Newsletter #13 September 10, 2021
GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY
Learning Today. Leading Tomorrow.
Principal’s Report
Student and Staff Learning
All staff and students have continued striving to contribute to our whole school positive approach to learning. During this week, together with Instructional leaders, I have really enjoyed hearing about the student successes while attending online with our teams of hard working and inspirational teachers!
In addition to planning for term 4, and providing such engaging learning for students, teachers have been live with lessons, taught in small groups, provided feedback and reassurance to everyone for their next steps of learning. There have been countless extra points of contact made to families to keep the students learning as optimally as possible and hours of behind the scenes work accomplished. I feel very proud of each person’s efforts in going over and above to make remote learning as smooth and as fun and achievable as possible.
Staff have continued with their professional learning after hours to continue to make and lead change in their practice. We are very grateful for the presentations our lead teachers and learning specialist to provide to our staff and the attendance of Area leaders at Stonnington and Glen Eira school network communities of practice, where we shared practice with colleagues from Murrumbeena PS.
I also felt very humbled but proud when I attended (online) my recognition of service to Government Education in Victoria Awards for 35 years. This is when one reflects on the privilege and opportunity to teach and lead that has been and will continue to be in my heart and soul for a very long time. In having six years maternity leave, which was a wonderful gift, I really started in 1980…..but who’s counting! Those Year 4 students whom I taught as 9-year-olds would be nearly turning 50 – really makes you smile. 😊
Staffing
On behalf of the staff, I am delighted to announce that Mr Cameron White has been appointed as acting Assistant Principal for the remainder of the year.
Staff have welcomed Cameron during the past 10 days following the DET interview process and appointment. He is excited to be joining the GHPS Community and is looking forward to meeting School Council next Monday and students and families all online and in person as soon as possible.
Cameron has included an introductory open letter to everyone in this newsletter which I am sure you will enjoy reading and getting to know him. He will be taking over the varied and vast duties of Ms Tinetti so if any families wish to discuss any student wellbeing matters or would like to say hi, please feel welcome to contact the office or email the school as is the usual practice.
We wish Cameron an inspirational time at our wonderful school.
Congratulations to Ms Alysha Jones (5/6J) and husband Nathan who are expecting their first baby. Families in 5/6J have been advised by letter on Compass that Ms Jones will be going on maternity leave with her last day being Friday, 17th September. We wish Ms Jones all the best in her new role as a parent and look forward to seeing Ms Jones and the baby in the near future.
We are delighted to announce that Ms Elisha Thorman has been appointed as the teacher in 5/6J for term 4. Ms Jones will be meeting with Ms Thorman to provide handover and to plan with the 5/6 team next week. Ms Thorman was teaching in 5/6 in term 4 in 2020 and is widely known by the students. She is very much looking forward to commencing her role at GHPS and getting to know the students and families in 5/6J.
Today Mr David Jenkins and I look forward to meeting with the Student Council students. We are meeting to discuss a new initiative at GHPS that has been worked on by Mr Jenkins, all teaching staff and members of the School Council and Publicity and Marketing committee. I look forward to Mr Jenkins and Student Councillors sharing a report about this work.
At this fortnightly site meetings with VSBA, Interface and AOA architects, we discussed the following:
- Demolition of the internal walls throughout the main office areas including the sick bay and photocopy room and downstairs classroom areas are on track to be completed next week.
- The completion of the DDA ramp and permanent railings to the temporary offices in the MOD 5
Building Fund, Finance and School Council Meetings
The next meeting will be on Monday 13 September via webex with the Building Fund meeting commencing at 6.15pm followed by Finance at 6.30pm and Council at 7pm. Thankyou to the School Council president Ross Donnan for a report of the last meeting which is included in this newsletter.
The final day for term 3 is Friday 17 September and students will finish at 2.30pm. All learning will conclude early as usual for the last day of term and we will look forward to returning on Monday 4 October.
At this stage there has been no confirmation as to whether restrictions will be eased or whether the current situation with students learning remotely will remain. When we have confirmation around any changes affecting students back at school, we will notify you through Compass.
Libby Alessi Principal
Welcome Mr Cameron White
To the Glen Huntly Primary School Students, Parents, School Council, and community,
My name is Cameron White, and I am excited to be joining the staff at Glen Huntly Primary School as the Acting Assistant Principal for the remainder of the year.
Glen Huntly has an excellent reputation as a caring and inclusive community, where student wellbeing, student development and academic achievement are priorities; all traits I value in education.
Most recently I have been at a school where I have had several positions including Acting Assistant Principal, and a Teacher Mentor. I have also led various year level teams, Science and Humanities, as well as Student Voice across the school. I have been on a range of School Council sub-committees including Buildings and Grounds and Policy development.
I recently completed the “Bastow Unlocking Potential”: Graduate Certificate in Principal Preparation’ at Monash University. This included a six-week internship working closely with a mentor Principal from another school which I found very valuable, and I hope I can bring some of that knowledge across to Glen Huntly.
On a personal note, I am married with four daughters. My wife, Kate, is also a primary school teacher. My daughters are in Year Seven, Year Five, Year Three and four year old kindergarten. The older girls are all keen netballers with the youngest trying to keep up! I love the opportunity to go camping, enjoy the outdoors and am also a passionate Hawks supporter.
Research shows that happy engaged children learn best, and I strive to ensure that the students in my care are extended in all areas of the curriculum whilst developing a love of learning and school in general.
I am very much looking forward to meeting and getting to know the Glen Huntly community over the next few weeks. When we get the chance to return to onsite learning, please don’t hesitate to come and say hello. Alternatively, feel free to contact me through my details below.
Warm regards,
Cameron White
Acting Assistant Principal
Cameron.white@education.vic.gov.au
Hello all,
I hope that everyone is doing well and there is some light at the end of the long tunnel we’ve all been down over the past 18 months.
Again, our Council meeting was held on WebEx on 19 July. It was fantastic to see the faces of the council members, giving up their time during a stressful period and still have a very productive meeting. I am crossing all my fingers that by the end of the year we can all meet up in person.
Building Fund
In exciting news, the school has set up a building fund and we are excited to inform the Community that we have received an incredibly generous donation of $10,000. We have set up a Building Fund Committee as part of the Finance Committee to oversee these funds. The education department have guidelines that we need to adhere to. Any donations are tax deductable, and we’ll have some more information on that to distribute to parents in the coming weeks.
iPad Purchases and Finance
To support our wonderful digital literacy programs, we’ve purchased 40 iPads that we have been leasing at a cost of $1600. A very affordable purchase that I’m sure the kids and teachers will love! The kids did a wonderful job of supporting the Kids Cancer Charity gold coin donation which raised $305.25. A big thank you to Ms Elizabeth Howard, our wonderful business manager who is doing a superb job hitting the ground running and managing the School Finances in such an effective way.
GPA update
Thanks so much for all the hard-working members of the GPA committee. It’s particularly been a tough year for them with many plans for fundraising opportunities having to be cancelled such as Fathers’ Day. We are all so looking forward to things opening up and having some form of normality.
Building Works update
Exciting news that our builder has been appointed and work will progress on Phase 1 of the project. One of the silver linings of COVID is that the building quotes have been very competitive which will allow more funds to add some of the nice to haves to the project including some play equipment and indoor seating for the gymnasium.
A farewell to Amy
It was with sadness that we farewelled Ms Amy Tinetti. Amy has been an incredible asset to the school over the years and a huge contributor in all facets of School Council operations. I want to thank Amy for all the support provided to both myself and School Council. I wish her the best in her role at Malvern Valley Primary School.
House name changes and new School Branding/Logo
Thank you to Mr David Jenkins who has been tirelessly working with the Boon Wurrung Foundation to select a series of Indigenous names for our houses. The school is working with the student leadership and staff to select these and roll them out in early 2022. Work is coming along on the planning for the new School Logo with the Publicity and Marketing Sub-Committee and a survey will be sent out shortly to the school community asking for feedback about what Glen Huntly means to you. These survey results will then form part of the research to contribute to ideas for the new GHPS logo. The P&M team are also working towards a plan for how that will affect uniforms going forward.
If there is any issue any member of the school community would like to raise with School Council, please email glenhuntly.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au or myself directly ross.donnan@education.vic.gov.au
Stay safe and well.
Ross Donnan
School Council President
Year 4 News
This term, the Year Four students have been continuing to develop their writing skills through narratives. Students have planned and written their first drafts using the Seven Steps to Writing Success, as well as the 6 + 1 Traits. So far, we have learned about the Ideas, Voice and Organisation Traits. These traits have guided students to brainstorm and narrow down a topic to write about, to consider the perspective they are writing in and to organise their stories into paragraphs.
Over the next two weeks, students will revise and edit their narratives through the use of the following Traits: Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions and, finally, Presentation. Students will continually self-assess their writing using a rubric. It has been great to see students letting their creative sides out and responding so positively to peer and teacher feedback!
Sport News
Grade 3-6 Physical Education:
Reflection on Disability Rights, Inclusion in Sport and the Tokyo Paralympics
I have enjoyed learning about all these unique games that you wouldn’t find in the normal Olympics. Goalball and Boccia were my favourite sports that we learned! I like how we have had the opportunity to learn about things that we otherwise probably wouldn’t have known about. Thank you Ms K for teaching us about these awesome sports!
Arnaud, 5/6 S
I have been watching the Paralympics and have watched Goalball, Table Tennis, Swimming and Sitting Basketball, both Female and Male. The thing that I have noticed about the Paralympics is that although they might be disabled, athletes give it their all and do what seems to be impossible.
Stephanie, 5/6 S
I have enjoyed learning about interesting games and their certain rules. I have also enjoyed Goal Ball.
Sid, 5/6 S
Having a disability isn’t a disadvantage. A disability is just having a different ability.
Tilly, 4R
Me and my family have watched a lot of the Paralympics and m favourite thing was the female wheel chair racing! we saw Australia win gold!!
Rory, 4R
I watched the woman’s wheelchair basket ball (a match between Germany and Australia). I’ve noticed they play as well as if they didn’t have a disability.
Rhea, 30
Art News
2021 BOOK WEEK Poster Competition Winners
In the lockdown last term we held a Book Week poster competition with the theme, ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’.
We had a display in the library of the work brought in by students.
I have chosen two winners, one in junior school and one in senior school. These two beautiful artworks showed effort and care in their design, with a thorough understanding of the theme.
CONGRATULATIONS Elsie and Sahana! Look out in your mailbox next week for your prizes, which include art materials and a copy of our school colouring in book.
Miss de Bruyn
Newsletter
Notification of changes to Fee payments and
Excursion Permissions and Payments.
Due to the current situation of lockdown, and the upcoming Capital Works, we are making some amendments on how we will communicate regarding Excursion Permissions and Payments.
Communication notices regarding excursions will be sent through COMPASS.
Permissions are to be given through COMPASS.
Preferred payment method for Fee payments and Excursions is through COMPASS.
EFT will still be available in the office and, if no other method is possible, correct cash only (no change will be given).
This will allow us to always keep all the correct information available to staff whilst on an excursion.