Newsletter #14 September 12th, 2025
GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY
Learning Today. Leading Tomorrow.
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Victorian Principals Association 2025 Conference – Elevation: Shaping Futures.
The conference featured a range of inspiring speakers, including Gilbert Enoka, renowned for his work as a mental skills coach with the New Zealand All Blacks. His session focused on the psychology behind effective leadership. Among his most powerful messages were: “One size fits one,” and a reminder that there are no silver bullets or magic solutions – and above all, don’t crush the joy.
Kate Illies offered an engaging and insightful perspective on how we can better understand and build trust across the different generations that come together in today’s workplaces – an increasingly relevant topic for all leaders.
Matt Hall, former RAAF fighter pilot and Red Bull Air Race World Champion, closed with a powerful analogy: “Wherever and whatever we lead, think like a fighter pilot – big dreams, small margins.” His words highlighted the parallels between school leadership and the role of a pilot: lead with care and compassion, act with integrity, and maintain high standards at all times.
It was an inspiring few days and a timely reminder of the mindset and values that underpin great leadership.
Term 3 is quickly coming to an end. Whilst it’s a 9-week term our students have been actively involved in a wide range of activities and productive learning.
Here’s a list of the highlights.
- House athletics
- Soccer team competed at Districts
- 3-way conferences
- The Best Ever Science Fair
- Book Week and the most amazing parade
- School disco
- Curriculum Day
- Father’s Day breakfast and stall
- New staff- Miss Welsh, Ms McGregor, Mr Wunderlich Contreras
- Grade 6 excursion to Melbourne
- Grade 3/4 excursion to the NGV
Father’s Day Celebrations
We had a wonderful celebration for Father’s Day last week, with a big turnout from dads, uncles, grandfathers, and other special people in our students’ lives.
The morning began with a delicious Father’s Day Breakfast, complete with freshly baked scones, cream, jam, and hot chocolate prepared by Ruth and her Kitchen Club of students.
Thank you, Ruth, and team, for your amazing efforts!
Following breakfast, the Kids vs Dads Soccer Game kicked off and was a highlight of the morning. The game was very competitive, but the kids came out on top with a 2–1 win. It was great to see the kids and dads giving it their all—and even better to see that no calves or hamstrings were injured in the process!
Throughout the day, the Father’s Day and Special Persons Store, run by our Parents’ Association, was a huge success. Students had the chance to choose from a fantastic range of inviting gifts, with funds raised going directly towards our new playground project. A very big thank you to all the parents who donated items, helped with setting up, and gave their time to run the store.
The whole event had a wonderful community feel, and it was so special to see our students sharing the morning with the important people in their lives. Thank you again to everyone who contributed—it was a truly memorable Father’s Day celebration!
District Athletics Carnival
Our athletes from Grade 3 to 6 who had qualified for the District Athletics Carnival participated in the event Thursday. We are very proud of their performances and I wish to thank Mr Papadopoulos, Zoe, and the many parents for accompanying the children to the event.
Congratulations to the following students who have qualified for the next stage of competition – the Division Athletics Carnival:
Henry – 200m
Harvey – Long jump
Vidhaan – Discus
David – Shot put
Zac – 1500m
Sully – Triple jump
Adam – Discus
Carnival Coordinator Needed for 2026
The Glen Huntly Parents Association are looking ahead to our 2026 School Carnival and need a dedicated, enthusiastic coordinator to help bring this beloved event to life!
If you enjoy organizing, working with a team, and making memorable experiences for our students and families, we’d love to hear from you.
You won’t be doing it alone – support from the GPA and past coordinators will be available.
Attending in 2026
I know we are still in Term Three, but we are starting now to plan for the 2026 school year. We are close to finalising our Prep enrolment for 2026 and another important piece of information we need when planning for a new school year is how many students we will have across the rest of the school. This information is essential when we are planning the number of classes at each level and how much money will be available for staffing, specialist programs, etc.
If you know that your child will not be at Glen Huntly Primary School in 2026, please let Nerida know in writing as soon as possible (email: Nerida.burns@education.vic.gov.au). Please do not leave it until Term 4. We realise that some families find this conversation difficult for a range of reasons, however it will be a huge assistance to us to know as soon as possible.
Sports Colours Day
As we approach the end of a fantastic term, we’re looking forward to celebrating with Sports Colours Day on Friday 19th September. Students are encouraged to come dressed in the colours of their favourite sporting team—any code, any team!
To add to the fun, the GPA has organised a special “Footy Day Pie Lunch.”
Staff Spotlight
Thank you all for a wonderful term. It’s been full of learning, laughter, and strong community spirit. On a personal note, I’m especially excited as I write this—we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first grandchild! With just a week (or hopefully less!) to go, I’ll be sharing the joyful news once he arrives.
We wish all our families a safe, restful, and happy break. Enjoy some quality time together, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back when school resumes on Monday 6th October.
Nerida Burns Principal Cameron White Assistant Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.
Billy 0A – For showing great thinking in Numeracy when sharing different amounts of objects fairly between people and groups.
Junru 0A – For settling into classroom routines and beginning to show confidence as a quiet and thoughtful learner.
Kavir 0B – For demonstrating pride and resilience in all his work this week. Kavir embraced feedback with a growth mindset and used it to enhance his outcomes. His effort has been outstanding, and he should be incredibly proud of himself. Keep up the amazing work, Kavir!
Thaswika 0B – For consistently demonstrating kindness and respect towards all her teachers and peers within the Glen Huntly School community. Keep being your wonderful, kind self Thaswika!
Elly 1A – For making your rhymes shine this week! Your rhyming sentences were catchy and creative. Nice work!
Noah 1B – For confidently contributing to our class discussion on rhyming words! You proudly raised your hand and shared some hilarious rhymes that helped us create a very funny poem. Fantastic effort, Noah!
Alexey 1C – We are so proud of this student for his wonderful effort in Maths this week. Working with his partner, he showed great teamwork and accuracy when using hefting to compare the mass of objects. He is staying focused in his learning and always giving things a go with determination and a smile. Keep shining, Alexey – your hard work is really paying off!
Harnish 2A – For your interesting and informative presentation about ‘Why people should like pigeons’. You gave strong reasons why and even included some fun facts such as how pigeons used to be messengers. Great job!
Gabriel 2A – For showing creativity in your writing this week. It is a joy to see how much you can achieve when you take pride in your work and give your best effort. You have shown growth in your listening skills and are making more thoughtful choices in the classroom. Well done, you should be proud.
Lily 2B – For standing up for the ant! Your persuasive text convinced us all that the boy should let the ant go by using strong reasons and questions that made us think about kindness. Well done, you saved the ant with your words!
Safiya 3A – For her excellent contributions during our reading group this week. You showed your understanding of what you’d read and asked great questions. Amazing work!
Grace 3B – For outstanding work ethic and presentation with every literacy and mathematics activity that you have received! You completed your indigenous biography with a variety of sentence types, your birds eye view of your classroom was accurately represented and you mastered enlarging pictures. Well Done and congratulations super star!
Maddie 3B – For showing all the school values every day. Your readers theatre skills and performance were outstanding and captivated the attention of the room – your expression, hand gestures, and accent were perfect. Well done also on your detailed birds eye view map of the classroom and your active involvement in answering questions at the Ian Potter gallery about indigenous art interpretation. Well done!
Olympia 3B – For her outstanding energy, ideas and outcomes in all class activities and projects. Her contributions to shared discussions have been insightful, highlighting her emotional intelligence and strength in inferential understandings. Congratulations on your dedication to your treasure map, birds-eye classroom, and analysis of your novel, Ella Enchanted this week!
Shivansh 3C – For always being bright and happy in the classroom. And also, ready to learn and take in the world.
Iris 4A – For her constantly challenging herself in all areas of her learning in the classroom and in specialist classes. We love how you also assist your classmates! You’re an amazing role model for all our Year 3 and 4 students.
Mahati 5A – For consistently following the School Values of Respect, Resilience, Pride, Creativity and Teamwork. You always set the example for others to follow.
Shreyan 5B – For his dedication towards writing and reading poetry out in class, and willingness to help his friends whilst on excursion.
Sienna 5C – For showing a positive attitude and willingness to improve her spelling, as well as caring for her peers during our excursion to ensure everyone’s safety. Well done!
Siena 6B – Showing the GHPS school value of Teamwork and supporting her peers at athletics.
Thank You for Supporting Our Father’s Day Stall!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make our Father’s Day Stall such a success! We’re pleased to share that we raised a profit of $2,300, with 32% of that coming from generous donations, highlighting just how valuable community support was to this event.
We are truly grateful to those who:
- donated items for the stall
- baked delicious treats
- helped with packing, labelling and preparations
- volunteered their time to set up, run the stall and assist with pack-up
Your time, energy and generosity were deeply appreciated.
A special thank you to Laura, Pip, our amazing teachers and Mr White for your support in the lead-up and on the day. Your help with logistics, your patience in answering many questions and your assistance with last-minute needs made all the difference — we truly couldn’t have done it without you.
It was a joy to watch the children carefully select their gifts, weighing up their options with excitement before proudly walking away with smiles on their faces. We hope the gifts brought just as much joy to the dads and carers who received them.
Thank you once again for being part of such a wonderful community effort.
Father’s Day Stall Coordinators
Year 5/6 News
On Thursday 11th of September all the 5/6s went by train to the city. We split up into groups and went to Monopoly Dreams and Queen Victoria Market. The trains that we took to the city were packed full of people. When we got to Melbourne central train station, Mr Papadopolous and Mrs Yang split 5/6A between the two classes. When they split up, we both went to our activities.
Monopoly Dreams had 12 activities, and we will be talking about the 4 best activities, and the first was called the Lazer Maze. It’s an activity where you have to go under the lasers and if you touch the lasers too many times, the alarm goes off.
And the second one was called the 4d movie. It’s an activity where you have to wear 4d glasses and mist is sprayed everywhere around the room. The Third activity was called Monopoly’s Ultimate banking. It’s an activity where you go in a small room with money on the floor. The air starts blowing and you have to collect as much money as possible. The last activity was called the jailbreak. It’s where you have to crack the code and escape jail. After you escaped jail, you could dress up in costumes and take a friend to jail.
When we arrived at Queen Victoria market, we got split into two groups that each got a tour guide. They talked about how queen Victoria thought that every great city has a great market and now queen Victoria is the BIGGEST market in the southern hemisphere. We explored stands of families from different cultures and how before they came it was just a British cemetery. We saw a polish deli, some juicy fish, and a meat shop and at the very end we all got the choice of a slushy or a nice gelato. We all had a wonderful experience and thanks to all the teachers for organising this wonderful event.
By Dhruva 5/6C, Aryan 5/6B, Alec 5/6A
Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight
At Glen Huntly Primary School, we are incredibly fortunate to have a community of kind-hearted, generous, and dedicated volunteers. This term, we would like to recognise and celebrate a few standout individuals whose contributions have made a real difference across our school. Thank you for the time, energy and love you pour into our students and school environment.
Cece Kee
For being a shining example of what it means to be an involved and generous school community member. From supporting 1A and turning up to every event, icy poles, sports days, chess tournaments and more, to cheering on all students and lending a helping hand wherever needed, your dedication does not go unnoticed.
Lyndsay Walsh
For always putting your hand up with enthusiasm, whether it’s excursions, cooking, swimming, or listening to our students read. Your support means the world to us.
Natalia Ageyev
For your unwavering support of 3/4C families, helping with homework, and staying closely connected with school updates. Your commitment to your child’s learning and our broader school community is truly appreciated.
Hayley and Lakshmi
For always stepping up when help is needed around the school, from organising icy poles to supporting behind-the-scenes tasks with kindness and efficiency. We’re so lucky to have you.
Lauren Jarvis
For being the most amazing Class Rep! You are not only Prep A’s class representative but a support to the entire Prep team. Lauren volunteered to help at every PMP session in Semester One and has consistently provided reminders and clarification to parents through the class WhatsApp group. Your leadership and commitment are truly appreciated.
Woolworths
For your incredibly kind donation of $2000 towards school events and your continued support of our School Breakfast Club. Your generosity helps our students start the day right.
Mervyn Ritter
For donating $2000 towards RAT tests and supporting families in need through our community pantry. Your efforts have made a significant difference to the health and wellbeing of our community.
Daniel
For your ongoing commitment to our School Community Pantry. Your consistent support helps ensure every family has access to essentials when they need it most.
Rohan Burns
For generously volunteering your time to keep our school grounds looking neat, tidy, and welcoming for everyone. Your hard work helps create a beautiful environment for our students to learn and play.
From all of us at GHPS, thank you. Your contribution helps our school thrive.
TheirCare News
GHPS Facebook
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Calendar 2025
Term 3
September
Fri 19 Pie Lunch
Fri 19 Last Day Term 3 (Early Finish 2.30pm)
Term 4
October
Mon 6 Term 4 Commences
Mon 13 – Wed 15 Year 3/4 Camp
Fri 17 GPA Meeting
Mon 20 Art Show
Fri 24 Student First Aid Training
Fri 24 Diwali Celebration
November
Mon 3 Curriculum Day Student Free Day
Tue 4 Melbourne Cup Holiday
10 – 18 Life Education
Fri 14 GPA Meeting
December
Wed 3 Carols Night
Tue 9 2026 Step Up Day
Wed 10 Year 6 Graduation
Wed 17 Final Assembly
Fri 19 End of Term 4 Early Dismissal 1.30pm
Fee payments and Excursion Permissions and Payments.
All 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.
This will allow us to always keep all the correct information available to staff whilst on an excursion.
If you have any questions, please contact the office or see Guide below.
CLICK HERE for Parent’s Guide to Compass
Thank you.