Message from the Principal 

One of our strengths at Greenhills is the broad range of learning opportunities our students have. A G.R.E.A.T. example of this are our specialist subjects: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, STEAM, Physical Education and Italian. These five subjects ensure that our students can be creative, curious and connected.

As posted on our Official Greenhills Facebook page, if you have visited the office block this week, you might have noticed that our Year 3-6 artists have bombarded the walls with LOVE! 

Our first few weeks in the Art Studio gave our artists the option to choose from 3 different inspiration pieces to create their own unique masterpiece. The choices included Zentangle hearts with paint sticks and oil pastels, colour mixing radiating hearts with fine line detail, and concentric collage hearts with watercolour. 

STUDENT AGENCY 

Each morning at 9am, our students spend the first 15 minutes of the day focusing on developing their agency and responsibility for their learning. In effect, student agency is all about learning to learn. Our aim is that by focusing on this each day, we build our skills set and strengths so that by the time our students leave Greenhills to go to high school, that they are as well prepared as possible. 

Presently, we break the week into different elements including setting up for success, connection, reflection, voice and feedback. All our students have Learning to Learn Journals and this is a way that they will both track and anchor their learning throughout the year. 

Our Principal team walk around the school each morning to see this in action and we all agree that this is enabling our students to have a very settled and focused start to the school day.   

One of the questions we love to ask at Greenhills is “even better if” and I am pleased to say our focus on Student Agency focus will have some exciting evolution throughout the year. We are not too far away from officially launching our “High Impact Learner Agency Traits” (HILAT’s) on 7th March which is a curriculum day for our staff team.

Our HILAT’s are 12 traits that we believe are key to fostering a high level of agency in learners. These elements serve as the foundation for developing confident, self-directed individuals who can navigate their learning with purpose.  One of our HILAT’s is Acting with Courage and you can see from these pictures how our students reflect and engage with this element during the week. 

This work is being led by Krysten O’Leary, one of our Learning Specialists and supported by a team of staff from across each year level and I will share more about this as our HILAT’s start to become embedded within our lessons across all curriculum areas.

Of course, another part of our focus on student agency are our Student Agency Conferences. These are set for Thursday 27th March. Put this date in your diary as students only attend on this day for the time of their conference. Bookings will open via Compass Thursday 27th February at 4pm.  

OVAL UPDATE

It was a very exciting start to the week when we arrived at school on Monday to see a green tinge on our oval. The watering system is working well and the weekend sunshine has started to bring the grass seeds to life. Fingers crossed we get some more good grass growing weather with a plan to open this space at the beginning of next term.

SCHOOL COUNCIL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Next Tuesday 4th March at 6.45pm, we will hold our first school council meeting for 2025. This is where office bearers such as School Council president will be elected. School Council meetings are held in the staffroom.  At this meeting we will also establish our sub-committee structure and schedule for this year.

These committees are open to all members of our school community to join and where the work of School Council is done. It is great to have a mix of parents and carers from across the school on each of these. All our school council members also serve on at least one of these sub-committees. I will outline the role of each sub-committee in future newsletters, along with the time and dates for the meetings which are twice per term.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

In accordance with the Department’s Mobile Phones - Student Use Policy issued by the Minister for Education, personal mobile phones must not be used at Greenhills Primary School during school hours, including lunchtime and recess, unless an exception has been granted. This includes iPads fitted with a Sim card and message sending function and smartwatches.

At Greenhills Primary School, students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off during the school day between 8.45am and 3.45pm. When emergencies occur, parents or carers should reach their child by calling the school’s office.

STUDENT INSURANCE

This is a reminder to all parents and carers that the Department does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents and guardians are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs. These costs may be recoverable where an injury is caused by the negligence (carelessness) of the Department, a school council or their employees or volunteers.

Student accident insurance policies at low cost are available from commercial insurers.

These cover a range of medical expenses not covered by Medicare or private health insurance. I encourage all families to investigate these options and make a decision that suits your needs and requirements. I also encourage everyone to ensure that their ambulance membership is up to date.

James Penson,

Principal.