Message from the Principal 

A very special welcome to all our new Prep students and to our new families. 

The Prep team is ready and excited for a GREAT year ahead, full of curiosity, new connections and challenges. A big thank you to both our 2025 and 2026 Preps team who were able to deliver a best practice transition program throughout 2025 and into this year. This effort has certainly had a very positive impact on how our students have started school this year. 

WINTER OLYMPICS DAY

Our ‘Get Set and Connect’ Start Up Program is in full swing. Our focus for this program is setting up routines, expectations and also building connections classes and year levels. We know that students who feel safe and connected are more likely to be students who are ready to learn. 

As a school we look for opportunities to further enhance these connections amongst the students. Throughout the year we will have a variety of events and activities, which promote opportunities for students to connect within their grades, cohort and also across the school (multi-age activities). 

As part of this and also as a launch into a mini Inquiry unit, all students from Years 1 to Year 6 joined in the fun of a Winter Olympics House Fun Day. There were four different challenges, all designed to replicate a Winter Olympic event. We had Ice Hockey, Biathlon and even the Bobsled! Our House Teams bring a sense of pride and ownership for our students, which further helps them to feel connected to the school. Stay tuned for other events like this throughout the rest of the year.

SCHOOL COUNCIL 2026

Thank you to Sam Redman, Thomas Norwood, Annmaree Leone and Regan Tyrrell for nominating and joining our School Council for the next two years. This year we will not host an election as the number of nominations in the parent member category equals than the number of positions available. At this stage we still have one parent position available for a casual vacancy period of one -year. Janine Hough nominated for one of the staff positions and we have one more position to fill in this category for a two-year period and one position for a one- year period. They will join our existing members Rosita Zakaria, Jessica Allen, Krystal Hinwood and Brad Ryan to form our 2026 School Council.

Our first School Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 3rd March at 7pm in the staffroom.  At this meeting, we will elect our School Council office bearers including our School Council President. We will also organise both the structure and membership of our sub-committees. The actual core work of our School Council is achieved via our sub-committees, and we encourage parents to become involved with these each year. I will outline the role of each sub-committee and the meeting schedule after this first School Council meeting.

PARENT ASSOCIATION

Our PA plays an important role in building our strong home school partnership. Connection between staff, students and families is at the very heart of a successful school. 

Our first meeting for this year will be: Tuesday 24th February -7pm Staffroom

                            MID TERM MEET WITH THE                                                                 PRINCIPAL

TEAM Communication is something that we continually work on and because our school is such an active place, we know how challenging it can be to keep up with everything going on. As such we host a “Mid-Term Meeting with the Principal Team” each term. These are held online via Webex which means that you can attend from the comfort of your own home. It also provides us with an opportunity to connect with parents and carers who are unable to attend on-site each week and say hello.

I will send out the link before the day. The plan will be to outline some of the events and activities that are coming up over the remainder of the term and share some details about what we do at Greenhills Primary School. If there is any topic you would like us to cover, please let me know:  james.penson@education.vic.gov.au. This will be an open forum and we will be happy to answer any questions you have and be very keen to listen to any suggestions and feedback you have. 

SCHOOL TOURS (ENROLMENT 2027)

Next week I will start hosting school tours at 9.30am each Tuesday.  For Term 1, additional tours will be held at 9.30am on the 19th February, 5.30pm on 3rd March, and 9.30am on the 18th March along with other dates and times by appointment. If you know of anyone with a child ready to start school next year, please direct them to our school website or have them contact our school office so that they can join me on a tour and see what our school has to offer. 

SCHOOL HOURS 8.45AM – 3.45PM

I need to remind parents and carers that our official school opening hours are from 8.45am through until 3.45pm each day. Our Duty of Care (which we take very seriously) commences at 8.45am in the morning through to 3.45pm after school. Your Duty of Care is the time up until 8.45am and after 3.45pm. At times we have students who arrive well before this time and some who stay in the school grounds after that time. There is no adult or teacher supervision of students outside of these times and I request that you make the appropriate arrangements to ensure the safety and well- being of your child. 

We are fortunate to have TeamKids available to provide before and after school care for those families that need it. 

This year, each week I will be including a question prompt that you could use at home. My thinking here is to encourage reflection and open up conversation at home. 

My “Question Prompt For This Week” this week shifts from “settling in” to belonging and learning.

“What is something you are starting to feel more confident about at school, and what is one thing you’d like a bit more help with?”

James Penson,

Principal.