Message from the Principal 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION AND CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION

Looking back over the term really highlights the highly active participation and contribution of our parents, carers, grandparents and local school community members. At Greenhills, there are so many opportunities to be part of your child’s education and we really value your contribution and support. 

Thank you to everyone who has been involved across our school. This includes our classroom helpers, members of our Parent Association & School Council, excursion helpers, swimming program helpers, working bee helpers and the list goes on! A special thank you to Mel & Josh Lucas for organising our successful end of term BBQ last Friday and to all those who assisted on the day as well. 

EARN & LEARN – FINANCIAL LITERACY AT ITS BEST

MINI FAIR – FRIDAY 24th OCTOBER

We are thrilled to announce Greenhills Primary School's Mini Fair on Friday, October 24th. We extend a warm invitation to all family members to join us for this exciting event!

On the day, students will have the opportunity to purchase food, drinks, novelty items, participate in games and activities, and much more. To ensure the safety of their funds, we kindly request that students do not bring more than $25 in cash. However, families attending the fair are welcome to bring additional money.

The photo I have included was taken during our 2023 Mini Fair at the sponge throw stall….and I am pleased to say this will be running again! 

We will alter the normal timetable to run lunchtime slightly earlier so that the Mini Fair can take place between 1.00pm and 3pm. All family members are invited to come along and share in the fun. Years 1-4 classes will be running their own stalls and of course our Years 5 & 6 students will be running their Earn & Learn business groups again. This time with real money! (Note that our preps will be returning from swimming lessons so they will not set up a stall, instead they can just enjoy all the fun).

All the money raised will go towards the purchase of interactive or large TV screens in classrooms to replace some of our older and often malfunctioning projectors.

PARENT SURVEY THANK YOU

Thank you to all those families that have completed the 2025 DET Parent & Carer Opinion Survey. We have had 26% which is a terrific result. This strong percentage of completion will enable the results of this survey to be very reliable and useful as we consider way to improve our school into next year and beyond. 

In general, our Parent & Carer Survey results are usually very positive, but we will always strive to improve. For example, the 2024 survey results indicated an 81% positive endorsement for “parent participation & involvement”, 83% positive for “school communication” and 72% positive for “teacher communication”. These are all areas we have been working on this year include adding more detail to our term newsletters from each team. These are sent out twice per term and specifically include information that will help you to support your child’s learning. The latest editions were sent home this week.

TRANSITION INTO 2026

During the upcoming break we will be spending some time crunching the numbers and developing our school structure for next year. 

I will provide an update to families around what this all means for our school and our class structure for next year at the next Meet with the Principal Team Mid-Term 4 Webex event on Wednesday 12th November at 7.30pm.   

PARENT REQUESTS FOR 2026

As we begin the process of finalising our school structure for next year, considerations around the social, emotional, academic and physical needs of each of our students will form part of this process. Parents and caregivers can make requests for consideration when placing their child into their 2026 class. 

These requests will only be accepted in writing via email and must be received by me: james.penson@education.vic.gov.au by Friday 17th October. Please note that requests with respect to specific teachers will not be considered and note that in making a request, there are never any guarantees that these will be granted. 

I would also like to emphasise that it is not a requirement for parents to submit a request. As part of the process all students and staff will also provide information that become part of the class build process. It is also important to note the most effective way for us to manage our class builds is to only include a key separation or pairing and not an extensive list of student names for your child to be with. We are only able to enter one or two student names in relation to how we manage this using our class builder program.   

Our staff team under the guidance of Janine and Brad will use this information as part of all the different considerations taken when building our grades. These factors include the social, emotional, physical and academic needs of all students. It is a complex and time-consuming task as we try to ensure that we set up the best possible structure for a successful 2026. During this entire process our decisions are always guided by one major factor and that is the best interests of our students. Details relating to the school organisation, classes of children and the allocation of teachers will be released to students on our first “Meet the Teacher” session between 9.15am and 10.45am on Thursday 4th December. 

THANK YOU FOR TERM THREE

Well, we made it – the end of Term 3! Thank you to all our students who have achieved so much learning this term. Our principal team is continually impressed each day with the work and learning that we see in all our classrooms. Thank you to our staff. This term has been a big term for all our staff, and as a result we have already achieved many of the goals we set for ourselves as part of our Annual Implementation Plan. Thank you also to all our families for your support and involvement in our school each day. One of the great things about Greenhills is our community! 

I hope everyone can enjoy a bit of a break and spend some family time together, especially with the long weekend in the middle of the break (Friday 26th September public holiday). These holidays are always a wonderful opportunity to catch up and then get ready for the rush to the end of the year. 

James Penson,

Principal.