Newsletter #7 May 21 2020
Principal’s Report
Today and tomorrow are Report Writing Days for ALL teachers.
Tasks for students will have been posted for online learning today and will also be posted tomorrow, but teachers will not be available for emails, conferences or feedback. We appreciate your understanding of how we can support our amazing staff to feel prepared for Semester 1 Student reports! The reports will be different this semester, but we will provide more information during this term.
Can’t Wait! Five sleeps to go!!
Given the great news that Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students are coming back on site to school on Tuesday 26 May, we are getting ready to welcome them all back!
There’s lots for school staff to prepare for this transition to returning to school, so the Department of Education has declared that Monday 25 May, 2020 will be pupil free. Enjoy the day!
This will mean that:
- No work will be posted for students online
- No students will attend school.
- No staff available to supervise students as we in meetings and planning all day
- If you need your child booked into Their Care, please register. They are working on this day.
Return To School Information on Tuesday 26 May P-2
FOR PARENTS:
- “All students in the year levels returning to on-site schooling are expected to attend school. Schools are not expected to provide remote learning where parents elect to keep these students home, except where this is based on medical advice.” Please contact us at school if you have a medical reason provided to you by your child’s doctor and we will work with you to help.
- All unwell students must stay at home.
- Parents are discouraged from attending on site at this time. Please look at the map to find the gate your child will enter the school. Our wonderful teachers will be at each gate to welcome your child and can you please say goodbye here and we will do the rest. Your child will be leaving here at 3.30pm too. PLEASE wait outside the gates.
- It’s very important that parents stand 1.5 m from each other, so patience is important when waiting with your child to come on site. We can take your name and contact number if you wish to have your child’s teacher or any staff member contact you, but sorry we can’t do face to face just yet. As always, emails are welcomed and will be responded to as soon as is practicable.
- Talking to your child about COVID-19: Be sure to take the time you need to help them understand. Ms Tinetti may be contacted to further help you here
- https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/covid-19/talking-to-your-child-during-coronavirus.docx
- Being grateful for the good things in our life is a great daily practice. By shifting our thinking to include gratitude, it expands our ability to cope and builds a positive mindset. Simple things to be thankful for might be having good health, connecting with friends or playing games together. Bring this into daily life by talking about three things that went well each day.
School entry / exit for each Year Level:
From Tuesday 26th May each Year Level will enter/exit the school grounds from their allocated Gate. Please click on the link to see where your child will now be entering the school:
Each gate will have this map and other signs informing you of the new guidelines.
It’s important to get the students ready by:
- Getting back into your regular school day routine, as the more time your child has to prepare and adjust the better. Be sure to wake up, eat meals, exercise and go to bed at the usual times on a school day. It’s best to keep the evenings for relaxation, so your child has time to wind down before bed.
- A good night’s sleep is key to overall health and wellbeing, and most children need eight to 10 hours sleep each night. To re-establish healthy sleep habits, prioritise sleep as early as you can and encourage earlier bedtimes to prepare for earlier mornings. Turn off devices at least one hour before bed. Encourage reading before bed. Keep your child’s room dark, quiet and comfortable (around 18 to 21 degrees is ideal).
- Involving your child in preparing their return to school can help ease them back and give them a sense of control. Talk through what they can expect so they’re well informed and prepared for their return. Consider asking them what they’d like in their school lunches or what drink bottle they’d like to bring.
At the School Council on Wednesday night we ratified the GHPS Return to School Policy which is aligned with the advice in the DET Guide. A link to the policy follows but there are some things we especially want to highlight:
Hygiene and Extra Cleaning at School:
- Extended and increased cleaning arrangements have been introduced and will continue. This involves progressive cleaning throughout the day to ensure that risks of transmission are reduced for high-touch services.
- Hand sanitiser and cleaning products will be used in each room of the school
- Extra hand hygiene practices for all students and staff will be reinforced
First Aid:
- A trained First Aid officer will take the temperature of an unwell staff member or student if required
Compass:
We will continue to provide regular updates on Compass as per the advice provided to us via the Department and the Chief Health Medical Officer.
Education Week
This week we are celebrating Education Week. It is always a highlight of the school calendar. This year we are asking all families to celebrate Education Week at home, and we are setting you all a challenge. Here it is:
Education Week- Tower Challenge information
Education Support Staff at GHPS and National Volunteers Week
We would like to thank each of our Education Support Staff at GHPS for the fabulous contribution they all make to GHPS. The myriad of skills, talents and passions they all have makes our lives all the more blessed for having them working with us. We thank them for everything and hope they had a happy ES Day on May 16.
National Volunteer Week (NVW) is the annual celebration to acknowledge the generous contribution of our nation’s volunteers. At this uncertain time we feel that it is more important than ever to recognise and acknowledge Australia’s volunteers.
click the following link for more information
National Volunteer Week – Volunteering Australia
# Feelinggrateful
In late 2018, GHPS was advised that the Government made a commitment for a $5million upgrade to GHPS.
Working together with Steve Dimopoulos MP we are ecstatic to hear the announcement earlier this week that we now have a $7.12million project which is just amazing.
The pic was taken last year when we were marvelling at the newly developed oval that had been completed as part of Stage 2 with the $309K funding. Feeling grateful for sure!
Thanks to the work of everyone involved including the School Council – what a team!
Libby Alessi Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award during the past 2 weeks.
Avanish 4R – For showing initiative and independence with your learning tasks this week. You have continued to rise to the challenge of online learning this term, and the quality of your work keeps getting better and better.
Raghav 4R – For your superb participation in your learning this week, including your specialist activities. You have been actively sharing your ideas during guided reading, and your story about Tim the racing chimpanzee was well-written and highly entertaining!
Rhapsody 6J – For her excellent use of vocabulary when recreating text.
Ivory 6P – For being prepared, engaged and organised with all her learning tasks.
Daksha 6P – For asking great questions and being super engaged with all his learning tasks.
Grade 6 News
Here are a few fantastic pieces of work that some students in 6J have been completing.
They range from developing a personal gratitude wall, to structuring persuasive texts based on wildlife endangerment and extinction.
Sienna – Gratitude Wall
ANIMAL ENDANGERMENT AND EXTINCTION DUE TO POOR HUMAN CHOICES
Since the invention of cars and the use of fossil fuels about 318 animals have become extinct. This next number will prove that humans are causing animals to become extinct. Around 500 animals have been wiped off the planet in the past 100 years! That means from 1920 to 2020, ⅗ of the animals that are extinct are due to fossil fuels alone!
I will give you an example of something that is endangered, OUR HUMANITY! How dare we just let animals die. We cause the danger, we stop the danger. Right now it’s more like ‘we cause the danger, we leave the danger.’ YOU SAY YOU CARE, BUT YOU JUST KEEP ON CHOPPING DOWN TREES! So what if you just say “aw, I feel so bad about the animals.” Don’t say, ACT!
Yes, we do need paper and food that is true. Without the food and paper, we would lose things like toilet paper, which is for some reason really important now. What you could do is use less animal and tree products.
Trees bring us to a new reason. Humans cause wildlife endangerment and extinction, destruction of habitat. Let’s talk about a trip to the toilet, you need toilet paper. Paper=trees=animal habitat. It just doesn’t look good, and the price shows that we take away so many animals’ lives. Just think of it like this, a loss of a tree is a loss of an animal’s life.
Can you see the point I am trying to illustrate here? Humans, whether you like it or not, play a big part in the extinction or endangerment of some animals. Of course there are those who ‘say’ AND ‘act’, I applaud them for it. There are wildlife sanctuaries that protect animals and pieces of land.
I’m sure you have heard about Global Warming that is also something we have taken part in. WWF arctic suggest that polar bear numbers will “decrease by 30% by 2050”. That might seem like a long way away but I assure you that the people living then won’t be so happy about it.
I recently did a project about the Western Swamp Tortoise, it’s critically endangered.
According to perthzoo.wa.gov.au the western swamp tortoise is “Australia’s most endangered reptile”, due to land clearing and housing. Is one roof really worth more than a species survival, I don’t think so.
Think of the cute koalas, the iconic kangaroos and the little Western Swamp Tortoise. Will you do something to save these national icons and many other species? I hope you do. Maybe now that you know the devastating effect humans have on animals, you will do something about it. Thank you.
References: theecologist, study.com, WWF arctic and perthzoo.wa.gov.au
BY:BORIS 6J
“Wildlife endangerment and extinction around the world is occurring due to human choices”
I believe that extinction of animals is caused by human action to a very big degree.
The reasons I believe this is as follows.
Illegal hunting-some people hunt animals for food, for their fur, tusks and etc. Animals sometimes get killed for no reason, people just like killing them, which I personally don’t understand.
Don’t harm the animals, maybe find something you can aim at, or learn Archery!
Climate Change- some people don’t respect the environment, they pollute it and there are many catastrophic changes by that, such as the bush fires we had earlier in the year, boiling hot temperatures caused the bush fires, which led to thousands of animals dying.
Animal Abuse- some people abuse animals in Zoos, Aquariums and Circuses. The animals get mistreated and hurt, just to put on a show for the audience. It seems like the people that arrange the show only care about the money they earn, not about how they treat the animals, just the money. Which I find extremely cruel. The poor animals get kept in cages, they belong in the wildlife NOT cages!
Habitat loss- people ruin the animal’s homes to make buildings for other people, seriously don’t just think about the humans, think about the poor animals too! They have lives, they have feelings just like us humans, but you know what they don’t have like most of us, homes, warm cozy homes, because people ruin their habitat to make stuff for themselves! We need to show a bit of respect to the animals, we are not the only living creatures on earth!
In conclusion I believe that we should be respecting other living things on this planet, because at the end of the day, we all need one an other to survive.
By Stella 6J
This is a mindfulness wall created by Alice, 6P, at the beginning of remote learning to help her stay calm and on track.
Here is Lucas, 6J, making his Cheese Biscuits
I’d like to share with you my experience whilst learning from home.
I had trouble with remote learning in the beginning, and although now I am still having a little bit of trouble, I’ve got the hang of it. The main reason I had trouble at the start was because it’s a new experience for all of us. And as everyone knows, new experiences take a lot of getting used to, and it takes persistence too. ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’. That is one of the many quotes that has helped me through learning from home.
Not only have quotes helped me through this time, but also my friends, family and especially my teachers. The support that these people have given me has been great. During this time, I have been down, though every time I have, my teachers, friends and family have been there for me and supported me. I am grateful that they have tried to make this a brilliant experience for me even though I still miss being at school. And it has paid off, their effort has made it a great experience. It has paid off so well that I don’t know how to repay them. Even so, I still cannot wait to get back to school.
Michael 6P
Grade 5 News
Our first entries for the Education Week “Tower Challenge”.
Austin, 5O
Arnaud, 5O
Grade 3 News
Hudson, 3F, with the wonderful 3D shape that he made.
Excellent work.
Grade 2 News
Cooking with Max, 2C
Making Slime with Javin, 2C
Rey’s yummy Anzac Biscuits
Vritti 2L is having fun conducting the Water Absorption Experiment for our Science lesson.
Vihaan 2L made an awesome colour wheel for Miss De Bruyn’s Art lesson.
Karthik and Sahara 2S made a cake!
Prep News
‘Milo’s Birthday Surprise is always one of the many highlights of Prep at GHPS! This year, we celebrated together with a twist: a virtual party! The Preps all made their own party hats and enjoyed a dance with their classes on Webex. Look at some of our Preps’ fabulous creations!’
Sport News
Guess what! We’ve raised a totally of $592.25! Which is more than I ever thought we could do! New fundraisers include Athuyla, Nabil and Nicholas in Grade 4. As well as younger sister Bridget in Grade 3.
Wearing red for Jump Off Day
Below is a jump off poster drawn by Sayuri in Grade 3 and Alice in 6P’s creative poster.
Arthur in Grade 5’s completed tasks
Activity 1: ‘JUMP OFF DAY’ poster.
Activity 2:
- Your heart will beat about 115,000 times each day.
- Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
- An electrical system controls the rhythm of your heart. It’s called the cardiac conduction system.
- The heart can continue beating even when it’s disconnected from the body.
- The iconic heart shape as a symbol of love is traditionally thought to come from the silphium plant, which was used as an ancient form of birth control.
- If you were to stretch out your blood vessel system, it would extend over 60,000 miles.
- Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely rare.
- Laughing is good for your heart. It reduces stress and gives a boost to your immune system.
- The human heart weighs less than 1 pound. However, a man’s heart, on average, is 2 ounces heavier than a woman’s heart.
- The beating sound of your heart is caused by the valves of the heart opening and closing.
It’s so important to take care of our heart health because if you don’t you can die.
Activity 3:
I could skip 44 times without hitting the rope. I think that that’s my best score yet.
PS: my dad was in a zoom meeting with his work and I couldn’t disturb him.
Arthur
Aarushi, Year 5
Congratulations to everyone for making our Jump Rope For Heart campaign a huge success.
Miss Kasambalis
Art News
Library News
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge has started for 2020 and Glen Huntly PS is excited to be participating!
It is a reading challenge that all students at GHPS are encouraged to take part in. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read as much as they can by the 4th of September.
Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers and Grade 3 to 6 students are challenged to read 15 books. All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers, and those who read the most books for their year level will receive a prize.
Well done to families and students who have already logged in, and it is great news that we have already read just over 1000 books as a whole school! Fantastic work to everyone on your amazing reading skills.
Also a reminder for students in Prep to Grade 2 to bring back any library books you may have borrowed when school returns next Tuesday, so that they will be able to be returned and the students can borrow new books to take home.
Miss Amandine Lucas-Lely
Calendar
MAY
Mon 25 Student Free Day
Tue 26 Prep – 2 Students return to school
JUNE
Mon 8 Queen’s Birthday Holiday
Tue 9 Year 3-6 Students return to school
Fri 26 End of Term 2
Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or foster parents are eligible to apply for the Education State Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund.
To be eligible for the fund, a parent or legal guardian of a student attending a Victorian Primary School MUST hold a Pension or Concession Card or Centrelink Health Care Card.
This form is available from the office and must be filled out each year.
For more information, contact the office