Hughes NEWS T E R M 4 I S S U E 1 4 t h 3 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 Hughes Primary School acknowledges the Ngunnawal People, the traditional owners and custodians of this land. Principal’s Message DATES TO REMEMBER Please see 4 Principal: Kate Smith Deputy Principal: Kerri Clark Executive Teacher: Helen Cox Executive Teacher: Maryanne Hayes Preschool Teacher: Susan Jones Business Manager: Gaye Broad School Secretary: Karen Stone-Tolcher IEC Office: Pansy Sung School Board Chair: Ms Melanie O’Hanlon P&C President: Mr Andrew Reichstein Congratulations to Maryanne Hayes for being the 2014 ACT Regional and State NEiTA winner! We are so proud of you and of all the marvellous things you lead and do in our beautiful school. Thanks to you, our classrooms are digitally rich, you upskill the teachers and students with iPads and all things technological...as well as being a pivotal part of the preschool and early childhood team. Congratulations, highly deserved!! inferences from a viewing lesson and how to create spectacular ICT documents. Thanks teachers for being good sports and allowing me to be in your classrooms. It is hard to believe we are in the middle of our last term for 2014...what a busy time we have had. This will be my last newsletter for the year, as I have to take some leave from November 24th onwards. The school will be in wonderful hands under Ms Kerri Clark who will be taking up the role of Principal till the end of term. I am hoping to attend the Week 10 K-5 and Yr 6 Presentation Assemblies. We will be planting our own Time Capsule the last day of school - to mark the end of a most wonderful year. Our 2014 Year Book is looking amazing, many thanks to Maryanne for culminating all the pages, please make sure you buy a copy to keep, as it is a special edition this year. All pages reflect the journey we have been on this year, with a four page spread of the 50th birthday and also pages dedicated to our amazing Wizard of Oz. Thanks to the teachers and actors from Wizard of Oz for representing our school recently at the Woden festival. Thank you to Mr Andrew Reichstein for his sensational leadership of the P & C again this year. His recent addition to the 'families of trees' on site, will be treasured forever and a testament to the 'big picture' and vision Andrew has for the life of this school. I applaud your energy, drive and commitment to the school. Thanks also to all P & C members who come along on dark and freezing nights when you might prefer to be snuggled up inside or, on a balmy summer evening, when you might prefer to be outside relaxing...but instead, you continually show your amazing commitment to building this school up more and dedicating your time to the P & C. I welcome more families to join us in 2015, particularly from the IEC, Blue Gum and preschool so that we have representation from all areas of our school. Ms Trina Cleary will be representing our school at the Headley Bear Centre, in Stirling, amongst 34 other ACT Primary Schools, to showcase the amazing work she has delivered to her class with reading strategies this year. Our teachers will be amongst hundreds of teachers who will support Trina and view all the other amazing things going on in primary schools across Canberra. I am very proud of the work our IEC teachers do, and am constantly in awe of the difference they make in the lives of their students. Ms Helen Cox recently facilitated a system wide professional development for teachers across the system, interested in the Jason Project, which is a highlight of the Yr 5/6 learning program here at Hughes. Awesome leadership Helen. I absolutely loved being a student at Hughes Primary last Wednesday, when three very capable new Principals came to school and worked their magic with the exec team, Gaye, teachers and students. They did a wonderful job, and I was most impressed by their professionalism. Thank you Lakshitha, Etta and Alex. I equally loved my job to learn in classrooms, all dressed in my finest HPS school uniform (and Etta's hat). I learnt all about how to effectively 'search' within an Information literacy lesson, all about fractions, making Groom Street HUGHES ACT 2605 www.hughesps.act.edu.au Congratulations to our Yr 6 Ford Cup Debating Team - more details on the following pages. Congratulations to Lauren Ayres for her recent achievements in Geelong with her amazing gymnastic skills. We are very proud of you. Susan, at the preschool, delivered a riveting presentation to our future preschool parents last week, and again, showcased the thorough knowledge and expertise she has for our youngest students. Thank you for your ongoing support, friendship and camaraderie this year. I hope to see you all in Week 10, Until then, keep happy and healthy, Kate Smith Phone: 6205 5699 Fax: 6205 5653 Email: [email protected] PAGE T E R M 2 4 I S S U E HUGHES PRIMARY SCHOOL – INAUGURAL YEAR 6 FORD TROPHY DEBATING TEAM This year, at the request of a particularly enthusiastic student, Aithne Dann-Hotchin, and her wonderful parent, Larissa, Hughes Primary School formed two teams and entered an ACT debating competition organised by the ACT Debating Union (ADU). The ADU is a not-for-profit organisation that organises school debating competitions in Canberra and the surrounding regions. There are three competitions: Ford, Murray and Douse Australian-style competitions. The Ford Trophy competition is for Years 6, 7 & 8 students. The competition in 2014 occurred on Monday evenings at Canberra Girls Grammar School, from March to September, for eight rounds. This means that our fabulous students: Elena Hammer, Lakshitha Kumaragama, Marit Beenan, Liam Ayres, Jess Booth, Quinn Goodwin and Aithne, under the guidance of our wonderful Year 4 teacher, Mr Strutt, found themselves debating against Year 7 and 8 teams, each round. Although our teams did not win the competition, we are delighted to learn that Hughes has been selected to receive the Leung Best & Fairest Award for the Ford Competition this year. This award was introduced in 2010 to recognise the best primary school team for the year. The presentation will take place at ANU this Saturday evening. Well done students, and Mr Strutt. It is inspiring to have all your enthusiasm, efforts and resilience recognised by this award. Congratulations! Helen Cox, Executive of Achievement and Potential. HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE Countdown to 2015 What a busy 5 weeks we have ahead of us! Bookpacks Order forms were sent home last week. Don’t forget these are closed packs and items cannot be deleted. Teachers have worked hard to make sure only essential items are included. It would be fantastic if all students were able to purchase these through our supplier so the children all have the same items of the same quality. All book packs will be delivered straight to the classrooms. If you are not able to order online then you can order and pay at the sell days, or just turn up and pay at the sell days. Sell days will be Monday 5 th February from 9am – 2pm, or Tuesday 6th February from 9am – 12noon. Don’t forget there is a $100 Coles/Myer giftcard up for grabs for one lucky family that orders online. Yearbooks Teachers have now created their class pages for this year’s fantastic Yearbook. Final proofing is now happening. Yearbooks will be on sale from the front office from early December. Transition sessions Preschool Thursday 13th Nov from 9 – 10am Monday 1st Dec from 9 – 12 Preschool 2015 parent interviews – Wednesday 3rd Dec, Thursday 4th Dec, Monday 8th Dec Kindergarten Thursday 13th Nov from 9 – 3 Monday 1st Dec from 9-3 Parent information session – Tuesday 9th Dec at 3:30pm in the Kindergarten rooms. New students to Hughes Thursday 20th Nov from 9-3. We also have presentation assemblies, IEC graduation, Year 6 graduation, Whole School Fun Day, moving classes, discovering who our new teachers are, just to name a few. Maryanne Hayes, Executive of Excellence and Endeavour HUGHES NEWS 3 PAGE T E R M 4 DATES TO REMEMBER NOVEMBER 2014 Mon 17th Bandstravaganza - Fife and Drum Band Tue 18th Year 6 Band Bandstravaganza rehearsal at Palmerston Primary School Tue 18th Preschool Teddy Bears Picnic Wed 19th IEC Kindergarten Info Session Wed 19th Bandstravaganza - Year 6 Band Fri 21st Preschool Teddy Bears Picnic Fri 21st Assembly hosted by K/1S Mon 24th Board Meeting 6.00 pm and P&C Meeting 7.30 pm Wed 26th IEC Preschool/Kindergarten transition Fri 28th Volunteers Morning Tea HUGHES NEWS 4 I S S U E 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE Preschool Owls and Butterflies After a very hectic start to the term in preparation for the art show the children have enjoyed some time to just be preschoolers. For both groups there has been a wonderful interest in the clay and using the malleable material to explore their creative skills with some amazing sculptures. While some children delighted in purely rolling, dividing and moulding with the clay developing their finger strength, others have cooperated on the creation of some wonderful representative sculptures relating to familiar interests, such as the castles and characters from Frozen and Ben and Holly. Bubbles have also become an area of investigation in both groups. While some children have delighted in seeing how much foam they create as they have blown, squeezed and whisked the water to make bubbles. There has also been a wonderful link to earlier explorations of volcano's as several children have shared their view that the oozing foam is like the lava. The Butterflies had fun extending their volcano explorations by actually making a bubbly chocolate volcano! Story time and taking time to read books has continued to be a wonderful focus for all the children. It has been wonderful to listen and observe as they confidently retell familiar stories, and amazingly creative narratives using the illustrations for new books. Our visits to the library have contributed to this and of course their continued passion for creating play narratives in role and imaginative play. We are getting ready for visits to Kindy, which will just be an extension of the fun the children love. While the children are away, we will welcome the new preschool children to the whole school community and I'm sure you will join us in welcoming the new families of 2015. Susan, Kate, Brooke and Maryanne HUGHES NEWS 5 PAGE T E R M 6 4 I S S U E Blue Gum News This term Blue Gum students have started writing letters to their buddy class, The White Class at Malkara School. This exciting new relationship will have us writing letters fortnightly and delivering them ourselves. While giving us the chance to make new friends, we will also be working on our social skills and personal safety in the community. We would also like to say a special thank you to the parents who gave up their Saturdays and came in for our Working Bee. We now have a beautiful Sensory Garden filled with tantalising plants that tickle the senses and a bright and wonderful courtyard wall on which our impressive mosaic (made by Hughes students) has been mounted. Yelena, Fiona and Beth HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE KF Tea Trees, KP Hakea and K/1S Red Box A big thank you to all of the parents and students who put so much effort into their presentations about the ways in which they and their families can be healthy! We had lots of terrific ideas including getting plenty of sleep, growing vegetables in the garden and eating them, taking the dog out for a walk and doing handstands. Over the last couple of weeks, some of the students have had the opportunity to design, make and appraise a pair of ‘crazy sunglasses’. It was a great way to integrate our Inquiry Unit with a technology task and the Sunglass Hut had better watch out – they’ve got competition in the area of sunglasses design! Just a quick reminder that as the weather is warming up, please ensure your child has a labelled drink bottle filled with water each day, and a hat with their name on it. It’s also good to check that students are wearing appropriate clothing for such warm weather (such as t-shirts, instead of long sleeved shirts). Finally, the K/1 S class will be hosting assembly in Week 6. Parents, carers and family members are invited to join us. We look forward to seeing you there! Alix, Adam and Julie HUGHES NEWS 7 PAGE T E R M 8 4 I S S U E 1C Hardenbergia and 1S Hovea In Year One we started a new unit called ‘Healthy, Happy me’. We have taken a look at the Australian guidelines regarding how to be healthy. We have learnt about different types foods that are recommended to maintain a healthy lifestyle, through taking a close look at the ‘Healthy living pyramid’, the ‘Australian Guide to Healthy Eating’ circle and the ‘Healthy Food and Drink’ traffic light system. After looking at ways in which we could improve or maintain our healthy food intake, we jumped into our Design Make and Appraise project. We looked at the importance of being active every day, we designed a piece of park equipment that promotes an active lifestyle for 7 year olds. We then created a model using some awesome resources from Miss Smallmon’s crafty cupboard and Mrs Clark Art supplies. We were able to choose from a range of resources such as play dough, clay, straws, paddle pop sticks, cardboard, pipe cleaners and many many more… Our models turned out great, and our teachers were very impressed by our hard work and persistence to produce spectacular pieces of equipment that promoted an active and safe lifestyle. Eggplant Emma, Jumping Janet and Acrobatic April HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE 2M Kurrajongs and 2WR Waratahs These past few weeks have been filled with lots of testing and assessment. Our Year 2 students have done a fabulous job in remaining focused, determined and patient during these long days. These assessments will inform the end of year reports that will be issued to parents in Week 9 of this term. If you wish to make an appointment to discuss your child’s end of year report, please feel free to contact one of us or make an appointment through the front office. This week, we have been learning about the significance of Remembrance Day and its importance to Australians. Students listened to stories and poems written about the war throughout the week. We made poppies to symbolise our commemoration for the Australian lives that have been lost in war throughout history. Students joined in a whole school ceremony and participated in a minute of silence to show their respect and remembrance. As part of our inquiry unit on transport, students designed and made hot air balloons. They used a variety of craft materials including cardboard, tissue paper, paddle pop sticks and match sticks to create stunning hot air balloons. Each student named their hot air balloon. They are on display outside of our classrooms. Come and see them! They are spectacular. Also, we have been learning about fractions in Maths. Students have been learning about halves, quarters and eighths. We have been making fractions using shapes, counters and numbers. Students have been using a fractions calculator to assist them in understanding the different fractions. We have some busy weeks ahead with swimming lessons, the end of year concert and school fun day. It’s an exciting time of year. Please ensure your child has a hat to wear with their name labelled clearly on the inside. Students with no hats will be asked to play in the shade at lunch times. Enjoy the warm weather Steph Roberts, Jonathan White and Mat McRae HUGHES NEWS 9 PAGE T E R M 10 4 I S S U E 3P Scribbly Gums, 3T Snow Gums, 3/4T Blue Bells and 4S Dianellas The teachers have got their full report writing groove on and we want to say a big ‘well done’ to all the 3/4s for the effort they have put into all the assessment we’ve been doing. Collecting this data is so important so we can see how far the kids have come on their Year 3 or Year 4 journey. Not only have they shown us their best ‘crunchy eyebrow’ expressions of concentration, they have also been very flexible with the change to the regular program assessment brings. You are all stars in our eyes! Could all Year 3 parents please keep an eye out for a preliminary ‘expression of interest’ note for Birrigai camp next year. This note will be coming home in Week 6. As camp is happening very early in Term 1, 2015, we need to gain an idea of student numbers we can expect to attend. Year 4s going into Year 5, as your camp is not as early in the year you will not be receiving an expression of interest note as yet. Throughout the year we've had many students in Years 3 & 4 stand out as having done something special. Whether it be helping out a friend, standing up for someone in need or simply being there for those around them. We definitely have a kind hearted bunch of kids! This term, one of our Year 3's made a special plea to her peers and we would like to commend her on her sense of empathy for others. Sinta from 3P travelled to Fiji last term for a holiday and was able to visit a school from a nearby village. She was welcomed with open arms and spent some time talking, singing and dancing with the children that went there. Within her wonderful time there she was struck by the lack of resourcing for the school and realised how lucky we are here in Australia to have access to so many learning opportunities. Sinta decided she needed to do something so she approached her teachers about sending over some preloved books so the school in Fiji could start building a library. The children from 3P and 3T have been very generous and have donated a number of books to help see Sinta through with her mission. We are so very proud of Sinta and congratulate her and all the kids that have brought a book (or books!) in to help others. Well done everyone! Kathy Perinovic, Mark Strutt, Samantha Thornton and Philippa Thomas HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE 5/6C Bottlebrush, 5/6H Wattle & 5/6M Grevillea What an extremely busy few weeks it has been. All students have been excited to receive their MOVbands, which record the number of movements they make and the kilometres they travel each day. Students have been enthusiastically keeping up their physical activity to increase their totals, and some of the results, even at this early stage in the process, have been very impressive. We look forward to the rest of the program and thank Miss Smith for her considerable work in managing the logistics of this initiative. Kids’ Café also operated again this term on Thursday, and was again a wonderful success and a testament to the hard work and organisation of the Year 6 students. With a range of delicious food and great atmosphere and company, the Year 6 students continued this wonderful Hughes tradition in style. In the Arts, our students have been busy creating group performances, which were recently shared with the cohort. We were also very lucky to have the coach and players from Canberra United come to visit and support our students with skill development, game sense and tactics. We look forward to more wonderful things happening in the second half of the term. Enjoy your week. Michael McDonald, Rachel Hogan and Paul Corrigan HUGHES NEWS 11 PAGE T E R M 12 4 I S S U E 3 Hughes Primary School Items For Sale Hughie Bear $10 Hughes Mug $10 Hughes Pen $ 5 Hughes Badge $ 5 TERM 4 – Christmas Celebrations This term CEIS will present ‘Christmas Celebrations’ at our school. The events of Christmas as outlined in the Bible will be unpacked through a range of interactive stations. By interviewing key characters from the Christmas story students will better understand why Christians celebrate God’s incredible act of love every Christmas. Only students with permission will attend. Christian Education In Schools (CEIS) occurs because parents request it for their children under ACT legislation. Sessions are coordinated by the CEIS project, using approved resources and volunteers. If you would like to add your child to the existing attendance list print off the section below and return it to the school or go to www.ceis.org.au/yes PLEASE RETURN THIS SECTION TO THE SCHOOL TO ADD YOUR CHILD TO THE EXISTING LIST ¨YES, I request that my child/ren listed below participate in the CEIS sessions offered at school. Child: ___________________________________ Parent name: ____________________________________ Child: ___________________________________ Parent signature: _________________________________ Child: ___________________________________ Date: ________________ HUGHES NEWS T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE Banksia, Boronia and Fringed Lily (IEC Kindergarten & Year 1) In the Junior IEC we are continuing to join with the Senior IEC classes on Fridays to practise singing songs in English. Maybe your child can sing some of these songs for you? It’s fun to visit each other’s classrooms and we have several brothers and sisters to catch up with too! Some of our favourite songs are; Insy Winsy Spider Jack and Jill Baa Baa Black Sheep Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Row Row Row Your Boat and Let It Go On Tuesdays the three junior IEC classes get together for Fitness outside. Fringed Lily has been teaching everyone one of their favourite games – “Side by Side, Back to Back and Face to Face” and Boronia has taught us a running game with bean bags popular in Australia called “Rob the Nest.” Again, thank you for remembering to send your child’s hat every day. It is beginning to get very sunny outside at playtime some days. Please don’t forget your child’s named water bottle every day too. Isabel Winch, Ruth Drew and Trina Cleary HUGHES NEWS 13 PAGE T E R M 14 4 I S S U E Blue Lily (IEC Years 3-6) The students in Blue Lily this week are celebrating the instalment of our new interactive LED board. We are all excited to discover how we will use it in our learning activities. We are starting to explore the different tastes of food from our countries. This week Miss Yukari brought some red bean paste on pikelets from Japan for us to taste. We discovered it has a sweet taste…mmm! We are looking forward to any other parents who would like to visit the class and demonstrate cooking food from their country. The students have explored ways to record and show data, using tally marks and graphs. We graphed the results of which food groups our favourite foods are in using pictures. This week we have also talked about the importance of Remembrance Day as a day of commemoration in Australia. We used crepe paper to make red flowers called poppies. We have recently welcomed Dinda from Indonesia to our class. Miss Bronwyn Singh and Mrs Julia Shaw ACT SECONDARY BURSARY SCHEME The ACT Government’s Secondary Bursary Scheme (SBS) provides assistance to low-income earners in the ACT with a current Centrelink card and dependent full-time student(s) attending an ACT public or non-government school. Students must be in year 7-10 and must be ACT residents. Only a custodial parent or guardian who is financially responsible for the student(s) may apply for this benefit. Application forms can be obtained from the school front office, Centrelink, The Smith Family ‘Learning for Life’ Co-ordinator or online at http:/www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/ starting_school/financial_assistance_for_families HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E PAGE 3 Health and PE Over the past few days, there has been a lot of chatter and looking at wrists in the year 5/6 classes. On Monday, it was the official start of the MOVBand Challenge! While teachers had been wearing these bands for the last week to trial them before the challenge, year 5/6 students started tracking their movement in both 'moves' and kilometres this week, and will continue to track their distances until next Friday. It has been fantastic to see so many students being more active at recess and lunch, as well as within lessons. Some students have already reached the first milestone of 45km and are adding colourful bands to their MOVBand. We can't wait to see who moves the most - teachers or students! Joanna Smith, PE Teacher STUDENT INJURY INSURANCE AND AMBULANCE TRANSPORT The ACT Education and Training Directorate does not provide any insurance cover for injury, disease or illness to students resulting from school activities or school-organised excursions. Claims for compensation are met where there is a legal liability to do so. Liability is not automatic and depends on the circumstances in which any injury, disease or illness was sustained. As there is no automatic insurance cover for personal injury if your child is injured at school or during a school organised activity/excursion you should therefore consider whether taking out personal insurance cover for your child is warranted. This insurance might cover contingencies including medical/hospital expenses, ambulance transport outside the ACT, cancellation of transport/accommodation or loss of/damage to luggage. The ACT Ambulance Service provides free ambulance transport for students who are injured or suddenly become ill at school or during an approved school organised activity within the ACT. SCHOOL BOARD Nominations will be open for two P&C positions on the school board at 11.00 am on Monday 2 February 2015. Nominations close at 11.00 am on Monday 16 February 2015. Nomination forms will be available from the front office in the last week of this term. 2014/2015 Entertainment™ Book There is one 2014/2015 Entertainment Book left for sale at $60. There are fantastic discounts and special offers for many of the best restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, cinemas, theatres, hotels, accommodations, attractions, and activities in your local area. Please see the front office if you would like to purchase an Entertainment Book. HUGHES NEWS 15 PAGE T E R M 16 4 I S S U E The ACT Japanese Speech Contest will be held at Wanniassa Senior School this Saturday 15th November 2014. More than 35 students at Hughes Primary School volunteered to participate in this Contest! I’d like to thank the school principal Kate Smith and executive teacher Helen Cox for supporting this event. I’d also like to thank our Japanese parents for helping students practice their Japanese. Congratulations to the following sixteen students who have been chosen as our school representatives this year! Congratulations to the following students. Year 3 Allie Booth, Mercedes Ellis, Molly Jones, Charles Marpaung, Tess O’Grady, Alannah Pope Year 4 Aiden Bartlett-Jurd, Lotte Beenen, Kate Bell, Paris Ellis, Vanshika Saini, Miranda Teasey, Keira Turnbull, Hanser Yoon Year 5 Ibrahim Fawzi, Abbey De Fiesta Annie Dong, Japanese Teacher. TOILET UPGRADE We are very lucky to have been given the go ahead for a toilet upgrade to the senior school toilets and the hall toilets. You may have noticed the temporary toilets which have been delivered and are placed near the senior school blacktop. They are being hooked up to sewerage today and will probably be in operation ready for Monday. It is hoped the work will be completed during the summer holidays and our new fabulous toilets will be ready for the commencement of the 2015 school year. HUGHES NEWS 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE Library News November is Picture Book Month Picture books can be misunderstood and underappreciated. Conventional wisdom tells us that picture books are only for the very young. That they are for children who do not yet read independently. That they are the most simple and least complex of all literature. Not So! Consider: Rich Language: The language of a picture book (squeezed into 32 pages) is often more similar to a poem than many simple chapter books. Fox runs so fast that his feet scarcely touch the ground, and Magpie exults, “At last I am flying. Really Flying! From the marvellous Fox by Margaret Wild. Visual literacy: Being able to gain meaning from images is very important in the 21st century. The best picture books tell just as much with their pictures as with their words. Try anything by Anthony Browne to see what I mean. Provocative Issues: Gary Crew writes about the extinction of the thylacine in I Saw Nothing. Shaun Tan explore issues around the arrival of the First Fleet in The Rabbits and depression in The Red Tree. Powerful Emotions: Picture books can pack a powerful punch. Just try reading The Sound of the Sea by Jacqueline Harvey or Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild without a box of tissues nearby! Read The Arrival: Picture Books can be “cross over” literature (for adults and children) just like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Do yourself a favour and read one of my all-time favourite picture books. . . Pop up to the library at pick up or drop off time. Shaun Tan’s powerful, wordless picture book The Arrival tells the story of a man who immigrates to a strange new land. Half realistic, half fantasy this story is both personal and universal. It is Shaun Tan and The Picture Book at their best. Provocative and moving, you’ll linger over each page and won’t regret the time you’ve spent. Want to read more? The New York Times writes about how some parents are pushing their children to read chapter books too soon – with the best (though I would argue, misguided) intentions. “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Holly Godfree, Teacher Librarian [email protected] HUGHES NEWS 17 PAGE T E R M 18 HUGHES NEWS 4 I S S U E 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE Dear Parents and Carers, PARENTS AND CARERS SURVEY – ACT PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS The ACT Education and Training Directorate is conducting an online survey of primary school and early childhood parents and carers as part of a wider research process on communicating the benefits of the public school system in Canberra. As a parent or carer of a student in an ACT public primary or early childhood school, your views and feedback are very important. The survey takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. Data collected goes directly back to Piazza Research (an independent Canberra-based research firm contracted by the Directorate to conduct this survey). The survey can also be accessed on mobile devices and tablets. In order to achieve a reliable response rate, several reminders will be sent to all parents over the next two weeks. Your information is protected This survey is completely anonymous and individual answers will not be tracked or attributed to an individual. Who to contact If you require help with completing this survey, please email [email protected] as an initial contact point, providing a phone contact with an email address. Piazza Research will contact you from there. You can access the survey by https://secure.piazzaresearch.com.au/ls2/index.php/523766/ lang-en The survey will be open until Friday 28 November. Exciting Refurbishment News We are very excited we have had final approval from the Department for the minor refurbishments to some classrooms, including the Japanese room and the art room/community kitchen. So, over the holidays there will be lots happening. Carpeting, painting and walls being moved just to name a few. When all the students return in 2015, the school will be looking more fabulous than usual. HUGHES NEWS 19 PAGE T E R M 20 HUGHES NEWS 4 I S S U E 3 T E R M 4 I S S U E 3 PAGE HUGHES NEWS 21
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