Newsletter #2 February 18, 2022

GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY

    Learning Today.                     Leading Tomorrow.                                                             

Principal’s Report

House Swimming Sports Grades 3-6

Congratulations to all students who swam in events at GESAC on a very beautiful Monday earlier this week. Hearing some students describe it as their best day was reward in itself!

Ms Kasambalis did an amazing job running the sports with great help from the teachers who marshalled the students, awarded points and ribbons and supervised students throughout the event.

The Spirit Cup was awarded to Bael and Garrawang House took out the House Swimming Shield. Sports Captains, Luke and Brody made the presentations with the very proud House Captains, JP and Lucas accepting the Cup and Shield.

A great show of effort by all of our competitors and further congratulations to the swimmers who have qualified for the District Sports on Friday 4 March: Stephanie, Aadhya, Harper, Bridget (5/6B) Rory, Genevieve, Lucas, Levi, Anisha(5/6F) Emily, Brody (5/6R) Zac (3M)

 School Council

The first meeting for School council will be next Monday 21 February at 7pm and it will be held in the Main Building on East Site. School Council will be approving the remainder of the Curriculum Days for 2022 and parents will be notified next week. This will be the final meeting for the 2021 Council, and we hope everyone can attend.

2022 School Council Elections

The following information is to notify members of the school community that this is a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations as of 21 February,2022

Parents and Staff are encouraged to see this is an opportunity to participate in the activities of the School Council and know that the school will highly value your contribution. We aim to continue to create a strong relationship and partnership within our school community and I am confident that we can get the numbers joining the fabulous GHPS School Council as we really need great staff and parents to help out. I look forward to receiving a full complement of nominations for Council and encourage people to feel free to contact me if they require any further advice or information.

If the number of nominations is equal to the number of vacancies, there will be no further call for nominations. It will also not be necessary to hold a ballot. If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted on Compass and in prominent positions at the school.

Nomination forms need to be received and lodged by:

4.00 pm on Thursday 10 March 2022

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows

Membership category Term of office Name of nominees required
Parent member

2 year vacancy

From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll on Monday 21 February 2022 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2024 6
DET  employee member

2 year vacancy

From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll on Monday 21 February 2022 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2024 2

Nomination Forms are included with a link in the 18 February Newsletter and 2022 Parent Compass Notification.

Please complete the self-nomination form 3 or have a member of the school community nominate you with form 4. (see links below) Additional forms are also available:

  • East Site: At the Main Office
  • West Site: TheirCare Before/Afterschool Care in the Activities Centre

Six parent vacancies need to be filled for School Council as of March 28. Thank you very much to the outgoing Parent Members of the School Council whose term of office will conclude:

  • Nicole Bishop (Brody Year 5/6), Supriya Arikarevula(Aditya Year 5/6, Kiara Year 1), and three parents whose child graduated Grade 6 in 2021: Ross Donnan, Gojun Oberoi, Arthur Le and Maitreyee Khire

Thank you to the four Members of Council who still have one year to serve in their term of office:

Nicole Verginis (Stephanie Year 5/6), Nicole Healy (Ben Year 4, Charlie Year 2), Noel Duffy (Isla year 3) and Caitilin Hawkins (Samson Year 4).

Here is a snapshot of some of the work and functions of the GHPS School Council:

  • School council must meet at least eight times a year and at least once per school term.
  • The President chairs all meetings, and all members of the council are expected to attend
  • Following the school council elections, council members will determine an appropriate time and location throughout the year. Eg. Monday at 7pm in the new “Staff Lounge” or Library
  • Meetings typically last between 1.5-2 hours
  • The principal in consultation with the President will ensure an agenda is prepared for each regular meeting and will distribute the agenda, minutes from previous meeting and meeting reports such as sub-committee reports, Principal & Staff Report to school council members.
  • Each member contributes to one or more Sub-Committee and leads/attends the meeting

Some sub committees, duties, and key responsibilities:

COUNCIL General Business:

  • Strategic Planning: participating in the development and monitoring of the school strategic plan
  • Representing and taking views of the community into account
  • Curriculum & Policy: Policy development and review: developing, reviewing, and updating selected policies that reflect the school’s values and support school’s broad direction outlined in its strategic plan
  • Finance: overseeing the development and expenditure of the school’s annual budget and ensuring proper records are kept of the school’s financial operation
  • Out of Hours School care (OHSC TheirCare): Regulating and facilitating after-hours use of school premises and grounds including Out of Hours School care (OHSC TheirCare). Additional use of the premises includes lessons in Cooking, Chess, Guitar, Keyboard, Tennis, Soccer, Cricket as examples

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

  • Publicity & Marketing: promoting, stimulating, and creating interest in the school
  • Building and Grounds: maintaining school grounds and facilities. Monitoring and reporting on the progress of the Capital Works project/s
  • Glen Huntly Parents Association (GPA): Raising funds for school related purposes, informing GHPS of community social events and projects

ALL members enthusiastically volunteer their time and expertise to provide opportunities that improve outcomes for our superstar students.

Please find the following on our website at this link:

FOR PARENTS:

  • Fact sheet 1: school council elections- information for parents
  • Form 3: self-nomination form for parent category
  • Form 4: nomination form for parent category

FOR STAFF

  • Form 5: self- nomination form for school employee member category
  • Form 6: nomination form for school employee member category

Two staff vacancies: Ms Tinetti + One

Three Staff Members continuing their term of office: Thank you very much to Ms Kamila Krauze and Mr David Jenkins whose terms of office will conclude in 2023.

CLICK HERE to see more information and NOMINATION FORMS

The first newly formed school council meeting will be on Monday 28 March, 7pm in the East Site Staff Lounge which newly elected members will attend.  

School Support and Parent Teacher Interviews

We greatly appreciate the incredible work of all the teachers attending Parent Teacher Interviews with families during the week.

Families have been able to meet their child’s teacher online to work together to best support the educational and wellbeing outcomes for each child. We pride ourselves on fostering positive relationships, being approachable and responding in ways that are effective and for keeping communication channels open.

We actively want to build confidence that we are providing the best standard of education for each child.

School Uniform

At GHPS we promote a smart dress code, believe that school uniform teaches students to dress smartly and take pride in their appearance. Wearing our school uniform is like a badge of honor, it creates an identity for our school and is an important feature of being a member of our school community. If your child is wearing the uniform correctly, we thank you, however if there are parts of the uniform that are not correct school colors, we ask that you improve on this and see how you are helping our school. Can you self- assess how you are sending your child to school:

  1. Extremely well – my child wears the correct uniform including the tops with the school logo on them every day- fabulous no changes required! Keep up the great workJ
  2. Very good – my child wears the correct uniform most days- please aim for every day which may mean you need to get another piece of the uniform such as jacket in maroon
  3. Good – but I need to change 1 thing- please purchase from the Uniform Shop – no black leggings or black track pants or black jackets. Its navy or maroon.
  4. Fair – there is more than one thing I need to change- please purchase from the uniform shop. NO pink, grey or pale blue and no long sleeve tops under the dress may be examples to improve on.

Our aim is for all parents to be able to self-assess as a one by the end of next week – Friday, 25 February and enact any changes needed.

I would ask each parent to look closely at what their child is wearing and ensure:

  1. She/he doesn’t wear other colored leggings or other colored pants. Blue or maroon Leggings ideally are worn only under a dress, not as a pant
  2. She/he doesn’t wear a long-sleeved top that is not maroon or white.
  3. She/he doesn’t wear a colored t shirt under the polo top
  4. Wear only the maroon jacket (Prep – year 5)
  5. Wear a named maroon Sunsmart hat
  6. You make the necessary change/s.

The uniform shop is open Thursday morning from 9.00 – 10.00am.  If you can’t make it to the uniform shop, you can download a form from the website or collect a form from the office and return with payment so the goods can then be taken home by your child.

New and good quality second-hand uniform is available and if families are experiencing difficulties, please contact the school for further assistance.

If you would like to donate your second hand uniform, please keep in mind that we only take original GHPS uniform pieces.

OUR uniform is:

Navy Blue or Maroon     Track pants/Bootleg pants

Maroon                    Long Sleeve Polo with logo

Maroon or White Short Sleeve Polo with logo

Maroon                    Bomber Jacket/Polar Fleece Jacket with logo

Navy (Grade 6 ONLY)    Bomber Jacket – Grade 6 ONLY (special order in Year 5 to come in Year 6) with all names

Maroon or Navy   Shorts / Skorts / Culottes

Summer Dress

SUNSMART                        Maroon broad brimmed hat

Winter beanie                   Maroon

Thank you in anticipation.

Grade 6 Jackets

It was a very special moment when we called all the Year 6 students to collect their new Grade 6 jacket. They are always picked up with such joy! It gives us so much pleasure to see their appreciation.

We want to thank parents and students for the great job they have done in keeping our school as safe as possible by following important COVIDSafe measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing, ventilation, getting vaccinated and rapid antigen testing.

This has meant that our school has remained open and our students in class. This is a fantastic outcome and a testament to the hard work of parents, carers, students, and school staff.

Rapid antigen tests: To keep schools as safe as possible, the Victorian Government has extended the COVIDSafe measures introduced for the beginning of Term 1. This includes extending the availability of free rapid antigen tests (RAT) for screening until the end of term.

It is anticipated an additional 24 million RATs will be provided to schools and early childhood settings to continue to support early detection and prevent infection, for use at home.

The need for this program will continue to be monitored and may end earlier based on health advice. This is great news and will mean we’re able to continue identifying COVID-19 cases as early as possible, reducing the impact on our school and individuals.

Department of Health modelling indicates that in the first two weeks of school returning, the program has already prevented more than 21,000 cases in schools alone. Their modelling indicates, assuming a 75 per cent compliance rate with screening of students, that by continuing RAT screening in schools for the full 10 weeks of Term 1, we will prevent:

  • 61,000 COVID-19 infections in children aged 5 to 17
  • more than 150,000 COVID-19 infections in the overall community (on average 15,000 per week over 10 weeks, or more than 2,100 per day)
  • around 400 hospital admissions.

The department will continue to supply RATs to our school for your use. They will be handed out to students in the classroom.

Mainstream primary and secondary schools Twice-a-week testing continues to be strongly recommended for both students and staff.

Specialist schools Testing 5 times a week continues to be strongly recommended for students and staff at our school. This is because of the greater risk associated with COVID-19 for some students with disabilities.

Testing will continue to be conducted at home, and students and staff must report any positive result. There is no requirement to report a negative result.

Vaccination: Vaccination is another key component to protect students and staff in school settings. Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 are open and third dose vaccinations for 16 to 17 year olds are now available.

Libby Alessi – Principal


Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.

Ruthwik 0SFor always having a big smile and a positive attitude towards his learning. Keep up the great work!

Sophia 0H – For being a kind and caring member of Prep H! Thank you for always helping your classmates when they need or ask for help. Keep up the great work!

Chintan and Harshith 1D – For settling in so well to G.H.P.S, showing respect to your teachers and peers and demonstrating excellent behaviour both inside and outside of the classroom. We are so lucky to have you in 1D!

Charli 1PBFor using her name to count tens and one using MAB. Well done, Place Value Superstar!

Teju 2M – For a wonderful start to Grade 2! You have been such a superstar student. Keep it up.

Raha 2S – For applying yourself to all the work you do and for being a kind and respectful classmate. Keep up the amazing work Raha!

All members of 3K – Congratulations for a great beginning to the year and for all of your enthusiasm in activities! Well Done!

James 3M – For being a wonderful addition and role model to everyone in 3M.

Akhil 4A – For consistently showing respect to his teachers and peers and always using his manners. Thank you for your kindness, Akhil.

Srivaishnav 4S – For catching up to the rest of the class in Art after being away, and achieving beautiful work.

All members of 4S – For making a magnificent start to the school year. You are all supportive and caring to one another. Well done, everyone!

Elka 5/6B – For her enthusiasm to learn and improve her numeracy strategies. Well done you Elka!!

Lucas 5/6F – For displaying exceptional leadership skills in and outside of the classroom. His kindness and willingness to help others is a shining example for all.

Aanya Panwar 5/6R – For building up your confidence over the past 3 weeks of school and contributing to our class discussions. Well done!


House Swimming

On Monday 14th of Feb, we had our House Swimming competition. Thank you to everyone for coming and participating.

Congratulations to Bael for winning the spirit cup and to Garrawang for winning the house shield. Thank you to all the teachers for helping and to Miss K for organising the day.

Luke and Brody

GHPS Sport Captains


Our first Working Bee for 2022 is happening on Friday, 4th March, from 4.00pm to 7.00pm, followed by a barbeque.

We will be working on the West Site and all parents and children are invited to attend. If you have a wheelbarrow, shovel, leaf blower and garden gloves, please bring along.

Some of the jobs we are planning to get done are painting the bench seating, weeding, minor maintenance and spreading mulch.

If you are unable to attend for the whole session, even helping out for an hour would be greatly appreciated.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Cameron White    Assistant Principal


TheirCare News



Calendar

March

Fri 4           Working Bee

Fri 25         Family Fun Night


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.