

5. Support children’s concerns for others. They may

have genuine concerns for the suffering that will occur

and they may need an outlet for those concerns. It is

heartwarming to see this empathy in children for the

concerns of others.

6. Let them explore feelings beyond fear. Many chil-

dren may feel sad or even angry with these events so let

them express the full range of emotions.

7. Avoid keeping the television on all the time. The

visual nature of the media means that images are repeat-

ed over and over, which can be both distressing to some

and desensitising to others.

8. Be aware of your own actions. Children will take

their cues from you and if they see you focusing on it in

an unhealthy way then they will focus on it too. Let

them know that it is happening but it should not domi-

nate their lives.

Children’s worlds can be affected in ways that we can’t

even conceive of so adults need to be both sensitive to

children’s needs and mindful of what they say and how

they act in front of children.

In difficult times, it is worth remembering what adults

and children need most are each other.

This article can also be found on Michael Grose’s Par-

entingideas facebook page which has additional updated

information. Use this link to his page.

https://goo.gl/EMAiuC

School Banking Details

for EFT Payments.

Bank: Commonwealth

Bank

BSB: 063509

Account: 10042656

Use your family name as

the payment reference

Harcourt Valley Primary

School Wilkinson Street

HARCOURT VIC 3453

Phone: 03.54742266

Fax: 03.54742706

E-mail:

ADMINISTRATION

CentrePay: For families that receive pay-

ments from Centrelink, you can now have

your school fees deducted as a regular amount

from your Centrelink payments. To set up a

regular deduction from your Centrelink pay-

ment please collect a brochure & forms from

the office. Or go to: http://

www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/

enablers/centrelink/centrepay/applying

FOR SALE

Polish Chickens (pom-pom

heads)

Laying, great pets—all hens $25

each

Please phone Carla 0410 927 513

Al’s Tomato Plants 4 Sale

5 different varieties to choose from

$3 each

Speak to Al Brasher at school or phone

Andrea on 0400 678988