Message from the Principal 

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Walking around the school, spending time in classrooms and talking with our students over the past few weeks has continually reinforced to me so many of the strengths of our school. These are the commitment and positive intentions of our staff, the energy and sense of adventure our students have around learning and the partnership we are building with you – our parents and carers. As you read our newsletter this week you will see lots of evidence to back these thoughts up.

YEAR 4’s VISIT TO KINDER

A real strength of our school and one that we are keen to keep building on is our links with our local community. Last week this was evidenced by our Year 4SM class visiting Greenhills Pre-School. Over the next few weeks both 4TW and 4DS will also be visiting. This is an annual event for our school and helps to build our partnership with our local Kinders. During the visit our students were able to share our school’s love of reading with the kinder kids which was an experience enjoyed by all. This is also part of the way our students develop their skills and leadership ready to become a big buddy when they are in Years 5 & 6.

STAFF V STUDENTS BASKETBALL MATCH

Our new Djila Djerring (Play Together) gym was packed to the rafters last week at our Staff v Student Basketball match. It was awesome fun with lots of cheering, energy, laughter, smiles and some basketball too! The students won 41-30 but the real winner was our new facility! Shoutout and well done to all our students and staff. A special shout out to Amiya K one of our Year 1 students who was the driving force behind this idea and helped with all the organisation. Stay tuned for our next event later this term.

DIAMOND VALLEY BASKETBALL COMPETITION 

It will be a very special Saturday this weekend as the very first official competition game of basketball will be held (besides our Staff v Student game!). The Diamond Valley Basketball Association has hired our new Djila Djerring gym for competitions each Saturday from 8am – 6pm! This is a great result for our school because this will provide additional revenue for our school to ensure that we both maintain our new facility and look to complete other works across the school. Most importantly, it also means that our students who play for Greenhills Basketball Club will have a home base and enjoy home court advantage!

Go Greenhills Beavers! 

IMPROVING OUR GROUNDS & ENVIRONMENT

An often-underestimated strength of our school is the space, environment and resources our students are provided with. Whilst this has been heavily impacted on with our building project over recent years, we are starting to come out the other side and can really look forward to all enjoying some amazing facilities and an external environment that matches the quality of what happens inside our school. This photo which was taken on the decking of our new gym overlooking the Tigerturf. It really highlights how great this space now looks and even more importantly is being used and enjoyed. 

Recent improvements have also included the addition of drink taps for students near the new amphitheatre and also on the decking the runs next to the Tigerturf. Our students have been asking for drink taps in these locations for a long time and they have now been delivered!

You will notice from the photos that we have included our new school banner artwork designed by Emma Bamblett and the word Baan is the Woi Wurrung word for water. 

EVACUATION DRILL – OFFSITE EVACUATION

DET schools are required to run an emergency drill each term. We run a variety of these including lockdowns and evacuations and often set these up where we provide minimal notice to our staff and at different times of the day. In this way we try to ensure that if a real emergency were to take place, that we are in the best position to ensure we manage as safely and effectively as possible.

We are communicating our next drill to our families because it is something we have not done before. This is an external evacuation to our offsite venue. If in the very rare circumstance, emergency services who attend our school advise us to evacuate our school site, we have identified the small park/playground space that is located next to the Greenhills Rd shops. We have decided on this space because it is the safest walk for our students (less busy roads and only one road crossing) and because it would also allow us to set up a pick-up zone for families to collect their students if required.

Our offsite evacuation drill is set for Tuesday 29th October and will commence shortly after school has started. Students will first assemble on the Tigerturf as per our evacuation plan and then walk with their class down Mine Street and Greenhills Road to our offsite assembly point. Once there we will complete another roll check and then return to school. Staff will be wearing their high vis vests, carrying first aid supplies and our evacuation kits. Additional staff e.g. Education Support and Specialist teachers will be allocated to support individual students who may require it and general student safety along the evacuation route. 

MEET WITH THE PRINCIPAL TEAM

Communication is a growing strength of our school. This is because we are continually trying to keep you informed in the most up to date and timely way about the things that are happening across our school. On that note, keep the date free: Wednesday 13th November at 7.30pm. This will be our Term 4 Mid-Term Meet with the Principal Team. The session will be held via Webex with the link sent out shortly. Some of the topics that we will cover include:

• School structure & class sizes model for 2025
• Planning for 2025
• Opportunity to discuss the Parent Opinion Survey 2024 and provide feedback into 2025.

Hope to see you there!

James Penson,

Principal.