Community
Importance of community at Glen Huntly Primary School
Active community involvement is very important to the success at Glen Huntly Primary School. We have a strong and active Parent’s Association that helps out with cooking classes, fundraising events, social events, Grandparents Day, Mothers and Fathers Day store, working bees, breakfast club, school fetes, reading in the classroom and organising school and community events.
The School Council and sub committees are also very experienced and dedicated in governing and helping to improve and run the school.
Parents and grandparents are actively encouraged to help out in classrooms with listening to students read or help out in other ways such as on school athletics days or with the prep Perceptual Motor Program (PMP).
Glen Huntly Primary School also has a number of community partnerships which it regularly engages with. These include various local sporting clubs, Victorian Astronomical Society, Rotary, an environmental group, Glen Eira City Council, local childcare centres, Glen Huntly Lane Gallery and an aged care home.
Breakfast Club
Community involvement at Glen Huntly Primary School is vibrant and inclusive, centred around initiatives like the School Breakfast Club, a heartwarming example of support and care. Twice a week, this club opens its doors to all school families, offering them a nutritious breakfast at no cost. What sets this club apart is not just the food it provides but the warm and supportive environment it fosters.
Run entirely by volunteers, including students, school staff, parents, and community members, the Breakfast Club embodies the spirit of community collaboration. Volunteers come together to prepare and serve breakfast, creating a welcoming atmosphere where students can start their day on a positive note.
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Parents Association run various activities throughout the year including selling hot chocolate during winter and icy poles during summer. They also host special lunches each term such as pies for Footy Day, sushi for Harmony Day and pizza lunches.
The school runs a Mothers, Fathers and Special Persons Day stores each year, including a BBQ breakfast and parents v students soccer game.
In addition, social events like a colour run, school disco, trivia nights, a school fete, a new parent’s picnic and the end of the year festive singalong are among some of the events the school runs to bring families together.
WORKING BEES
The school runs working bees once a term and parents, students and community members are invited to come along and help out improving the school grounds. Activities include minor maintenance, spreading much, gardening, painting and general clean up around the school grounds.
The working bees are a real family affair and finish off with a BBQ sausage sizzle.
COMMUNITY PANTRY
The Community Pantry at Glen Huntly Primary School serves as a vital lifeline for families facing financial challenges amidst the current cost of living crisis. This program allows parents and community members to donate essential food items, ensuring that no student or family goes hungry. Staffed by dedicated volunteers, including parents and school staff, the pantry operates throughout the week providing a dignified way for families to access much-needed support.
OTHER COMMUNITY EVENTS INCLUDE
- Colour Fun Run
- Family Fun Night
- School fete
- Canteen sales of icy poles and hot chocolate
- School disco
- Cake store, book, plant store and BBQ on State and Federal Election Days
- Footy and Pie Day
- New parents’ picnic
- School trivia night
- Grandparents’ morning tea
- End of year Christmas concert and BBQ
- Father’s/Special Person’s Day breakfast including a dad’s v kids’ soccer game
- Prep Mother’s Day morning tea and song
- Second hand uniform shop
Parent testimonial
It takes a village to raise a child…
As a parent of 2 children currently attending the school, an ex-student myself and a school council & GPA member I love that fact that the school truly encompasses what it is to be a community. There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child … and each day I believe this more and more!
The main reason children go to school is, of course, to learn the basics of the curriculum (reading, writing, maths, science) – and academically the dedicated teachers certainly provide an enriching and challenging environment for the kids – extending those that need it through their own personal learning journey, while always encouraging those that need to take things a little more slowly.
The amazing programs that instil so much fun into learning each and every day leave me in awe! Reading with the children during their Book Club and Monster Maths sessions is a wonderful way to meet so many of my children’s friends and I love watching them mastering new skills – that first year is truly amazing!
The weekly school newsletters provide so much information about the current goings on at GHPS … and the regular year level updates (weekly in prep and each term for older grades) also provide a real insight into the current topics and planned learning so that you really feel like you know what the children are doing. Daily home reading and reviewing or helping with some homework I also find really keeps me in touch with where my children are at with their learning – and the kids seem to really enjoy us being involved.
The “Real Schools” program takes the children’ social development and wellbeing to a whole new level – providing a practical framework for how to encompass emotions and well-being into part of everyday life at GHPS, and how to resolve conflict in a positive and productive manner. The “No Bullying” policy is certainly something that attracted me to the school, and I was very impressed with how a relatively “small” act of inappropriate behaviour was immediately dealt with and all families advised immediately – I felt this sent a clear message to the young students re-iterating the very clear (& sensible!) boundaries.
I cannot imagine us being anywhere else! I love the fact that my children LOVE going to school – they love their friends, they love their teachers and they are so proud of the work that they achieve (& I am so very proud of them!)
Nicole
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