Message from the Principal 

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope everyone was able to enjoy some family time over the Easter break and recharge ready for the very busy term. Once again, my family enjoyed our annual trip to Pambula (one of my favourite places on Earth!). The weather was sensational and the water temperature and quality amazing. I always really enjoy the weather at this time of the year. We still have some warm days but cooler nights and mornings and we can often enjoy those red sunrises and golden evening sunsets. Our Indigenous Australians identify six or seven seasons depending on their location.  Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people identify this time as Iuk (eel) and Waring (wombat) seasons which is part of Berrip (early winter).  

LOOKING FORWARD TO TERM 2

We have a lot to look forward to this term. As always it will be action packed and engaging. Some of the events this term include:

• House, District & Division Cross Country
• School Photos
• Continuous Reporting
• Maths Olympiads, Explorers and Games
• Year 1& 2 Swimming lessons
• Mothers & Special Person’s Day  (Parent Association Stall)
• Working Bee
• Incursions and excursions
• House Athletics Carnival
• Schools NAIDOC Week

And much, much more!

You can keep up to date by checking in with our newsletter each week, using our calendar on Compass, watching Two Minute Tuesday’s each week and of course our year level teams will send out several communications this term. These are scheduled for Weeks beginning: 29th April, 20th May and 11th June.

9am MONDAY MORNING

As you can see by the photo, 9am on Monday our classes started with our whole school focus on Student Agency. This was a G.R.E.A.T. way to connect, share our holidays stories and get back into the school routines. Ensuring our classrooms are calm and orderly is one of the most important things in term of student learning and wellbeing. In this photo you can see from the photo, the focus was on setting up for success. In our prep classrooms this involved revisiting our morning routine, checking in with classmates and the teacher.

GET SET CONNECT…..CONTINUES

We had such a positive start to our school year and in order to really build on that, we will continue our Get Set Connect program for the very beginning of this term. Our purpose in doing this is to:

• Reconnect with student/teacher relationship
• Re-connect with peer to peer relationships 
• Re-establish classroom expectations
• Reestablish expectations for a calm and orderly environment

Whilst Get Set and Connect looks different across the year levels, it all focuses on building a learning environment that is safe, happy and therefore allowing students to be ready to learn.  Across all classes this will include the following Learning Intentions:

• To strengthen our connections by sharing and listening.
• To strengthen our relationships with our peers.
• To reflect and refine our classroom expectations and routines to prepare for a successful term.

GYM UPDATE 

Progress is continuing and our gym is nearly completed! The flooring has now been completed and the seating is being installed. There has been lots of activity around the landscaping and external works and this is in track to be completed by early June. Over the next few weeks this will involve lots of concrete being poured and some further interruptions from time to time.

Fingers crossed we get access to this space by the end of this term and ready for full usage in Term 3. We will keep you updated with the progress as we finally get close to the finish line. 

There will also be significant works which will hopefully be timed for the school holidays around asphalt resurfacing and works to reinstate the damaged sections of our TigerTurf. Once this has all been completed we will also be able to redevelop our grass oval. 

TRANSITION UPDATE

Our Year 6 students and families are now in the process of organising their preferences for their placements into high school. This is an exciting time but it can also be challenging and stressful for families as they make this decision. DET Schools have to follow a very strict regime of dates and processes and it is very important that this is maintained. The next step is for all our families of Year 6 students to complete the preference form that will be sent home shortly and send back to our school by Friday 10th May. It is also important for our Year 6 parents to understand that many schools in our area have enrolment restrictions. I encourage you to research this in detail and make the time to find out more about the school/s you may wish your child to attend. 

The Year 6-7 placement process is just one very small part of our transition program at Greenhills. The major part of our focus and work in this area is preparing all of our Year 6 students for the transition into secondary school. The feedback we get from our local schools is that our students are very well prepared academically and socially. They are well equipped to deal with the many changes and challenges they have to face including the movement from classroom to classroom, teacher to teacher and other key organisational aspects that impact on learning. 

This is the result of the way we set up and deliver our curriculum structures and programs, the quality of our teaching team and also the many extra-curricular programs we operate. As a school community we can be very proud of the achievement of our students and know that they will leave our school very well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

ANZAC DAY COMMEMORATION EVENTS

Each ANZAC Day, the Greensborough RSL Sub-Branch invite our school to attend the ANZAC Day Memorial Service on the 25th April. The Service will be held at the Greensborough War memorial Park, 203 Henry Street, Greensborough commencing at 9.15am and concluding around 10am. 

This year our school will also be involved in the march to the service. This starts at 8.45am from outside the Greensborough RSL. If your family is attending, it would be GREAT for them to wear Greenhills School uniform as a mark of respect. OUR student leaders who attend will also be able to lay a wreath on behalf of our school community. 

James Penson 

Principal