Newsletter #15 20 October 2023
GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY
Learning Today. Leading Tomorrow.
Art Show and Science Fair
We are very proud of the effort and achievements of our students in both Art and Science.
The learning experiences are made possible due to the dedicated teaching of Ms de Bruyn and Mrs Oldham and the amazing creative lengths that they go to in order for our students to engage in enriching activities and hold an event, such as this one.
These opportunities clearly demonstrate how highly we value creativity and how this allows our students to view and develop new possibilities. Also, we have been very fortunate to welcome special little chicks that have been hatching this week.
We look forward to seeing what the effort and talents of our students have produced and their artefacts. It’s a very special event and we hope to see you on the West Site 4.30pm- 6.30pm.
Referendum
BBQ, Cake, Plant and second handbook Stall at GHPS on Saturday 14 October
The best democracy sausages and egg and bacon rolls were extremely popular last Saturday! As too were the delicious cakes and goodies at the Cake Stall.
Thank you so much to the amazing members of GPA and the school community who provided local voters with the opportunity to snare some of our delicious food. My egg and bacon roll was cooked to perfection!
The plant and book stall attracted the eye of voters, and our overall sales were really fabulous. Setting up, packing up, coordinating all the rosters and everything in between was enabled by the wonderful group of volunteers.
Preliminary counting shows that we have raised around $4033 in valuable funds that will go directly to benefit our students and school.
Athletics
Congratulations to Alisha(5/6K) for competing at the Regional Athletics at Casey Fields.
Alisha finished an incredible 6th in shot put, going up against many other talented athletes. We are very proud of your amazing effort and achievement.
We hope that you really enjoyed the experience, and we are confident that you will continue to do great things in Athletics!
Ms Jasmine Roth’s last week
Congratulations to Ms Jasmine Roth and her husband Mike on the upcoming arrival of their second baby in November. We wish them a wonderful time preparing over the next few weeks and look forward to seeing some pics. Thank you for sharing in the teaching of 3RK and we hope that you enjoy being mummy a second time round and having your newest member join your family. We hope that you have enjoyed your last week at GHPS in 3RK.
As you may be aware, we have been delighted to welcome Ms Sarah Price to 3RK, who has commenced at GHPS at the start of this term. Ms Price has informed me that she has really enjoyed her first two weeks and is so very happy to be teaching our wonderful students in 3RK.
Getting married
It is with much joy that I inform you that Ms Mikaela Ristos will be getting married in October and will be taking leave from GHPS for 2 weeks as of Monday 23 October – Friday 3 November 2023.
We are very pleased to welcome Ms Donna Campbell who will be teaching 5/6R during this time. Mr John Jacobs will act as the 5/6 Area leader during this time. We have welcomed Ms Donna Campbell as a casual replacement teacher to GHPS on numerous occasions.
Together with the 5/6 team, Ms Ristos will provide handover to Ms Campbell, and we trust that she will enjoy her time in 5/6R.
We wish Ms Ristos a wonderful wedding celebration and a fun filled future together as she prepares to celebrate with her husband, family, and friends. Congratulations and enjoy this very special time together.
Teaching in Albury
Ms Shannan Fox has announced that she will be leaving GHPS next year for a year with leave without pay to teach in the independent system in 2024.
Ms Fox is moving back to Albury and has been offered a position closer to her home.
She has been teaching at GHPS since 2015 and has been in government education for 8 years. She has been a highly valued member of PLC Leadership Team, leader of the West Site, Literacy Area leaders in Year 5/6, 3/4 and 1 and taken on mentoring and coaching staff both in her teams and across the school.
Ms Fox has provided the teaching staff with PL in Writing, Reading and Assessment Schedules that has translated into improved outcomes right across the school. She has tried many new roles in a compact timeline and career.
Congratulations and we wish you the best of luck 🙂
Retiring
Congratulations to Mr David Jenkins who has announced his retirement and who will be finishing up as of the 26 January 2024. Mr Jenkins has been in government education for 35 years and at GHPS since 2013. He has led a broad range of ‘portfolios’ and provided staff and school council with an enormous amount of professional learning, policy review, and support to improve student outcomes at GHPS. It’s hard to summarise 10 years with some of the amount you have achieved:
- He has been a member of PLC Leadership, Consultative Committee, Curriculum & Policy, Buildings and Grounds, ‘Father’ of our Chooks, Specialists, OHS including Health and Safety Representative, Finance and School Council. A huge contribution!
- In his role as Leader of Assessment & Reporting he has facilitated timelines and readiness for updating data tables, ICAS, NAPLAN and Semester Student Reporting.
- In his Curriculum Leader role, he has reviewed the Inquiry Scope and Sequence and provided staff with support to integrate the capabilities into their planning.
- In addition to teaching grades 4, 5, and 6 at GHPS, he has taught PE and Music/Japanese, bands, and choir. He has offered our students an amazing opportunity to fulfil their musical dreams and ambitions through a variety of performance platforms and stages.
He has been an agile, flexible educator, mentor and leader who has enthusiastically and readily taken on responsibilities that have engaged us all. We are extremely grateful for your dedication to GHPS and know that you can feel so very proud of all you have accomplished and hope you have a fabulous end of career term 4 🙂
Free Cooking Classes
During this week, there has been a wonderful opportunity for parents/carers and their children to attend cooking classes together at GHPS.
The classes have been sponsored by the Food Bank, and enabled families to learn to cook new recipes. Taking place in our ‘tuckshop’ it’s been a great space to have some fun times cooking together.
Thank you very much to Ruth for organising the grant and Laura for letting people know through Compass how to participate. What a fabulous initiative!
The pics below show the happy faces and good times!
Punctuality
Being on time to school takes planning and sound routines!
A reminder for all parents and students to arrive on time to school at 8.50am. Students can move into their classrooms and be organised and ready to learn at 9am.
Please review your night-time and morning routine if your child is getting to school late. Tips for shaving time off getting ready in the morning:
- Clear out your school bag when you get home and put lunch boxes in the kitchen for washing. This will save time the next morning.
- Start homework early so it’s done and you can put in your bag ready for the next morning and this will prevent hunting for it at the last minute.
- Have a bedtime routine that enables your child to get into bed (without a device) and have a story together or read independently for 10 or so minutes.
- Have the lights go out and estimate for your school age child to have between 9-12 hours of sleep.
- Get your child up at a time in the morning that will allow them enough time to get ready so that they can arrive on time.
The School Council will meet on Monday 30 October.
Libby Alessi Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.
Harnish FB – For your perseverance when creating your illustrations and sentences in your information report about chickens. You designed some fantastic illustrations of chickens and worked hard to complete your sentences. What an illustrious illustrator you are!
Lily FB – For your awesome efforts in designing your Ordinal Number Octopus. You have worked hard in our numeracy lessons this week to understand ordinal numbers. Keep up the outstanding work!
Kai FD – For your perseverance while using the lightbot app during our digital learning task this week. You used trial and error to successfully make your robot move to the correct places, which showed your understanding of perspective. Amazing effort!
Albert FD – For your consistent effort and enthusiasm that you demonstrate during every task. It is fantastic to see you asking questions, sharing interesting facts and always interacting with your classmates in a kind and supportive manner. Superstar effort!
Henry 1B – For showing the school’s values of resilience and pride this week where you stayed focused and committed to your learning! Well done, Henry!
Ragav 1B – Showing our value of pride this week during our numeracy lessons. You did an amazing job at telling the time to the hour, half an hour and quarter past! Well done you!
Uma 1F – Writing a convincing persuasive text about Alex getting an iguana. Your carefully selected word choice and thoughtful arguments were well considered and very persuasive. Wonderful Writing!
Myra 1F – Working hard to master telling the time to half past and quarter past during maths this week. Well done terrific time teller!
Iris 2M – For your fantastic poem about trees. You were able to use all of your senses to describe trees and their importance to you. Well done, you are a passionate poet!
Jishnu 2S – for settling in very well to our class since arriving in Week 1 this term. You have shown resilience and bravery when making new friends. Well done and welcome to our school!
Pranika 2S – for writing a very descriptive poem about the season of summer this week, you used some excellent vivid verbs and adjectives. Keep it up!
Pranav 2S – for engaging with the audience by asking them questions in your Inquiry presentation this week. This showed fantastic speaking and listening skills, well done!
Shenan 3C – For the care and kindness you showed your friends during camp. You looked out for others and took good care of your belongings. Great work, camper!
Emma 3C – For giving everything a go during camp and stepping outside of your comfort zone. You showed resilience and challenged yourself to dive into new experiences.
Mikayla 3C – For being a reliable, communicative and organised Hand Out Monitor. You take pride in your classroom job and support your peers to begin their work promptly. Excellent work!
Kanishk 3C – For returning to school ready to learn and full of energy. We have loved hearing about your exciting experiences in India but glad you’re back. We’ve missed you!
3RK Camp attendees – For attending your first school camp! I hope this week has shown you all how courageous and independent you can be! Ms Roth and I are very proud!
Max 4A – for your positive attitude towards all tasks and always modelling respectful, polite and kind behaviour. You are a superstar.
Sara 4SJ – Much improved focus and concentration, thus bolstering and enhancing your stay on-task power.
Oishika 5/6J – For a great week of focus, dedication, and satisfaction in your work this week. It is really inspiring to see you working so well individually and with others. Congratulations, Oishika.
Adishree 5/6J – For the crafting of a compelling narrative for your Choose Your Own Adventure story. You have painted the picture before you have even inserted images! Brilliant job. Your Grade 1 ‘buddy’ will be lucky to read it with you. Congratulations, Adishree!
Sahasra 5/6J– Whether it be your excellent homework, writing about your future careers, or your dedication to your maths and story writing, you cannot be faulted. It’s been a great week of development and maturity from you, and you should be super proud. Celebrate, Sahasra.
Abraham 5/6K – For working with focus and success on his Choose Your Own Adventure Narrative and scoring 20/20 on his spelling test for 16 weeks in a row! Well Done!
Alisha 5/6K – For showing maturity in the classroom, helping classmates and her teacher and persevering with her basketball focused Choose Your Own Adventure!
Jayden 5/6K – For creating an interesting, clear and detailed setting for your Choose Your Own Adventure Narrative. Your readers will enjoy your slide show next week. Congratulations!
ICAS 2023 results
We wish to acknowledge all of the students in Years 2 to 6, who participated in this year’s ICAS exam program. We commend all of these students for their involvement and engagement with the exams, which this year delivered additional, outside agency and highly credentialed assessments from the University of Sydney, relating to English, Writing, Science and Mathematics.
Parents, families and teachers involved have been provided with detailed diagnostic information regarding the current academic progress of their children/students in these four Learning Areas.
Of special commendable note, the following students are to be congratulated for their outstanding high standards of achievement in these exams:
Writing
High Distinction (in the top 1% nationally and in the South Pacific region): Dion – Year 4
Distinction (in the top 10% nationally and in the South Pacific region): Harshitha – Year 6, Riddhi – Year 6, Winston – Year 4
Credit (in the top 25% nationally and in the South Pacific region): Shresta – Year 6, Shiva – Year 6, Tengyi – Year 5, Aarush – Year 5, Radha – Year 4, Avyaan – Year 4, Henry – Year 4, Akilesh – Year 4, Gordon – Year 4, Kanishk – Year 3
English
High Distinction: Rhea – Year 5, Gordon – Year 4
Distinction: Harshitha – Year 6, Tengyi – Year 5, Dion – Year 4, Winston – Year 4, Advaith – Year 2
Credit: Zoya – Year 6, Johan – Year 5, Harvey – Year 4, Avyaan – Year 4, Anton – Year 4, Akilesh – Year 4, Winston – Year 3, Elsie – Year 3, Kanishk – Year 3, Adam – Year 2, David – Year 2, Jaini – Year 2
Science
High Distinction: Gordon – Year 4, Avyaan – Year 4
Distinction: Tengyi – Year 5, Dion – Year 4, Advaith – Year 3
Credit: Rhea – Year 5, Daniel – Year 4, Winston – Year 4, Akilesh – Year 4, Sean – Year 3
Elsie – Year 3, Kanishk – Year 3, Advaith – Year 2, Jaini – Year 2
Mathematics
High Distinction: Tengyi – Year 5
Distinction: Dion – Year 4, Avyaan – Year 4, Gordon – Year 4, Advaith – Year 2
Credit: Sanjeev – Year 6, Atharva – Year 6, Johan – Year 5, Aarush – Year 5, Rhea – Year 5
Harvey – Year 4, Daniel – Year 4, Henry – Year 4, Akilesh – Year 4, Aarav – Year 4
Advaith – Year 3, Winston – Year 3, David – Year 2
The students listed were also publicly acknowledged for their impressive academic attainments at whole school assemblies this term, where their certificates were presented to them, together with a Principal’s award for those students who achieved a High Distinction.
David Jenkins
Assessment and Reporting Coordinator
Art News
Order forms have been sent with students.
Our free cooking classes have been so much fun with all families learning new healthy choices and great family friendly recipes.
We are extremely thankful to Foodbank Victoria for providing these wonderful sessions for our families.
Here are some photos of us making yummy fried rice…. next Japanese Pancakes. 🥞
TheirCare News
GHPS Facebook
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Calendar
TERM 4
October
Mon 23 Art & Science Show
Tue 24 2024 Prep Transition #2
Mon 30 Teeth on Wheels
November
Mon 6 Curriculum Day
Tue 7 Melbourne Cup Holiday
Tue 14 2024 Prep Transition #3
Mon 20 Whole School Swimming Program commences
Tue 28 2024 Prep Transition #4 & Parent Information Session
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.