Newsletter #14 29 August 2019
Principals Report
Cabaret 2019
Class and costume rehearsals are progressing extremely well and we are all feeling very excited as we head towards this fabulous night.
On Wednesday, all classes had photos taken by The School Photographer in the WW Hall. It was a wonderful sight to see the students dressed in their costumes which Lisa and Tania have prepared for them. It’s an incredible feat to style and source so many costumes for nineteen grades and a well-executed exercise to have everyone’s photo taken. Thanks to everyone who helped arrange and carry this out. They will look wonderful when they perform on stage in only 12 sleeps!
The dance practices are going very well and Laura is really working hard with everyone to make sure their moves are as slick as can be. Mr Aitken is practicing the music, band, choir and songs with everyone and the Grade 6 students are rehearsing their introductions.
If you haven’t already purchased your ticket for the Cabaret at Robert Blackwood Hall, they are still available and on sale now. It’s going to be a really great night!
Prep at Friday 23 August Assembly
Some of our Prep students spoke about having chicks in their classroom:
The chicks were with the Preps for 12 days. We learnt about the life cycle of a chicken and what chicks like to eat.
When the chicks first hatched out of the eggs they were only a little bit fluffy. When they were all fluffy and cute we got to hold them and cuddle them.
Once the chicks had grown up they were picked up and taken back to the farm.
It was a wonderful experience which all of the students enjoyed.
Book Week Celebrations
Staff and students from Grades P-6 had a fun time last Friday celebrating Book Week with a “dress up as your favourite character” day.
With the gold coin donation, we raised $303 to go towards purchasing new books for the library and quite a few families donated new or second hand books.
Thank you to Ms Lucas- Lely and everyone who supported the celebration. It was a lot of fun!
2019 Annual Implementation Plan
Professional Learning Communities (PLC): Instructional and School Leaders have registered to attend:
- Kingswood Primary School Observations of how they run their Professional Learning Communities meetings
- Lloyd Street Primary School to meet with Regional Leader Shaun Wells and our Stonnington & Glen Eira Network to discuss progress within schools
- Beachside Peninsula Area Meeting in Frankston to review the school’s progress with the 2019 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP)
- Bentleigh Secondary College to participate in DET Leading Literacy
Thank you to Mr David Jenkins, Mrs Emma Murnane, Mrs Eugenia Sassos, Mr Bill Manuel, Mrs Melinda Oldham and Ms Amy Tinetti for your attendance at these important sessions.
Shaun has met with the PLC Leadership team to evaluate and diagnose progress within the PLC Maturity Matrix. The Matrix is linked to the targets in the 2019 AIP and the focus for term 3 is using Data to drive collaborative improvement, evaluate impact on learning and Building Practice Excellence.
Building Practice Excellence
A strong Instructional and Leaders PLC team is having continual timetabled impact across the school. This system has become an effective norm. High impact strategies are being continually modelled during staff Professional Learning for implementation with a focus on continually sharing these with staff. The PLC meeting structures are consistent, clear, timed and therefore more purposeful. Teacher PLC knowledge is continually being built and strengthened and increased numbers of teachers are proficient with what authentically drives and informs PLCs.
We are systematically observing, collecting and analysing teaching practices eg: before and following Learning Walks observation and implementing feedback structures which have now been taken to higher levels, instigated by Principal class and moving onto Learning Walks in classrooms across the school. Using the Department Education Training Post Observation Conversation Template, it is providing evidence of greater use and of whole staff Professional Learning plans which are linked to data. The Peer Observation booklets and guidelines in use are allowing and encouraging teachers to excel in this domain.
School Uniform: Building pride and taking action
This is a friendly reminder for all families to help their children to wear our school uniform with pride. Wearing our school uniform correctly creates an identity for our school and is an important part of being a member of our school community. At GHPS we promote a smart dress code, believe that school uniform teaches students to dress smartly and to take pride in their appearance.
How are you helping our school?
Self- assess: How you are sending your child to school:
- Extremely well- my child wears the correct uniform every day
- Very good- my child wears the correct uniform most days
- Good- But I need to change 1 thing
- Fair- There is more than one thing I need to change
Our aim is for all parents to be able to self- assess as a 1 by the end of next week- Friday 6 September. So, do you need to change something? We feel proud of you if you already have rated yourselves as a 1, but if you haven’t’ please aim high, make the changes needed and please support our campaign.
To help you out, here are a few reminders:
- Our school colours are very smart! : Maroon, navy blue and white only (no black, except for shoes)
- The uniform shop is open every Wednesday morning 9-10 AND we take orders through the office
- Parents can use QKR to pay as well as card and cash
- Families may be eligible to seek financial assistance from State School’s Relief, which we can do for you. Please contact the school
- There is a uniform order form with this newsletter
- We have new and very good second hand uniform (second hand: freshly laundered and only $5 a piece!)
- There are long sleeved polo shirts for sale to keep your child warm to wear this under their bomber jacket. Please do NOT wear long sleeves under the short sleeved polo shirt.
- We love maintaining high standards of appearance.
- Grade 6 students have the special navy blue jacket and you will too when you’re in Grade 6!
- Maroon jackets for everyone else
NAPLAN 2019 National Assessment Program
If you are the parent of a student in Years 3 or 5, you are due to receive an individual report of your child’s results for the tests they sat in May. The results should be out very soon.
When they arrive at GHPS we will be using the results to celebrate success, inform our planning and address areas requiring improvement by incorporating future goals into student’s Individual Learning Improvement Plans and across the school. Your child’s teacher should be your first point of contact for any concerns you might have about your child’s results. Further information and analysis about whole school achievement will be reported to the community at School Council and in the coming newsletters.
Chess Tournament Friday 6 September
We would like to wish all the students who will be competing in Friday’s Chess Tournament next week, the very best of luck and look forward to hearing about the competition.
GPA
We really appreciate the work of GPA and realise they need a lot of help to support the fundraisers with time and donations, so if you can help at the Father’s Day and Stall, please sign up by contacting the office on 95712933 or returning the tear off section on the yellow slip. This year’s stall is all set to provide an array of gifts for purchase, thanks to Ruth (Sully PN), Nicole (Alex 5O & Stephanie 3S) and the GPA. It will be a hive of activity and fun on Friday when there is the opportunity to visit and purchase something for that special person in your child’s life. We desperately still need heaps of volunteers to bake, help setup, serve and pack up the Father’s Day stall for an hour or more between 9.30am – 3.30pm on Friday.
Meeting Reminders:
GPA: Tuesday 10 September at 9.10am in the WW Hall.
End of Term 3: Early Dismissal 2.30pm Friday 20th September
Exciting Events
Father’s Day Stall: Friday 30 August
Student Disco: Friday 6 September
District Athletics: Monday 9 September
Cabaret: Tuesday 17 September Robert Blackwood Hall
Special Lunch: Friday 20 September
TheirCare Holiday Program: Monday 23 September in WW Hall
Libby Alessi
Principal
School Council Report
School Council met for the second time in Term 3 on Monday 26th August. As we are required to meet twice a term and because of date conflicts for the remaining Mondays of Term 3, it meant our Term 3 meetings occurred only 3 weeks apart.
Key items covered at the meeting included;
- We currently have 34 preps enrolled for 2020. This number is expected to grow over the next couple of months as families finalise their schooling choices.
- Cabaret planning is in its final stages and promises again to be an extravaganza to be remembered. Tickets are on sale now.
- There will be a new mod 5 classroom installed for 2020. Current plan is for installation along the Lords Reserve fence line which may necessitate the removal of the existing sheds. The school is considering all options for replacement storage space.
- An architect has been appointed for the 2019-2020 capital works which is exciting progress. The school is now planning how to best utilise the latest round of funding. School Council has contributed a number of ideas worth of consideration.
- GPA has formally adopted a new constitution as per new requirements stipulated the Minister for Education. With GPA already working closely with School Council on all planned activities, the processes outlined by the constitution are already being met.
- Rosters for fete volunteering are now available so please be sure to nominate at least an hour or 2 of your time on the day to help make this the greatest fete ever.
- GHPS will adopt the school management tool Compass for the parent community in 2020. This is a broad based program and will supersede numerous other online programs currently in use at GHPS and will cover attendance, communication with parents, reporting, payment portal with multi payments, incident reporting and parent teacher interview bookings.
- TheirCare continue to do a sterling job with the Out of Hours School Care service. Attendance is strong and the program is providing a good experience for those using it.
- An in-depth discussion on parent volunteering concluded the meeting. GPA, the fete committee and other areas of the school rely heavily on the whole school community to ensure there is adequate volunteers to run the myriad of programs they offer. So if you can help in any way please be sure to put your name 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
Craig Matthews
School Council President
School Disco:
Our students are looking forward to the school Disco on Friday 6th September. Please make sure that you purchase your tickets by Tuesday 3rd September as there will be NO tickets for sale after this time.
The Disco will be held in that Wendy Wilson Hall. Our Aftercare program will be operating in the Year 3 classrooms on this day. Miss Tinetti will collect those students in Prep – Year 2 from aftercare who are attending the Disco at 5pm.
Year 5 Peer Mediators:
To support our Year 5 students as leaders of GHPS in 2020 we organised a tailored Peer Mediation workshop to help our students be the best versions of themselves and to be a part of a better version of the school. The students took part in elements of a Leadership Program as well as elements of a healthier Mind-Set.
Peer Mediation trains the students to identify issues amongst their peers and resolve low level conflicts. Peer Mediation strengthens our student community by empowering senior role models to make a positive difference for their peers, by creating a safe and supportive school environment.
It is great to see our Year 5 Peer Mediators begin to work with students during snack and lunch time this week. Mediators can either be approached by students needing help or they can observe an incident in the school and get involved in the conflict. Some of our mediators spoke at our whole school assembly last week to share with us the Six Steps of Mediation.
- Step One: Agree to Mediate
- Step Two: Find out what the problem is
- Step Three: Find out what each person wants
- Step Four: Finding solutions
- Step Five: Choosing the best idea
- Step Six: Create an agreement
It is great to see our Year 5 students show such enthusiasm and pride in their roles as Peer Mediators.
Amy Tinetti
Assistant Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award during the last 2 weeks.
Manasvi 0N – For making a fantastic start at Glen Huntly Primary School! We are so happy to have you! 🙂
Aarya 0S – For always being an extraordinary helper in the classroom and trying your best
Karthik 1A – For settling in well to our class this term. The effort and care you put into your work is wonderful. Well done!
Samarth 1E – For working hard on his reading and retelling the story with lots of detail. Well done!
Sriha 1E – For being super organised for all activities and trying her best. Well done!
Krishna 2C – A fantastic start to your time at GHPS. I love having your smiling face around!
Vhrinda 2L – For always having a positive learning attitude and being a super mathematician
Jishnu 2L – For always putting in 100% during class and following class rules
Aditya 4C – For your valuable contribution to classroom discussions and your growing ability to explain your thinking.
Anna-Lucia 4C – For bringing your best effort forward on Athletic’s Day and supporting your fellow peers.
Zoe 5S – For writing an emotive and descriptive song titled “Freedom”. Excellent work, Zoe!
Outstanding Achievement in Reading, Writing, Measurement and Geometry, Number or Statistics.
4C – Aditya, Jinia, Vivi, Siddharth, Archie, Bela, James, Anna-Lucia, Vikesh, Rafael, Serafim.
4R – Aarushi, Varshini, Amber, Ishaan, Sullivan, Marko, Arnaud, Emma.
Eat at Grilled Chadstone in September!
Grilled Chadstone has a community jar for GHPS during September.
Please go along and place your token in our jar.
Book week:
It was fantastic to see students dressing up as their favourite book characters last Friday for our Book Week Dress Up Day. Everyone looked amazing and we had a great time showing off our costumes and sharing our favourite books on the day.
We also received over 200 books as part of our book drive which was an amazing effort! These books have been placed into our classroom libraries and have already been read by many students. A huge thank you to all those families who donated books to this book drive.
Final updates for the Premiers’ Reading Challenge:
Glen Huntly Primary School students have read over 15,000 books with over 98% of students having completed the challenge!
A massive congratulations to all those who have completed the challenge and don’t forget to keep reading. There is only 8 days until the challenge ends!
Thank you!
Amandine Lucas-lely
House Athletics
House athletics was a fantastic day with the whole school down at Duncan McKinnon participating in athletics.
The overall winner was Batman, with the spirit cup being awarded to Flinders.
A big thank you to all 3-6 teachers, ES Staff and student teachers. A special thank you to Miss Lucas-Lely, Mr Aitken and Miss De Bruyn.
The District Athletics squad has been announced with training beginning this week. District Athletics will be held on Monday, 9th September at Duncan McKinnon Athletics Track.
Ms Kasambalis
100 Days of Prep
On Friday the 2nd of August, Prep students celebrated 100 days of Prep learning! We had such a fun filled day. We had the chance to dress up with 100 things on us like pom poms, eyes, stickers and buttons.
In the morning we had a visit from the Grange Kinder buddies and showed them how Prep students listen and learn at school.
After recess we started our activities with all the Prep teachers. Miss Smart turned us into 100 year olds, we looked very funny!
At the end of the day we had a party with our families to celebrate our success. We love school!
From Mahanya, Gordon and Akhilesh Prep R
Notices distributed to parents
20 Aug Prep Students Farm Excursion
26 Aug Participants District Athletics
26 Aug All Families Disco
26 Aug All Students Cabaret Rehearsal
26 Aug All Families Cabaret Tickets
26 Aug Year 3-4 Students Scienceworks Excursion
Calendar
September
Tue 3 Prep Excursion
Fri 6 Disco
Mon 9 District Athletics
Thur 12 Year 3/4 Excursion
Tue 17 School Cabaret
Fri 20 Final Day Term 3 – Early Dismissal 2.30pm
