1. education
2. school

Edition 5 - 4th March 2015
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Greythorn Primary School received official status as an eSmart school in August 2014, acknowledging the protocols and practices we have in place to support our students’ use of Information and Communication Technology.
As an eSmart school we were asked to facilitate a face to face introductory training session for other schools
wishing to become ‘eSmart schools’. Yesterday we hosted participants from across Victoria in a full day’s training
session presented by cybersafety eSmart school trainers. I would like to thank Alex Nitsos for her superb management of this event, ensuring that all the necessary equipment was in place and that our guests were catered
for in fine style.
Once again this year the ‘Welcome BBQ’, held last Friday, was very well attended and provided a casual setting
for those who attended to meet and mingle under the oak tree. Sincere thanks to Kate Davis and her team of PFA
helpers for organising and supporting this event.
Eleven students competed at the Divisional Swimming Championships last week and they all performed extremely well. Congratulations to our swimmers on some fantastic results (see detailed results in this Newsletter).
Tomorrow evening (Thursday) an information session is to be presented for parents about, ‘How Children Learn
to Read and Write’. This session will focus on how children develop skills in literacy and will suggest ways you
can support them with their literacy learning at home. If you haven’t already signed up for this session and would
like to attend please contact the office to register. Many thanks to Liz Miller and Michelle Freeman for facilitating
this information session. A similar session on how children develop numeracy skills will be held in Term 2.
We wish our Year Six students all the best as they travel to Portsea next week for their camp. I’m sure they will
enjoy the adventure style activities planned at this coastal setting. Many thanks to the staff members, parents and
student teachers who will be attending the camp – Ken Darby, Janice Miller, Narelle Sime, Daniel Zito, Kylie Batten, Peter Graze, Michael Tarrant, Matt Vogel and Rita Charalambous.
The Annual General Meeting of our Parents and Friends Association took place last week. I would like to
acknowledge the work that has been carried out by the outgoing committee and in particular retiring pastPresident Andrew Mack. At the AGM new office bearers were elected. Congratulations and thank you to those
parents who have taken on executive positions for 2015.
President: Danielle Brown
Vice President: Kathryn D’Alessandro
Secretary: Liddell Dawes/Carolyn Camm
Treasurer: Nicola Harvey
School Council Representative: Lou Will
At the close of nominations last Thursday 26th February, there still remained a vacancy for a Parent Representative on School Council. The nomination period therefore has been extended until next Wednesday 11 th March.
Any parent who might be interested in taking up a position on School Council is most welcome to contact the office and arrange for a nomination form to be completed.
Greythorn Primary School No. 4694
Reading Avenue, North Balwyn. 3104
Telephone: 9857 9762 Fax: 9857 8175
Website: http://www.greythornps.vic.edu.au
Email: [email protected]
OSHCLUB 0411 392 707
Principal: Geoff Agnew
Wednesday
4 March
Noumea Meeting for Parents and Students in the Hall at 7.00pm
Thursday
5 March
Garden Club at 1.00pm in the Gazebo
Thursday
5 March
Monday
9 March
How Children Learn to Read and Write Parent Information Session
7.30 - 9.00pm in the LIBRARY (Please note new venue)
LABOUR DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY - School closed
Tuesday
10 March
Year 6 Camp (students return Friday 13 March)
Wednesday
11 March
Chess Club at 1.00pm in the Year 5 area
Thursday
12 March
Garden Club at 1.00pm in the Gazebo
Saturday
14 March
Term One Working Bee
Tuesday
17 March
Yarra Valley Water school visit Year 3 and 4
Wednesday
18 March
Chess Club at 1.00pm in the Year 5 area
Wednesday
18 March
Year 3 to Carey Sports 9.00 - 10.40am
Wednesday
18 March
PFA Meeting at 7.30pm in the Staffroom
Thursday
19 March
Year 4 Carey Sports 10.40 - 11.50am
Thursday
19 March
Garden Club at 1.00pm in the Gazebo
Tuesday
24 March
Richmond Football Club players Leadership talk with Senior School
students and staff 2.30 - 3.30pm
Wednesday
25 March
Chess Club at 1.00pm in the Year 5 area
Thursday
26 March
Garden Club at 1.00pm in the Gazebo
Friday
27 March
Term One finishes - Students dismissed at 2.30pm
Monday
13 April
School commences at 8.55am
Wednesday
15 April
Year 5 Camp (students return on Friday 17 April)
Wednesday
22 April
Year 4 Camp (students return on Friday 24 April)
Tuesday
28 April
Year 1 Swimming commences (concludes 8 May)
Monday
11 May
Cross Country Fun Run
Thursday
25 June
Curriculum Day - Reporting to Parents
Admin Matters
Working with Children Check
Just a reminder that all Parent Helpers in the school as well as attending excursions and swimming, will need a
current Volunteer Working with Children Check. Applications are made on line at the following website:http://
www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/. A copy of your WWCC is to be given to the office.
All Parent Helpers need to sign in at the office and collect a yellow Visitor’s badge prior to going to the classroom
and canteen.
School Photo Day
Sibling photos that were not taken on Photo Day Thursday 26th February will be taken during the morning of Friday 13th March 2015.
How Children Learn to Read and Write
Please note that the venue for this Thursday’s session has been relocated to the school library.
Please refer to the flyer in this week’s newsletter for more information. If you would like to register, please contact
the office.
French News
FRENCH CLUB EASTER BOXES
Our first meeting of French Club will be in Week 8, the second last week of term, after Year 3/4 Swimming and
Year 6 Camp are over.
It has become a lovely tradition to decorate small boxes for Easter treasures.
You will need to supply the box and we, at French Club, will supply beautiful decorating materials. So start looking for a small box, no bigger than 6 cms x 6 cms, with a lid and a nice smooth surface that you can bring along
on Tuesday 17 March.
Mme Holt, Sara, Jasmine and the French Club Committee
Alliance Française Poetry Competition
Notices will go home through this week to all Year 4, 5 and 6 Parents and Students for the 2015 Annual Alliance
Française Poetry Recitation Competition. Students at these levels are given the choice to learn one of two poems
by heart.
As this is a requirement for their French class assessment, it seems very sensible to enter the Competition as
well!
The yellow form must be filled out and $5 put into an envelope clearly marked with the Student's name, class and
"Alliance Française ".The closing date is THURSDAY 19 MARCH and there can be NO LATE ENTRIES.
Please encourage your child to enter the Competition for which a range of certificates are awarded and beautiful
prizes.
Sally Holt
iPads at GPS
All Year 1 iPad documentation has been sent home. Thank you to parents who have sent back their coloured
purchasing form to indicate their preference. Many parents have also sent back the additional forms, including
passcode lock, email addresses, restriction codes etc.
If you have not received this package, please see your classroom teacher. All information is also on the website,
located in the iPad section.
Sports Reports
BOYS’ SOFTBALL
On Friday 27th February the Boys' Softball Team defeated Balwyn North in convincing fashion. The score was 14
-2. We are undefeated. A star play by Jack T got the ball rolling. Good game guys.
By Tom H (6D) and Oscar L (6D)
GIRLS’ SOFTBALL
Last Friday the Girls’ Softball team played Balwyn North Primary School. We won with a score 14 to 2. Everyone
played well and tried their hardest.
By Simone C (6M)
CRICKET
Cricket on Friday was very well played with good sportsmanship from both teams. Balwyn North and Greythorn
both batted and fielded very well but unfortunately for Greythorn, Balwyn North came out with a victory. Balwyn
was 4 for 45 and Greythorn was 5 for 29. It was not one of Greythorn’s best games but we can learn from that.
We would like to thank all the umpires and Mr Zito for coaching.
Kristian L (6D)
BOYS’ BAT TENNIS
On the 27th of February we went to Balwyn North and played against them in bat tennis. We won 32-21. Balwyn
North showed great sportsmanship. Mason put in the finest of work and Henry played a great singles game.
Thank you to Mrs Miller for coaching and I am proud of the bat tennis teams’ effort.
By Kairus M (6S)
GIRLS’ BAT TENNIS
Last week the Girls’ Bat Tennis team played Balwyn North, and Greythorn won 31-11. It was a great game and
Balwyn North showed great sportsmanship. Well done to all our team.
By Marnie W (6D)
ROUNDERS
The Boys’ Rounders team played their third and undefeated game against Balwyn North Primary School. The
scores were 17 to 6. We played really well and thankyou to Ms Nitsos for the extra training in the mornings before
school on Wednesday and Friday.
By Ben K (6D)
GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL
Last Friday, the Girls’ Volleyball team played Balwyn North. It was a pretty close match, but in the end we won the
third set 15-13 and won the game. Everyone played really well.
By Georgia G (5N)
MIXED VOLLEYBALL
The Mixed Volleyball team played a very close game against Balwyn North. We won both sets, 21-18 and 21-19.
It was the first game we’ve won as a team and we were all very proud of our efforts.
By Sam W (5N)
Canteen Bites
Please find attached to this newsletter the new Canteen Menu as at March 2015. Copies are available at the
office.
Please find below the Roster for Canteen duty for Thursday 5th March to Wednesday 18th March 2015.
Thursday 5 March
Carolyn De Jong
Friday 6 March
URGENT - HELP NEEDED
Monday 9 March
LABOUR DAY - School Closed
Tuesday 10 March
HELP NEEDED
Wednesday 11 March
Wilson Shum
Thursday 12 March
Magda Wessels
Friday 13 March
Fiona Casey / URGENT - HELP NEEDED
Monday 16 March
HELP NEEDED
Tuesday 17 March
HELP NEEDED
Wednesday 18 March
Marianne Diennes
If you are able to assist at all, please complete the attached Canteen Volunteer form or contact Lynne on 9898
3649 (After hours) or email [email protected]. Thank you.
Student Banking
School Banking - every FRIDAY except the last day of term.
SCHOOL BANKING TROPHY: Congratulations to 2V who won the School Banking Trophy this week. Who will
win this week?
Kirrily Turnbull & Elena Berrell
School Banking Co-ordinators
[email protected]
PFA News
We hope that you are all settling into 2015 happily. We would like to introduce the new PFA office bearers for this
year.
President - Danielle Brown
Vice President - Kathryn D'Alessandro
Secretary - Carolyn Camm and Liddell Dawes
Treasurer - Nicola Harvey
Of course, any member of the school community can attend PFA meetings, have input into ideas and decisions,
and assist at events. You can be involved in whatever way suits you, and it is a great way to meet other parents
and families, and enjoy the feeling of a productive school community.
We are excited to begin planning some fun events for both children and adults. If you have any ideas about social
functions, or fundraising suggestions, we would love to hear from you at [email protected]. You can also
contact us through your class rep - please contact us if you don't know who your class rep is for this year.
The next PFA meeting for this year will be on Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm in the staff room.
We look forward to a great year ahead!
Danielle Brown