GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY

    Learning Today.                     Leading Tomorrow.

In what has been a busy and productive term for all members of our community, it is important to remember and acknowledge some of the wonderful achievements and successes throughout this term. I would like to extend a huge thank you, to our wonderful community members, for your participation and support of the events and celebrations held this term. I would also like to sincerely thank the staff at GHPS for their dedication and commitment for providing a dynamic and engaging curriculum, focussed on providing the best for our students.

The following is a list of some of our events and celebrations this term:

• House Swimming Sports
• Meet the Teacher Interviews
• Information Nights Junior School Council badge presentations
• Grade 5/6 Sport Lightning Premiership
• Open Streets
• School Review
• Harmony Day
• NAPLAN
• Grade 5/6 Camp
• Grade 2 Game On incursion
• Easter Hat Parade and Easter Raffle (next Friday)

Staffing News

Farewell to Lisa Oliver & Jenna Lake

It is with both sadness and gratitude that we announce the departure of our beloved education support team member, Little Bookworms facilitator, and library coordinator, Lisa Oliver, at the end of Term 1. After 12 years of dedicated service to our school, Lisa has made a lasting impact on our students and the school community.

Throughout her time with us, Lisa has worked tirelessly to support our students with additional needs and has transformed our library into a beautiful and inviting space. Thanks to her, our library has become a favourite place for students to enjoy a wide range of books and explore their imaginations. Lisa has also been behind the success of our annual book fair and walkathon, events that brought the school community together and encouraged a love of reading.

Lisa has made the decision to pursue other interests and spend more time with her cherished grandchildren. While we will miss her greatly, we wish her all the best in this next chapter of her life.

Thank you, Lisa, for everything you have done for our school. You will always be a part of our GHPS family.

Jenna Lake joined our education support term at the start of term 1 and has been working with the prep and grade 1 students, providing the support they need to learn.

Great news for Jenna she has gained a full-time social worker position at the Royal Children’s hospital and will sadly be leaving at the end of term 1.

We wish her the very best in her new appointment.

Harmony Day

Last Friday our students and staff celebrated Harmony Day by dressing in their traditional clothing, wearing orange and participating in activities.

Thank you to Miss Strain for coordinating the day with fun activities that culminated in a fantastic Harmony Day assembly.

We are fortunate to have so many different nationalities that make up our amazing school community!

Holi Celebration

Many families in our wonderful GHPS community celebrated Holi.

The two-day festival commenced on Friday March 14th and continued on Saturday March 15th. The Hindu festival is often referred to as the festival of colours, thanks to the vibrant traditions of throwing coloured powders and water balloons.

We enjoyed a special assembly that taught us about this festival. On behalf of our community, we hope everyone celebrated a very happy Holi.

Last Monday March 24th, we held our first School Council meeting with the new membership. I would like to officially welcome our newest parent representatives, Kavitha Faruqui, Preeti Roychand and Cecylia Kee and all returning members to the School Council committee. Congratulations to the following people who have been nominated and have accepted office-bearing positions:

Kristen Howard – School Council President

Kavitha Faruqui – School Council Vice President,

Sharbani Dhar – Treasurer,

Preeti Roychand – Secretary

Please see below for all School Council representatives for 2025.

Kristen Howard Alexis Weekes Savankumar Gaas Sharbani Dhar Rob Holland Kavitha Faruqui Preeti Roychand Cecylia Kee

Nerida Burns- DET/ Executive Cameron White- DET Melinda Oldham- DET Phillipa Lewis-DET

Junior School Council

Last week I held the first meeting of this year’s Junior School Council. We shared what we love about our school and one thing that could be improved.

Let me introduce this year’s members.

Albert 2A I’m Albert and I like aqua and I’m in 2A. My favourite animal is a panda, and I like cricket, Taekwondo and footy. I am kind, responsible and respect others. I also like to make a difference by motivating others to be at school on time.

Jet 2B Hi, my name is Jet. I am your school councillor. I have two brothers, Max and Zac. They were both Kurwan Captains. My hobbies are reading and drawing. My favourite colour is blue. My sports are soccer and athletics, and my class is 2B. Nora 2B Hi! My name is Nora. I am a Junior School Councillor for 2025 representing 2B. I have a dog called Baxter, a big sister called Elsie, and a big brother called Eamon. I am looking forward to increasing shade in the playground. Thank you!

Robin 3/4A I have a big brother and his name is Ewan, he is 12 turning 13 and his birthday is the 12th of March. My name is Robin, and I am 9 turning 10 in August. I have a mum and dad and no pets. My favourite hobby is drawing and doing maths. I’m half from Japan and Half from Ireland and fully Australian. Dominik 3/4A Hello, my name is Dominik. I like this school. I am in 3/4A, and I would like the school to have no rubbish. Littering damages the environment.

Sophia 3/4B Hello, my name is Sophia, I am a student council representative for 3/4B. My favourite colour is purple. I have a sister named Abigail. Abigail is now in Grade 1. My favourite animal is the rarest animal in the world, the vaquita. I have been at this school since Prep. I love this school because all the teachers are caring and loving – same as all the students. My goal as representative is to continue to make Glen Huntly Primary School a place where everybody is happy. Ernest 3/4B Hi, my name is Ernest. I am the other student council representative for 3/4B. I am turning 10 this year and my favourite colour is blue. My favourite animal is the fairy penguin. I love to play games with my friends. I have been at this school since Grade 2 and I love it here at Glen Huntly primary, all the teachers are so nice. I have a brother, Albert, who is in Grade 2 this year. My goal as a student councillor is to try and make the school better in any way I can. See you soon!

Ragav 3/4C Hi I’m Ragav. I’m 9 years old and I’ve been in this school for 3 years (from prep). My hobby is to play cricket with my friends and my family. I also like to read books. I also like swimming and maths. My teacher is Miss Pearsall (3/4C). My favourite colour is blue and black. Also, I’m from India. Also being a student councillor, I’ll always help everyone and try my best to make this school better.

Mahati 5/6A My name is Mahati. I’m 10 years old. I like Italian and Mexican food. And my background is Indian. I love GHPS and have been at school since Prep. I’m kind, fair, and funny.

Kanishk 5/6B My name is Kanishk, and I am 10 years old. I am in Grade 5 and I joined this school in Prep. I was born in 2015, February 19. I am from India, Tamil Nadu, and my favourite colour is red. My favourite food is Biriyani, and my parents are Nithya and Thanges Waran. I like playing sport like soccer and I play piano. I have a little brother. His name is Monish, and he is in Prep. Siena 5/6B Hi, my name is Siena. I am turning 12 in April, and I have been at GHPS since Prep. I live with my 2 sisters, Diana and Stella, my mum and dad, and two Russian Blue cats, Noah and Angelo. My favourite hobbies are gymnastics, volleyball, and rollerblading.

Jonah 5/6C Hello, my name is Jonah Navas, and I have been at Glen Huntly primary for seven years now and I am one of the Junior School councils for 5/6C. I am ten years old in grade 6 and I like playing video games, doing math, writing narratives, playing soccer and going to buffets and listening to music. My favourite colour is blue. I am a sincere, kind, forgiving, generous leader. I think I can empower our school to get us to peak Glen Huntly Primary. I will try my best to improve Glen Huntly Primary anyway I can! I hope I can do my best as a Junior School Councillor!

A huge well done to our Year 3 and Year 5 students for completing NAPLAN! We know these tasks can be challenging, but our students tackled them with resilience and a positive mindset.

Looking After Your Health

COVID continues to be a part of our lives. Here are 6 protective steps to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

Remember to:

😷 Wear a mask

🏠 Stay home if sick

⏰ Test if you have symptoms

🌳 Let fresh air in or meet outdoors

💉 Stay up to date with your vaccination

💡 Talk to your GP about #COVID medicines.

https://go.vic.gov.au/4bEtwoi

Translated information in 26 languages: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/covid-19-victoria

For families unable to afford Rapid Antigen Tests and good quality masks, please call on our school Community Pantry where we have a supply for adults and kids.

We have a collection of uniform and non-uniform items in lost property that would love to be reunited with their owners.

Lost Property is located on the east side under the stairway behind the office, and in the library near the deck. We encourage everyone to have a look through it before the term ends.

Easter Hat Parade and Raffle

Our famous Easter Hat Parade and raffle will take place next Friday (last day of term) at 11.30, on the west side.

All community members are invited to attend this favourite event on the school calendar.

Assembly

There will not be an assembly next Friday, April 4, due to the early dismissal at 2.30pm.

Upcoming Long Service Leave

I would like to inform you that I will be taking long service leave for the last two days of Term 1 to prepare for a very special occasion in our family.

My daughter, Estelle, will be marrying her long-time partner, Roger, on April 5. Estelle and Roger have a beautiful love story, having met in primary school at Murrumbeena and reconnected in 2019. We are all so excited for this celebration of love and are looking forward to sharing this joyous day with them.

Thank you for your understanding and support during this time. I appreciate the opportunity to step away for a few days to be with my family as we celebrate this important milestone.

Happy Holidays! After a very busy and productive term, we hope you can find time to relax and enjoy the company of your family and friends. It is important to remember to be there for our loved ones and spend quality time with them.

For everyone who celebrates Easter, we wish you a Happy and Blessed Easter and we wish all who are observing Ramadan, which will conclude on 30th March, a Happy and Blessed Ramadan!

We look forward to seeing you all back for Term 2.

 Nerida Burns   Principal               Cameron White   Assistant Principal

---

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

---

Inter-School Chess Tournament

A Chess Victoria Zonal Inter-School Tournament was held on Monday 17 March 2025, and GHP ranked 4th amongst the 16 Schools that Participated (based on taking the top 4 students of each school).

A total of ~70 players competed and each one competed in a total of 7 rounds with progressively matched difficulty, i.e. players were paired with the stronger opponents as they won, and difficulty levels were reduced in case of losses. 0.5 points are awarded in the case of a draw.

Representing the school, we had the following students on our team:

Henry 6A, Alec 5A, Advaith 4C, and Dhiren 6B.

Each GHPS chess player competed very well and the top 4 collectively earned 17 (making them the 4th place team)

Congratulations, and we look forward to more students joining the team for the next tournament next term.

Regards, Felix Chandler

Director   Chess Fanatics

---

Year 5/6 Camp

On the 24th of March we left the school from the west side to go to Lady Northcote Discovery camp. We arrived at camp right before eleven o’clock on the Monday. We then ate our lunch that we packed and then played while we waited for our rooms to get cleaned. Later then we had our first two activities, then had free time and then ate dinner.

The next morning, we woke up at 7am and ate breakfast at 8am. Then we had another activity. Then we had morning tea and had another activity. Next, we had lunch. Then we had another activity and then had afternoon tea. Then we had one more activity then free time and then dinner. On Wednesday we had breakfast at 8:30 in the morning and then finished packing up to go.

Then we had lunch and left around 12:30pm and arrived back at school at 2 o’clock and then the teachers waited till our parents arrived so then we could go home.

Kitchen garden was extremely fun and a kid cook’s paradise. We used everyday ingredients and vegetables from the fridge and made a pizza! The ingredients we used were; tomato paste, cheese, onions, mushrooms, tomato, capsicum and pineapple. First, we got our ingredients, and we cut them and put them in a box. Next, we got our dough, and we kneaded it to be the perfect shape. After that we got our toppings from the boxes and put them on our mini pizzas. After that, Brook, the camp supervisor, cooked our pizza in the woodfire oven. We got to eat our very own camp-made pizza and it was delicious.

The giant swing was an all-time favourite and at the same time the most feared activity, it was a 20 meter giant that could hold a truck. Mostly everyone was ready to go all the way and some of the people in my group were a bit afraid and went about halfway or so. There as reason that this is an all-time Favorite.

Canoeing was an essential asset to camp, as it provided much enjoyment and entertainment to staff, campers and teachers alike. We all had to put on helmets and life jackets before we started paddling.  All boats had creative and fitting names. Even more fittingly, believe it or not, the Titanic bumped into the Iceberg and capsized. It was a great moment. Everyone was laughing, even the people in the Titanic. On the water, we played infection tag with boats and Simon says. The lake was donut shaped, with an island in the middle that we were not allowed to go on. The lake was three metres deep at the bottom, and we knew because the instructor told us.

Frisbee golf was a 9-hole target practice course which we had to do in small groups. It was quite fun, mostly because of the incredulity on friends’ faces when they missed the chain basket by a centimetre. However, there was a high risk of getting hit by other frisbees, as in some holes there was a thicket of trees that blocked your view, so if you weren’t careful, a frisbee could fly into you. I personally got hit twice. It was quite fun overall though. The instructor actually managed to make the frisbee spiral.

For low ropes and initiatives, we had loads of fun. For low ropes we did rock climbing, and there were different obstacles. People had to spot each other to make sure that they didn’t fall. For initiatives we played different team games. We played, floor is lava, whale watching where we were on something that was like a big seesaw where everyone from the activity group had to get on and we had to try and balance for as long as we could before one side hit the ground. The best record for the school on whale watching was 39 seconds. We also went through this maze on a big chess board that was six by six squares. There weren’t any walls or hedges, so we had to guess where to go next. If we took a wrong step, we had to go back to the start and try to remember where we were beforehand.

By Ellie H, Kanishk T, and Gordon

---

GHPS – COMMUNITY PANTRY – GIVE WHAT YOU CAN…..TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.

OUR PANTRY IS RUNNING LOW – WE NEED YOUR HELP

We are very fortunate to have our own community pantry here at GHPS – it is available to all of our families

Our Community Pantry is open to all on a Tuesday and Thursday Morning 8.15 – 8.45am and Friday afternoon between 3pm and 3.30pm.  If these times don’t suit, please email ruth.kinyua@education.vic.gov.au to arrange food collection.

Donations are always welcome and can be dropped at either the School Office or outside the Prep classrooms.  Thank you to those who have already donated. A list of what we need is listed at the donation tubs. Alternatively, if you are unsure what to donate, a Coles or Woolworths gift card is helpful, so that we can stock up the pantry.

If you are in a position to donate to our pantry, donation tubs will be located on the West Site (outside the prep classrooms) and in the front office.

IF YOU ARE IN A POSITION TO DONATE, WE ARE LOOKING FOR (IN DATE AND SEALED):

• PASTA
• FLOUR
• PASTA SAUCE
• MUESLI BARS (NUT FREE)
• CRACKERS
• SWEET BISCUITS
• SUGAR
• COFFEE/TEA
• TOILETRIES

We also have fresh Fruit and bread available.

---

Sport News

Term 1 Lightning Premiership 

Term 1 Lightning Prem Basketball

By: Harvey and Charlie

Charlie S

Team: Glen Huntly Hurricanes

On Friday the 7th of March, we went to Waverly Stadium to play basketball for the lightning premiership. The last team didn’t show up, so we won that match by forfeit, so we got 50 points automatically. We lost the rest of them, but Harvey’s team beat one of the teams we faced in the semifinals. Sadly, we didn’t make it into the finals.

Normal matches

1.26-0. Lost

2.32-0. Lost

3.28-0. Lost

Friendly Finals

1.50-0. Won

Harvey.C

Team: Glen Huntly Hawks

Harvey, Anton, Zac, Jonah, Sadra and Sully was our team and our coach was Jaylen

On Friday the 7th of March, we went to Waverly Stadium to play basketball for the lightning premiership.

We first played Malvern Central. They were a very good team, and we lost to a lucky buzzer beater.

The next match we played was a hustle for the ball in the first half. But in the second half our coach Jaylen hyped us up and we took the lead.

Our third match was easy. The kids were very small, and we could shoot freely above them.

We were waiting for the results if we got into the semis or not and we had some free shooting time on a free court.

We weren’t waiting for very long and we were straight into the game. It was all hands-on deck in the first and second half until they got a little sloppy. We took that into our advantage and won the semis!!!

Next up was the finals. We played the team we played in the first match, and they must have been tired from all of the matches they’ve played, so we won by a good 34 points.

Normal Matches:

Malvern Central: 20-22

Carnegie Primary: 22-10

Lloyd Street: 36-6

Semi-Finals:

Melbourne Montessori: 30-24

Finals:

Malvern Central: 40-6

Green = Us

Lightning Prem!

🏏Team 2 Cricket!🏏

Created By Emma Holland

On Friday the 7th of March the students in cricket went to Princes Park on a very fancy bus for the Lightning Prem. When we got there, we were divided into 2 teams. Team 2 tried really hard to win but the other teams were too good.

First, team 2 was up against, they won the bat flip and chose bowling. We were winning at the start but when they started batting we knew that we had lost. They were hitting 6s left, right and center.Yasmin caught some extremely good catches.

SCORE:

Glen Huntly: 98 runs Montasory: 114 runs☹

Second, team 2 was against Malvern Primary and they cooked us. They won the bat flip and chose batting, and they hit some out of the park literally. Every hit Ellie was having to climb over the fence. It was obvious we would not win.

SCORE:

Glen Huntly: 95 runs    Malvern central: 111 runs☹

In our third and fourth game we were against Caulfield Junior college! They won comfortably!

When we realised we had to play them again we were terrified.

Those were our last games, so we hopped back on the bus and went back to school and played lots of games on the computers.

In the end even though we didn’t win any games at least we had lots of fun I hope I can do it again next year.

GO GLEN HUNTLY

Lightning Prem-Volleystars

By: Ivy Layton

On Friday the 7th The 5/6 volleystars team for GHPS played at Lloyd Street Primary School for inter-school sports. We were supposed to go on the same bus as the basketballers but as soon as we sat down, we realised there was no way we were going to all fit. There was clearly a mix up as a bus with only around 20 seats (There are about 20 kids in each sport) was not going to fit both teams. The basketballers went first because where they were playing was farther than where we were. This gave our players a chance to warm up as we waited for the bus to come back, luckily it only took 15 minutes.

We arrived just in time for a short briefing before we headed to our first game against Malvern Primary. The scores for the girls’ team were Set 1: Malvern 15, Glen Huntly 9, Set 2: Malvern 12, Glen Huntly 15, Set 3: Malvern 11, Glen Huntly 9. Sadly, we lost. In the next game We versed Carnegie, they won the first two games, so we lost. Our next game was against Lloyd Street. Sadly, we lost again. Our last game was against Caulfield, and we won! The girls team consisted of: Ivy, Rina Siena, Amudariya, Tanmayee, Karolina, Sambaavi, Shenan and Ashleigh.

Overall, it was a great day!

BY:Botir 5/6C

On Friday 7th of the march grade 5s and 6s went to Lightning Prem. Volleystar players had two teams. Mixed team and girls’ team. Me,Kanishk,Yianni,James,Maryam, Luluo, and Audrey were in the mixed team.

Both teams did well and everyone had fun. We played against many good teams. When we lost the 1st round, we were sad but when we won 2 other rounds happiness raised on our faces again.

Before we played our games we practiced our sets, serves and also how to change our positions.Every school had different serves and changing positions. We also had some free time after every game we played, went to the toilet, ate something, drank water or practised a bit. We showed our school values a lot and at the end we came back to school and had 1 hour of free time.

Lightning prem

Softball

On the 7th of March we had Lightning Prem. The softball team got on the bus at 9:15 and arrived at princess park at 9:30, then we headed to the spot where we would leave our bags for the day. After that we had a quick briefing and went to our first game. We played our first game against the other Glen Huntly team; we lost 8 to 7 but tried our best.

Next, we had a part where we had a break and caught up with the other team. Our final game was against Caulfield central primary which we tied 8 to 8, But there was a slight mix up with who we were playing but it was sorted out. We got back on the bus at 3:00 and arrived back at school at 3:30 just in time for the bell.

All and all it was a great day and we had a lot of fun.

By Ruby Anderson

Lighting Prem Talk About Softball Team 1 ⚾ 🥎

By Thomas E. Weekes

Last Friday we went to Princes Park to have Lighting Prem. The year 5’s and 6’s tried their hardest. Here is the softball team 1’s story. In our first game it was a practice against team 2 and we won. Then we played another school and lost by one home run. In our second game we lost by a landslide. Then at our final game we got a tie. But it didn’t matter because we had so much fun and, in the end, the real win is the friends we made along the way.

Team 1 cricket 🏏

by Vidhaan ⅚ a

On March 7th the 5/6s had our lightning my premiership. My team had the funnest day ever all our matches we won by more than one hundred runs our best bowler Dhruva got us more than 14 wickets and Vidhaan our best batter scored a lot of runs.

First match we were against Carnegie we won the toss and batted first we were so surprised how easy it was and smashed Carnegie.

Our score; 167   carnegie ; 85

Second match against Malvern primary again we won the toss and batted. But this was the only team that we found hard.

Our score; 194   malvern ; 186

Third match against Malvern primary we lost the toss, and the other team bowled. We smashed them but they were talking in french together our team was so confused.

Our score; 172   malvern ; 64

Last match the easiest match of all we won the toss batted and absolutely smashed them.

Our score; 116   malvern central; 000000000

---

TheirCare News

---

GHPS Facebook

——————————————————

Calendar 2025

Term 1

April

Fri 4                Easter Hat Parade & Raffle

Fri 4                Last Day of term 1      2.30 finish

Tue 22            Term 2 begins

Fri 25              ANZAC Day public holiday

---

 

 

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.