Message from the Principal 

3RD DIVISION SIGNALS ASSOCIATION

Last Thursday, a group of our Year 6 student leaders attended the Shrine of Remembrance to be involved in a special memorial service to honour the 3rd Division Signals Association. Our school makes this annual visit on the 24th April, as part of our ongoing and special relationship with the Association which started back in 2007. The partnership fosters relationships and enables schools to carry on the legacy of an ex-service organisation, which is a very special honour for our school. 

As part of the service, our students read pledges they have written. Here is an example of these written by Francesca T:

Hello, I’m Francesca and I am one of the Action Team Captains. Nearly a century ago, Australians fought in World War Two and protected us, our cities, our country and our home. Sadly during the war we lost many lives and we are gathered today to honour everyone that served in the Unit. I pledge to live by the Greenhills value of Respect. I will do this by respecting people, their decisions, differences and their property. At Greenhills, we think that respect is a very important part in creating harmony and understanding between people in our school and community. We also pledge to continue to live respecting one another as a community, valuing peace and never forgetting the sacrifices made for us. We thank the Third Division Signallers for their contribution, bravery and all that they’ve done for our country.

A big thank you to Joshua Hick and Ros Mackie for helping to organise the day with the Association and of course a big thank you and well done to our students.

ANZAC DAY COMMEMORATION EVENTS

On ANZAC Day last Friday, we had a strong number of Greenhills students attend our local Greensborough RSL Sub-Branch Memorial Service. This included participating in the march up to the service along Main Street behind our new school banner.

Once again it was wonderful seeing so many of our students and their families there to represent our school and pay respects to all men and women who have served our nation. During the Service, our student leaders, dressed in full Greenhills uniform laid a wreath on behalf of our school community. 

At this time, each year I also like to remind our school community that we have our own memorial garden at Greenhills Primary School as well. For those of you who might not be aware of this, the garden is located outside the main office as you walk up to the school from Mine Street. This project was led by Andrea Williams our Art Specialist teacher and Helen Platania, a local artist. If you haven’t already seen it, please make sure you take the time to do so. A part of the garden includes a special plaque in recognition of the 3rd Division Signals Association and the face of the soldier in the centre of the mural is James Nolan who is the great, great uncle of the Thom family here at the school. 

ACTING WITH COURAGE – HIGH IMPACT LEARNER AGENCY TRAIT’S

Over recent weeks, we have been sharing details about our High Impact Learner Agency Trait’s (HILAT’s). This week, we will continue to unpack how and why our HILAT’s is built around a developmental continuum. 

Our students need a continuum to learn because learning happens gradually, not all at once. A "continuum" means a smooth, connected progression. Students don’t jump from beginner to expert instantly — they grow step-by-step. A continuum gives them:

• Clear stages of growth (so they know where they are and where they’re going)
• Scaffolded support (so skills build naturally instead of feeling random)
• Confidence (because each step feels achievable, not overwhelming)
• Deep understanding (because they can connect earlier learning to harder ideas later)

Without a continuum, learning would feel like trying to climb a ladder with missing rungs — confusing, frustrating, and discouraging.

All of our 12 HILAT’s are built around four developmental stages as per the picture:

1 – Directed / Diligent Learner

2-  Self-regulated Learner

3 – Extended Learner

4 – Unbound Learner.

In our newsletter next week, we will unpack these four developmental stages of Acting With Courage which is our whole school HILAT focus at the moment.

WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school. The Attitudes to School Survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience. Students from Years 4 to 6 at our school will participate in the survey. Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool.  It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child. Your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any point before, during, or after completion of the survey. 

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data for statistical and research purposes only. All responses to the survey are kept anonymous in the response file. Personal identification data will not be recorded in the survey response file. This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is always protected.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the period Monday 12th May to Friday 13th June. The survey only takes 20 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time. The survey results will be reported back to the school later this year. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified. If you would like more information, please contact me: james.penson@education.vic.gov.au

TRANSITION UPDATE

Our Year 6 students and families are now in the process of organising their preferences for their placements into high school. This is an exciting time, but it can also be challenging and stressful for families as they make this decision. DET Schools must follow a very strict regime of dates and processes and it is very important that this is maintained. The next step is for all our families of Year 6 students to complete the Application for Year 7 Placement 2026” form that has been sent home and this form needs to be back to our school by Friday 9th May. It is also important for our Year 6 parents to understand that many schools in our area have enrolment restrictions. I encourage you to research this in detail and make the time to find out more about the school/s you may wish your child to attend. 

The Year 6-7 placement process is just one very small part of our transition program at Greenhills. A major part of our focus and work in this area is preparing all our Year 6 students for the transition into secondary school. The feedback we get from our local schools is that our students are very well prepared academically and socially. They are well equipped to deal with the many changes and challenges they must face including the movement from classroom to classroom, teacher to teacher and other key organisational aspects that impact on learning. 

This is the result of the way we set up and deliver our curriculum structures and programs, the quality of our teaching team and also the many extra-curricular programs we operate. As a school community we can be very proud of the achievement of our students and know that they will leave our school very well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

James Penson,

Principal.