Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow.

Principal’s Report

It’s been wonderful to have just about all days in Term 1 onsite. The feeling of being able to achieve so much and return to having our students enjoy the events that we value so highly at GHPS.

Family Fun Night where we had a great turn out of families who enjoyed a night with perfect weather and catching up with each other. Big thanks to GPA, Woodstack Pizza, and the teaching staff who attended and helped out: Ms Amy Tinetti, Ms Kasambalis, Mr Jenkins, Ms Ristos, Ms Smart, Mrs Murnane, Mrs Moran and Ms de Bruyn who provided us with Jude’s delicious lemonade icy poles to sell.
Harmony Day Celebrations where we were able to enjoy a Sushi Lunch and appreciated the helpers coordinated by Haley (Adam Prep, Harvey Year 2) followed on with a unique experience with a Welcome to Country and Dance by the Indigenous Performers. Thank you Mr Jenkins for coordinating this very memorable event and building our awareness and appreciation for the First Nation People.
School Review and parents who joined the Focus Group and attended in the Library to contribute valuable insights into their own and their child’s experience in the GHPS community. Thank you to School Council President Ross, Nicole V and Kathryn for taking all the information and putting into the presentation which we were able to share with the wider community via Compass last week. The Pre Review Self Evaluation (PRSE) has been finalised after much effort and hours of work and I’d like to acknowledge the work by everyone who took part in this and especially thank Ms Tinetti for uploading an incredible amount of required documentation.
Student Focus Groups- thank you to the teachers who have been talking with students in small focus groups to establish a clearer understanding of what the school has been able to achieve.
Having school photos to capture actually being at school – it so good that this was able to occur this year.

2021 School Council Elections

Nominations for GHPS School Council closed on Friday 19 March, 2021 and I would like to congratulate our new and re-elected parent and staff members for being successfully elected to the 2021 GHPS School Council. There were 6 Parent vacancies and 6 nominations and 3 Staff vacancies and 2 nominations submitted by the close of the nominations.

Re-elected are: Ross Donnan (Amber Yr 6), Nicole Verginis (Stephanie Yr 5) returning with newly elected Nicole Healy (Ben Yr 3, Charlie Yr 1), Noel Duffy (Isla Yr 2), Gunjan Gosain Oberoi (Jashn Yr 6), Caitilin Hawkins (Samson Yr 3). Thankyou to members in their second term of office: Maitreyee Khire (Dhruva Yr 1) Arthur Le (Marko Yr 6), Nicole Bishop (Brody Yr 5), Supriya Arikarevula (Aditya Yr 4, Kiara Prep)

Re-elected staff member is Mr David Jenkins: Music & Japanese, returning with newly elected Ms Kamila Krauze Year 2 Teacher and Ms Amy Tinetti – Assistant Principal who is in the second term of office.

I look forward to meeting with you at the first meeting of this new Council next Monday 29 March, 2021 at 7pm in the Library on the West Site (Prep and Yr 1 Junior Site).

Annual Reporting Meeting (ARM) to report on 2020 will be Wednesday 28 April in the Library- all welcome

Prep (Foundation) to Grade 2 Easter Hat Parade:

Wednesday 31 March outside on the West Site 11.15-12pm approx. Parents and Friends welcome to watch the parade! Thank you to Mr Jenkins who has been organising the music and singing for the annual Easter Hat Parade and to GPA will be running the annual Easter Raffle. Thank you to those families who have dropped in Easter donations already and there is still plenty of room for more donations! Don’t forget to buy your Easter Raffle tickets which went home with the eldest child in the family on Wednesday 24 March. If you need more tickets, we have lots you can buy.

Student Councillors Meeting Friday 26 March

For the second time since being elected as representatives of their classes for 2021, the School Captains and the Grades 3-6 Student Councillors met with me today. Today we discussed what their Highlights have been while at GHPS and using the project ideas that each class has considered will consider what we may achieve for the year.

Thank you to Ayush and Sahana in Year 4 who shared their reflection about the meeting at Assembly and for the written a report which follows:

Student Council Report

We would now like to report on yesterday’s Student Council meeting.

Yesterday we had our first Student Council meeting of the year. The people who attended were the Student Councillors from Years 3-6, Mrs Alessi and Marko, one of our School Captains.

At the meeting, we talked about ways we could improve our school. Some ideas were expanding the chicken coop and upgrading the playground.

Mrs Alessi also asked us what we think the role of the Student Councillor is about. We believe that being a Student Councillor at GHPS means being a role model to other students. This means helping people, representing our class and giving ideas to students and teachers for how to make the school a better place.

We enjoyed this meeting because we got to meet the other Student Councillors, talk about many different ways to improve the school, and we got to listen to everyone’s suggestions. We would like to thank our class for the opportunity to represent them and do this important job. We can’t wait for the next meeting!

Ayush and Sahana 4R

End of Term 1- Casual Dress/Crazy Hair Day & Gold Coin Donation for the Royal Children’s Hospital

As we come to the end of week 9, the end of term 1 is 6 sleeps away, so this is a final reminder that all students will be dismissed at 2.30pm on Thursday 1 April from their usual site. To support the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal, we will donate the proceeds of the casual dress/crazy hair day for the end of term 1.

Students who are registered for TheirCare will be collected in the usual way. Don’t forget there will be a great Autumn Holiday Program operating by Their Care and bookings will open later in the week on 1300072410 or go to www.TheirCare.com.au

This year the dates for Easter are at the commencement of the school holidays and Good Friday is the 2 April. Wishing everyone a lovely and safe break and thank you for bringing your energy and positivity to school this term. Term 2 resumes on Monday 19 April.

Libby Alessi

Principal

A message from your Assistant Principal

Resilience Project:

Last week all students took part in a workshop with Hugh from the Resilience Project. The buzz that could be heard from the hall was electric. The students learnt about the following strategies to build their resilience:

Gratitude – Appreciating what you have, not begrudging what you don’t.
Empathy – Thinking of the needs of others/kindness.
Mindfulness – Being present in the moment, not becoming distracted by unhelpful or negative thoughts.

We also had the parent webinar on Tuesday with Hugh, here is the link for you again:

The Resilience Project presents, ‘Discovering Resilience’ with Hugh van Cuylenburg

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Jn48YHZZ1qBmNvusfnlwo8bom_buoQyprYPbejYjISyzHHP_bDiWgBK5aX6CN9l4.V9m7NgWfclvD1rpf

Please note, this link will expire at midnight on 8th April.

The teachers will continue to lead The Resilience Project emotionally engaging program to the students, providing practical, evidence-based mental health strategies to build resilience and happiness.

Through the Wellbeing Student Journals, they learn the benefits of Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness, and easy ways to practise these in everyday life. We also incorporate Emotional Literacy, Zones of Regulation, Restorative Practices and Physical Health education and activities as they are foundational contributors to positive mental health.

Something for the Parents & Carers:

Listen to The Imperfects Podcast

Teaming up with one of Australia’s most successful comedians, Ryan Shelton, and his very talented brother Josh van Cuylenburg, Hugh has put together a podcast which is all about how perfectly imperfect we all are. Constantly comparing ourselves to others can not only be exhausting, but extremely harmful. However, when we share our struggles, we start to realise that everyone, no matter how successful, has something they are battling with. In this podcast Hugh will be chatting to a variety of interesting people who will be bravely sharing their struggles and imperfections. Ryan will then join him to discuss some valuable take-aways we can all apply to our own imperfect lives. Search for the podcast on your phone in your podcast app – The Imperfects or find out what platforms you can stream through for your next walk, run, ride or road trip with friends or family!

As next week we will have our GPA Newsletter I wanted to wish everyone a happy and relaxing Easter holiday break. Make sure you all do something nice for yourself and for someone else.

Happiness is not something

ready made. It comes from

your own actions.

Dalai Lama

Amy Tinetti Assistant Principal

***Congratulations* *to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.***

Akshara 1E – For bringing new and wonderful words to school from her reading for our class word wall! Thank you for teaching us about ‘mate’ and ‘pupa’!

Wyatt 1E – for your fantastic effort in your recount writing this week. Your persistence was inspiring!

Anay – 1E – for always putting in outstanding effort. I love having you in our class!

Zeel 1M – For your excellent retell of ‘The Gingerbread Man’. You are a star!

Kanishk 1M – For being a thoughtful, kind and caring friend. I love having you in 1M!

Tejas 1M – for your amazing handwriting in your weekend recount. You have worked so hard to improve your handwriting this year. Well done!

Seinosuke 2K – For involving yourself in classroom discussions, expressing your feelings and trying your hardest with your writing! Well done!

Sisira 2K – For being respectful to the teacher and others at all times, working beautifully and taking her role as table leader seriously. Well done!

Jaini 3F – For her enthusiastic and thoughtful contributions to our class discussions

Lucas 3F – For his enthusiastic manner in which he approached his Grammar lesson this week. Excellent Work!

Samson 3F – His positive attitude and the consistent effort he puts into all his classroom activities.

Bindu 4R – For being an all-round superstar, completing your work with focus and helping out around the classroom. Keep up the awesome work!

Sanjeev 4R – For setting a positive example by working hard and showing respect towards your teachers and peers. Keep up the great attitude!

Sana 4R – For showing enthusiasm and focus during Guided Reading this week. Keep up the great work!

Luke 5/6S – For being a polite, considerate and determined student of 5/6S. Continue to be your best Luke!

Harmony Day

Yesterday we attended the Harmony Day incursion. We were lucky to be greeted by two lovely indigenous men. They came to our school to educate us about cultural awareness and their culture.

The men started the incursion with a song on the yadaki. We found out that yadaki had wrongly been translated into the term ‘didgeridoo’. Do you remember how to say -’yadaki’?

Then another man came in with some spiritual smoke coming from the burnt leaves. These leaves included eucalyptus and tea tree materials. In addition, we also learnt about where the men had come from. They had come from Fraser Island also known as the Gabigabi Nation.

Only some people are gifted enough to play the yadaki. It requires a lot of skill and expertise and we were fortunate enough to observe one being played yesterday.

Fun fact: The Indigenous and the Indonesian people were trading 60 thousand years ago.

At the end of the incursion he played a song on the yadaki called -Ganagananani (which means goodbye).

By Clancy, Athulya and Sahasra 5/6J

Please remember to put your name on all uniform/property.

Lost property will be sorted every month and any uniform without a name will be put into the second hand uniform shop.

Other unnamed items will be donated to charity.

If your child attends before or after school care, please check their lost property as well.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund applications

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.

Payment amounts this year are $125 for eligible primary school students. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

If you would like to apply for the first time, please collect an application form from the school office.

You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page.

Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.