GHPS Life 

INTERSCHOOL SPORT 

Round 6: Friday 1st April 2022

Greenhills A VS Apollo Parkways A – AWAY

Greenhills B VS Sacred Heart - HOME

COMMUNITY SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

Congratulations to Ella D (6SM) for winning both the Under 12's Coach's Award and the 2022 Sharyn Hill Trophy for Most Outstanding Female Player at Diamond Creek Cricket Club. 

Well done, Ella! Keep on taking wickets and hitting them for 6!

If your child achieves something special (grand final win, most valuable player award, best and fairest etc.), please email me (jordan.daley@education.vic.gov.au) through photos and an overview of the achievement to post in Contact. It is important to celebrate and recognise such successes with the school community.

REBEL COMMUNITY KICKBACKS PROGRAM

Greenhills Primary School is involved in the Rebel Community Kickbacks Program

What can you do to help Greenhills primary School benefit from this program?

Staff, family and friends can link the school to their Rebel Active Loyalty Program account and instantly start earning credits.    

Thank you, 

Jordan Daley

CONNECTED SCHOOLS

5 Ways to Promote Happiness in Your Family - By Dr Justin Coulson's @Happy Families

The International Day of Happiness takes place each year on March 20. It’s the day that recognises that happiness is a fundamental human goal.  This year, the theme is 'Build Back Happier', which will focus on the global recovery from the Covid pandemic.

This is a day I can really get behind! A mountain of research shows that being happy is not just a natural human desire – it is actually really good for us. Happiness makes our hearts healthier , improves our immune system , combats stress , lowers pain , is associated with improvements in long-term illness and even increases longevity , meaning that happy people live longer.

So, in honour of International Day of Happiness, here are five ways we can promote happiness in our families:

1. Date your partner

Parents provide their children with a blueprint for how to live a happy life. When you are happy, and your relationship with your partner is strong, your kids will absorb this influence often without even noticing it.

One of the best ways to have a strong, happy relationship with your partner is to continually date each other . In fact, couples feel increased love for each other when they spend time exploring new and challenging activities together (such as rock climbing, Thai cooking, or competitive chess). After all, there is something wildly romantic about facing challenges together and seeing something new in one another.

2. Have family dinners

Family dinnertime might be the single best thing we can do as a family. It is the most reliable time of the day to connect with our loved ones, and connection leads to greater happiness.

Family dinnertime also promotes great outcomes. It leads to kids that have lower anxiety, better physical health, are less likely to engage in high-risk teenage behaviours and have lower rates of depression and suicidal thoughts . They also do better at school!

3. Less stress, more sleep

The child raising years are a busy time. But, in a survey of a thousand families where kids were asked, ‘if you were granted one wish about your parents, what would it be?’, their number one wish was that their parents were less tired and less stressed . (The parents thought it would be more time together, but they were wrong.)

More sleep and less stress will make our families happier, but it can be a big ask. Maybe we could start by dropping just one extra commitment (like saying no to social events on Sundays) or by making it a habit to go to bed earlier each night instead of watching mindless reality TV or surfing the web. Small changes can greatly increase our family’s happiness.

4. Share your family history

Families with a strong sense of family history are the happiest. The more kids know about their heritage, the more they feel a part of a story that is bigger than themselves. They have a better sense of control over their own lives, have higher self-esteem and are even able to handle stress better.

Pore over family photos. Tell your family stories often (dinnertime is a great time!). The best stories don’t shy away from negative things, but talk about the family’s ups and downs. They also end byemphasisinghow your family always sticks together.

5. Love is spelled T-I-M-E

There is nothing that creates more happiness than spending time with another person. A dad at one of my seminars recently (a lovely Kiwi) told how he takes his family out for ‘chups’ every Tuesday. They call it “Chip Tuesday”. It’s not a big or expensive outing – and kids don’t need that. But they do need consistent availability.

We also need to be available when our kids need us. Let them know they are always welcome to come to you. It’s important to honour that request for your time.

A quick note on screens.

Screens degrade the quality of our relationships (it’s called technoference and it’s not good). So, to really promote happiness in our families, we need to put the phones and the tablets down, shut off the computers and turn off the television. We need to spend that time looking each other in the eye, talking and having fun.

Our families need us to be present to be happy. And we need that as well.

Parent Partnerships Leader- Roslyn Mackie 

FROM THE OFFICE

Early collection/Late drop off protocol

If you are arriving late to school, please sign your child in at the office and get a late pass to take to the teacher.

If you need to collect your child early – please come to the office to sign them out, we will either ask you to collect them from the classroom door or we will call them to the office.

Please, if possible try toavoid collecting your child during lunchtime (1.30pm to 2.20pm) as it is very noisy in the yard and announcements are unlikely to be heard, the classrooms are also locked so it makes it very difficult for students to collect their belongings.

Afternoon Messages

We offer this service for urgent messages only. Please contact the office before 3:00pm where possible, so we can ensure the messages reach the children on time.  

If you have more than one child it would be a great idea if they have a meeting place – we can then deliver the message to the eldest child to pass on to their siblings.

Book Lists

We do have some spare book lists available at the office to purchase – if you have not yet had a chance to buy one or if you are new to the school.

ICAS ASSESSMENTS 2022

This year, Greenhills Primary School will be offering Year 2-6 students an opportunity to participate in the ICAS Assessments. ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies. Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.

This year, Greenhills Primary School will be participating in the following ICAS Assessments: 

English - Students will read a variety of texts which narrate, describe, explain, argue, persuade and review. The texts will increase in complexity within each paper, moving from simple texts dealing with familiar subjects and topics to complex texts discussing abstract concepts and using sophisticated language structures.

Science - Students will focus on the knowledge areas of Earth and Beyond, Natural and Processed Materials, Life and Living, Energy and Change.

Mathematics - Students will answer a range of questions related to number and arithmetic, algebra and patterns, measure and units, space and geometry, chance and data.

Writing - Only available for students from Years 3-6. Students will be required to write a narrative or persuasive text and be assessed on their ability to write an extended response to a given task. 

Each assessment will run at a cost of $19.25, except for the Writing assessment which is $23.65. The assessments will be completed at school in August. If you would like your child to participate or require further information please contact Becc Stephens at rebecca.stephens@education.vic.gov.au by 24th June.

Becc Stephens

Learning Specialist

High-Ability Practice Leader 

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Term 1 Week 9 - Presented at assembly Friday 8th April 2022 

HERE ARE THE SUPERSTARS FOR THIS WEEK!