1. Healthcare

Harrison School Newsletter 3 February 2015
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to our new students, families and staff. Yesterday we
welcomed over 250 new students from Kindergarten to Year 10 as well
as 75 Preschoolers. You may have noticed some new faces at the front
of our classrooms too and we will have a full list of staff in next week’s
newsletter.
We are keen for parents to meet teachers and we have some
important information to share so we are holding parent information
sessions this week and next:
Week 1
Kindergarten: Wednesday 4 February 5:45pm (Hall)
Week 2
Year 1/2: Tuesday 10 February 5:45pm (Gym)
Year 3/4: Tuesday 10 February 6:30pm (Gym)
Year 5/6: Thursday 12 February 5:30pm (Senior PATS building)
Year 7/8 & 9/10: Thursday 13 February 6:30pm (Senior PATS building)
Assemblies
We will hold whole school assemblies in the Gym in Weeks 5 and 10 on
the Wednesday at 9:15. For Semester One, we will hold secondary
school (Years 5-10) assemblies on odd weeks at 9:15am in the Gym
starting in week 3, 18 February. Junior school (Preschool to Year 4)
assemblies will be held in even weeks starting in week 2. Their first
assembly will be Wednesday 11 February in the Gym. Class teachers
will contact parents if their child is receiving a school certificate or
participating in the assembly. School certificates are awarded for
recognising excellence in achievement, citizenship or endeavour or for
showing the school values. Parents, friends and family are welcome to
every assembly.
Term1 Week 1
Wednesday 4 February
Secondary School Assembly – 9:15am
Gym
Kindergarten Information Session
5:45pm -Gym
Term 1 Week 2
Tuesday 10
Yr.1/2 Information Session 5:45pm –
Gym
Yr.3/4 Information Session 6:30pmGym
Wednesday 11
Junior School Assembly – 9:15am
Gym
Thursday 12
Yr.5/6 Information Session 5:30pm
Yr.7/8 Information Session 6:30pm
Yr.9/10 Information Session 7:30pm
ALL Sessions will be held in the Senior
PATS Bldg.
REMINDER: For ALL events in the
Gym please wear flat-soled shoes
ONLY
2015 Term 1 Calendar
Updated 03/02/15
Inspire – Personalise - Learn
Last week I spoke to staff about the Harrison
Vision and how promoting and working towards
this would be a focus for us this year. Today I
spoke to all students about focusing on the
personal goals they want to work towards this
year, being inspired to learn and reaching for their
goals. I challenged them to set the bar high and
push themselves hard. I also challenged all
students, especially our senior students to set the
example for all to follow. I am confident everyone
will work hard, and with help from teachers and
parents our students will display personal growth
and outstanding achievement.
O Week
Staff spent a productive week at school last week
attending maths and literacy professional learning
and working closely in their teams to develop and
plan learning programs. Thank you to our
executive, teachers, learning support assistants
and administrative staff who worked very hard to
get things ready for the year. We hope to have
class groups settled by Friday afternoon as we
manage new enrolments, increased class groups
and timetable changes. We appreciate your
support and patience as we welcome to our school
over 1500 students from Preschool to Year 10.
Please be sure to keep an eye on upcoming events and
our school calendar. I will keep you posted as we are
hoping to trial an online calendar this term that will
enable you to get updates much more easily.
SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS
One event to be aware of is the School Board
elections. We need to fill the following positions
this year:
•
•
•
•
Community Representative x 1
Parent Representative x 1
Staff Representative x 1
Student Representatives x 2
Board positions are held for two years. More
information about school Boards can be found at
http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/scho
ol_boards . Nomination forms can be obtained
through Trish in the front office.
Finally, with school starting back I will take this
opportunity to remind you all about the importance
of keeping to the speed limit around the school and
in the car parks, paying extra attention as you drive
around these areas and parking only in the designated
areas.
Jason Holmes.
Harrison Swimming Trials
The 8 -17yrs Swimming Trials will be held at the AIS
pool on Tuesday 17 February. Interested swimmers
must be able to swim 50m to participate at this
carnival. Students turning 8 this year i.e. born 2007
are eligible. Notes will be available Thursday
afternoon from home room teachers. Events
include 50m and 100m Freestyle, Backstroke,
Breastroke, Butterfly and 200IM. All queries can be
directed to Deb Gordon.
How to Help the Front Office Support your
Child
Student Absences
If your child/ren are absent for any reason from
school could you please call the school on
61422200, informing us of their name and class.
Money
Money for excursions and events collected
throughout the year is handed to teachers in the
classrooms and is then forwarded to the front
office for processing. We request your cooperation with the following:
1. Please enclose correct money.
2. Place money and permission note in an
envelope clearly marked with the child’s name,
teacher’s name and purpose.
3. Please ensure coins are not able to slip
out of the envelope by folding over the
opening edge of the envelope. PLEASE
DO NOT WRAP MONEY IN CLING WRAP
OR STICKY TAPE.
4. Individual contributions are preferred, but if
it is necessary to send money to cover
more than one child, please be sure to
enclose each child’s permission note. It
is preferred that money be sent to the
class teacher, not the front office.
5. Students from Years 7-10 need to hand
money directly into the Senior Office by
9:30am.
Emergency Medical Plans
Any student requiring an Emergency Medical
Plan medical MUST have their plan updated
yearly. If your child requires an Emergency
Medical Plan please collect the forms from the
Front Office and return as soon as possible.
Medication
If children need to take medication during
school hours, please fill in an “Authority to
Administer Medication” form which is
available from the front office. If the
medication is prescribed by a doctor, it is
also preferable to have the doctor sign the
form. Due to departmental policy, school
staffs are unable to administer medication
without this authority. All medication to be
administered must be in the medication
container/box from the chemist with
dosage and time of administration and
handed to the front office staff.
Clothing
Please mark all clothing clearly with your
child’s full name. Lost property can then be
returned promptly to the owner.
Contact Details
For the well-being of your child please keep
us informed of up-to-date contact phone
numbers, addresses and essential details.
We would also appreciate being informed of
any changes in domestic arrangements in
your child’s family.
If you require further information on general
procedures within the school please do not
hesitate to contact us on 6142 2200.
FRONT OFFICE HOURS
Harrison School Front Office hours are:
Monday – Friday
8:30am – 3:30pm
For all enquiries and calls
Thank you for your assistance.
Debbie Carne – Business Manager
3/4 Team News
Welcome to 2015!
The 3/4 team has planned an exciting and
engaging program for Term 1 and we would like
to share a couple of highlights in each
newsletter.
Students will start out by answering two very big
questions:
What if we had no rules?
How would we interact with others safely and
actively?
These come from the Australian Curriculum
areas of Health and Civics and Citizenship:
*Examine how success, challenge and failure
strengthen personal identities
*Explore strategies to manage physical, social
and emotional change
*Identify and practice strategies to promote
health, safety and wellbeing
For students to hear firsthand how different
people practise strategies that promote health,
safety and wellbeing and challenge themselves,
we are inviting some ‘everyday heroes’ to talk to
our students.
HARMONY DAY 2015
Friday 20 March 2015
The message of Harmony Day is EVERYONE
BELONGS. It’s a day to celebrate Australia’s
diversity, and Harrison’s diversity – a day of
cultural respect for everyone who calls
Australia home.
First off, on the 17 February we have invited Eric
Aichinger, who works at Parliament House during
the day, and is a passionate bicycle rider. Eric
combines his passion for riding with supporting
Variety, - the children’s charity.
“I feel really privileged to be able to combine my
love of riding with a desire to help Variety raise
much needed money to help Aussie kids.”
Eric is a fantastic storyteller, who will inspire our
students to want to ride their bikes themselves,
personalise the experience by sharing his journey
with our students and support their learning, by
explaining the importance of regular practice,
healthy eating habits and a positive mindset to
achieve our goals.
We would like to express our gratitude to Eric who
is taking time out of his work day to come and talk
to our students.
Please have a look at the website below to find
out more about our ‘local hero’ Eric and his
journey. If you would like to donate towards this
worthy cause please go to the link. All
contributions will help.
https://thevarietycycle2015.everydayhero.com/au
/eric#post_411889
We invite you to share your ‘everyday hero’
stories with our students ,please contact your
class teacher or the team leader Nicole Zimmer
on 61422000.
3/4 Team
All parents are invited to come to Harrison
School to celebrate Harmony Day. All students
can wear clothes that represent their culture,
their heritage or any other culture. We would
like to have food from many cultures and
countries. If you would like to help prepare
food or bring food, please contact Andrea
Kemp on [email protected].
DEFENCE NEWS
Welcome back for 2015 to all our continuing
families. To all of our new Defence families
arriving this year, welcome to Harrison School
and to Canberra! We hope that your moves
have gone smoothly and that you settle into
our community very quickly. Please watch this
space each week, for Defence information and
details about activity groups that we will be
offering for both students and parents
throughout the year.
DSTA: Available Monday – Thursday, during
school hours
DTM: hours to be confirmed
We look forward to meeting you,
Jenny and Jo
[email protected]
HARRISON HEARTS
Harrison Hearts will be returning in 2015. For
those new families, this group facilitated by the
DSTA and DTM, is open to all community
members and meets in the library Multi –
purpose room on Wednesday afternoons
between 1:30pm and 2:30pm. We get together
and have a cuppa and a great chat while creating
resources for the school. Watch this space for a
start date!
CANTEEN NEWS
Please see the link below for the new CANTEEN
MENU.
Flexi-schools will not be available until Monday
9 February.
FLEXI -SCHOOLS ONLINE ORDERING
SCHOOL BANKING
Welcome back to everyone and a warm welcome
to all new families to the school. To our new
families, the school participates in the
Commonwealth Bank School Banking Program,
where we process deposits to the children’s
accounts at school, the children receive a special
token and these can then be redeemed for
fantastic rewards during the year. We will have
more information and parent information packs
available in the coming weeks. In the meantime
if you would like to participate in the program
you simply need to open a Youthsaver Account
at any Commonwealth Bank. You also need to
remember that our school banking day is every
Wednesday, to our existing savers -this means
we will recommence the program tomorrow.
We look forward to a great year with some new
and exciting rewards and hope many more of you
join our very successful program. Linda and I are
always happy to help you.
Maria Sanchez-Worsnop and Linda Barrack
School Banking Coordinators