Newsletter #9 June 5, 2026
GHPS IS COMMITTED TO CHILD SAFETY
Learning Today. Leading Tomorrow.
2026 Government Schools Principal Conference
Last week Mr White and I attended the 2026 Government Schools Principals Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The conference brought together Principals and Assistant Principals from across Victoria to engage in professional learning, reflect on effective leadership practices, and collaborate on evidence-informed approaches to school improvement.
On Thursday we had Lisa Alexander AM as a Keynote speaker. Lisa shared insights from her leadership journey across education and elite sport in her address, Sustaining Excellence in Leadership and Collaboration. A former teacher and World Cup and Commonwealth Games-winning coach of the Australian Diamonds Netball team, Lisa spoke about exploring leadership through an Indigenous perspective; one that values collective wisdom, collaboration, and the gathering of many voices and strengths.
Her message was captured in the powerful idea: “One of us is never as good as all of us together.” This is reflected in all of our actions as a school, from the Principal Team, through to staffing teams, class, and cohort teams. We all work together collectively to be the best we can be.
Books books and more books
Andy Griffiths, a well-known Australian children’s author recently was interviewed for the ‘Connections,” an education magazine. He stated, “And so, what I would say to all parents and teachers, if I could, is: don’t worry about whatever the grades they’re getting, make sure they’re getting literacy. Fill the house with books. Make sure you’re going to libraries, bookshops, exposing them to whatever books might turn them on. And it may not be what you want, but if they’re engaged, that’s great. If they have the bedrock of literacy, they’ll be able to find their way in the world without you pushing and without you transmitting anxiety to them.”
I believe his message is a powerful reminder of what truly matters in a child’s learning journey.
While academic achievement is important, a genuine love of reading and strong literacy skills provide the foundation for lifelong learning. When children are surrounded by books, stories, conversations, and opportunities to read for enjoyment, they develop the confidence and skills needed to succeed across all areas of their education.
I particularly appreciate his point about allowing children to engage with books that interest them, even if they are not the books adults might choose. When children find joy in reading, they are far more likely to become enthusiastic and capable readers.
As parents and educators, our role is to foster curiosity, encourage a love of literature, and create positive reading experiences. By working together to build strong literacy habits, we are giving children one of the greatest gifts we can offer—the ability to navigate, understand, and contribute to the world around them. I know we can partner together to create environments that build a love of books and reading.
Exciting New Playground Updates at the Junior Campus
This week students at the Junior Campus were excited to see several new additions and improvements to our outdoor play spaces.
These upgrades were completed following valuable feedback and requests from both parents and students, and it was wonderful to see the children already enjoying the new equipment throughout the day.
The updates include:
- Brand new moveable aluminium soccer goals with nets
- Three new parallel bars at different heights
- An interactive playground puzzle
- A new cargo climbing net
- A soft rubber safety mat installed at the base of the slide
These improvements will provide students with even more opportunities for active play, teamwork, balance, coordination and problem-solving during recess and lunchtime activities.
We would like to thank our students and families for their ongoing feedback and suggestions.
Student voice and parent input continue to play an important role in helping us improve our outdoor spaces and create engaging play opportunities for all students.
Industrial Action
Semester One reports will be available via Compass on June 19. Due to recent statewide industrial action and its extended impact on this reporting cycle, reports this semester will include progression points indicating the extent to which students are demonstrating the expected standards within each Victorian Curriculum learning area, they will not include a full descriptive teacher comment.
We understand written comments are valued by families and appreciate your understanding. Teachers continue to closely monitor and support student learning, and 3 way conferences in week 3 of term 3 will provide an important opportunity to see and discuss your child’s progress further.
King’s Birthday Public Holiday June 8th and Curriculum Day June 9th
A reminder to all families that the school will be closed due to the King’s Birthday Public Holiday on Monday, 8th June. Tuesday June 9th is a school curriculum day and students do not attend school.
The day will have student wellbeing focus, including a session run by Safe Schools, unpacking the revised Respectful Relationships curriculum and how we can better create individual education plans, behaviour, and support plans.
National Simultaneous Storytime – Wednesday 27th May 12pm
Last Wednesday GHPS participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2026, a nationwide literacy event coordinated annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). National Simultaneous Storytime promotes the value of reading and literacy while connecting children across Australia through the shared enjoyment of a picture book.
This year’s featured story was Luna Roo, a wonderful picture book that celebrates imagination, belonging, and storytelling. All our classes watched and listened to the story.
Thank you to Mrs Yang for organising this fantastic literacy initiative and continuing to foster a love of reading across our school community.
Reconciliation and Learning About Indigenous Culture
Last week, our students participated in learning focused on Indigenous culture, history and reconciliation. Students explored traditions, music, art, stories and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, while also developing a deeper understanding of the importance of respect, inclusion and reconciliation in Australia.
As part of this learning, our school recognised National Sorry Day and the meaning behind reconciliation. At assembly, Tommy and Sienna proudly spoke to students and staff about the significance of reconciliation and why National Sorry Day is an important opportunity to reflect on Australia’s history and continue working together towards understanding and healing.
Class representatives
At GHPS the role of a Class Representative is to generate a strong positive community spirit amongst parents, teachers, and children.
As a class representative your role in developing the relationship between the class teacher and the community is to create an inclusive connection between parents and the teacher to support various school classroom activities, social and fundraising events.
In addition, the GPA strongly relies on all Class Representatives to enlist the help, services, skills, and connections of parents from each class. Whilst some of our classes have a class representative some still do not, or at least not an official one.
Please email me if you can be your class representative.
Nerida.burns@education.vic.gov.au
Classes still in need of a class rep;
Prep A, Prep B, 1A, 1B, 1C, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5/6A, 5/6B, 5/6C
Nerida Burns and Cameron White
Congratulations to the following students who received a “Student of the Week” award.
Misha 0A – For consistently showing pride in their work and always completing tasks to a high standard. Your dedication, effort, and attention to detail are something to be very proud of. Keep up the fantastic work!
Rida 0A – You are doing an amazing job with your writing! You always try your best and work hard to make your writing fantastic. I am so proud of all your effort this week. Keep up the wonderful work!
Hazel 0B – For continuously demonstrating resilience enthusiasm and a positive attitude towards learning and school! Hazel always jumps into new learning experiences with confidence, actively participates in class activities, and shows wonderful resilience when tackling challenges both in the classroom and with her friends. Keep shining, Hazel! We can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll achieve next!
Linda 0C – For working hard in writing. She persevered in using the ‘when’ in her sentences. Great job Linda.
Brishana 0C – For making a strong start at Glen Huntly primary school.
Alice 1A – For asking excellent questions while reading this week! Alice made sure she used different question words such as what, will, does, was and did to deepen her understanding of the text. Fantastic effort, Alice!
Natsuki 1A – For doing a fantastic job in Math this week during our addition and subtraction lessons. You worked hard, stayed focused and showed a great understanding of what we learned. Keep up the great work!
Lyra 1B – for doing such a great job during your presentation this week. You spoke clearly and I love the picture you included! Well done!
Izzy 1B – for being a superstar on our excursion to Scienceworks. You were kind, helpful and engaged the whole day! Well done!
Paris 1C – for showing resilience when completing your work. You are willing to have a go at all tasks and happy to ask for help when needed. Keep up the great work!
Amin 1C – For consistently demonstrating our school values. Your positive attitude, kindness, and effort make you a wonderful role model in our classroom. Well done!
Shaan 2A – For your passionate and engaging news presentation about your dream job. You were expressive and answered questions with humour and confidence. Well done future polar scientist!
Mei 2A – For your fantastic work on your Calming Strategies booklet during wellbeing. You thoughtfully matched emotions with helpful strategies and added detailed pictures to show your ideas. Wonderful work!
Daphne 2B – For her amazing Orangutan diagram!
Rose 2C – an amazing news presentation about your dream job as a police officer. You put so much effort into your speech and spoke with wonderful pride and confidence. Well done!
3A – For showing such wonderful enthusiasm and engagement during our museum excursion yesterday. We loved watching your faces light up with wonder as you learned lots of interesting facts about the world around us. Your positive, respectful behaviour and eagerness to participate in every exhibition made the day extra special—well done!
Knox 3A – For his outstanding writing about The Dragon. Well done on being able to include creative ideas, accurate spelling, punctuation and past tense verbs. Keep up the great work!
Olivia 3B – For creating a detailed and well researched biography in writing, completing her homework each week and improving on her dictation. Well done on being a caring and helpful member of the class!
Isabel 4A – For the in-depth inferencing and connections she made with our mentor text, The Rabbits by Shaun Tan and John Marsden. She purposefully scanned for clues from the illustrations to infer and thoughtfully explained her text to self and text to world connections to demonstrate her understanding. Well done!
Srija 4B – For your outstanding information report All About Megafauna! You demonstrated excellent research skills by including detailed facts about megafauna habitats, life cycles and diets, and you organised your information using clear headings. I am particularly impressed by the way you used topic-specific vocabulary and interesting facts to engage your readers and teach them about these fascinating prehistoric creatures.
Jishnu 5C – for his enthusiasm and positivity not only in our school and community, but especially on your first school camp. Keep it up, Jishnu!
Tommy 6A – an outstanding week at school. You have demonstrated great resilience and we have been so impressed with your contributions in class and the work you have completed. Awesome effort!
Shreyan 6A – consistently demonstrates responsibility, independence, and a positive attitude towards learning. Your dedication, organisation, and willingness to do your best every day make you a wonderful role model for others.
Amudariya 6B – For the excellent effort she put into her Information Report and for consistently showing kindness and care towards her peers. Keep up the fantastic work!
The Importance Sleep
Sleep is important for growth, immunity, learning and memory. Sleep provides energy to work, play and function properly.
Who does it affect?
- At least one in three Australian children has trouble falling asleep or has trouble staying asleep throughout the night.
- Up to 70 per cent of children with ADHD suffer from behavioural or medically-based sleep problems and up to 80 per cent of children on the autism spectrum have sleep difficulties.
- One-quarter of 12 to 13-year-olds and half of 16 to 17-year-olds in Australia don’t get enough sleep on school nights.
Good sleep habits
Good sleep habits are essential to the health, wellbeing, development and learning of infants and children. Babies, children and teenagers need different amounts of sleep as they age.
Sleep restores children physically, boosts immunity and helps protect them from sickness. Children also produce growth hormones while asleep.
Lack of adequate sleep impacts coping skills, behaviour and coordination. Childhood sleep issues are linked to inattention and unhappiness, plus poorer learning, memory formation and social/emotional skills.
Most adolescents sleep less than the recommended amount on school nights. This is linked to depression and anxiety.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and certain respiratory or developmental conditions are more prone to sleep problems.
Our goal is to help children sleep by promoting and enabling good sleeping habits from infancy to adolescence. This will help them live their best life and transform the lives of their parents and families.
For more information visit- https://www.mcri.edu.au/impact/a-z-child-adolescent-health/s/sleep
Year 1 News
The Year 1 students absolutely loved making (and eating!) their sausage rolls in cooking this term!
They practised important cooking skills, such as slicing, grating and measuring, as well as teamwork and turn taking.
The results were delicious!
Thank you to our wonderful parent helpers who make these special experiences possible.
1B’s cooking session has been postponed to Week 10, so stay tuned for their update next term!
TheirCare News
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Calendar 2026
Term 2
June
Mon 8 Kings Birthday Public Holiday
Tue 9 Curriculum Day
Wed 10 First Responders Appreciation Day
Fri 12 Teeth on Wheels Senior
Fri 12 Jump Rope for Heart
Sun 14 Working Bee
Tue 16 Teeth on Wheels Junior
Fri 19 Japanese Children’s Day
Fri 19 Reports Distributed
Fri 26 End of term 2 Early Dismissal 2.30pm
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.