Message from the Principal 

GRADE 6 ANGLESEA CAMP

On Tuesday morning, an extremely excited group of Year 6 students boarded the bus for the Anglesea Camp. I am pleased to report that they are all having an excellent time and really enjoying the activities and adventure. Camps are one of those special extra-curricular activities that allow students rich experiences that just are not possible within the normal school environment. Look out for a full report in the newsletter next week.

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING UPDATE

VICTORIAN TEACHING & LEARNING MODEL 2.0

Last week our Greenhills staff team enjoyed a highly productive curriculum day working alongside all the staff from our partnership schools (Apollo Parkways, Banyule and Glen Katherine Primary Schools) as we continued our focus on implementing the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0).

We were fortunate to be joined by guest speaker Ryan Dunn, who helped unpack some of the challenges and tensions within the model, particularly around the balance between explicit teaching and supported application. Ryan’s practical insights prompted rich professional conversations among staff about how we can continue strengthening our classroom practice. One of my key takeaways was the importance of creating frequent Opportunities To Respond (OTR’s) throughout a lesson. These moments not only keep students actively engaged in their learning but also act as a powerful positive classroom management strategy, helping teachers maintain student attention and re-engage wandering attention as lessons progress. It was a valuable day of collaboration, reflection and learning that will continue to influence our teaching practice across the school.

The next steps for our partnership schools is to work through a Peer Review Process. This work will be supported by our Banyule & Nillumbik Schools Network and will involve each of our leadership teams visiting each of the schools and participating in classroom walkthroughs. 

ANNUAL REPORT DATA – Part #1

Each year school’s produce an Annual Report and share this information with their school community. The report contains specific data that DET and schools collect to inform decision making and assess progress around strategic plan goals. Over the next two weeks we will share some of the specific data sets that are contained in our 2025 Annual Report. This Report has now also been endorsed by our School Council meeting on 3th March this year.

Overall, we are really pleased with our 2025: 

• Parent Satisfaction Survey Data
• Student Survey Sense of Connectedness Data
• Student Survey Management of Bullying Data

In 2025, our percentage of positive endorsement for parent satisfaction was 84%. This continues our strong percentage of parent satisfaction over the last few years and is over 4% higher than Similar School and 2% higher than the State average for primary schools. 

We have been working very hard on ensuring our communication is detailed and timely. Our Principal Team also provides a high level of transparency and accessibility. We take parent concerns seriously and walk the talk when it comes to having an open door policy. As a team we are highly visible in the yard before and after school, we send out a weekly Two Minute Tuesday update and each term we host a Meet with the Principal Team forum

Wellbeing results around School Connectedness were also positive. This trend has can be witnessed over a four- year period with the average positive endorsement for the school sitting at 79.3% which is over 4% above Similar Schools at 75% and 2% above the State average of 77.3%.

STUDENT SURVEY - MANAGEMENT OF BULLYING DATA

Pleasingly the school percentage of positive endorsement for Management of Bullying has a 4-year average of 74.8% which is over 1% higher than Similar Schools at 73.5% but lower than the State average at 75.8%. 

This is attributed to the work of our staff team to grow strong connections and relationships built on a positive and inclusive learning environment. All teams employ a systematic and focused approach to tracking student wellbeing. This enables check-ins, follow ups and other actions to be implemented effectively. Our Education Support staff provide a valuable link and an additional point of contact and support. Student Wellbeing is also a key component of weekly Principal Class meetings.

Overall, our students, families and staff report that they have strong positive endorsement for Wellbeing elements across the school. This is demonstrated through high access and contact from classroom teachers, specialist teachers and Education Support staff, a comprehensive and extensive communications program, a positive and enabling approach to classroom management (School Wide Positive Behaviour Systems) and dual Assistant Principal roles which enabled an increase in staff capacity to build stronger wellbeing processes across the school.

Highlights relating to wellbeing in 2025 include:

• Embedding of School Wide Positive Behaviour System (SWPBS)
• Dual Assistant Principal roles which continue to enable an increase in staff capacity to build stronger wellbeing processes across the school.
• A staff leadership teacher position which included one day release to support Wellbeing and Disability & Inclusion.  

STUDENT AGENCY CONFERENCES

This is a reminder that our Student Agency Conferences will be held on Tuesday 31st March. On this day, students only attend school for the duration of their conference. These are 15 minutes each and they will run between 9am and 6.30pm. Bookings are now open via Compass and they will close on Monday 30th March at 12pm.

Please note that the conference structure will be 15 minutes with the teacher, student and parents/carers. As is always the case, should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher throughout the year, you can contact them to make a suitable time.

Student Agency Conferences give students the opportunity to articulate and reflect on their learning. It is recognised that if our children are to be successful in the future, they must be given the skills to “learn how to learn.” We want them to understand that learning is something they do, it is not something done to them or something that just happens. Strategies like conferencing assist in leading students towards becoming self-directed, independent learners. Student agency conferences ensure that the focus remains on the students and the critical role they have in determining their own next steps for learning.

NAPLAN ONLINE

Over the next two weeks, our Year 3 & 5 students will be completing the annual NAPLAN assessments. This year, the test will continue to be completed online using iPads. The value of using this platform is that the tests will adapt to better match the student’s level as opposed to a one size fits all where often there is only one or two questions that stretch students at the top end. The online platform will also mean that in time schools and families will be able to access the data and results in a timely manner. In the past, NAPLAN results have been sent to schools in September which is well past the used by date for our teachers to use the assessments to guide their teaching and planning. 

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact Brad Ryan and we will share the overall school results with our community when they come through. 

PARENT HELPERS

Thank you to all our parents and carers who have completed the Parent Helper Induction process. This process is available to complete via our school website. There is a short induction video to watch and several forms to download and sign. (These forms are available at the office)

We are so fortunate to have such strong community support for our school. Our Parent Helper Inductions are a particularly important process that helps our school community understand that our school has a clear and public commitment to child safety in the form of our Child Safe Code of Conduct and Child Protection Reporting Policy. By including these policies as part of our parent helper requirement, our School Council has clearly defined and explained acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for staff, volunteers and children.

SCHOOL TOURS FOR 2027 ENROLMENT

Each week we host a tour of our school with a particular focus on students beginning school in 2027. If you know of a family with a child ready to start school, please encourage them to go to our website to find out about the tour dates and times for this term. I am pleased to say that our school continues to have a strong reputation in our local community and people attending the tours often share the good things they have heard about our school.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

My “Question Prompt for This Week” focuses on feedback and growth.

What feedback did you receive this week, and how did it help you improve?

James Penson,

Principal.