Issue 11, 29th July 2022

From the Principal

Yura families and carers,

I am honoured to have been invited to act as Principal for another 12 months at Hilliard SS.  I am excited to continue to work with the staff, students and community to make Hilliard SS even better than it currently is. 

COVID Update:  With numbers increasing again we have been asked to publish the weekly numbers of positive COVID cases reported to us.  Last week there were 17 cases reported in the school, this week there have been a further 8.  

Please be assured that our school has been taking all appropriate precautions regarding health and hygiene and we will continue to act in accordance with the advice of Queensland Health.

May I remind you to continue to:

• monitor yourself and your family for COVID-19 symptoms that can include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, headache, fatigue, diarrhoea, vomiting or nausea, loss of smell and/or taste.
• stay home if displaying any symptoms, or feeling unwell.
• Continue to follow all Queensland Health advice.

If students become symptomatic while at school, you will be contacted to collect them. You will also be provided with a free rapid antigen test (RAT) to administer at home.

If your child tests positive to COVID-19, please follow Queensland Health guidelines for reporting the test result, isolation and quarantine.

iKids Playgroup: We are pleased to announce our iKids playgroup has returned for term 3. Please find our link to register your details on the Hilliard State School Facebook page. If you require any further information, please feel free to email ikids@hilliardss.eq.edu.au

Staffing: We welcome Danielle Cooney to the position of Arts specialist at Hilliard State School.  She is very excited to be working with us and teaching the students Drama.

We also welcome Lee Tilley who is our new "Chappy". He will be known as "Coach Lee" around the school and is supporting Hilliard two days per week.  Watch out for the amazing contribution that Coach Lee will make to our school community. 

Disco: YMCA! It’s fun to stay at the … What a wonderful night we had dancing and singing loudly.  A big thank you to the community for joining us with your children to help raise funds for new playgrounds.  These events occur because of the wonderful P&C committee and the team of volunteers. We can’t thank you enough for all that you do for the school.  The P&C are proud to announce that they made just over $3600. 

Finally, a thank you to all our students. Your behaviour was exemplary, and your dance moves superb!

Parenting Program: Hilliard SS hosted a Triple P session on anxiety and how to help your child reduce worry.  Unfortunately, the presenter was unwell, but we were able to move the session to an online format. It was an interesting presentation with helpful strategies.  Keep watching for the next session that will be on offer.

Yr 4 Camp:  Our Yr 4 students are preparing for their camp on Monday and Tuesday to Thunderbird Park. I am sure there are some nervous students and parents.  We look forward to hearing about all the adventures the students have in the mountains.

Under 10/12 Rugby League:  We have two teams representing Hilliard at the Rugby League Regional Shield days. The U10 Regional Shield will be held next week on Wednesday 3rd August and the U12 Regional Shield will be held on Thursday 11th August. We know that all the students selected will represent our school proudly.  We look forward to hearing of their success.

AHSHS Music Show:  Alexandra Hills State High School is coming to visit Hilliard SS to showcase their music program.  We work closely with Alexandra Hills SS and enjoy seeing their work and share in their successes.  If you are interested in watching the performance, it will be held in the Hall on Thursday, 4^th August from 2pm.

Have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend,

Leanne Witham

Principal

Facilities Update

We have lots of wonderful things happening around our school at the moment, and a long list of projects to come. You might have noticed a few of our buildings are being refreshed with a new coat of paint, these buildings should be completed in the coming weeks. During the holidays our P&C installed cold water bubblers in our under-covered areas, we are just waiting on the PowerPoints to be installed, and they should be ready to go for the summer months.

The construction around the Jabiru OSHC building has been finished, we are now starting a competition for  art works along this fenceline to brighten up this area. Please keep your eyes open for the competition details.

Unfortunately, we were advised by Education Queensland's Safety Advisor that our junior playground was unsafe and it will need to be removed as soon as possible. We have followed this advice and closed the playground. We are working closely with the department on this matter and are planning for a new playground.  In the meantime our Schools Officer Cookie has installed a shed on the oval that will be filled with all kinds of sports equipment for the students to play with during breaks. 

Prep oval shade sail: you might have noticed this shade sail looking a little loose. This will be made safe over the next week and we are working with the department to have it replaced. We are hoping to have this completed before the summer months.

It's going to be a busy Term 3!

Introducing Coach Lee

Hi, my name is Lee Tilley and I will be your new Culture Coach.

Fourth Quadrant Foundation Culture Coaches exist to invest in the responsibilities of the previous Chaplaincy program that the school administration would like to see continue, while adding our unique ‘Culture Focussed Approach’ to the role. Culture is the sum total of how a group of people are treating themselves and one another.

I have been working with young people for over 30 years as a youth worker, Chaplain and sports coach. I believe I have developed a lot of skills to help the welfare team and the school community. I am a passionate believer that everyone can improve and when we start improving our relationships and honouring one another at a higher level, life outcomes in all areas can improve. I learned a lot of these lesson far too late in life, my deep hope is to help young people learn this lesson while at school, prior to entering the ‘real world’ when "how I treat others" can have a more detrimental effect on life. Please come and talk to me about who I am and what I do at any time as I would love to get to know each and every one of you.

Regards, Coach Lee

Term 3 Event Calendar

From your friendly office staff

We have lots of exciting things happening in and around the school over the next few weeks!  Next Wednesday the bandwidth at the school is being upgraded, this means that there will be interruptions to our phone and internet service in the morning before school. Hopefully the interruptions will be minimal, please be patient with us during this time.

Our students have some exciting events coming up:

• Year 4 are off to Thunderbird Park on Monday, payments for this activity have closed
• On Thursday, students from Alexandra Hills State High School are bringing their "All Music Program School Tour" to Hilliard.  We can't wait to see the performances
• On Thursday 11th August we have our next Prep 2023 Information Session and Principal Tour - we are looking forward to seeing a lot of smiling new faces
• In week 6 & 7 we have "The Science Factory" coming out to see our students and share some cool experiments - there is no cost for this activity
• The Schoolaerobics National Championships are from the 19th-22nd August.  We wish all of our teams, coaches, staff and supporters best of luck
• In Week 7 we are celebrating "Book Week" and will hold a costume parade on Thursday morning of that week
• Year 3 students are heading to Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary in week 9, payments for this excursion are due by 25th August.
• Finally, our year 5 students are heading to Tallebudgera for camp in week 10.  Payments for this activity are due by 1st September.

Have a lovely weekend,

Regards,

Katy, Lisa and Keryn

Lunch time clubs

Hilliard Dance - State Championship Results

P and C

Crime Prevention Corner

Quest FA

We are looking forward to our Quest FA sessions at the school every Tuesday from 3:45-5:00pm.

Free trials

We've got a free trial offer, so every child can come and give it a go - they just need to book in here: www.questfa.com.au/free-trial

Redland Museum - Switch on to Science

Redland Museum will soon hold its amazing Switch on to Science day in conjunction with National Science Week.  This year it will be held from 10am to 3pm on Monday 8th August, which is the EKKA holiday for the Redland community.

Switch on to Science is an annual event where museum staff and volunteers operate and demonstrate a wide variety of working vintage equipment and talk about the science and technology principles that make them work.  

This year a wide variety of activities are planned including: structures, blacksmithing, crystal radio sets, telephones and switchboards, microscopes, spinning wheel, treddle sewing machine, knitting machine, gramophones, player piano, printing, flintlock firearms, steam engines, internal combustion engines, making butter, rail motor, pendulums and clocks, film cameras, movie cameras and projectors, minerals, bee keeping and more!!!

Visit the Redland Museum at 60 Smith Street Cleveland ph: 3286 3494 or visit: www.redlandmuseum.org.au 

Chess Mates

Parenting and Enjoying Teenagers

Redland Baseball Club Inc