GHPS Life

Principals are what all live by.

They are guidelines to how we conduct ourselves in the world. How we behave, how we respond, think, act and feel.

James Penson is a great principal, he is compassionate, educated, empathetic, purposeful and puts the students and staff in the forefront of all he does. 

He's at every event, running with the students, cheering them on with a double thumbs up and is always approachable and considerate. 

Thanks for being a great (Generous, Respectful, Encouraging, Amazing, Tall) Principal James. We are very lucky to have you.

Janine Hough is one of the most emotive, considerate, thoughtful, responsive and kind people I know. She is there for the students when times are tough. Oh, and parents as well. 

Brad Ryan is committed, as my partner Nat said, and I quote. "During Covid, when I saw that man blend a whole banana, peel and all, for some food learning, or craziness, and chug that whole thing, I knew about his commitment to learning and haven't questioned it since."

Thank you James, Janine and Brad. You are definitely the principals we enjoy living by. 

Sam Redman 

School Council President.

INTERSCHOOL SPORT - WINTER SEASON

Round 10: Friday 4th August 2023

Greenhills A VS Plenty Valley – HOME 

Greenhills B VS Hurstbridge – AWAY

COMMUNITY SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

If your child achieves something special (grand final win, most valuable player award, best and fairest etc.), please email me (jordan.daley@education.vic.gov.au) through photos and an overview of the achievement to post in Contact. It is important to celebrate and recognise such successes with the school community.

Thank you, 

Jordan Daley

CONNECTED SCHOOLS

Threats and rewards—or something better?

“If you don’t pack away your toys right now, I’m throwing them in the bin!”

 It’s the end of the day. We’re tired, or stressed, and we’ve asked our kids a hundred times already to start packing up. Even though we might know that there is a better way, we can’t stop ourselves, and a threat slips out.

 The thing is, it seems to work! Suddenly the kids are packing up their toys, fearful that if they stay out they’ll be relocated to the bin. In fact, research shows that threats, verbal reprimands, and time-outs are all effective ways of securing immediate compliance in our children. Which would be great - if our only goal was immediate compliance. The problem is that this compliance is coerced, and if we’re not there to enforce the consequences we lose our ability to influence behaviour. Our kids are more focused on avoiding the punishment than on internalising what we’re trying to teach them! 

So, if threats aren’t the ticket to getting our children to do something, rewards must be the right alternative, right? 

“If you pack away your toys right now, you can have ice cream!” might be what we say. But we might as well say “If you don’t pack away your toys, you can’t have ice-cream”. Rewards are just threats in disguise. If our kids are still relying on us to give them ice-cream or a gold star or their pocket money in exchange for good behaviour, they’re still not intrinsically motivated to do what we’re asking them to do. Rewards, just like threats and punishments, only work if we’re there to dish out the consequences. They simply don’t promote lasting behaviour change and our kids often lose interest, so if we want to keep enforcing the behaviour, we need to dish out bigger and bigger rewards, or bigger and bigger punishments.

 The truth is, both threats and rewards use fear as a motivator – either fear of getting punished, or fear of missing out on the reward. Fear can be a powerful motivator. But there is another thing that motivates us. LOVE.

 Love is a much stronger motivator. It drives intrinsic motivation, or motivation that isn’t reliant on external outcomes like rewards and punishments. 

Here are three ways we can use love to help motivate our kids:

     1. Do it with them. Kids spell love T.I.M.E. They want to be involved in our world. So, if we’re doing something, and we invite them to join in, chances are that they’ll say yes, even for something as routine as tidying up the toys.

      2. Make it fun. Kids love to play! Maybe we can challenge them to throw all the blocks into the tub like they’re shooting basketball hoops. Or maybe the cars strewn everywhere need to be driven back to their garage on the shelf. There are so many ways to make even simple tasks fun . Not only does having fun get the job done, it also boosts learning and competence in our kids.

      3. Model love and respect for them by trusting that they’ll do it when they’re ready. Simply say “Can you pack up the toys when you’re ready?”, and then let them be. They may need a gentle reminder, but if we step back and let them know that we trust them to get the job done in their own time, there’s a good chance they’ll do it.

 Sometimes they still won’t do what we’re asking. When that happens, there are two more things we can do. 

     1. Just do it for them. Sometimes they’re sick, tired, or cranky. And the truth is that we’re not going to teach them to be lazy slobs as adults by tidying up their room occasionally as kids. (That’s fear speaking!).

      2. Set a boundary. Boundaries are different to punishment. A boundary is something we do to ourselves, whereas a punishment is something we do to others. A boundary could mean that our adult sized feet are unwilling to walk through a room strewn with LEGOs, so if they want a book read to them before bed, they need to clear the floor so we can safely get to the bookshelf. Set the boundary, and then let them decide how to respond to it.  

Ultimately, parenting isn’t about getting our kids to do things. The only person we can truly control is ourselves. The real focus of parenting is about being the person we want to be, regardless of how our kids are behaving. When we remember that, we can move away from fear-based parenting, and parent with love.

AUTHOR

Dr Justin Coulson

Dr Justin Coulson is a dad to 6 daughters. He is the parenting expert and co-host of Channel Nine’s Parental Guidance, and he and his wife host Australia’s #1 podcast for parents and family: The Happy Families Podcast. He has written 7 books about families and parenting. For further details visit happyfamilies.com.au

CANTEEN

Wednesday Wonders - July and August

Orders are now open in QKR.

Ravioli - 9 Aug (order by 2 Aug)

Macaroni and Cheese - 23 Aug (order by 16 Aug)

All are $5.50 per serve! The normal canteen menu will still be available to order on these days.

SUSHI Day - Friday 11 August

Orders are also now open in QKR and close one week prior on Friday 4 August. Sushi is $3.80 per roll - various flavours available! Drinks can be ordered as well, however there will be no hot food on offer on this day. Window sales will be available as normal.

Helpers

If you have a spare hour on a Wed, Thurs or Fri between 1pm and 2pm, come along and help in the canteen. There is no food preparation involved, it's very simple and the kids love seeing parents there!

You need to have completed the Volunteer Induction, and sign up through CareBookings - www.carebookings.com.au - access code is JGU9L.

Helpers get a canteen voucher for their kids to use for their next lunch order! 

Thanks, 

Miriam.

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Term 3 Week 4 - Presented at Assembly 18th August 2023