Principal’s Report

Family Fun Night Friday 15 March

There was a terrific turnout to this year’s Family Fun Night which was held on the West Site. Thank you to all families and staff for your attendance and support for this social event for our wonderful school community. The kids loved playing the games put on by Ms Kasambalis and Ms Lucas-Lely! Thanks Ms de Bruyn and Ms Tinetti for selling Jude’s lemonade icy poles from Jude’s Lemon Bike Cart and to GPA and Fiona Davey for selling the leftover chocolates and some drinks. The 3 Lil Monsters Pizza Truck was a very handy option for tea which many of us enjoyed.

The surprise of the night, and added bonus, was Mr Aitken playing great live music on the deck with the band including parent Dave Johnstone and friend Mark Dorrington. This added something really special! I hope everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be with their family or a catch-up with others.

School Council and Annual Reporting Meeting (ARM) Monday 18 March

The Annual Reporting Meeting for 2018 was held on Monday 18 March and attended by members of Council, parents and staff. Thank you to the President, Craig Matthews, who presented his report and for the summary. I support him in thanking the retiring school councillors Kon Mentis and Tony Carveth and in welcoming back returning and newly elected parent and staff members:

Congratulations and thank you to the following staff and parents re-elected or new to the 2019 GHPS School Council. It is great to have everyone on Council and thank the 2019 office bearers :

Staff Members

Mrs Libby Alessi
Ms Amy Tinetti
Mr David Jenkins
Mrs Emma Murnane
Ms Claire Piscioneri

Parents Members

President: Craig Matthews (Imogen 6P)
Vice President: Ross Donnan (Amber 4R)
Secretary: Nicole Verginis ( Alex 5O & Stephanie 3S)
Treasurer: Nola Woo (Emma 6P)

Shan Jayaweera (Alice 5O & Emily 3K)
Lara O’ Grady (Emma 3K, Henry FR)
Lance Voges (Austin 4R)
Cassandra David -Shields (Evan 5S)
Kalai Selvi Karthikeyan (Ajaai 3S)
Satya Tharana Surireddy (Raghav 3S & Sindhura 0F)

Grade 5/6 Camp Lady Northcote Wednesday 20 – Friday 22 March

A big thank you to the Grade 5/6 team for organising the 3 day Camp which departs this week and to the wonderful staff for giving up their home comforts and families etc to be there for the students: Mrs Mel Oldham, Mr Callum Swanson, Mr David Jenkins, Ms Claire Piscioneri, Ms Amy Tinetti, Denise and Laura. Thank you to Ruth who will assist in the office with Julie while Laura is away.

Foundation to Grade 2 Easter Hat Parade: Wednesday 3 April 11.45-12.45pm in the WW Hall.

Mr Aitken will be organising the music and singing for his first Easter Hat Parade and GPA will be running the annual Easter Raffle. We will be calling for donations of Easter goodies and getting tickets out to families to buy and sell to friends. It’s an exciting time.

On Wednesday 27 March, the school will have its first Taiko Drumming Incursion to celebrate Harmony Day and our Japanese LOTE and Music Program. This will be a special event and Foundation(Prep), Grade 1 and Grade 2 will have the first session at 12pm with the Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 commencing their session at 1pm. Thank you Mr Andrew Aitken for arranging this unique opportunity for all to attend. The times for the sushi lunch will accommodate both sessions and we thank the GPA for their fantastic assistance. Don’t forget to wear orange or national dress if you have something to wear. Otherwise it’s school uniform as usual.

Student Council

The 20 members of Student Council and I met last week and I am highly impressed by their thoughtful approach to GHPS. Thank you to Student Councillors Stephanie and Harper, 3S, who have provided a report about some of the things we discussed.

On Friday 5^th April, which is the last day of term 1, Student Council would like everyone to support the wearing of casual dress AND bringing a gold coin donation to do so. The money raised will be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital as this was the charity that won the vote of the Student Council representatives:

Year 6

School Captains

Imogen

Veer

Hasini

Param

Emma

Aksh

Year 5

Ivory

Asher

Isabelle

Daksha

Year 4

Nefeli

Serafim

Sharannya

Vishnu

Year 3

Brody

Diya

Emma

Luke

Stephanie

Harper

Lightning Premiership

Congratulations to the Grades 5/6 students for representing GHPS so proudly at last week’s Lightning Premiership. There were many stories about the day and how well everyone participated which is great to hear. Thank you to the staff and Gr 5/6 students who attended along with Ms Kasambalis. A report is included with this newsletter.

End of Term 1

It’s approaching fast and just a reminder that all students will be dismissed at 2.30pm on Friday 5 April from their usual site. Students who are registered for TheirCare will be collected in the usual way. Don’t forget we have a great Autumn Holiday Program operating by Their Care and bookings are now open on 1300072410 or go to www.TheirCare.com.au and are a Child Care subsidy approved provider.

This year the dates for Easter during the school holidays are: Good Friday is the 19 April and Easter Monday is 22 April so Term 2 resumes on Tuesday 23 April.

Later in this first week of term 2, we commemorate Anzac Day which will be on Thursday 25 April.

Remaining one Curriculum Day:

Friday 10 May. Further information about this will be distributed to families closer to the time.

Libby Alessi – Principal

School Council Report

The 2018 Annual Review Meeting took place on Monday March 18^th. The purpose of this meeting was to provide a review of the schools 2018 major achievements & events, and to provide a general summary to the school community on how GHPS is performing academically and financially. The meeting was extremely well attended and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend. We hope that a clear and concise picture was given of what a great year 2018 was for GHPS.

Immediately following the Annual Review Meeting the new look 2019 School Council met for the first time. This meeting first undertook several key housekeeping issues required when a new School Council convenes.

Firstly we welcomed all of our returning School Council members together with our 2 new parent members, Satya Tharana Surireddy (Raghav Grade 3 and Sindhura Prep); and Kalai Selvi Karthikeyan (Ajaai Grade 3) – it is always fantastic to see new members who can bring a new outlook and feedback to the team.

Nominations for 2019 Office Bearers with the outcome as follows;

President – Craig Matthews
Vice President – Ross Donnan
Secretary – Nicole Verginis
Treasurer – Nola Woo

It was again an honour for me to accept the position of School Council President and I would like to thank Ross, Nicole and Nola for their ongoing commitment to their positions. We all look forward to working together co-operatively and cohesively to help deliver the best possible outcomes for the school.

Each School Councillor is then given the opportunity to self-nominate to serve on one or more of the 6 sub-committees and results were as follows;

GPA – Kalai, Tara, Nicole, Cass, Shan
Finance – Craig, David, Nola, Amy
Curriculum & Policy – Lara, Emma, Kalai, Cass
BAGS – Lara, Amy
OHSC – David, Lance, Ross
Publicity & Marketing – Lance, Ross, Nicole, Shan, Amy

The work of the sub-committees is vital to the smooth and successful running of the school, with each group meeting at least twice a term and providing subsequent reports to School Council for wider discussion and implementation.

Membership of Publicity & Marketing, BAGS and GPA is open to the entire school community and they are always looking for new members that can assist them in achieving their goals. Should anyone wish to join any of these feel free to have a chat to any of the existing members or get in touch with the school to find out meeting dates and times. There is no commitment to attend every meeting – any assistance is much appreciated.

The usual full reports from each of the sub-committees were kept brief due to time constraints however the following key items were discussed;

Student enrolments currently at 406 which is a fantastic reflection on all of the hard work that has gone into making GHPS a school of choice for families.
46 new Chromebooks were approved in February and have now arrived at the school for installation into the learning environment.
3 new policies were reviewed and ratified by School Council
Oval Redevelopment is well and truly underway on the East Site and is due for completion in the coming months. Great news is that some of this funding will also be able to help regenerate some of the green space on the West Site.
GPA continues to drive fete preparation as well as the myriad other activities they organise and co-ordinate. They have an urgent call out in place for Friday helpers for Icy-poles/Hot Chocolates so if you can spare some time to assist it would be greatly appreciated.
A restoration effort will be undertaken for the East Site shelter shed in time for the 2019 fete extravaganza being driven by our fabulous art teacher Ms De Bruyn.

If there is any issue any member of the school community would like to raise with School Council, please email glenhuntly.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

Craig Matthews
School Council President

Congratulations to the following students who have received a Student of the Week award

Max 0F – For being a great listener and always being respectful of others while they are speaking.
Victoria 0F – For being an outstanding, organsied classroom helper by pushing in the chairs.
Will 0N – For being a kind and supportive friend and making a great start at Glen Huntly PS!
Maxwell 0R – For practising holding a pencil correctly and trying his best to colour!
Jedda 0R – For demonstrating excellent cutting and pasting skills during craft this week.
Arnav 0S – For being a helpful and kind class member in Prep S.
Deshna 0S – For always helping others and contributing to class discussions.
Shloka 1A – For trying your hardest during class. Thank you for showing focus and persistence especially when working independently.
Nistha 1A – For settling back in really well this week! We are excited to have your smiling face in 1A.
Lucas 1E – For his persistence when learning his double letter sounds.
Ben 1M – Always trying your best in each lesson. What a fantastic start to the year!
Ishaan 1M – Always working well in class and completing your work to a high standard.
Asher 2C – Because he helps without being asked and is a great team player.
Srishti 2C – Being a conscientious and polite student and a caring and kind friend.
Aarya 2C – His impressive spelling and attention to detail his narrative writing.
Palak 2C – Being so kind and welcoming to our new students in 2C.
Atharva 2L – For building up his confidence and actively participating in book club discussions.
Sreehari 3F – His enthusiastic and insightful contributions to all class discussions and learning activities.
Rei 3K – being enthusiastic with all activities and continuously helping with classroom organisation.
Genevieve 3K – Writing a descriptive and entertaining ending to the tory “Princess and Oink”.
Reyansh 3K – Trying hard with all tasks and for forming his letters beautifully in handwriting. Your book is a stand out!
Luke 3K – Always showing manners towards others, being kind and caring!
Sushma 3K – Showing enthusiasm towards story writing and participating more in classroom discussions.
Thomas 4J – Outstanding growth shown in your Number & Place Value maths unit of work.
Sashreek 4J – A sensational yet short stint at GHPS
Sully 4R – For your engagement and insightful comments during our Reading Groups every week.
Vishnu 4R – For your excellent achievement in your Place Value test and for helping others with their maths without being asked.
Austin 4R – For modelling to others how to be a responsible and caring student.
Andrea 6P – Inspiring and huge improvements in your Writing abilities, with greater effort and thought, more detail and consequently higher quality work.

Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or foster parents are eligible to apply for the Education State Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund.

To be eligible for the fund, a parent or legal guardian of a student attending a Victorian Primary School MUST hold a Pension or Concession Card or Centrelink Health Care Card.

This form is available from the office and must be filled out each year.

For more information, contact the office

Lightening Premiership

A great day with some awesome results!!

Volley stars Girls team made it to the Final but did not win.

Div 1 Cricket won 2 matches and lost 2. Div 2 Cricket won 3 of their 4 matches

Basketball Pool B made it to semi-finals but did not make it through to the Grand final

Glen Huntly Huskies 6-8

Glen Huntly Heat 8-14

Thank you to the teachers who coached their teams, ESP staff who attended and parents who came to support the school and their students

Miss Kasambalis

Student Council Meeting

During our first meeting we shared our Class Slogans. Our slogan for 3S is “A classroom that’s creative and respectful”.

Mrs Alessi asked if we would like to have a dress-up day at the end of the term. We said yes, and so did all of the other Student Councillors.

During the Easter Hat Parade, we are going to lead or be at the back of the Prep to 2 Grades as they parade around.

We decided that the gold coin donation for dress-up day will go to the Royal Children’s Hospital. We had a lot more suggestions as well.

Steph and Harper 3S

Notices distributed to parents

March 8
All Students
TheirCare Holiday Program

March 11
All Students
Sushi Lunch Orders

March 19
All Students
Head Lice Information

Calendar

2019

March

Wed 20 to Fri 22 – Year 5/6 Camp

Wed 27 – Celebrate Harmony Day

April

Wed 3 – Easter Hat Parade

Fri 5 – Last Day of Term 1 Early Dismissal 2.30pm

Mon 22 – Easter Monday Holiday

Tue 23 – Term 2 Begins

Thu 25 – Anzac Day Holiday

Newsletter #4 – 21 March 2019