Dear Parents

IMPORTANT DATES

• Thursday 1st September – Faction Athletics Carnival at Menzies Park
• Friday 2nd September – Assembly – Green – Room 10
• Friday 2nd September – Father’s Day Raffle
• Wednesday 7th September – School Board meeting
• Friday 9th September – Assembly – Gold – Rooms 1 and 12
• Friday 16th September – Assembly – Green – Room 8
• Friday 16th September – School Disco
• Friday 23rd September – P&C Lap-a-thon
• Saturday 24th September – School Grounds Busy Bee

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

To all of our dads, uncles and grandparents –

Have a fantastic Father’s Day and enjoy being spoilt by your family.

Best wishes from the Mount Hawthorn School.

Many dads will receive a little something as part of Father’s Day celebrations or have the opportunity visit the school for a special gathering.  I can’t give away too much but I know that there will be plenty of surprises when you see just how busy your children have been at school.  I would like to thank all of the staff for the work they have done with the children to help get them ready to celebrate Father’s Day.

WHAT A FORTNIGHT IT HAS BEEN!

BOOK WEEK DRESS UP

We looked fantastic!  Thank you to all the children who came to school dressed up and to the parents who helped create some amazing costumes.  It was a day full of laughs, a bit of craziness and plenty of smiles.

Thank you to Ms Eleni Evangel, MLA, Member for Perth, who came to the school and shared a story with some of the Pre-primary children.

DA VINCI COMPETITION

Thank you to Mrs Judy Scott for accompanying our Year 5 students to this competition and for assisting with the marking of the student’s papers.  Congratulations to Emerson B, James T, Rhianna K, Rhiannon F, Rohan D, Aaron C, Emanuel F and Lachie H who represented the school.  The children were assessed in a range of areas including engineering, maths and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, philosophy, creative producers, cartography and general knowledge.  Thank you also to Mrs Ball for making this opportunity possible for the students.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS MUSIC SOCIETY CONCERT

Oh, what a night!  The Hawthorn Hummers and string orchestra were amazing and did themselves and the school very proud at the concert held last Friday.  It was a pleasure to be part of the audience and see so many of our students showing off exceptional musical talent.  The children sang a medley of songs from the Wonderful World of Disney and the string orchestra opened the evening with the National Anthem and then performed “Jasmine Nights”, “Dragon Dance” and “Japanese Hoedown”.

Congratulations to those students selected to do a solo performance.  Naomi W and Lizzie R sang solos, Ben S played the “Star Wars” theme music on the cello, Hannah T played the violin and Patrick G (a former student) played the flute.

Thank you to Mrs Katie Hardman and Mrs Barbara Symington for getting the choir and string orchestra ready for their big night.  It was such a wonderful celebration of the student’s musical skills.  Thank you also to Mrs Bronwen Mears for assisting with the organisation.  To Mr Alek Gryta, Mrs Rosie Edminston, Mr Joel Phillips and Mrs Anne Robertson who attended the evening to help with the supervision.

NEW COMPUTERS

Last week we made a commitment to lease 63 new computers for the schools.  Signing the lease agreement was a bit nerve racking but we are financially secure and the investment now means that staff and students have access to new hardware.  We have decided to provide every classroom teacher with a new computer that will also be connected to the interactive whiteboard.  The senior lab has been gutted and re-cabled with all new computers.  The junior lab has all of the most recent computers and they will be replaced in 2018.

The Department of Education has also provided all schools with funding to improve the internet connectivity for the school.  The Department has set very strict parameters for how this money is spent and we will await further direction.

Thank you to Mrs Jen Townsend who has arranged the new leases, Mrs Marjorie Commijs, our Manager Corporate Services, who has kept an eye on the budget and Mrs Madeleine Galbraith and her son James who spent many hours over the weekend sorting out the computers and packing up those that needed to be returned to the providers.

STAFF NEWS

At the end of last week, Mrs Kerry Denniss commenced her long service leave and won’t return to Mount Hawthorn until the beginning of the 2017 school year.  I would like to welcome Miss Jasmine Webb to the school.  I am sure that she will enjoy being part of the staff and getting to know the students and their families.

FACTION ATHLETICS

It’s finally here!  Tomorrow is the big day and I can’t wait.  I am not sure what I am more excited about – the carnival atmosphere that comes with a whole-school event, seeing individual children excel, the cupcake display which I hear is legendary, or finding out which faction (hopefully, Braithwaite) lofts the shield.

Please remember to:

• Bring along baked goodies to sell at the cake stall, it’s a P&C Association fundraiser.  We remind everyone that the Year 5 are in charge of the cake stall but they need you to do the baking! If you can bake cupcakes and biscuits and slices that can be sold as individual pieces, please bring them along to the carnival on Thursday 1st September 2016. Earn Faction Points by decorating cakes in Faction Colours!
• Also, Father’s Day Raffle tickets will also be on sale.
• Make sure that children are at school on time and with everything that they need for the day – lunch, healthy snacks, faction t-shirt, sunscreen, jacket, water, running shoes.
• The good order of the carnival is reliant of everyone doing their bit – staying in the designated areas, accepting the decisions of the judges, cheering loudly for the participants, and leaving dogs at home.
• Children can come to school with coloured zinc and hairspray, but this must be done at home. Please make sure children do not draw on their skin with permanent or texta markers.

FOOTY TIPPING

The AFL Home and Away season finished sensationally (unless of course, you are a Dogs supporter) with a celebration of Matthew Pavlich’s 17 year career at the Fremantle Dockers and a purple win.  Even if you are a one-eyed supporter of another team, you cannot help but be a Pav fan and you could not sit through the game without being thrilled when Pav kicked his 700^th goal.
I would like to thank Mr T, our Year 5 teacher, for organising the tipping and keeping each of us enthused by the wins and losses throughout the season. It hasn’t been a great season for everyone but there is always next year.

The final top three tippers are:
1^st        Terry Sullivan
2^nd       Jeff Roberts
3^rd        Jeff Thompson
Well done to each of these tipping experts!

SCHOOL PHOTOS AT KINDY

Our school Kindy photo days are Monday 19^th and Tuesday 20^th September. Every Kindy student will receive a Kapture Photography order envelope to bring home. The recommended method of ordering your photos is online through Kapture’s website, as your payment is secure and can be easily verified at any time. Alternatively you can pay by cash or cheque and return the provided envelope to the school on the photography day. If you place your order online please DO NOT return your envelope to school.

SCHOOL BOARD

The School Board will meet next week on Wednesday, 7th September to discuss a number of topics including: revised homework policy, an update on the school finances and some staff reflections on implementation of the MHPS Business Plan.

Added to the Board agenda will be the development of a protocol / guidelines for identifying the charities that we support and promote as a school.  This new agenda item has presented itself in light of some community concerns about the organisation behind “Love in a Shoebox”.

The Board plays a key role in monitoring the progress (towards achievement of targets and goals) of both the Primary School and the Education Support Centre.  Dr Alison Harman and I find Board meetings to be a very valuable to get timely feedback on a range of matters impacting on the Schools.   I appreciate the time that the Board members give to meetings and for taking opportunities to discuss matters outside of the usual meetings.

Following a vacancy on the Board for a staff representative, I would like to welcome Miss Elishia Vearing who is filling that position.

On a rather sad note, I would also like to advise that Ms Kimberley Mann has made the decision to step down from the School Board.  Kimberley has been a member of the Board for four years and played a significant part in the Primary School’s independent review.  She has also made a huge contribution to the Board, especially in the area of governance.  Her contributions will be greatly missed.  We wish Kimberley well as she pursues some exciting educational challenges.

If you would like information about the Board and/or how you can contribute to the Schools as a Board member, please come and speak with me or contact Michael Jenkin, School Board Chair at jenkin@iinet.net.au

PUBLIC SPEAKING FINALS

To all those students who competed in the public speaking finals – a big well done! They did an amazing job and should be thoroughly proud of their efforts. The judging was very difficult for this competition because they were all so good. We would like to congratulate Shaun V who won the competition with his speech about the future. He will now be representing Mount Hawthorn Primary School in the Perth Electorate Speak Up Awards Night in September. We wish him all the best and we know that we will be proud of his efforts. Emma French Year 6 Teacher

TENNIS PENNANT

Justine H-J, in Year 4 (bottom right) was a member of team from Reabold Tennis club which won the Div 1 Mixed 9-12 year Tennis Pennant on the weekend. The all-girl team had a nail biting win over a team of boys from Onslow Park in the grand-final.