Volume 1 -  7th February 2008
Week 2 .... Term 1

Ph: 8381 7166
Fax: 8381 6041

Email:
hvsadmin@happyvalley.sa.edu.au

Website:
www.happyvalley.sa.edu.au

Inside this issue............
Thoughts from Students, Welcome new children and students, Governing Council AGM, Acquaintance Night, Sports Day, Swimming, Logo Change, Instrumental Music, Choir, Parking at Bethsalem, Headlice, Thank You, Ignite, Edible Garden, LAP, Resource Centre, Kookaburra Cafe, Sport, Parent Club, Tear Off Slips

Happy Valley School - Educating Responsible Citizens of the Future

Our Vision
"We aim at Happy Valley School to be motivated life-long learners who contribute positively to the community and who are responsible citizens of the future.

To achieve this we strive to provide a school culture that is a supportive and caring partnership which incorporates a love of learning and laughter, and builds deep knowledge and understandings.

We acknowledge and support diversity within our community and focus on the values of respect, responsibility and integrity."

What a wonderful start to the school year!  Last week numerous activities based on our values and vision happened around the school. 

The culmination of the week was our assembly by the Values Totem Poles which highlighted the work of our 3 Learning Communities across the week.  Students showed banners, a "Respect Rainbow", performed songs and raps that they had composed and reported on activities that they had undertaken.  The quality of work showcased was outstanding and reinforced to our students that this is a whole school effort to live our values every day.

You may have noticed the term "learning communities".  We now have worked on breaking the Primary school into two groups. The Lower Primary Learning Community (year 3/4) and the Upper Primary Learning Community (years 5/6/7) and of course we have the Junior Primary Learning Community. (That is not to say that we won't do many whole school activities or whole primary school activities).

This grouping is different to the past, but better reflects the way that classes have needed to be structured this year and hopefully will help build an even better community "feel" in the school.

This work on our values and vision will continue across the year with many other activities planned in classrooms and with the whole school. The next major event will be our Leadership Camp which Doug and Carol are planning for next week with a group of senior students who have expressed an interest in developing these skills. Year 6 and 7 students are also starting to work towards a "Life-long Leadership Learning Award" and will be collecting evidence for their Leadership Portfolios throughout the year.

So what is our vision? What are we aiming for, what do we want for our students, families and staff? At the top of the page are some words that we spent much time on last year developing and refining. Words on a page don't mean very much unless we can see actions and outcomes that demonstrate that these words live in our school.

We have deliberately not said who we want to be life long learners or positive community members or responsible citizens as we feel that all of us, students, families and staff, should aim towards these goals as we continue to create and maintain our positive Happy Valley School culture.

By working towards this positive culture we create the right kind of environment for "high performance outcomes" for all, which is something we also highly desire no matter if these outcomes are academic, sporting or being good people who make good choices in life, as we work though the challenges that are presented to us.

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From Gail Richter's class
"On Thursday we went over on the oval and there was equipment. There was the earth ball, hoola hoops, parachute, skipping ropes, goals, Frisbees and hoppers." By Mikaela

The J.P. Learning Community enjoying the Life Be In It activities.

"I like frisbies because they fly so high. I liked the parachute too." By Sam

"On Thursday we went to the Life Be In It activities. I like the parachute because you could go under the middle of it and sit down. Holly and I went in the middle and the parachute didn't go down." By Leila

"I really loved Thursday because of the parachute. The parachute was fun because we got to go under the parachute. The equipment was on the oval. My favourite equipment was the earth ball. I liked the Frisbee." By Jamie

The Earth Ball was a real favourite.

From Lynn Craig's class
"This week we learnt about Respect and Responsibility and Integrity. If we behave with Respect for ourselves and each other and are responsible, then we will be behaving with Integrity and our class room will be a friendly and safe place to be." By Monica M.

"Last week was my first week of school and everyone helps me."  By Mao T.

"The first week of the term was exciting and the activities were fun. There were hardly any problems and the work was enjoyable. The values were the most important part of the week. The values were Respect, Responsibility and Integrity. The sports we did were exciting and fun. The week was mostly peaceful.  The  week  was  busy  and  people  were  listening.

People were trying out new things and having fun." By Alex M

"This week we have been learning about Respect, Responsibility. That means you have to look after people and listen and if you have a friend they will always be your friend. Responsibility is very important and that's why we do it in this school." By Alicia R.

From Sue Higgins' class
"Respect has 7 letters and there are 7 colours in the rainbow.  We thought of the Winnie the Pooh characters.  They spell respect.

            R          Rabbit, Roo
            E           Eeyore
            S           Sleepy Old Owl
            P          Piglet Pooh
            E           Eeyore
            C          Christopher Robin
            T           Tigger"

                                                                       By Josh M.
"We made a rainbow of respect.  We thought of respecting elders, animals, each other, your body, the environment, property and yourself".  By Tyson W.M.
"We spelt respect using the letters for Winnie the Pooh characters.  It helped us learn about respect because the Winnie the Pooh characters respect each other".  By Jasmine V.
"We painted the letters "Rainbow of Respect".  We stuck colourful streamers on to make a rainbow.  Mrs Higgins stuck on words that we thought of, of how we can show respect.  It was fun".  By Tahnee F.

The "Rainbow of Respect" made by the J.P. Learning Community.

A very big welcome to our new Reception children who started school on Wednesday in Week 1. The children are in our two Reception/ Year 1 classes, in either Lyn Smart's or Joyce Kerr's classes. We are really pleased to welcome Aisha H., Tara M., Sophia T., Casey W., Jaslyn W., Talissa M., Ashleigh B., Abby H., Jared F. and Joseph M., and their families to Happy Valley. The children have settled just brilliantly -- it is already hard to tell who is new.

 We have had a number of other students move to the Happy Valley area. Welcome also to India, Rio, Mao, Sophie, Emily, Henry, Wenqing, Sean and Luke. 

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Joyce Kerr with her new Reception children.

Lyn Smart with her group of new children.

Council will be holding it's AGM next Monday Feb 11^th at 7 for a 7.15 start in our Resource Centre.  Beside the presentation of various reports we will have several other interesting items on our program.

Paul Hodgson from the Schools Ministry Group will speak about our new Christian Pastoral Worker position. He will explain the CPW role within the school and how the person will be selected. We are hoping to have someone appointed to the position by the end of March.

Some of our students will also be presenting work that they completed as part of our Values and Wellbeing week last week. This will also help us set the scene for the year.

Everyone is welcome to the A.G.M. and if you are interested in becoming a Governing Council member for this year we will have several vacancies.

You can either self nominate or ask some one else to nominate you using the form printed at the end of this newsletter and returning it to the front office by COB Monday.

It was great to see so many parents at Acquaintance Night, taking the opportunity to meet teachers and to hear about class programs and activities planned for this year.  Teachers were able to explain class routines and expectations and to share  the  curriculum  directions  being  taken this year. They  

also took the opportunity to meet many of the  visiting parents. There has been so much positive feedback about the evening. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you to the many parents who took an interest in their child's education and came to our Acquaintance Night.  If you were unable to attend, check out with your child's/ children's teacher(s) to see if there was any printed material handed out on the night, and which teachers are usually very happy to send home.

A very special thanks, also, to the Student Helpers, who so capably assisted with the creche.

Sports Day this year will be held much earlier than usual because District Athletics Day, when all the schools in our area compete against each other, has been brought from Term 4 into Term 1. This means that our athletes need to be selected, based on our own Sports Day results, well ahead of this day.

House Teams have already begun the round of meetings to select their leaders for this year and it won't be long before practices are in full swing!  Put Friday 29^th February in your diary.  Details of the program and times for the day will be published soon.

This week our Year 3-5 students have been participating in swimming lessons at the Marion pool.  While the weather has been a bit indifferent, all students have enjoyed the challenge of their swimming and water safety instruction.

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instrument. Violins are available for hire from the school for a one off $60 instrument hire fee. Parents will be invoiced by the school.

Beginning students need to complete and return the slip below.  These new students are invited to come to one 'trial' lesson and then decide whether they would like to continue.

Guitar - teacher Ms Alison Hansen
A number of students have been learning guitar with Alison over the last few years.  She is happy to take new enrolments and can be contacted on 0419825517.  These lessons are held on Wednesday afternoons and began this week. 

Keyboard - teacher Mr Neil Weber (Dr Rhythm)
Neil Weber has been teaching keyboard for many years at Happy Valley.  For information about keyboard tuition contact Neil on 83706068 or mobile 0413 017 887.   He will be teaching at Happy Valley on Monday afternoons.

Trumpet, Saxophone, Clarinet, Percussion - teacher Mr Tony Hansford
Tony Hansford teaches groups of students in these instruments each year. He is keen to accept new students as well as continuing students and can be contacted for further information on 83845371. Tony teaches under the management of Musicorp and brochures for Musicorp, which outline instrument hire arrangements, can be collected from the Front Office.

Drums and Piano - teacher Mr Simon King
Simon King teaches drums to students after school on Thursday afternoons between 3.30 and 6.00 pm. He is also available to teach piano. For more information contact him on 0414 841 774 or on his email address  keyboard@sa.chariot.net.au

Lynn Craig (Reimann) has taken over Steph's Choir Trainer position along with Kylie Raymond. Choir will start next week on Wednesday and notes will come home early next week so watch out for them. Choir is open to all year 5, 6 and 7 students and is a wonderful learning experience which assists students to develop musical and performance skills along with building their confidence. The culmination to the choir program is performing on stage at Festival Theatre at the end of term 3 which is a memorable experience for students and families.

You may have noticed the work undertaken on the corner of Greenbriar Ave. and Education Road over the holidays.  Bethsalem have updated the car park located there and once it is finished (in about a weeks time) parents will be able to use it for short term parking similar to arrangements on Greenbrier Ave at present.

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This is very generous of Bethsalem to allow us to use the space as they have no compulsion to do so, therefore once the area is available please respect the parking limitations that will be signposted.

It seems that these "little critters" are around again. Please make sure that you are vigilant about checking hair and taking immediate action if necessary. Hot, humid weather creates ideal breeding conditions unfortunately.

A big thankyou to all the parents who have paid their school fees, made arrangements for an instalment plan and/or submitted their application for School Card, this is greatly appreciated. 

On-line payment or part-payment of any school invoice can be made through the school's internet site, just follow the instructions from the Pay Your Invoice Online Now link.  One transaction can include payments for a number of invoices e.g. school fees, camps and excursions, sport fees, OSHC and Vacation Care.  The EDID number of a student is the only mandatory item needed for the payment, comments can be written in to explain the payment.  Congratulations to those who have successfully used this option, and to those who have made an attempt without success, please contact Andrea Roberts, I may be able to assist you. 

An EFTPOS is available to parents who prefer to use their visa debit card to make school payments. For telephone and mail payment of invoices, the three digit authorisation number on the back of the card is required to complete the transaction.

For copies of the invoices sent home last December, the instalment plan arrangements and application forms for School Card, please contact Andrea Roberts in the Front Office. 

SCHOOL CARD APPLICATION FORMS
It is essential that families who are eligible for school card apply AS SOON AS POSSIBLE otherwise the school misses out on the government funding and those families will then incur the legally enforceable fee of $185.  School Card Application Forms need to be filled in every year.  Application forms for School Card assistance are available from the Front Office, the Finance Office or www.decs.sa.gov.au/goldbook/

A Reminder:-  Governing Council has endorsed the policy that students will not be included in excursions/performances until their $45 performance levy has been paid.

Andrea Roberts
Finance Officer

Aberfoyle Park High School is one of three public schools in South Australia that offers the IGNITE PROGRAM which provides accelerated learning, interaction with like-minded students and a safe, nurturing environment for bright students entering secondary school.

Current Year 6 and 7 students are encouraged to apply for entry into the program in 2009. Selection is based on performance in the ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) assessment.

Application forms can be downloaded from www.igniteprogram.com  and are also available from Aberfoyle Park High School on 8270 4455.  Further information on the IGNITE program is available on the school's web site at www.aphs.sa.edu.au   The closing date for applications is Friday 15 February and the Assessment will be held at Aberfoyle Park High School at 9.00am on Saturday 23 February 2008.

We are looking for parents (or Grandparents) interested in being involved with the Edible Garden. There are two ways to become involved:
Become a volunteer who helps in the general running of the Garden; organising the seasonal cleanups etc. - or Help in your child's class plot.  This usually involves working with a small group to help plant the initial seedlings and then general support once a week. If you have any questions, please speak to Wendy Nicolle at the Bookroom Window in the mornings or leave your name at the front office.

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer in the Learning Assistance Program in 2008?  Are you new to the school and wish to know more about the program?

Volunteers, in partnership with teaching staff, work with students on a  one-to-one  basis,  for a  regular  session  each

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week. This individual time creates more learning situations where students can experience success.

Our volunteers find helping in LAP a positive and rewarding experience and we always have children who can benefit from your help.

LAP has get togethers at least once each term with both students and volunteers.  These get togethers are a great sharing time for the volunteers, new friends are made and new skills shared.  The LAP Association has training available during the year for volunteers.

Please fill in and return the attached form to the front office or speak to Wendy Nicolle or Judy Davies.

Wendy Nicolle

Welcome back to the New Year!  We hope you all had an enjoyable break over the holidays.  We’ve included some general information about the Resource Centre which we hope is helpful.

Borrowing
Students visit the Resource Centre at least once per week with their teachers.  Students may also borrow before and after school, and at lunchtimes.  Students may borrow the following numbers of items:

2 items              Reception, Year 1 & 2
4 items              Year 3 & 4
5 items              Year 5, 6 & 7

Library Bags
The children are encouraged to use the Happy Valley Library Bag to help protect the items they borrow.  These can be purchased from the Uniform Shop.  Otherwise a strong cloth bag will suffice.

Borrowing by Parents/Caregivers
During the day, parents are very welcome to come to the Resource Centre to browse and borrow (up to 5 items).  Borrowing cards will be made when requested.  Please sign in and out in the Visitor's Book on the counter at the Front Office.

Overdue, Lost & Damaged Items
Parents are reminded that they are responsible for any lost or damaged books and will be asked to contribute towards the cost of the replacement.  We ask that parents DO NOT try to repair any books themselves but point out the damage when returning them.

• Overdue Notices are issued regularly and given to the child by their teacher.

• Final Notices are sent to parents as a final request for the return of overdue items.

• Billing Notices are sent to parents requesting payment for lost items.

Please contact the Resource Centre staff if you have any concerns regarding overdue/lost items.

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	Credit Card. Fill in these details on the order form. These are forwarded to Scholastic Australia for processing.
	On-line Credit Card Payment.  The receipt number you are given must be written on the order form (to enable to school to order the items).

Andrea and Karen would like to send a big thank you to all the parents, teachers and caregivers who have supported us during our first two weeks -- it has made it very enjoyable. 

Our volunteers so far are:
Tuesday                       Katrina Allen
Wednesday                 Suzie Boyce
Thursday
Friday                          Richard Vinall
We will still be opening on Mondays.

Help forms will be sent out soon.  Anyone wishing to join us for an hour or the day in the Canteen would be very welcome and much appreciated.

Fresh fruit patty pans are now available at recess and lunch times for 5c or 10c.

Andrea Chapman and Karen Erlandsen

BASKETBALL
Games will commence in Week 3. Anyone in Yr2- Yr 7 interested in playing this year should return a sports nomination form to front office ASAP so teams can be finalized. Players will be notified shortly of teams and games. Games will be on Monday or Tuesday after school. We are looking for coaches for all teams so if anyone is interested or know of anyone suitable please contact me.

Janet Veljkovic
Basketball co-ordinator. Ph 0410437067

SOCCER
I know it is summer and the cricket season is still in full swing but I would like to let children and parents know a little bit about soccer at Happy Valley School.

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