Message from the Principal 

THANKYOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION AND CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION

Looking back over the term really highlights the very 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. 

Just in this term alone, we have had parents, carers and other special people support our community in many ways, here are just a few examples how: 

• help our preps to learn about community helpers and the important role they play.
• working up a sweat at our working bee to help keep our grounds as neat and tidy as can be during an ongoing building project. 
• attend our book week parade including a special guest author and illustrator.
• attend open classroom sessions like our Year 5 Writing Expo.
• link in with our inquiry units to design and plant a butterfly garden.

These are just a few examples from across our school in addition to our regular classroom helpers, Parent Association events including Breakfast Club, BBQ’s, Second Hand Uniform stalls and so much more.

STUDENT AGENCY CONFERENCES

We are really pleased with our Student Agency Conferences that were held last week. Feedback from students, parents and staff has been very positive. These conferences have been continually developed and fine-tuned over the last couple of years with a renewed commitment and energy around collaboration between the student, parent and teacher. 

This focus on learning, engagement across curriculum areas and goal setting is a very big part of how our school team is working to communicate your child’s progress with you. The conferences provide an authentic and powerful way to be involved with your child’s education. Our teachers regularly hold conferences with individual students across the weeks and terms and we provide you with two formal opportunities each year to join in.

CONTINUOUS REPORTING – WE NEED YOU

For those of you with students in the older year levels, you may remember that in the past our school only provided you with two written communications about your child’s progress. These were the school reports sent home at the end of each semester.

 Compare that to today where you have access to regular work samples that are assessed at curriculum levels, contain feedback from the teacher about what your child achieved and what the next steps of their learning are.  

This year, our Continuous Reporting program has included writing samples, numeracy tasks, running records in reading, specialist learning tasks and most importantly student learning that is linked to their goals. Our teachers are committing significant effort to do this as we strive to communicate regularly with you, about your child’s progress. It is really important that you are part of this process too. You can do this by asking your child about their learning in class, logging in to Seesaw to view continuous reporting samples as they are uploaded and even writing or voice recording a comment back to your child and the teacher. If you are having any issues logging onto your child’s Seesaw account, please contact your child’s classroom teacher or the office.

COMPASS TERM 4 CALENDAR

Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the important dates coming up for Term 4 via our Compass calendar. 

TRANSITION INTO 2024

During the upcoming break I will be spending some time crunching the numbers and developing our school structure for next year. Government schools received some GREAT news this week with the confirmation of continued funding of the Tutor Learning Initiative, funding to continue to implement an extra specialist program (for us this is S.T.E.A.M.) to provide teachers with the required non face to face time as part of the current industrial agreement and funds to support student mental health. This includes money that schools need to use to employ a Disability & Inclusion Co-ordinator/s. For our school (like many) we have adopted a 2 x Assistant Principal model to manage this.   

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 Webex event on Wednesday 15th November at 7.30pm.   

PARENT REQUESTS FOR 2024

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 are able to make requests for consideration when placing their child into their 2024 class. These requests will only be accepted in writing via email and must be received by me by Friday 20th October. Please note that requests with respect to specific teachers will not be considered. 

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 2024. 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 7th 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 of our classrooms. Thank you to our staff. This term has been a big term for all of 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 is able to enjoy a bit of a break and spend some family time together, especially with the long weekend at the endof the break. These holidays are always a great opportunity to catch up and then get ready for the rush to the end of the year. 

Cheers,

James Penson

Principal