Message from the Principal 

EDUCATION SHOWCASE A BIG HIT

Thank you to our teachers, students, and parents for a GREAT Education Showcase event this week. We had lots of positive feedback, and it was a terrific opportunity for our students to step into 2023. It was also a wonderful opportunity for parents and carers to be involved with school life at Greenhills. 

Our focus on a positive transition is important and something we continue to build on each year. A positive transition is enabled through providing opportunities for students to experience the environment, learning spaces, expectations, and routines of the next year of their schooling in a step by step and strategic way. We know that levels of anxiety amongst students right across the world are increasing and our aim is to help our students through the demands of being in a new space by taking away some of the unknowns that add that extra layer of stress. 

Another element of our positive transition program is the time and effort that is put into student class placement. This has involved a set period for parents to make requests, for students to provide a list of friends or students they would like to learn with in a class and for our staff to have input and feedback around the academic, social and emotional needs of our students. This week we completed a first draft of our classes for 2023 and we will now spend the next two weeks having a deeper analysis so that we can ensure the classes are as balanced as possible and set up in the best possible way. These lists are then entered onto the DET Cases system ready for our first Meet the Teacher session on Thursday 8th December between 9.30am and 10.30am. 

MINI-WORKING BEE THIS SUNDAY

Between 9am and 10.30am this Sunday 20th November, we will be hosting a short mini working bee. The aim is to neaten up pathways and gardens into the school, remove rubbish and ensure we are looking at our absolute best as we are an election venue on Saturday 26th November. If you can attend it would be GREAT to see you there. Please bring your own blower vac, broom, rake or any other gardening tool that will help on the day. Hope to see you there!

ASSEMBLIES FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR

We have three more assemblies scheduled for the remainder of this year. 

Friday 18th November – 3pm via Webex - link will be sent out on the day. If your child is receiving a Student of the Week ribbon or another special award, then we encourage you to come to their classroom and join in watching the assembly there. 

Friday 2nd December – 2.50pm Live under the shade sail. At this assembly we will be presenting ICAS and Maths Olympiad awards.

Friday 16th December – 2.40pm Live under the shade sail – Our final assembly and a chance to say farewell to our Graduating Class of 2022. This is always an incredibly special assembly and I know we will have lots of parents attending. It is also the last official event of the school year and a GREAT way to finish off what has been another highly successful year for our school. School will finish on this day at 3.30pm.

Of course, our outdoor assemblies are subject to the weather conditions, and we know how unpredictable these are now. Fingers crossed we can enjoy these celebrations in this way and if the weather prevents this, we will let you know earlier on the day via a COMPASS announcement. In the event of this happening, we will revert to a “Live via Webex” style assembly and try to make that as special as we can.

NEW LARGE TV SCREENS – INSTALLED IN ART & MUSIC ROOM

We have started to spend the money raised at our awesome Trivia & Online Auction Night. The first purchases were two new TV screens for the Art and Music room to replace the old interactive whiteboards. They look great and students can see them from every spot in the room. The screens are used to outline the learning intention and success criteria of each lesson, share instructions (which is particularly important for our visual and auditory processing learners), display worked examples and of course share student work.

Students and teachers will also be able to share what is on the iPad screen using an Apple TV device. This enables us to take student agency to another level as the learning can be shared and feedback provided in an engaging and accessible way. 

SCHOOL CROSSING UPDATE

The power of parent and carer voice has worked! Banyule City Council has approved Janine, Brad and I as Authorised to supervise the crossing at Mine Street with the following responsibilities:

• The school needs to make sure that the crossing flags are placed and removed at school pick up times between 3.30pm and 3.45pm.
• The crossing can only be supervised by the authorised staff and this number can only be three staff members. In the event Janine, Brad or I are unavailable or absent, other staff can provide a presence, but they are not able to step onto the road and stop traffic. We will inform our school community in the event this occurs.
• We need to complete school crossing supervision training which is currently being arranged.

Thank you to those that contacted the Council. It is through your voice that common sense has prevailed. 

James Penson

Principal