Message from the Principal 

BOOKWEEK FUN

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful celebration of Book Week 2022. For me, these types of activities and events are what school is all about. Dressing up on special days is such a fun way to enjoy and promote a love of reading. It was certainly GREAT being able to hold a parade again and our staff and student costumes were simply amazing. A big shout out to all of our parents and carers for supporting our students to source or make costumes and getting fully into the spirit of the event.  This is not always an easy thing to do but know that your commitment was worth it.

The Children’s Book Council of Australia presents annual awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2022 Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards.  Many of the books are available in the school library for our students to enjoy. 

Book week is also a GREAT opportunity to acknowledge and thank Jen Ellis for her work in our school Library. In fact Jen came dressed up as our “Kirsty Stule School Library” – you are awesome Jen!

Greenhills Primary School is a GREAT reading school and we want to keep getting even better. Our reading data is improving all the time and we are seen as a leader or “influencer” in this area across our local schools. We have great teachers, a superb Library and of course a strong level of parent support for reading for pleasure at home.

So how do we keep working to make sure we remain such a strong reading school?

At school, we will achieve this through a very strategic and detailed professional learning plan based on ensuring high levels of staff knowledge around what high quality reading teaching is and how we deliver this consistently across the whole school each and every day. In fact, reading is so important at our school that we start everyday with 15 minutes focused on this in every classroom. This is just one of our commitments at school and you can also partner with us by doing something similar at home too.

At home, you can assist your child to find an extra 10 minutes a day to read. It might be as simple as 10 minutes less on technology or reading for 10 minutes before dinner. We know that you can become better at something if you focus on it more. Reading becomes easier and more enjoyable the more you do it! If you need some motivation have a think about this: If your child currently reads for just 1 minute a day, they will read 21,000 words this year. Increasing this by 10 minutes a day will lead to 321,000 words being read in a year. It also works for those students that are already reading for the suggested 15 minutes a day. Currently these readers would be churning through 1.8 million words a year. Ten minutes more would take this to over 2.7 million! 

Help your child to choose different types of books to read and also take turns to read with them. Talk about the book and look for words to pay special attention to. Most importantly, make the experience as fun and engaging as possible.

STUDENT AGENCY CONFERENCES 

Our Student Agency Conferences were delivered successfully this week and there was a GREAT vibe across the school during the day and evening. A highlight for me was hearing from our teachers about how students are engaging with the feedback from our continuous reporting program. This includes the feedback teachers are giving and of course the feedback that many of our parents are now providing as well. Linking in our continuous reporting, with our agency conferences is helping to maximise the feedback provided to students. This feedback has one of the most powerful effects on student achievement and is something that we are very committed to keep developing and growing at our school. 

You can add your voice and help shape our journey by completing a very short parent feedback survey about our Student Agency Conferences:

Student Agency Conferences Parent Survey

PARENT / CARER OPINION SURVEY

Speaking of surveys, as sent out via Compass on Monday this week, I am inviting you to participate in the 2022 Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey (previously known as the Parent Opinion Survey). 

Your opinions are important to us, and the results of this survey will be used to inform and direct future school planning and improvement. 

Please follow the instructions below to complete the survey. 

**NOTE: Only one parent/caregiver/guardian from your family is invited to complete the survey.

To complete the survey, simply:

1. Click on the link below, or copy and paste the text into your browser. This link will take you directly to the survey.

https://www.orima.com.au/parent

2.  Select the School name below.

School Name: Greenhills Primary School

3. Enter the School PIN below.

PIN: 487110

4. When complete, please click on the tick button at the end of the survey to submit your answers. Please note that the survey will time out after 60 minutes of inactivity.

WORKING BEE THIS SUNDAY

James Penson

Principal