Save the Date!

Heckenberg Happenings Our school exists for children

Transition to School In the coming weeks we will be commencing our very popular

Head Start program. This is a great transition program for

children who will be starting school in 2017.

We are excited to announce that our newly painted and

resourced Head Start room will be a hub of the community. We

currently host the Multicultural playgroup every Friday and are

busy planning an Aboriginal Playgroup, Mothers group and

Rhyme time.

Mrs Grdic will be coordinating these enhanced transition to

school programs so keep an eye out for dates and times

throughout the year.

Week 6 Week 7 Fri 11/3 – Parent

Café` – Aboriginal

Parent Group

meeting.

Week 8

Fri 18/3 – National

Day of Action

against Bullying and

Violence.

Fri 18/3 – K-6

Assembly 9.15am

W E E K 5 T E R M 1 2 0 1 6

Message from

the Principal

Mon 29/2 – Young

Leaders Day

Fri 4/3 – K-6

Assembly 9.15am

Welcome to our Week 5

newsletter. We have had a very

busy and productive start to the

year and I can’t believe that we

are already half way through

Term 1.

It has been a great start to the

year and I have been so proud to

see the learning taking place in

every classroom. It is a delight to

have conversations in every

classroom that focus on what

students are learning, how they

are going, what they need to do

to improve and how to get help.

Our students are developing a

growth mindset and striving to

improve every day.

Our Personalised Learning

Pathways BBQ meeting last

Thursday was a great success with

many of our Aboriginal families

coming along to discuss their

child’s learning with the classroom

teacher.

I was also extremely proud to

showcase our wonderful Breakfast

Club program last Friday. We

had a visit from the Minister of

Early Childhood, Minister Lesley

Williams. She was most impressed

with our amazing students and

school.

Have a great fortnight.

Liz Van Der Meulen

Principal

HECKENBERG HAPPENINGS WEEK 5 TERM 1 2016

2

Assemblies Whole school assemblies will be held each

fortnight on a Friday morning at 9.15am.

Parents and carers are welcome to stay after for a

coffee. Our next assembly will be on Friday 4

March. We look forward to seeing you there.

Staffing news Mrs Griffin has accepted a twelve month position as

Instructional Leader in the Ingleburn area. We wish her

well and look forward to her return. Mrs Grdic will be

coordinating the transition to school program which

includes Head Start, playgroup, rhyme time and

community partnerships. She will also continue in her

role as English as an Additional Dialect teacher. Mrs

Dimos has taken some personal leave which will

continue this week. Miss Dominie will be teaching K/1

Diamonds in her absence.

Heckenberg PS students have many fun and

engaging activities available to them at

lunchtime. The chess and checkers tables are

proving to be a hit a lunch and recess. Students

also love to gather under the shady trees near

the canteen to do jewellery making with Mrs

King. Our senior students enjoy handball and

have recently contributed to developing and

refining our official ‘Heckenberg PS Handball

Rules’. This helps to ensure that all children get a

fair go and that being a good sport is a key

expectation when playing. The Art club will be

helping with painting our K-2 area tyres and

backgrounds for the water wall and music wall.

If any parents or carers are available to help

please let Mrs Quinn or Mrs Grdic know.

Playground news

Speech therapy program

Our Speech Therapy team teaching commenced last

week. Miss Kate has some fun and engaging activities

which will support our students with their learning.

HECKENBERG HAPPENINGS WEEK 5 TERM 1 2016

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Healthy news from

our Canteen

Crunch and Sip Crunch and Sip takes place every day at Heckenberg

Public School. Students are able to bring fresh

water and fresh fruit or salad vegetables to munch,

crunch and sip on in class during this time.

Mrs Billington will be selling healthy lunch

extras for 50c every Monday, Wednesday

and Friday.

Last Friday students (and teachers) loved

the yummy banana and custard cups.

Don’t forget to look out for the healthy

(and yummy) lunch and recess extras.

-

Breakfast club

Day Assembly

Parent Café`

Did you know that our Breakfast Club runs every

morning from 8.30am?

For a $1 donation students are able to have a

healthy breakfast with options of fruit, yoghurt,

cereal, toast, juice and milk. If you are

experiencing financial difficulty please see a

member of staff as we are happy to ensure that

all students have access to our Breakfast Club

program.

Every Wednesday the local police come along

to meet with students and help serve breakfast.

Come along and say hi.

Parent café` is on every Friday. We meet for a

friendly chat after assembly on assembly

weeks and on the alternate weeks, we invite

guest speakers or coordinate fun get

togethers. Our next Parent Café` will be our

Aboriginal Parent Group meeting on 11

March.

HECKENBERG HAPPENINGS WEEK 5 TERM 1 2016

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Congratulations to the following students

who received awards and badges at our

assembly.

School Captain

Adam and Isla-Rose

School Vice Captain

Adrian and Mya

Arana Captain

Mackenzie and Tyrone

Arana Vice Captain

Courtney and Abdul

Camira Captain

Nadine and Azeryah

Camira Vice Captain

Malik and Tyrhys

Kootingal Captain

Hassan and Shayne

Kootingal Vice Captain

Andonald and Sheridan

Chantelle and Sylvester

Cindy and Pablo

SRC Diamonds

Virag and Salwa

SRC Sapphires

Aden and Arlia

SRC Emeralds

Jaaziah and Joyce

SRC Kookaburras

Zain and Angel

SRC Rio

Esteban and Shayla

SRC Roddick

Jhyis and Meriam

SRC Olyroos

Christian and Vashti

SRC Bolt

Kevin and Kathy

SRC Stingers

Cameron and Emily

HECKENBERG HAPPENINGS WEEK 5 TERM 1 2016

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Parent helpers Speech, MultiLit, gardening,

class help, Breakfast Club

We are always looking for helpers at our school.

If you have a few hours to spare and would like

to come up and help with any of the above

programs please let Mrs Grdic know.

Positive Behaviour for Learning Students at Heckenberg are Safe, Respectful

Learners. Many students are receiving Blue

Hectors for their excellent before school

behaviour. I am looking forward to having

many students’ photos up on our wall of fame

this year and celebrating with these students at

a special reward luncheon.

Year 6 Ashcroft High excursion Mr Grenfell and the Year 6 students recently

visited Ashcroft High for a fun day of science.

They returned with big smiles on their faces as

well as the results of their experiments; sherbert

bath bombs and tea bag rockets. Thank you Mr

Grenfell for coordinating this.

GVPSSA swimming carnival Congratulations to our super swimmers, Angelika

and Denzel. They came 4th and 5th in their races

and represented our school with pride. Well

done and thank you to Miss O’Rourke for

coordinating our schools’ participation in the

GVPSSA swimming carnival.