Newsletter #15 September 17 2020
Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow.
Principal’s Report
Prep 2021 Enrolment form
It’s been great to have our current families returning their child’s prep enrolment form for next year. We still have a few more to come in and would love to have all of these in by tomorrow or as soon as possible.
Virtual Assembly
It’s been another highlight for me this week to participate in and view the recorded assembly which has been shared with the community. So much talent!
Thank you very much to the Year 6 Hosts: Jahnavi 6J and Kushal 6P.
Once again, we enjoyed hearing the National Anthem played on piano by Alice.
The reflections by Tilly 3O, Srishti 3K and Rishi 3F in Year 3 provided us with many insights into how motivational their classes have been this week.
One of their areas of learning was to focus on Statistics and Probability and how they have learned how to represent and make sense of their data. The approach to problem solving was very straight forward and made so much sense! Thank you for the opportunity to hear about your learning in Literacy and enjoying “popup day”.
Alex 6P also provided us with beautiful background piano music to accompany the display of the Grade 3’s work. Such happy learners!
The Music Captains, Aidan and Rhapsody reflected on the value of using music to keep you positive and enjoying learning, even though there maybe things that are not as much fun, they surmised that Music is definitely a great way to make you feel more upbeat.
Great work also by Mr Aitken to keep all the music tasks going with all our students and for being so inspiring.
I appreciated the pitch from our House Captains, Boris, Raashi and Arjun to keep motivating us to stay active and try the challenges set for each year level.
Great work Ms K for keeping everyone moving during the first Virtual House Athletics. I hope everyone got their videos to Ms K to earn House points.
The House Spirit is very much alive! We look forward to the House Aths ceremony on Compass tomorrow.
To cap off an amazing assembly we were entertained by Javin 2C who was accompanied by his Dad playing and singing a beautiful rendition of ”Tomorrow”. We look forward to “tomorrow” and the end of term for everyone to enjoy.
Another big shout out for the massive amount of work put in by Ms Piscioneri, Mrs Jones and Shan once again producing the work and giving all of us the opportunity to appreciate what the students have been learning across so many areas of the school.
Congratulations to all our Students of the Week and for putting in so much effort to your learning. It’s been a pleasure to read out your awards and gain a wonderful sense of what you have achieved this week.
Congratulations to the recipients of my Principal Award: All the teachers and staff for their dedication and passion for learning and the impact you have made on all our learners.
GPA fundraiser
We can all look forward to ordering mangoes again this year and in doing so raise some funds for the school.
The mangoes will be delivered next term and we can’t wait for their arrival. Thanks to the families who have already sent in their orders and to GPA and Julie Bruce for making this possible.
Compass Wrap up tomorrow
In Ms Tinetti’s and my wrapup tomorrow on Compass, we will outline the DET’s arrangements for School operations for Term 4 which we will, no doubt, all appreciate.
End of term 3
With the holidays ahead, the students will be dismissed from their on- line learning at 2.30pm tomorrow and we look forward to returning for term 4 on Monday 5 October.
It’s certainly been a unique term 3 and I applaud everyone’s attention to their learning and for staying so engaged. I’m sure it will be a very welcomed relief to have some down time and perhaps a lot less screen time. Its been one like no other, that’s for sure.
Make the most of what- ever you can do during the break and remember that the happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.
Libby Alessi Principal
A message from your Assistant Principal
Wellbeing:
Here are 10 helpful ways to promote good mental health and wellbeing in children. I also think they are good tips for adults as well!
- Model good mental health habits
If you, like many parents, live constantly with stress then consider ways to actively minimise it, such as getting regular exercise, plenty of sleep and doing relaxation exercises. Not only will this improve your mental health, and make you easier to live with, it will send a strong positive message that mental health is important. It’s worth remembering that kids learn what they live, so make sure they see good mental health habits first hand.
- Make sure they get enough sleep
Sleep is one of the building blocks of mental health and wellbeing. Many children and just about all teenagers are sleep-deprived at the moment. Many parents are sleep-deprived as well! Children need between 10 and 12 hours’ sleep to enable proper growth and development, while teenagers need a minimum of nine hours. One of the single most powerful strategies to improve kids’ abilities to cope with stressful or changing situations is to ensure they get enough sleep.
- Encourage your kids to exercise
When my mum would tell me all those years ago to turn the television off and go outside and play, she didn’t know she was promoting good mental health. She just knew that physical activity was a good thing for an active growing girl. Kids today get less exercise than those of past generations, which is an impediment to mental health. Exercise stimulates the chemicals that improve mood and release the stress that builds up over a day. An hour’s movement per day seems the minimum for kids. How much exercise does your child receive?
- Encourage creative outlets
Kids should practise creativity if for no other reason than it helps them experience the state of ‘flow’. This is the state of getting so immersed in an activity that you forget about time and place. Writers and other creatives understand the concept of flow. It’s energizing and helps take stressed and worried kids out of themselves.
- Provide a space of their own
Children of all ages benefit from having some space of their own where they can think. Quiet time and down time give children the chance to let their thoughts wander around inside their heads. It also helps them get to know, and even like, themselves. Some children often do their best thinking on their own, so they tend to retreat to their caves (bedroom) when things go wrong at school or in their relationships. They may need to go within to find their own answer.
- Talk about their troubles
A problem shared is a problem halved. Talking about what’s worrying you is a great way to remove the burden of worry and reduce anxiousness. Some kids bottle up what’s inside, while others will catastrophise a situation, which can make matters seem worse. If your child has a problem let them know that their concerns are important to you. Kids often can’t tell you what may be wrong, so be observant and gently ask questions to help gain a clearer picture of how kids may be feeling.
- Help them relax
Make sure your child has a hobby or activity that relaxes them. The ability to relax and get away from the stresses of everyday life is essential. Some children who have real difficulty switching off may benefit from practising meditation or mindfulness, but most kids just need time to chill out so they can relax naturally. (I personally practise mindfulness and have found it a really helpful way to turn off my brain for a while!)
- Have two routines – weekday and weekend
Most households are pretty highly scheduled these days. There are routines for getting up, coming home, eating meals and going to bed. These structures are necessary when we’re busy. Families need a second, more relaxed weekend routine that helps kids relax and unwind. It’s important to have this release valve if families are flat out busy during the week.
- Foster volunteering and helpfulness
Social isolation is a huge predictor of poor mental health. Encourage your child to be connected to and help others in any way possible. Helping others reinforces social connectedness and the importance of being part of a community, as well as providing opportunities for positive recognition.
- Bring fun and playfulness into their lives
Kids should be the kings and queens of play; however, some children live such full-on, organised lives that much of the natural fun and spontaneity has been stripped from their everyday life. Mucking around, which is code for having fun, is something many children of this generation don’t have time for. If you see your child constantly stressed or overwhelmed by events, change the mood by going to a movie, joining them in a game or seeking other ways to have some fun.
GHPS Spoonville is growing
Look at how much GHPS Spoonville has grown!
Thank you to all of the families who have visited and left their very own Spoony characters. I look forward to seeing if it grows over the school holidays. I wonder how many Spoony characters will there be then?
School Holiday Ideas
Here is a website that has some ideas and links of virtual tours etc. for you to do at home during the holidays:
https://mumslittleexplorers.com/fun-school-holiday-activities-melbourne
I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable holiday at home. I am excited for Term 4 when we will start to see the return to school for students. I CAN NOT WAIT!
I am so proud of every student, teacher and parent and how the GHPS Community have bound together to get through this!
Remember I am here to help you I any way I can and I am just a phone call away if you need any assistance or if you just need to have a chat. Please call me on 9571 2931.
“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.”
Anthony J D’Angelo
Amy Tinetti Assistance Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.
Saanvi 0N – For sharing your awesome jokes and magic tricks in our video calls this term. Thank you for making Prep N and your teacher laugh! We appreciate you!
Kanishk 0N – For working so hard to do your personal best while learning from home this term. Keep up the fantastic effort!
Arham 0R – For his amazing recount writing this week! Excellent work Arham!
Vedesh 0R – For his fantastic Wow work video! Well done Vedesh for speaking clearly and confidently!
Layla 0R – For her informative and engaging Wow work video! Well done Layla, you would make an excellent news presenter!
Zain 0S – For your amazing effort in your recount writing this week! Well done on writing with so much detail! You’re a star!
Teju 0S – For your consistent effort across all areas of online learning and always having a smile on your face during our Webex conferences. You’re a star!
Gordon 1A – A very independent and curious learner, always putting in your best effort with online learning tasks. I am proud of how hard you are working Gordon. Keep it up!
Victoria 1A – Wow Victoria! What a fantastic attitude you have to learning each day this term. Thank you for putting in your best effort with our Hungry Ants assessment task last week and with your detailed and captivating Sizzling Starts this week. Be proud of yourself! Amazing work!
Nanditha 1E – Thank you for your amazing effort so far in Remote Learning! The work you are producing is exceptional! Thank you for your amazing contributions to our class discussions! Keep it up!
Sanika 1E – Thank you for your amazing effort so far this term. You always come to our roll call with a smile! I am proud of how much you have improved with your learning this term!
Spriha 1M – You always try your best in each and every learning task. Well done for being an amazing remote learner Spriha! It is a joy to be your teacher!
Ulemj 1M – You have been a super star remote learner this term! You have continued to impress and inspire me with how hard you try in each and every task. Keep up the amazing work Ulemj!
Sadra 1R – You are working so hard this term and I am so proud of you! This week you showed how much you have been practising breaking up and sounding out words when reading that you jumped up two levels! This is an incredible achievement and you should be very happy with yourself! Keep up the fantastic work Sadra!
Kanishk 1R – Thank you for approaching all learning tasks with enthusiasm and giving everything your best shot! You bring lots of smiles and positivity to every Webex meeting and are always working your hardest at home! You are doing amazing this term – well done!
Isla 1R – You are working so hard this term and I am so proud of you! The persistence and focus you are dedicating to your handwriting goal is incredible, and we can both see just how much you are improving each and every time you put pencil to paper! I hope you know just how far you have come this year and you should celebrate your successes every day! Keep up the fantastic work!
Ben 2C – For answering the daily question EVERY DAY. You have shown a strong commitment to your learning throughout remote learning. You are amazing, keep it up!
Bonnie 2L – For her detailed diorama and amazing presentation about seahorses.
Ruchika 2L – For her active participation in every online class and always responding to learning tasks on time.
Samarth 2S – For his excellent participation and effort in answering all the Daily questions on Compass each day! You are a star!
Twisha 2S – Congratulations Twisha for the amazing effort, participation and contributions you are making to all aspects of Remote Learning. Your enthusiasm and diligence is tremendous!
Elizabeth 3F – For demonstrating an outstanding effort in her writing tasks. Her narrative about Magma the mythical flying lion was a joy to read.
Aliyah 3F – For continuously striving to achieve her best in all remote learning tasks. I admire and applaud your persistence. Keep up the great work!
Hudson 3F – for making a conscious effort to improve his focus and attention to all his learning tasks.
Aditya 3K – Working diligently on all online tasks, showing confidence with his explanations and creating numerous detailed information posters about famous monuments around the world.
Bridget 3K – Enthusiasm towards all classroom initiatives, problem solving and helping others explore online features.
Hasan 3K – An incredibly detailed slide show about ‘The Great Mosque of Mecca’ with unique pictures, descriptions and personal experiences. You spoke confidently and were well prepared for your presentation.
Levi 3K – Showing kindness to others, resilience and determination to do your best when interpreting picture graphs with a key in Maths. Your use of repeated addition and times tables was an excellent strategy to help solve this week’s problems. Well done!
Sahana 3K – Being a vibrant, dynamic and enthusiastic student. You always do your best, set high goals for yourself and pride yourself on the presentation of your work. Well done on your incredible organisation (I love your whiteboard timelines), your “Make it Monday” theme and your participation in all dress up days!
Yoshi 3O – for being punctual and attending daily roll calls and afternoon check ins each day. Well done
Ayush 3O – For his outstanding Spoonville Minion Masterpiece and for the other amazing sketches he has drawn during Remote Learning. Miss Fournitois is very impressed with your artistic skill. You are a very creative artist. Well done.
Siddhanth 4C – For using your vivid imagination during Writing and when designing an interactive presentation about Space. The creativity you have shown during Writing and Digital Learning has truly been astonishing. Stay creative!
Clancy 4C – For exhibiting a responsible and independent approach to tasks this week. Your persistence to complete tasks is commendable.
Ajaai 4C – For your confidence, eye contact and good use of expression when reading your narrative aloud. Your read aloud of your narrative, entitled ‘Never Get Lost in a Train Station’, was enjoyable to watch.
Anushka 4J – Consistently showing significant improvement with your Narrative Story writing, demonstrating impressive and motivated effort to advance your story writing skills, and for an outstanding and engaging slideshow and a detailed presentation script, about where my ancestors and I were born and have lived.
Julia 4J – Writing well considered and very thoughtful responses for your Learning Log in Week 7. Your answers showed impressive critical and creative thinking, that you maturely understood the meaning and essence of each question and that you were able to express in writing, exactly what you were thinking.
Emily 4R – For keeping up with your work submissions this week, and for your excellent coding presentation about llamas! I learnt a lot! Keep up the great work, Emily.
Snehit 4R – For your enthusiasm and critical thinking skills during our guided numeracy task this week. You continue to impress me with your mathematical skills and knowledge, and willingness to share your strategies with others. Keep up the awesome work, Snehit!
Samiksha 5O – For using innovative ways to explore Science concepts. Well done with your vegetable grater water filtration unit. You always complete work to such a high standard.
Arnaud 5O – For building upon his amazing writing skills week by week, day by day. Arnaud experiments with varied writing strategies from writing in the third person, formal reviews and casually using his writer’s voice. He looks deep within our Mentor Texts to search for meaning and author’s purpose as seen with our current text ‘The Boy who Harnessed the Wind’. Keep up the great work!
Raf 5S – for kindly offering on Google Classroom a very useful website that gives great information about important events of various countries so that other students of 5S can use it for their inquiry project. Well done Raf!
Arthur 5S – for always handing in work to a high standard and striving to improve his knowledge for all subjects. Keep it up Arthur!
Hugo 6J – For his detailed letter to an MP that explored a major issue. Excellent use of evidence to support your arguments.
Madhav 6J – For his persistent attitude when it comes to fulfilling his Literature Circle role. Keep striving for excellence!
Michael 6P – For being persistent, confident and resilient when facing the daily challenge of remote learning. Keep it up!
Evan 6P – For continuing to produce outstanding pieces of writing that create vivid imagery for his reader. It’s always a pleasure to read your writing, Evan!
To all teachers and staff for their dedication and passion for learning, the impact that you have made and how you have got it done.
A big thank you.
Thank you so much for your wonderful contribution to and participation in our eSmart Week this year. We hope you were able to have some deep discussions with your children about how to be safer online.
We received some wonderful submissions from the Prep to Year 2 students about how to create a healthy night time routine. It was hard to choose, but here are some of Mrs Murnane’s favourites from the week!
We also received some excellent persuasive texts from the Years 3 to 6 students about the importance of creating a positive digital footprint. Below are some of Ms Roth’s favourite submissions. These displayed a strong understanding of what digital footprints are, how to leave a positive footprint and why this is important. They also used highly persuasive language and lots of good examples to support their key arguments.
Well done for getting involved with eSmart Week, everyone!
Emma Murnane & Jasmine Roth
Digital Learning Coordinators
Colouring Competition
Thank you so much for all the wonderful entries my office received for the May Gibbs ‘Wear a Mask’ colouring competition.
We had so many wonderful entries it was hard to choose a winner. Thank you to those who also sent messages about mask wearing. It’s great the littlest members of our community understand and accept the importance of masks to keep everyone safe and well.
Third Place: Syed 1R – Glen Huntly Primary School
‘What a wonderful sunset! It reminds me of the sunsets I see when I ride my bike around Higgins’.
Thank you so much for all taking the time to enter the colouring competition, I hope it entertained you for a little bit during lockdown!
Some book vouchers will be heading to students who placed shortly!
Stay safe and well,
Katie Allen MP
Federal Member for Higgins
Prep News
Preps enjoying some hands-on activities!
Ten pin bowling subtraction
Who Sank the (aluminium) Boat?
Year 2 News
As part of our Science work year 2 have been making sail boats that float.
Ben Lucas Karthik
Keya Javin
Rhea
Year 3 News
Congratulations to the Year 3 students and their families on what has been a challenging, unusual, but very successful Term 3. The students have worked so hard and have shown impressive growth, maturity and resilience. It was a joy compiling, sharing and celebrating the work our Year 3 students completed, over the past two weeks of remote learning, at our virtual Assembly. We were additionally extremely impressed with Tilly, Srishti and Rishi on the outstanding job they did representing and presenting on behalf of their Year 3 peers.
We are really looking forward to returning to the classroom next term, when able, and seeing all our beautiful students faces in person. We wish you all a safe and relaxing Term 3 break and thank you again for your continued support.
Nehal 3F
Zoya 3F
Sanvi 3O
3O – Connor, Manaswi, Ayush, Tyler & Krishna
3O Asher
Varnika 3K
Year 5/6 News
Over the past two days, the Years 5 and 6 students have been taking part in a Virtual Camp. They have chosen activities to complete each day such as orienteering, cabin making, a survivor challenge and damper making.
Here are some photos and reflections from students.
Cabin Design by Arnaud
Austin
Arthur
Hasini
Cabin Design by Raf
For virtual camp, I chose to make a cabin like this in Minecraft because I thought it would be tidier. I thought the cabin would look better as well. It’s a cabin with 3 bedrooms, the black slabs are beds with the white stairs and the glass are showers. The Il shaped stairs are a couch, and the chairs that are surrounding the dining room are chairs to sit on for meals.
Ari
During virtual camp I learnt to follow steps to make knots. I successfully made the Figure 8 Knot! First it was pretty hard to understand, but after five minutes of working hard, I started to understand how to do it. Camp was awesome!
Takuto
This year grades 6’s did Virtual Camp. One of the activities required us to make a cubby at home. This is my cubby, it’s small but cosy. Virtual Camp was really fun! You got to do camp activities from home, and it kind of felt like you were in your camp cabin with your friends. Everyone is having a fun time at virtual camp. Near the end of day everyone comes together on a call and talks about what they did during the day.
Jaymeet
In virtual camp, we were asked to make damper. Damper is an Australian food that it’s easy to make. The ingredients for damper are –
- A pinch of salt
- 2 cups of self raising flour
- 1 cup of water
My damper tasted amazing. Down the bottom you can see a picture of my damper . The virtual camp was an amazing experience, but I do hope no one else has to do it again.
Harshitha
Sport News
P-6 Whole school athletics focus. Prep-2 participated in a range of modified athletic activities including long jump, shot put throw, hurdles, baton shuttle relay and quoits.
Victoria 1A Samiksha 5O
Henry and Emma Naira 1M
Vihaan 2L Mia 2S Alex
Shiva, 3F and Genevieve, 4C showing off their juggling skills as part of P.E last week.
Keep an eye out on compass for our GHPS Virtual House Athletics final presentation where the house shield and spirit cup winner will be announced!
Miss Kasambalis
Library News
Next term on the 19 to 23rd of October, GHPS will be celebrating the CBCA Book Week with the theme of ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’.
This will be a chance for students to celebrate books and participate in sharing their favourite books and love of reading.
More information will be coming out next term in regards to the Book Week activities our school will be participating in, including dressing up as your favourite book character or author as a whole school celebration.
We will also be participating in a School Book Drive next term.
To celebrate Book Week, we will be looking for donations of Children’s books for our classroom libraries. These books will be used by the children in each class for their independent reading sessions. They can be books you have at home that are no longer getting love from your children or you may like to purchase a new book to donate to GHPS.
More details in regards to this will be shared next term, including dates for when we will be starting our GHPS Book Drive.
Well done to the students who have been participating in the Premier Reading Challenge as GHPS have now read a total of 4,303 books and 71 students have completed it.
The PRC ends tomorrow, and I would just like to give a huge congratulations to Madhu (PR), Harvey (1A), Praneedh (1A), Prajesh (1R), Arav (2C), Yuvan (3K), Sharannya (5S), and Aradhya (5O) for reading over 100 books each! Fantastic work to all those students and well done on your amazing reading at home. I look forward to handing out certificates and prizes next term.
Thank you, I hope you all have a happy and safe holidays and keep reading!
Miss Lucas-Lely
Calendar
Sep
Fri 18 End of Term 3 (early dismissal 2.30pm)
The McKinnon Basketball Association are running a range of on-line basketball camps during the upcoming school holidays for all ages and abilities covering a wide range of activities to keep kids entertained and active during the school holidays.
Link to register can be found here McKinnon Basketball Online Holiday programs
