Message from the Principal 

GREENHILLS - EVOLVING MORE IN 2024

Welcome back to the new school year to all our families and a very warm welcome to the new families joining our Greenhills Community in 2024. I hope you all had a terrific summer break and enjoyed lots of quality family time. 

2024 will be a very exciting year for our school. We will continue to evolve our home-school partnership as we strive to ensure that our students are provided with an environment and experience that enables them to make strong connections, grow their curiosity and embrace challenge. 

We officially welcome Shirley O’Shannessy (Prep Team), Hayley Brennan (Year 1 Team), Melissa Clark (Year 2 Team), Josh Hick (Year 5 Team), Ebony Killmister (Specialist Team), Alyshia Ninnes (ES Team) and Melinda Williams (ES Team). 

They join a very talented and dedicated staff team who are all very excited about the year ahead.

An amazing staff team linked with a high level of parent involvement and participation is the core strength of our school. Our focus this year is to use this strength to ensure that our school evolves even more in 2024.

FIRST DAY PHOTOS

I really love these four photos. They were taken at 8.45 – 8.55am this morning. We love the start of the school week to be a time where we smile, have fun and get ready for the connection, challenge and curiosity of learning. Look out for Monday Madness next week! 

FIRST WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY – WELCOME TO COUNTRY & SMOKING CEREMONY

Our very first whole school assembly will be held next Friday 9th February at 2.45pm. This will be under the shade sails (weather permitting). Each year the focus of this assembly is an official Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony. This year we are excited to welcome back Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Dianne Kerr and also Wurundjeri man Alex Kerr.

Parents, carers and special family friends are always welcome to our assemblies, and we look forward to seeing you there. 

FIVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW

1. This year, our staff will continue to have a choice of using their first names or surnames with our school community. Our Principal Team (James, Janine & Brad) will all be using our first names so in that way – you can know us on a first name basis!
2. Our Admin building extension has essentially been completed (apart from some minor works and defects. This means we have moved First Aid into the new and larger space and students, staff and families can access First Aid and the admin area from the door at the back of the building as opposed to only through the front entrance. Brad Ryan has a new office along the corridor of the admin building and our “Chill Space” is set up for that very purpose again.   
3. The new gym is still very much a work in progress with a completion date by the end of this term. Over the next few weeks there will be interruptions around this area as form work and concreting for the new amphitheatre is completed. Resurfacing works to repair the damaged section of Tiger Turf and the asphalt road into the school has been scheduled for the Term 1 holidays to ensure minimal disruption to the normal running of our school.
4. Our very own Greenhills “Gazillions” economy will be up and running from today.  Students will be able to earn Greenhills 10c coins for demonstrating our G.R.E.A.T values and in doing so build towards individual, classroom and whole school rewards. Our particular focus for the start of this year is RESPECT. This includes students showing respect for themselves, classmates, staff and families in the way they line up, move around the school and look after our school property and grounds.
5. Over the next 3 weeks, all classes will participate in our “Get, Set, Connect” program. This focuses on the high impact wellbeing strategies. Janine and Brad will share more about this in next week’s newsletter.

WHAT’S HAPPENING @ GREENHILLS 2024

MEET WITH THE TEACHER - PARENT MEETINGS

Our optional “Meet with the Teacher” - Parent/Teacher interviews will be held on Tuesday 13th February between 3.50pm and 6.40pm. Whilst these interviews are not compulsory to attend, the main purpose is for parents to meet with the teacher and pass on any relevant information that will assist our students to have a successful year. We will also send home a questionnaire sheet that outlines some of the information you could share with us. In this way, if you are unable to attend you can simply complete the sheet and we will still have what we need to ensure we do our best to build strong connections with all of our students. 

Bookings are made through Compass so that you can select from the times available which suit you best. These will open today at 5pm and close on Monday 12st February at 4pm.

SCHOOL STARTS AT 8.55AM - BE ON TIME FOR SCHOOL EVERY DAY

This year our classrooms will be open from 8.55am each morning. (Music will commence at 8.54 and run for 1 minute). We know that getting off to a GREAT start each day is critical for learning, so we are encouraging everyone to be on time and ready to go inside classrooms at 8.55am. At 9am our teachers will launch into our 15-minute daily focus on student agency. This means that they will be unable to have those morning chats with parents and carers that we often see run from 9am through to 9.10am. We would still very much like to maintain our open communication environment and request that you send an email through to make a suitable time to meet with the teacher. 

At the other end of the day a bell will ring at 3.30pm where students will be dismissed and again at 3.45pm. This is a reminder to any student who remains unsupervised that they need to report to the office so that we can ensure they get home safely as yard supervision finishes at this time each day.

ROAD SAFETY AROUND SCHOOLS

Speed zones, pedestrian crossings and parking restrictions around school are there to improve the movement of traffic during peak times and maximise safety for children and road users.

It is vital that as adults, we lead by example and set good road safety practices travelling to and from school. As such we are asking all parents and carers to observe and obey parking signs and in particular No Stopping and No parking signs. 

We do have a “kiss and drop” section that runs along the left side of Mine Street as you approach the school. This does work well when all parents and carers follow this and allows a large number of students to get to school each morning without too much delay. 

Banyule City Council have asked us to remind our school community that it is an offence to: 

• Double park by stopping next to a legally parked vehicle, even for a short time or to drop off/pick up passengers.
• Stop or park across a driveway, footpath or dividing strip.
• Stop or park within 10 metres of an intersection or corner that doesn’t have traffic lights.
• Stop or park across or in a bus zone.

Council Local Laws Officers will be active around our school area to issue warnings and fines.

PRIVACY INFORMATION

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Department of Education’s Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement which is included in this newsletter.

For more information about privacy, see:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/Schools-Privacy-Policy-information-for-parents.aspx

 This information also available in nine community languages.

HAVE INPUT INTO OUR SCHOOL…SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

We know that one of our school’s key strengths is our strong parent input and involvement. Our School Council is one the main forums in which parents and staff work together for the benefit of all our students. At the beginning of each school year, we have a number of vacancies for School Council. There are 4 x Parent member positions to fill this year for a period of two years. If you are interested in nominating, please collect a form from the school office or contact me and I will arrange one to be sent home. These must be lodged at the office by 4pm Friday 9th February.

Please contact me if you would like more information about being a parent on our School Council.

james.penson@education.vic.gov.au 

James Penson

Principal