From the Leadership Team
As we come to the end of a busy term 1, we would like to thank our families for their ongoing support as it is greatly appreciated. It has been wonderful to celebrate our student's learning successes with you at our Parent Teacher Connections, and then, all come together to celebrate physical education, fitness and collaboration at Sports Day. You may have noticed this year that we are actively trying to increase the voice and presence of our families. We are dedicated to working in partnership with our community and encourage you to continue to have a voice in what we do. We have certainly appreciated your attendance at our events, joining our committees, volunteering in the canteen and all of your electronic feedback. We will continue to ask you for your feedback on how we can continue to improve at GPS.
We recently shared our Site Improvement Plan (SIP) with our Governing Council. The SIP is our ongoing plan for continuous improvement and focuses on how we plan to challenge and develop every learner. Our 2023 focus is to continue to maintain High Band retention in Numeracy and Reading. The staff at GPS are highly skilled in supporting and stretching every learner, wherever their starting point may be.
Goal 1 Numeracy | Challenge of Practice | Success Criteria |
| Increase High Band Retention in Numeracy, | If we develop effective curriculum delivery, with a focus on challenge through problem-solving and reasoning, then we will increase High Band retention in Numeracy. | We will see each student make and test conclusions when we examine students’ work samples.
We will see each student find and adapt patterns when we examine students’ work samples.
We will see each student generalise mathematical principles when we examine students’ work samples. |
Goal 2 Reading | Challenge of Practice | Success Criteria |
| Increase High Band Retention in Reading. | If we use effective data analysis, explicit teaching and targeted feedback for high impact then we will increase High Band retention in Reading. | We will hear each student articulate their goals in reading when we talk to them.
We will hear each student articulate their individual, next steps for growth in reading when we talk to them.
We will hear each student articulate strategies used in reading when we talk to them. |
Goal 3 Wellbeing | Challenge of Practice | Success Criteria |
Increase the percentage of students who have engagement with school, learner readiness and well-being in years 4-6. | If we intentionally teach well-being strategies, language and skills then we will increase the percentage of student’s engagement with school, learner readiness and well-being in years 4-6. | We will see each student select language and actions that demonstrate an understanding of positive well-being choices. |
As mentioned, all of our students start at different levels, have different strengths and progress more in some subject areas than others, so it is so important that we focus on where they are at and continue to support them to be the very best version of themselves. Our recent Sports Day was an outstanding example of how our students try their very best at Greenwith Primary School and we are extremely proud of all of our students. We have a very dedicated team of professionals working with your children. We would like to give a huge thank you to our staff for all their dedication, commitment and work this term in ensuring our students get the very best education at GPS. You will find in this edition of our newsletter some great photographs of our students learning, playing sports and having fun. We are always proud of the effort and attitude to learning our children display and they should all be thrilled with their achievements this term.
As we head into the holidays, the staff at Greenwith Primary School hope you have a wonderful break with your families and we look forward to seeing you all at the start of Term 2.
Staffing Update
We have some important news and some temporary changes in our leadership team to share with you.
Our Deputy Principal, Sara Slater, will be leaving us during Term 2 and in Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 3 as an opportunity has arisen for her to be the Acting Principal at Wynn Vale Primary School. Whilst we are extremely happy for Sara to be taking on this role - we are going to miss her, however, this will give Sara an opportunity to expand her leadership skills and lead Wynn Vale Primary School. We wish Sara all the very best in her role and look forward to her return back to GPS in Term 3.
Dani Schina has been appointed in the role of Acting Deputy Principal in Sara's absence. Dani has been a valued member of our leadership team as the Assistant Principal - Student Engagement and Wellbeing and she has been working closely with Sara to ensure a smooth transition. Dani is a capable leader and we are confident that she will continue to support our school's vision and values and our staff, students and families whilst in this role.
Alison Warner has been appointed in the role of Acting Assistant Principal - Student Engagement and Wellbeing, whilst Dani is in the Acting Deputy Principal role. Alison has been a fantastic teacher and coordinator of Student Wellbeing at GPS. Alison has a passion for supporting our student's social and emotional development and fostering a positive school culture.
Kylie Robinson has been appointed in the role of Coordinator - Student Wellbeing on Thursdays, whilst Alison is in the role of Acting Assistant Principal. Kylie is an experienced teacher who has been working with our students as the PE teacher for many years. Kylie has a strong commitment to ensuring that all students feel safe, happy and engaged at school. We welcome Zane Welfare-Donaldson who will be teaching PE on Thursdays.
Renae Simpson will increase her teaching to full-time in Room 302 for Term 2 and Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 3 during the time Alison Warner is the Acting Assistant Principal.
Please join us in congratulating Sara, Dani, Alison, Kylie, Zane and Renae on their new roles and responsibilities. We are very proud of our leadership team and staff who are always willing to step up and take on new challenges. I am also very grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration as we work together to provide the best possible education for our students.
We also recently farewelled Angus Green our Pastoral Care Worker (PCW). He has won a full-time permanent position at another school. We thank Angus for his dedication, care, respect and commitment to our community and he will be sorely missed. We begin the process in Term 2 of advertising for a replacement PCW and will keep you updated.
NAPLAN
Our Year 3 and 5 students recently participated in NAPLAN, which moved from Term 2 to Term 1 in 2023. Our staff and students were extremely well organised and were able to participate in each assessment with minimal technical disruptions. Our students demonstrated persistence and completed their assessments to the best of their abilities. The results of these assessments will be available to parents later in the year. Thank you to Sara Slater for her excellent organisation in preparing staff so they could be thoroughly prepared for their students and the online NAPLAN assessments.
NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The assessments are undertaken every year.
As mentioned previously, from 2023 each student’s NAPLAN report will show how they’re tracking against 4 levels of achievement, known as proficiency standards. These will replace the 10 NAPLAN bands. The standards are:
- Exceeding
- Strong
- Developing
- Needs additional support.
The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable standard of literacy and numeracy expected for the child at the time of testing. Reporting will include clear descriptions for teachers and families about student progress against these levels of achievement. Those descriptions will be developed by expert teachers.
Traffic Safety
You may have noticed that we have had TTGCC Community Liasion Officers on-site at our kiss and drop zones and school crossing areas recently. They have been busy handing out Traffic Safety brochures to remind our community about the importance of traffic safety and parking around schools. SAPOL Community Liasion Officers have also been supporting our community in this area. We would like to reiterate that Road Safety is everyone’s business and we all need to take extra care when using the roads and crossings near our school. Your cooperation in relation to this matter is essential and appreciated. If you are using the main entrance to our school, please remember to use the Visitor Car Park ONLY if you are dropping off or picking up your child and role model the correct way to enter and exit our Campus, alternatively, there are the kiss and drop zones around our school.
We would like to remind you that the Staff Car Park is reserved for Campus staff (GPS and OLOH) only and not for parents/visitors. This is to ensure that all our staff can access their workspaces easily and that the traffic flow is smooth and safe. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter. Please be courteous and respectful to our staff if they ask you to move your vehicle from the staff car park as it does not belong there.
Parent Teacher Connections
Thank you to all the families that participated in our recent Parent Teacher Connections. It was fabulous to see so many parents engaging with their child's teachers and being updated about how their child has settled in and discussing goals for the year. We emailed out a feedback survey to families after this event and the positive feedback received was overwhelming. It confirms to us that we are working well in engaging with our community and events like Parent Teacher Connections are a valued, and important events between families and the school. Please remember if you have any concerns or questions to raise them with your child's teacher.
Sports Day
A big shout out and thank you to our PE teacher Kylie Robinson and the Sports Day Committee for a wonderful and well-organised Sports Day. Apart from the tiny shower on the day, it was perfect! Thanks go to our food stall and coffee vendors who supported us on the day, SAPOL Community Liasion Officers who came out and enjoyed the day with us, our parents - for cheering and supporting your children, and all our students for giving everything their best go and to our staff, with their behind-the-scenes work in setting up equipment early in the morning and spending time after school packing it away and going the extra mile in supporting our students.
National Young Leader's Day - Friday, 17 March
Our Student Leaders recently attended National Young Leader's Day with Jacqui Isgar and Angus Green. This event in our Student Leaders calendar is always a highlight and they certainly enjoy the experience. Thanks to Jacqui Isgar for organising this and providing this opportunity for our Student Leaders to gain valuable leadership skills. You can read more about this excursion later in the newsletter.
Grievance Policy
Our Grievance Policy is an annual policy that we review with the Education Sub Committee (members of Governing Council) and staff. This has been ratified this term by our Governing Council. The updated policy can be found on our website.
Dental for Schools visit
Dental for Schools provided an on-site service in week 8. We received over 200 responses from parents for their children to attend, which is outstanding. Unfortunately, not all students were able to be seen by the clinic during this time. Therefore the dental clinic has arranged to return in week 1 of Term 2 and another week to accommodate the strong demand from our community.
GGHS Dance Tour visit
Golden Grove High School students and teachers from The Arts faculty recently visited with our year 6 students and gave them a demonstration of the special interest dance program that GGHS offer. Our students enjoyed the dance performance and the information presented by GGHS. If you are interested in this program at GGHS, please see their website for further information.
Colour Run fundraising update
Following on from news shared in the week 5 newsletter, we are excited to announce that our order has been finalised and we hope to have the new painted designs in place during term 3 this year.
Parent Portal - Mid-Year Reports next term
It's time to update your link!
Our online reports via the Parent Portal for Greenwith Primary School have moved to a new server to improve performance and security. The link to the Parent Portal has also changed. For our new families this year, our reports are online. If you have used the Parent Portal in the past, you will need to update this in your saved links, as your previous link will no longer work.
The new link for the Parent Portal is now:
https://greenwith.schools.impromation.com.au/portal4parents/?Schid=1858
If you experience difficulty in accessing your child's report via the Parent Portal, please contact the school to assist you, not the Reporting company. The school is the liaison between the Reporting company and families.