In our classrooms

It's been a busy start of Term Two with rigorous reading, maths and writing. We've also had some fun events! Read on to find out some of our highlights the past two weeks.

Learning and Wellbeing

Integrating wellbeing in everything we do

As part of our school-wide improvement efforts, one area we are focussed on improving is the integration of wellbeing into the daily rhythms of our classrooms. Healthy, happy children learn better and children who are being challenged with engaging curriculum are healthy, happier learners. Wellbeing and learning are inextricably linked. This week teachers learned how to integrate wellbeing toolkit strategies into read-alouds. We also continued to embed Zones of Regulation at our school. Across the school, we've been teaching students how to identify the different feelings they feel with Zones of Regulation language. You may want to include the language below at home and discuss strategies your child may want to use when they are in the blue zone, yellow zone, or red zone to get back into the green zone for learning.

If you have any concerns for your child's wellbeing, please reach out to your classroom teacher. We also have additional supports with our Wellbeing Officer, Dr Meg Wilson, our leading teacher Wellbeing and Inclusion, Shaye Bradbury, and our Assistant Principal support with Debbie McDermott and Liam Wood. No worry is too small- please reach out.

Voice, agency, events and school spirit

French Day

To celebrate our love of the French language and culture, GIPS students dressed up in French inspired clothing, enjoyed French music, and played French games. Throughout the day on Tuesday, grades were entertained by a visiting mime!

As part of our improvement efforts to increase our SALT leadership teams' voice and agency, our promotions team helped plan the event and here Mrs McDermott is pictured supporting their voice and agency as they discussed ways to promote the event.


Grade Three Police Visit

Last week, our Grade 3 students had a visit from Senior Constable Sonia de Filippis to complete their focus on Rules and Laws. Senior Constable de Filippis talked to students about laws that she helps enforce in our community and discussed the reasons why we have rules and laws. She even let us listen to a snippet of her police radio. We loved asking lots of questions about rules and laws and had a great time during her visit!

A Vision for GIPS

One of my goals as Principal this year is to collaboratively develop a school vision: something that is memorable, aspirational, and inspiring. First, our School Improvement Team collaboratively explored words that we really want in our vision. Then, we did the same thing as a staff. Next, led by our Student Action Leadership Team, Miss Hill met with a focus group to hear from students: what words do they want most in our vision that captures what makes us special. Our SALT Voice and Agency team chose students from grades 2-6 to be a part of the focus group so we could listen to our students' voices school-wide. It was exciting to see words like safe and inclusivity and belonging showing up across their brainstorms. We hope to bring a similar activity to our families soon to get your feedback.


Picture Day

Picture day was a huge success!

In our community

Our community is important to us: from our school-wide community of students, our community of families, our local community, to our special visitors.

Teapot Morning Tea

Annual Report to the School Community

You are invited to attend the Annual Report to the School Community presented by Maddie Witter on 1 May 2024 at 6:30 pm via Webex. The Annual Report provides an opportunity to share the school’s achievements and progress with the school community. If you would like to attend, please e-mail glen.iris.ps@education.vic.gov.au and they will provide registration details.

Story time

GIPS hosted our first story time of 2024 on Tuesday. All families of pre-school aged children are invited to attend. Please help us spread the word in our community if you know of anyone with a child in 3-year-old or 4-year-old kindergarten. To find out more about story time, please click here.

Walk-a-Thon

Our walk-a-thon was full of laps, bubbles, and laughter. Thank you to all of the children who helped us raise money for our learning area near the Pavilion. So far, we have raised over $11,000 to go towards improving that learning space. We are sending a reminder shortly via Compass for anyone who still needs to pay their walk-a-thon contributions. On behalf of the school, thank you to everyone for your help and support.

Mother's Day Photos

Thank you to our Ineke, our School Council, and all of the parents who helped with the Mother's Day photos which raised $1200 for our iPad and school reader fund.

Mother's Day Lunch

Michael Carr-Gregg coming to GIPS

Please find the separate news article about this special event.

National Reconciliation Week 2024

The National Reconciliation Week (NRW) 2024 theme Now More Than Ever highlights the importance of unity and action in advancing the rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The theme emphasises the need for respect, connection, and decisive action, urging all Australians to act towards meaningful change and the ongoing journey of reconciliation.

Acting AP Term Two

Whilst Deb is away on her caravanning trip across Australia in Term Two, Liam Wood will be serving as Acting Assistant Principal.

Please join me in welcoming Liam Wood, who is serving as Acting Assistant Principal this term. Liam has a long history leading wellbeing, inclusion and learning both as a school leader and teacher coach throughout primary and secondary schools in Victoria. Liam is a former colleague of mine from the Berry Street School. Feel free to find us on the playground to say hi and introduce yourself. Deb is returning Term Three. Welcome Liam!

Michael Carr-Gregg Coming to GIPS

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg will be presenting his workshop "Raising Happy and Resilient Children" to our community on 20th of May. See below for how to book.



On May 20th, from 6:30 pm to 7:45 pm, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg will be with us presenting "Raising Happy and Resilient Children". This workshop is open to parents of GIPS children and any member of our community. Bookings can be made at this link. Spaces are limited.

In our staffroom

Find out about what our staff have been learning this past fortnight.

Dr Tom Brunzell Visits for Curriculum Day

Dr Brunzell, Director of Education at Berry Street, joined the GIPS staff for a day of learning on how to reduce stress and anxieties in the classroom. I invited the staff of Belle Vue primary, led by Andrew Wood, to join us for the day. You may have heard your children talking about Morning Circles. Morning Circles come from the Berry Street Education Model, a model I co-authored with Dr Brunzell. Every day, across all classrooms, students are starting their days in ways that builds connection, belonging, joy, and relationships. Be sure to chat with your child/ren about Morning Circles to hear what they think about this new rhythm that we have added to our school days.

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

PLCs commenced this term. Led by our school improvement team, teacher teams meet to discuss an area of improvement they want to explore based on the cohort's data. Here our teachers are pictured working on their collective norms for their work together.

Dual-purpose instruction

Maddie led professional learning on how to integrate wellbeing toolkit strategies into read-alouds. Teams explored read-alouds covering wellbeing topics such as help-seeking, resilience, making mistakes, calming down strategies, plus many more. One of Maddie's favourite read-alouds is Cat Kid Comic Club- lots of great opportunities to discuss strategies for overcoming frustrations can be found in this book.

Enrolments now open

Government schools across the Inner East are using a new enrolment platform. Find out how you can enrol at GIPS including important deadlines.

We warmly welcome you to our inclusive community. School tours are now available to visit our school and see learning in action. On these tours, you will see our calm, settled classrooms where every learner is guided to their highest potential.

Enrolments will open at the beginning of Term 2, on 15 April 2024.

This year our school is using an online system for new enrolments to Victorian government schools called VicStudents.   VicStudents is available for students who are enrolling in a Victorian Government School for the first time. This includes Foundation (Prep) enrolments for 2025.

VicStudents has been assessed by the Department of Education to a high degree of security in line with the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards and is compliant with ISO 27001, the leading international standard for information security.

To commence online enrolment: Visit https://students.educationapps... to create an account and complete the online application form. Please ensure that all documents required are attached to the application.

A quick reference guide for using the online system is available here.

The Prep 2025 Enrolment Timeline can be found here.

Enrolment forms (for use outside of the Prep Enrolment Process) can be found here.

From our school council

The School Council had their second official meeting on 27th March 2024. The following have been actioned by the Council and its sub-committees for Term 2:

From School Coucil

The School Council had their second official meeting on 27th March 2024. The following have been actioned by the Council and its sub-committees for Term 2:

Community relations

Buildings and Grounds

The council provided approval (in principle, pending confirmation of costs), to install an additional CCTV Camera to the external walkway area between the main heritage building and the entry doors to the 5/6 classroom area.

Fundraising

  • The Mother’s Day photo session was held over the weekend of 20/21 April with $1200 raised to go towards iPads and readers.

  • The Mother’s Day lunch will be a fundraiser event on 10th May (12-3pm) and we look forward to seeing GIPS mums, grand mums, aunties, and carers.

  • The Make and Bake Sale is on Friday 3rd May.

Upcoming events we need your help with:

Event

Call to action for GIPS Parents and Carers

Community relations

On 20th May (6:30 pm - 7:45 pm) the school will host an evening with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, one of Australia's highest profile psychologists, a specialist in corporate mental health, families, parenting, children, adolescents and the use of technology for mental health. This will be open to all GIPS families as well as families from other schools in the area.

Tickets are available for purchase ($30 for one ticket or $50 for two tickets) and will include complimentary snacks and beverages.

Contact us if you-

  1. Can help with corporate sponsorship

  2. Can help fundraise within the community

  3. Can source or donate food/tea/coffee.





Buildings and grounds

Working bee planned for 26th May 2024, 10-1pm, child-friendly.

Please pencil this date in your calendars and join in.

The Council will be preparing a grant submission to the Victorian School Garden Program for financial assistance with refurbishing the GIPS Veggie Patch, due on 26th April 2024.

Contact us if you have ideas on how to improve the garden and how to budget for these improvements.



Storytime for preschool aged children

Storytime is back at GIPS! Read this article to find out when our popular sessions are this term.

All kindergarten children are invited to join our Pre-School Storytime sessions in the school library.

Held by one of our Prep teachers, the children will listen to a story and then do an activity. You may attend as many of the sessions as you wish, to help the children begin to familiarise themselves with the school environment. We would love to see you at all of our storytimes.

Parents, please stay with their children for the duration. If your kindergarten would like to attend a Pre-School Storytime, please contact our main office.

Book storytime

Your Name

Please enter your full name.

Please enter your email so we can get in touch.

Which storytime do you want to attend? You may attend as many as you would like.

From outside providers and our local community

Read more to find more information from our third-party providers and local community organisations.

Community Organisations

Alfred Road Kindergarten
Boroondara Literacy Awards

Third Party Providers

Guitar Lessons
Piano lessons
Guitar Lessons

Issue 5, 2024 From Maddie's Desk - 26 Apr 2024

From our school council

The School Council had their second official meeting on 27th March 2024. The following have been actioned by the Council and its sub-committees for Term 2:

Glen Iris Primary School School Council

3012

From School Coucil

The School Council had their second official meeting on 27th March 2024. The following have been actioned by the Council and its sub-committees for Term 2:

Community relations

Buildings and Grounds

The council provided approval (in principle, pending confirmation of costs), to install an additional CCTV Camera to the external walkway area between the main heritage building and the entry doors to the 5/6 classroom area.

Fundraising

  • The Mother’s Day photo session was held over the weekend of 20/21 April with $1200 raised to go towards iPads and readers.

  • The Mother’s Day lunch will be a fundraiser event on 10th May (12-3pm) and we look forward to seeing GIPS mums, grand mums, aunties, and carers.

  • The Make and Bake Sale is on Friday 3rd May.

Upcoming events we need your help with:

Event

Call to action for GIPS Parents and Carers

Community relations

On 20th May (6:30 pm - 7:45 pm) the school will host an evening with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, one of Australia's highest profile psychologists, a specialist in corporate mental health, families, parenting, children, adolescents and the use of technology for mental health. This will be open to all GIPS families as well as families from other schools in the area.

Tickets are available for purchase ($30 for one ticket or $50 for two tickets) and will include complimentary snacks and beverages.

Contact us if you-

  1. Can help with corporate sponsorship

  2. Can help fundraise within the community

  3. Can source or donate food/tea/coffee.





Buildings and grounds

Working bee planned for 26th May 2024, 10-1pm, child-friendly.

Please pencil this date in your calendars and join in.

The Council will be preparing a grant submission to the Victorian School Garden Program for financial assistance with refurbishing the GIPS Veggie Patch, due on 26th April 2024.

Contact us if you have ideas on how to improve the garden and how to budget for these improvements.



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