TourED - Highbury Primary School

Library

Reading is an important factor in a student’s success in school and work. We learn through reading and can have fun through reading. Reading opens doors to all kinds of new worlds.

Welcome to our school Library. Each week students come to the Library with their class to borrow and return books, conduct research, as well as silent reading in the comfortable space. Students can choose from a huge range of up to date fiction and non-fiction books. If you need help finding a book you can ask the Library staff and they can help you to find something you will enjoy.

If you are in years F – 2 you can borrow up to 3 books a week. If you are in years 3-7 you can borrow up to 6 books. We like you to use a library bag if you are in Junior primary. This helps to keep the books safe and helps you to know where your books are.

The library is open during lunchtime so you can come and play chess, read a book, do a jigsaw puzzle and once a week you can join in with the craft activities.

Every year our school participates in the Premiers Reading Challenge. For the Challenge you have to read 12 books. At the end of the year you will be rewarded with a certificate or a medal.

We also celebrate book week and have a parade where we get to show off our costumes and celebrate the nominated book week books and vote on our favourite books.

We are lucky to have a school pet who lives in the Library. He is a short necked Murray River Turtle named Cooke. Students can apply to be a “Cookie Monitor” and they are responsible for feeding him and taking him for a walk outside. We look forward to your visit to our library.

Computer Room/ STEM

This is our computer room where we come weekly as a class. It is located in our Resource Centre along with our library and STEM room. There are 30 computers in here so it is a great space to use as a whole class. We also have the stem room next door where we keep our Spheros, Edison Robots, Lego Simple machines and Lego Wedo2 Kits.

Pastoral Care Worker

To help support student wellbeing we have a Pastoral Care Worker based at HPS in the Resource Centre. The role of the Pastoral Care Worker is to work with students on request, offer small group support, do presentations to classes and spend time in the yard at play times to model the HPS Values of Persistence, Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. They also attend most assemblies and special events.

Gym and Sport

Here in the hall/gym we hold our school assemblies and have our specialised PE lessons. The Hall contains a stage, two electronically controlled drop down screens, Instrumental Service music room, AV room, PE equipment storage, and the music room attached to one outside wall.
Assemblies happen regularly during the year along with special assemblies for occasions such as Remembrance Day. There is also a whole school assembly on the last day of term. All assemblies run for approximately 40 minutes and include student items, news and the presentation of Values awards and the added Terrific Kids awards at the end of each term for two Year 7 students. The Terrific Kid awards are sponsored by Kiwanis and presented by a Kiwani representative.

Sports and Physical Education

Sports and Physical Education is highly valued at Highbury, so is having a healthy lifestyle and regular daily fitness. Everyone is involved in Physical activities daily with their classes. This can include sports, theme-based games, fitness or recreational activities.

In addition to the daily fitness we do with our class, we also have a weekly PE lesson with a specialist PE teacher here in the Hall and on the oval. During the lessons we learn about a wide range of different sports like soccer, volleyball, basketball and athletics just to name a few.
Every year we have a sports day, which is so much fun. The whole school is involved and we all participate to earn points for our House team. We have 4 house teams at our school so when you start at the school you will be put into one of these teams. Our Teams are called Tolley, which is blue, Foggo which is green, Smart which is red, and Elliott which is yellow. You stay in this team for your whole time at Highbury. You can get involved in sport in so many ways at Highbury. There are after school sports teams you can join including basketball, soccer, football and netball teams. The school also enters teams or individuals in SAPSASA Sports like swimming, Tennis, Athletics, Cricket, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer and Football.

Hard Play Area

On our grounds we have a hard play area that consists of the basketball court, hand ball areas and seating areas. The tree that is found in the middle of the grounds is the tree that is used on our school logo and was here before the school was built in 1972. In this area you will see our school mural which showcases our school values of Persistence, Respect, Responsibility and Resilience.
We also have a separate netball area that is used regularly for class fitness and team practice.

Main Building

This is our Main Building. Here you will find our Admin area and most of our middle and upper primary classes. It is also where our Chinese lessons are conducted and where our school support officers, SSOs, work with individual students and conduct the reading intervention program.

Administration

At the front of the school near our main entrance you will find our Front Office, and administration area. This is where you will find our Principal, Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal and Student Services. When visitors come to our school they will come here to sign in. Our front office staff are always here to help with any financial or school related matters and to offer help to students when first aid or medication is required.

Chinese

One of our specialist subjects offered at Highbury is Chinese. These lessons are for students in years F- 5. Students attend one lesson a week in the Chinese Room. We also learn about Chinese culture and throughout the year we take part in activities like cooking and craft. The whole school also takes part in the Chinese New Year parade.

Auslan

In 2020 we started Auslan (Australian Sign Language) lessons at Highbury Primary School for our Year 5 and 6 students to study. Auslan is a signing language used across Australia and is the language of the Deaf community of Australia. Learning Auslan and Chinese as a second language enables students to engage meaningfully with a different language and culture. Intercultural learning is essential in our increasingly diverse and changing world in which we live and one day will work.

Reading Intervention

In our reading intervention room, SSOs under the facilitation of the Principal and Assistant Principal, work with students using a program called Minilit. This is aimed to help early years’ students with reading who have been identified as needing additional support.

Music

Welcome to our music room. Each week classes attend a music lesson with a specialist music teacher. During the lesson we develop our music skills by singing, listening, and playing instruments which include drums, shakers, xylophones, recorders and ukuleles. We learn how to read and write music, and then we get to create and perform our own music.

We have a junior and senior band along with a junior and senior choir. Students are also able to join a string and guitar ensemble and receive instrumental music lessons provided by Department for Education Instrumental Music Service teachers (IMS). The instrument lessons offered are for violin/viola/cello, drums, classical guitar, trumpet/trombone, flute clarinet or saxophone. These lessons are held in the hall in the instrumental music room.

There is a Senior Concert Band and a Junior Concert Band for students learning brass, woodwind and percussion instruments. These students all participate in one of the bands as part of their instrument learning.
The String Ensemble is for advanced string students who have been learning for at least a year. Students who learn an instrument privately may also join our school ensembles.

School ensembles perform at a variety of events throughout the year including assemblies, open nights, concerts and a tour for senior ensembles.
Our Junior Choir is for students in Years 3-4 and the Senior Choir is for students in Years 5-7. Choir allows students to enjoy the experience of singing together while developing valuable music and vocal skills.

The Junior Choir is a fun way for students to start developing their singing skills and performance practice performing in a safe environment. They learn a variety of songs and perform at various events throughout the year.
The Senior Choir participates in the combined Festival of Music Choir each year, performing in the Public Primary Schools Music Festival at the Festival Theatre in September.

Preschool

Highbury Preschool is Located On-Site with Highbury Primary School.
The Director is Marnie Hillier and is always available to talk with you about your child’s preschool learning. It is an exciting and vibrant learning environment for children 3-5 years.

Science

This is our science room. All students from Reception to Year 7 come and use the fully equipped Science Room during their weekly class lessons with a specialist science teacher. Science is also taught within classrooms covering all of the subject areas which include Physics, Chemistry, Earth and Space, and Biology

Science lessons focus on developing students’ knowledge, skills, understanding, and capacities in science. We do this is by working in teams through a process of Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. Science at Highbury Primary engages students to investigate, through interactive activities, in a fun and safe environment.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in The Oliphant Science Awards and to be a member of the Environmental Forum. National Science Week is also celebrated with a special learning emphasis to suit the theme.

Our school is a registered AuSSI-SA school. That stands for Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative of South Australia. We are aiming to build on a culture of continuous improvement in sustainability practices. All students and staff are involved in waste management, taking responsibility for reducing landfill, while also recycling efficiently.

Canteen

Our canteen is open every day and offers a great range of healthy lunches and snacks. Students can come to the canteen at recess and lunch and buy food over the counter, or you can place a lunch order and your lunch will be delivered to your class.

We offer an online ordering process which means you can order and pay for your food using the Quicker app.

The canteen is always looking for parent/community volunteers so if you have any spare time and are looking for a way to support the school you can talk to our canteen manager about volunteering. Just contact the front Office and they will let the canteen know that you want to help.

Vegetable Garden

Highbury Primary School has initiated the construction of a student Vegetable and Sensory garden on the school grounds. This is a very exciting project, with stage 1 completed in Term 3, 2021. This area will provide students from F-6, OSHC and the Preschool with the opportunity to grow vegetables, harvest and use in cooking activities, take in the wonders of plants, visit our Australian Bee Hotel and understand how plants grow and where fruit and vegetables come from.

School grounds

South Oval and Nature Play

We have beautiful grounds here at Highbury. There are two ovals, North and South, three well maintained playgrounds and two large sandpits.

The South oval is divided into two parts and is accessed by our Early year’s students, with one half being a beautiful nature play area, filled with climbing, walking and sound making natural equipment. The other half is a large grassed area.

North Oval

The North Oval is for the middle and upper Primary students to play on during lunch and recess and is used during class fitness and PE lessons, it also has playgrounds for the older students. The whole area is surrounded by beautiful native vegetation and we often see koalas living in the trees.

Home Base

Our Home Base building is located at the southern end of the school and is where our early year’s classes are based. There are undercover outdoor spaces that can be used as well as a separate play area for the younger students.