Message from the Principal 

CAMPFIRE CONVERSATION

On Monday evening this week, we hosted a Campfire Conversation. This event was an opportunity to connect with our Indigenous families and provide a forum where we could listen to their voice, their experiences and in doing so provide a culturally safe environment and support our Aboriginal students to feel strong in their identity. 

It was co-ordinated by Janine Hough and supported by Emma Bamblett who have both played integral roles in the building of connection to country across our school. Emma worked with both the students who attended to create artworks that represented their journey and she also captured the main elements of the parent conversation through an artwork she created on the night.     

The main themes that we heard were: 

• How education can build understanding and combat racism
• Sharing the culture and backgrounds of all students and families across the school.
• The importance of using First Nations language across the school to build connection 

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas……in July. The Greenhills trees became Christmas trees and our green and gold uniform was replaced by Christmas sweaters, colours and even pyjamas. Thank you to our Years 5 & 6 Junior School Council members with the support of Lauren Richardson for running this special event. Days like this are so much fun and a chance to support an important charity like the Spina Bifida Foundation Victoria whilst also developing leadership skills and helping our students to make fun memories across their years at our school. 

MID-TERM THREE MEET WITH THE PRINCIPAL TEAM

Oue next Mid-Term Meet with the Principal Team will be on Tuesday 8th August at 7.30pm via Webex. The meetings are held at the mid point of each term with the aim of helping to keep you in the loop with things that are happening across our school. They are also another forum to ask questions, provide feedback and suggestions and continue our strong home -gt school partnership. At this meeting we will share more details about Student Agency, Disability & Inclusion and some forecasting and early planning around our school structure (number of classes) for 2024.

Here is the link:

https://eduvic.webex.com/eduvic/j.php?MTID=mdc14fc74f6260e853c4e7d419f3d43a5

MATHS….AND MORE MATHS

Maths is well and truly in the spotlight across our school this term. All of our Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) currently have a maths focus. This is a process where each of our teaching teams analyse student data to identify an area of need or focus and then spend time investigating the most effective way to teach to this need. PLC’s involve different stages through an inquiry cycle and our teaching teams spend every Tuesday afternoon from 3.50 – 4.50pm working through each part of this cycle through the term. 

We are also running the Maths Olympiad program with selected Years 5 & 6 students and our Years 3 & 4 students are engaged with the Maths Explorer and Maths Games initiative. These are all run by the Maths Association of Victoria and provide an extra level of challenge and engagement across our school. 

There is also another Principal’s Maths Challenge being launched. This is the fourth challenge for this year, with each one based around our “I Hate Maths” picture story book that was written by our Executive Leadership Team. Challenge No 4 is a “supermarket shopping” challenge. We have provided three different option to complete over the next four weeks including a family challenge that you might like to join together to complete. Keep your eye out on your child’s Seesaw page for all of the details.

ASBESTOS REMOVAL

We are pleased to confirm that the portable located in the Northwest corner of the school will have all of the asbestos removed from the walls this weekend. We assure you that our school is safe, and we know that the health and safety of our school community is paramount. This is why we are working with the Victorian School Building Authority and independent occupational hygienists to appropriately manage the situation. 

A licensed removalist has been engaged to remove the materials. The removalist will be supervised by an independent occupational hygienist, who will also conduct air monitoring. 

To ensure everyone’s safety and the timely completion of works, it is important that the school and neighbouring community members are not on the school grounds during the works.

This portable is currently only used for storage to ensure students safety, but once the asbestos has been removed and the interior walls reinstated, we will look to develop the room into an environmental science classroom. The portable is located in an area where we will be able to establish garden beds and greenhouse to enable this area of the curriculum be further developed at our school.

James Penson

Principal