Message from the Principal 

Welcome to the final newsletter of the year

THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 STAFF TEAM

As we come to the end of another very full year, I want to thank our entire staff for their work to support students, families and each other across 2024.

As a school community we can be proud of the outstanding expertise, skill, compassion and ingenuity that characterise our staff team at Greenhills.

There is no doubt that it has been a big year, full of many highlights, some significant challenges and a year that has also seen many positive changes as we continue to evolve our communication processes, curriculum planning and delivery and of course our focus on student agency and wellbeing.

I thank all our staff for giving above and beyond, stepping up and supporting each other, our leadership team and me personally. I acknowledge the extra hours they commit each week spent focused on our school. Many of which are hours well outside the normal school day at home of an evening and over weekends. Our State system relies on the good will of our staff to do this, and it is one of the elements as to why our system is continuing to move from strength to strength and why our school’s data is so strong and growing even stronger.

Thank you to our teachers: Shirley O’Shannessy, Joshua Hick, Ebony Killmister, Melissa Clark, Ashley Dunne, Stephanie Burns, Ruby Beasley Lynsey Barrett, Kristine Charles, Jo Ciancio, Brooke Connane, Jordan Daley, Sharon Draper, Nigel Dunne, Jen Ellis, Betty Hajichristou, Megan Hattenfels, Roberta Iebbiano-Rosa, Alex Katsogiannis, Sarah Leach, Ros Mackie, Sam Marmo, Sam Mothersole, Lauren O’Connell, Krysten O’Leary, Lauren Richardson, Tegan Smith, Becc Stephens, Kate Stewart, David Symeonidis, Tracey Watts, Gillian Wilkins, Abby Drapper, Isabelle Hall, Andrea Williams, Steph O’Donnell, Jake Rowley, Hayley Brennan.

Thank you to our Education Support team. Our classroom-based ES's do an incredible job. They are out every day supporting students in their classes and at recess and lunchtimes. The work they do is vital for us. Thank you Raelene Turner, Teresa Jordan, Sheryl Munks-Callahan, Ilda Araujo, Ashlee MacKinven, Karen Porter, Nathan Di Guiseppe, Melinda Williams, Rhoanne Salazar, Alyshia Ninness, Lisa Emery, Tim Gorman, Emily Kandell & Ruby Bakkum.

Thank you to Max Smith for working so hard to keep our school looking so great, Miriam Pekolj for running our canteen so effectively and also supporting in the Library and Karen Morrison & Libby Egan for providing outstanding care in Fist Aid.

Thank you to our Education Support Admin team. Our office is such a dynamic and busy place to be. Our office team help the school to function so that we can balance the DET requirements and processes we must complete and support the link with our parent community. Thank you Nicole Pearson, Kiera Roberts, Libby Egan & Victoria Harris.

A special thank you to our Executive Leadership Team. They do so many things each day that the school relies on. Many of these things go unseen. The leadership team have been vital in developing, managing and leading all of our improvements and key actions this year right across the whole school. Thank you Janine Hough, Brad Ryan, Becc Stephens, Nigel Dunne & Victoria Harris.

I would also like to give a special shout out to Janine & Brad. The support they provide to all our students, staff and families is simply awesome. They both go above and beyond every day and everything they do is with passion, positivity and with the best interest of students at the centre of their decision making. They prioritise everyone else first and I know how big an impact they have had across our school.     

On behalf of the school community, we wish Kate Stewart, Becc Stephens, Emily Kandell all the very best. We say a big thank you for everything you have done for us during your time at Greenhills. We will all miss you.

YEAR 6 GRADUATION

Last week, we hosted our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony. The event was held at Eltham High School and overall, it was a wonderful evening where we had the opportunity to congratulate all our Year 6 students and acknowledge all their achievements over the past 7 years at our school. 

We are so proud of what our Class of 2024 has achieved at our school in terms of their learning but even more importantly the people they are growing into. They will all hold a special place in our hearts and minds and have truly represented what it means to be a Greenhills student.

The Year 6 student self-reflections in the Semester Two Reports provide an impressive insight into all our graduates and highlights why we are so proud of them. Here is a very small snapshot of two of these self-reflections. 

“Overall, embracing a positive mindset has transformed how I approach challenges. Instead of feeling defeated, I now see obstacles as opportunities to grow. From this new perspective, I’m excited to keep learning and improving in all subjects, especially maths. I hope to be remembered for my respect and sense of responsibility. I want people to think of me as someone who is always ready to help others.”

“Another thing I will take into next year is always trying to push myself. That has helped me to achieve a lot this year. Always striving to me bets and beyond has been as important part of my goals and I wish to take that into next year.”

Graduating Class of 2024 – we are proud of what you have done, where you have got to so far and most importantly who you have become. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the parents of our graduating students for placing the trust and confidence in our school to teach and guide your most precious children. 

During the ceremony, we also recognised all those families who with the departure of their Year 6 child this year, will be leaving our school community. This year represents a very large group with 31 families in total. I thank all these families for their contribution to our school over these years.

YEAR 6 GRADUATION AWARDS 2024

A special part of our Graduation Ceremony was the presentation of awards. Here is a list of the students who were presented with an award:

START UP 2025 DATES & TIMES

School will begin for all students other than our Preps on Thursday 30th January at 8.55am. 

Prep students will commence via a staggered start on either Thursday 6th February or Friday 7th February. They will then attend each school day as normal from Monday 10th February as we have combined all our allocated prep entry assessment days into the first week of the school year.

THANK YOU EVERYONE 

I wish to pay special tribute and thanks to our parents and carers. Your dedication, involvement and support this year has been G.R.E.A.T. We certainly appreciate the partnership we have with you, and you make our school such a wonderful and positive place to work each day.

Thank you and well done to all our students. Hearing the laughter, seeing the smiles, participating in all the learning and extra-curricular activities we have on offer is simply the best. We are so proud of you.

We continued to learn a lot about ourselves and the strengths of our school. This means we have a very exciting 2025 planned and I am jumping out of my skin to get into it all…but yes first a holiday!  

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! See you back in 2025.  🎄🎄🎄

James Penson,

Principal.