Dear Parents,

We have a full calendar of school events this month, and with the recent 50^th anniversary of man landing on the moon, Science Week activities and our upcoming parent night theme, there is a real ‘Buzz’ in the air.

PARENT NIGHT
This Saturday night is our major fundraising event – The Space Odyssey. I would encourage everyone to join in the community spirit. A live band, DJ and entertainment that is ‘out of this world’ - should make for a great night. More details here.

There are many opportunities to contribute and if you can’t make it on the night you can purchase raffle tickets through Try Booking, make a donation online or contribute to the Wish List at the school office.

GRANT FOR BIKE/SCOOTER SHED
Thank you to all those who voted for our proposal to build a bike/scooter shed through the Local Leader Grants. Flip Connell, who put together the submission, and I attended a quite lavish breakfast at the Langham Hotel in Southbank together with about 300 people last Thursday. To our surprise, we won our category and were awarded the $1000 grant to go towards the bike/scooter shed. We were interviewed on stage by Cameron Daddo and presented with the framed certificate (see below) which sits proudly in our front office.


SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Last week, the Preps had their first excursion and spent an adventurous day at Chesterfield Farm. The students had the opportunity to observe the daily workings of a farm such as milking cows, shearing sheep, and feeding the animals, and learnt about farm produce. The visit forms part of their Term 3 investigation topic – ‘Down on the Farm’.


As part their topic ‘Our Changing Community’ the Year 2 students had a History Box incursion recently. The program specifically focuses on changes to school and home life over the past 150 years. The session, ‘Life…Then and Now’, helped the students gain a deeper understanding of how daily life has changed over the years.


YEAR 5/6 CAMP
The Year 5/6 at Camp Coonawarra was a great success. The children had a fantastic time and came back with many personal highlights and great memories. I visited the camp on Wednesday night and Thursday and the camp staff and the parents that attended were very complimentary about the students’ excellent manners and the support and encouragement they displayed for each other in completing all the challenges. I could not speak more highly of the GIPS staff who spent a great deal of time planning for the camp and supporting the children throughout the week. They were Shanae Hill, Christine Hallam, Kyle Hosking, Rachael McGrath, Lily Collins and Ben Haddock. Lily Cribbes and Braden Pitcher, two pre-service teachers, also volunteered their time to attend the camp. Finally a big thank-you to the parents for their assistance during the week: Paul Wanis, Peter Dafinis, Craig Ots-Maher, Rob Fisher and Rob De Vos. The students at an upcoming Assembly will show their appreciation and thank these parents for their contribution in making it such a positive experience.


FRENCH DAY
Our French Day, organised by Madame Laurence Barré, was a fun-filled day and, despite the inclement weather, enjoyed by all our students. It is a highlight of the GIPS calendar and the costumes this year were a vast array of all things French, from chefs, ballet dancers and cheese to Marcelle Marceau; and even Coco Chanel made an appearance. I even spotted a walking croissant! At assembly, there was a sea of red, white and blue and each year level presented a French item for the appreciative audience. The students loved the special French treat consisting of a hot chocolate and a croissant. A huge thank-you to Shane Millar and her band of parents who helped to serve in the canteen. It made this year’s French Day a memorable one for all students.


SENIOR HOOPTIME
Congratulations to our Year 5 & 6 Senior Hooptime basketballers who represented the school last Thursday. Well done to all our teams who were enthusiastic participants and supporters. They were outstanding ambassadors for GIPS all day. Special mention to the Boys A team who have qualified for the next round. Thank you to Mr Hosking and Miss Hill for preparing, managing and coaching the teams and to parent coaches: Grant Currie, Corie Shrimpton and Lisa Whiteley. Your time and effort is very much appreciated. Thanks also to all of our parents for scoring and cheering on our teams.

INSPIRE
INSPIRE is a joint project between Ashburton Primary School, Glen Iris Primary School and Solway Primary School, which consists of a series of short curriculum focussed programs being conducted throughout 2019. These programs have been designed to cater for students who demonstrate a high degree of aptitude and passion for a particular area, or areas of the curriculum. Today we had 19 students from Year 1 to Year 6 participating in programs with a focus on Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Leadership.


SCIENCE WEEK
This week is Science Week and to celebrate we are running lunchtime sessions in the library, Performing Arts room and lab. Robin Borchard, an enthusiastic parent, and our Year 2 teacher, Emma Black, have organised activities based around this year’s theme – Space. Students have the opportunity to use apps on iPads, create 3D models of the moon, use a 3D printer and investigate virtual reality applications. The lunchtime sessions have been enthusiastically attended by many students.


HOUSE ATHLETICS
On Friday, all our Year 3 to 6 students will compete in the House Athletics Carnival at the Bill Sewart Athletics Track, East Burwood. The children will participate in a range of track and field events over the course of the day with the focus on trying hard, doing your best and having fun.  Thank you to Mr Nathan Gilliland and Mr Lachlan Day, Physical Education teacher, for their planning and preparation for the day.  The day program can be found here.

AUTHOR’S VISIT
Yesterday, author and illustrator ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Caz Goodwin, who recently published her children’s book Lazy Daisy, visited the students from Prep to Year 2. Caz read her book to the students and talked about her inspiration for the story, the main characters and who they were based on, and the process of writing and publishing a book.


BOOK WEEK CELEBRATIONS
Our librarian, Krista Morris, has created a fantastic display in the library for Book Week next week. On Wednesday we are inviting all students to dress up as their favourite book character, or a costume inspired from the Book Week theme - “Reading is my Secret Power”. In the morning, the whole school will parade their Book Week inspired costumes, and the library will be open during lunchtime on Tuesday and Wednesday for some Book Week activities. It should be a great way for GIPS to celebrate reading!


PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE
Our school goal is to surpass 6,000 books (last year we read 5,500 books). At our last assembly, I set a challenge for all students to set themselves a goal around reading over the holiday period. All students are encouraged to continue reading as many picture books and novels as possible, and logging them on the Premiers Reading Challenge site. All books need to be logged by the 4^th of September. At assembly last Friday, it was announced that we have collectively read 3,236 books. The challenge is on to reach 6,000 books!

TOURNAMENT OF MINDS
We will have three Tournament of Minds teams, 21 students, competing at Deakin University this Saturday afternoon. Tournament of Minds is a problem-solving program for teams of students. They are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one of the following disciplines: Applied Technology, Language Literature, Maths Engineering and Social Sciences.  This is an opportunity for students with a passion for learning and problem solving to demonstrate their skills and talents in an exciting, vibrant and public way. Rachael McGrath and Sammy Orchard have facilitated the teams this year. Below is a list of students this year and we wish them all the best on the weekend!

VICTORIAN SNOW SPORTS
This year we have seven students representing GIPS in the upcoming Victorian Snow Sports Championships at Mt Buller. Zane W, Sean T, Eliza T, Lincoln H, Finn G, Brae M and Cameron M will be competing in events like Alpine Giant Slalom and Ski Cross. The events take place on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 August and we wish our competitors all the very best and hope they have a great experience. Thank you to one of our parents, Corie Shrimpton, who is coordinating the GIPS team.

“GIDDY-UP” HORSE EDUCATION DAY
We are planning a day, Monday 26 August, for a whole school educational program based around ponies and horses. Craig Williams, a parent and leading Australian jockey, has volunteered to bring ponies, an “equersizer” (mechanical horse) and a team of people to provide an interactive experience with a focus on animal welfare and safety when working with horses. There are plans for the possible visit of Melbourne Cup winner, Might and Power, a clerk of the course horse and the actual Melbourne Cup. Further details of this exciting event will be sent out via Compass in the coming week.

NEW HURDLES

Thank you to the de Valle family for organising the donation of a set of hurdles from the Camberwell/Malvern Junior Athletics Centre.

The hurdles have arrived just in time for our students before the athletics carnival on Friday.

PARENT OPINION SURVEY
The Parent Opinion Survey has been sent out via email to 131 families. As of Monday, we have had 49 respondents, a 37% response rate. The closing date for the survey has been extended to Sunday 11th August.

STUDENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Could I reinforce the message not to post photos of GIPS students on any platform of social media. Whilst we are happy for parents to take photos of their children at school events, these cannot be shared on social media if they contain images of other students without express permission.

RIDING SCOOTERS/BIKES IN PLAYGROUND
Just a reminder, for the safety of all, that there is no riding of scooters and bikes in the school grounds.

Garry Collins
Principal