Newsletter #19 December 5th, 2025
GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY
Learning Today. Leading Tomorrow.
To Our Parent Community
A thriving school community is built on a strong partnership between home and school. The support our parents show for their children, our staff, and the wider school community is at the heart of our success.
We are truly fortunate to have such a highly engaged and supportive parent community. Our parents play an active role in School Council, School Council Committees, and the Glen Huntly Parents’ Association (GPA). These groups are vital to the good governance, community building, fundraising, and ongoing development of our wonderful school.
In 2025, these committees helped run many cherished school events—including the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day stalls, the school disco, weekly cake raffles, canteen icy poles and hot chocolates, the election BBQ, and the much-loved Trivia Night. They also planned and implemented improvements to our school grounds, updated policies, and helped facilitate community forums.
This year’s GPA fundraising efforts have been exceptional, raising an incredible $20,000 for our school. We are deeply grateful for the time, energy, and enthusiasm our parents contribute. Thanks to these funds, we were able to purchase our new senior playground—an exciting addition that will benefit students for years to come.
Parents have also generously supported school assemblies, house cross-country, swimming lessons, gala days, and district sports events throughout the year. These activities simply wouldn’t be possible without your involvement.
We are also thankful for our Class Reps, who strengthen communication, assist teachers, and help build a vibrant and connected parent community by organising social events.
Thank you all so much for everything you do. We look forward to another fantastic year together in 2026!
Parent Helpers & Volunteers Special Morning Tea at GHPS
As a small token of our appreciation, our staff warmly invite all helpers to a special morning tea on Tuesday, 16th December at 11:00am in the gym.
Your presence would mean a great deal to us and will give us the opportunity to thank you personally for your hard work and support.
We hope to see you there!
Class structure for 2026
We have now confirmed our staffing structure for 2026. We have spent considerable time working to ensure we have the best mix of staff to take the school forward into 2026. The structure is as follows
Class Structures and Staffing for 2026:
Principal – Mrs Nerida Burns
Assistant Principal – Mr Cameron White
Business Manager – Pip Lewis
Office Administration/Enrolments – Laura James-Clark
Prep A – Miss Grace Harrick
Prep B – Miss Camilla Welsh
Prep C – Miss Magenta Pearsall
1A – Mrs Ivana Attwood (Monday-Wednesday) and Miss Abbie Jones (Thursday and Friday)
1B – Mrs Ashleigh Ryan
1C – Mr Mark Railakis
2A – Miss Carly Draper
2B – Mr Ryan Bowden
2C – Miss Desi Siderellis
3A – Miss Claire Piscioneri (Monday-Wednesday) and Mrs Sue McGregor (Thursday and Friday)
3B – Miss Kamila Krauze
4A – Miss Yueni Yang
4B – Miss Becky Broxham
5/6A – Mr Stuart MacDermid
5/6B – Mr Alexander Papadopoulos
5/6C – Miss Chloe Kirby
Learning Specialist – Mental Health and Well Being Leader- Mrs Melinda Oldham
Learning Specialist – Teaching and Learning Coach- Miss Claire Piscioneri (Thursday)
Science – Mrs Melinda Oldham
Physical Education – Miss Sarah Price
Music – Mr Rodolfo Wunderlich Contreras
Japanese – Mrs Julie Tran
Art – Miss Justine de Bruyn
Intervention support – Mrs Julie Tran
Educations Support – Ruth Kinya- Smyth
Educations Support – Liz Mahoney
Educations Support – Bindu Aryyala Somayajula
Educations Support – Lilli Hancock
Educations Support – Sophi Duryea-Taylor
Educations Support – Chor Wong
Educations Support – Sam Shelton
Educations Support – Lily Oldham
Educations Support – Georgia Mason
Education Support – Marlena Eales Grziwotz
Educations Support – Dilshad Dumasia
Library Technician – Billie Connor
Secondary School Orientation Day / STEPUP Day
On Tuesday 9th December, our Grade 6 students attending Government schools in 2026 will be having their Orientation Day at their new schools.
We wish them all the very best for this very exciting day!
Our Prep to Grade 5 students, together with new students starting next year at GHPS will spend time in their new classes and teachers for 2026 on the same day.
Final Assembly
Wednesday December 17 will be our final assembly for the year. This will be a chance to reflect on 2025, introduce our 2026 leaders, say some farewells, and congratulate our graduating class.
The assembly will begin at 2.30pm. All parents and family members are welcome to join in the celebrations.
Thursday 18 and Friday 19 will be dedicated to moving and cleaning. No formal classes will be held on these days.
Students will be dismissed at 1.30pm on Friday 19th December.
School Reports
As we approach the conclusion of another successful year of teaching and learning at Glen Huntly Primary School, our staff are finalising student reports and reflecting on the remarkable progress made by every child throughout Semester Two.
These reports provide a comprehensive overview of each student’s achievements, growth, and areas for future learning, aligning with the Victorian Curriculum and our school’s commitment to continuous improvement. The reports will be released on Compass for you reading next Friday December 12.
St Anthony’s Glen Huntly will be providing a Christmas Day dinner for families on December 25 at 12 midday.
If you are interested, please call into the office and Laura can pass on the details.
Important Dates
- STEP Up day #2- Tuesday December 9
- Graduation – Wednesday 10th December
- School finishes – Friday 19th December @1:30pm
Nerida Burns Principal Cameron White Assistant Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.
Isabella 0A – Intelligent designing of your boat. Wonderful thinking about how to make it float.
Walden 0A – Excellent writing of a procedural text as we explained how to make a boat.
Cameron 0B – For showing incredible growth and resilience in the playground this week. You stepped out of your comfort zone, explored new areas, and made a wonderful effort to play and connect with both familiar and unfamiliar students. Your confidence and courage truly shined. Keep it up, Cameron!
Finn 0B – For consistently going out of your way to show thoughtful and genuine ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ toward your peers, friends, and teachers. Your compassion, positivity, and willingness to help others make a meaningful difference every day. Keep up the amazing work Finn!
Coco 1A – Your amazing dream house design! You added a playroom, a music room and an elevator—how cool is that?!
Thomas 1B – For smashing every school value this week! You stayed super-focused during learning time, were a kind friend, led like a champ when you helped the Preps on their very important ant-hole mission, and were just an all-round absolute legend. You’re on fire, Tommy!
Noah 1B – For presenting your playground design to the class with pride, projecting your voice, and speaking clearly and confidently! What an incredible effort. Well done, Noah!
Kai 2A – For showing enthusiasm and organisation during our maths activity this week. You set up your page quickly and used clever strategies to complete the easier parts efficiently, which helped you finish the whole task. Wonderful effort!
Emmy 2A – For your outstanding work in Inquiry this week. Your healthy lunchbox design was so colourful and delicious-looking, and you matched every food perfectly to the five major food groups. Fantastic effort, you fabulous foodie!
Dominik 3A – For demonstrating excellent focus and effort while writing your myth. Your engagement in each writing session was very impressive, and your descriptive language created real tension and excitement throughout your storyline. Well done, Dom!
Abhiram 3B – For working well with others in team activities, shining bright in specialist classes and improving on his ideas during our 5-10 minute writing warm up sessions! Congratulations!
Rishan 3C – For showing your best and careful handwriting and having expert explanations during our measurement lessons.
Ernest 4B – Always challenging himself in extension groups and tasks, stepping up to help others with digital learning and for always supporting his teacher when needed. Congratulations!
Jishnu 4C – For persevering through your own maths challenges you set and being super proud of yourself when succeeding! You’re an absolute star!
Somaya 5A – For an outstanding year at GHPS. Since you arrived at school you have consistently demonstrated all the School Values. You are a highly valued member of 5/6A.
Shreyan 5B – Working incredibly hard in Inquiry to design an amazing garden bed.
Teju 5B – For her creativity in class and the wonderful support she showed her friends during a week of transition.
Ashleigh 5C – For the persistence she has shown towards improving her spelling results every week. Congratulations for a successful 15 out of 15 this week. Well done and keep it up!
Hanish 6C – For the persistence he has shown towards his work. I have loved the way he works through challenges and comes out the other side thinking of how he can help others in need too. Thank you for being an amazing leader!
Student Achievements
Congratulations to Luluo (5c) on her very first Acro Dance performance!
She did an amazing job performing in front of a big audience of family and friends, and we’re all so proud of her hard work and confidence on stage.
Sport News
CLICK HERE FOR ALL ACTIVITIES
COMMUNITY PANTRY and BREAKFAST CLUB NEWS
A huge thank you to everyone who has donated to our School Community Pantry! A special shout-out to Daniel Shaw, who reaches out to our local supermarkets and secures gift cards—thanks to you, we’ve been able to top up where it’s needed most. We are truly grateful!
And of course, a big thank you to our Breakfast Club volunteers—Martina, Sophi, Carolyn, and George. You turn up twice a week to serve breakfast, make the kids feel safe and cared for, and help them start their day with full bellies and happy hearts. You’re amazing!
If you need a bit of extra food over the school holidays, just drop me an email after the 5th of January at ruth.kinyua@education.vic.gov.au and we’ll find a time that works for you. Just a heads-up—there won’t be any fruit over the holidays.
Have a safe and wonderful festive season and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year
Ruth 😊
TheirCare News
GHPS Facebook
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Calendar 2025
Term 4
December
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
Thu 25 Merry Christmas 😀
Calendar 2026
January
Tue 27 Teachers Return to school
Wed 28 Year 1 – 6 Students commence
Thu 29 Prep Students commence
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.