Winter is settling in, with us experiencing plenty of wet weather with our short days and with less than a week to the Winter Solstice, I know I am, and I trust everyone else is looking forward to the daylight hours starting to lengthen.

Monday 19 June will see the judging of the Lego Brixibition competition for our school. Students should bring their creations in and display them in the Multipurpose Room. We look forward to viewing what the imaginations of our students have enabled them to build and know that the judging will be tough. How to choose which creation and student will represent HPS at Brixhibition in Ulverstone during the school holidays.

Parent teacher conversations are happening next week and for some staff during Week 10. This is a great opportunity to grow our partnership in your child/ren’s learning journey and we look forward to sharing their successes and next steps in learning with you. Together we have the greatest positive impact.

On Tuesday 27 June we will have the official opening of our Walk ‘n’ Talk project. Classes have been working diligently to produce signs that will encourage people using our track to make the most of the shared experience. I have had some wonderful chats with students and teachers about how much enjoyment has been gained from creating their signs and visiting the spot on the track where their sign will be housed.

The External School Review team will be visiting our school in Week 10. They will be talking to staff, students and parents about our progress on our school improvement journey. If any parent would like to talk to the External School Review team, please contact the front office so we can make an appointment for you.

Break times and free play are an important part of children’s learning and from time to time some of our students struggle with interacting positively with each other.  The identified challenge at the moment is learning appropriate ways to respond when someone tells them they don’t want to play with them anymore and how to deal with conflict. Our staff are taking to steps to help all students develop the personal skills they need to maintain positive relationships. Parents can also help by talking with their child and discussing with them how they might solve problems they are having in the playground. From time to time, we will need to have consequences for students such as restricted play areas, sitting out and thinking about their behaviour, talking with an adult etcetera. If an incident is serious enough to warrant extra intervention parents will be contacted.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for their support as we work with our students to continually develop positive lifelong relationship skills and coping strategies when things don’t go their way.