Principal's News - 28 March 2024

Dear Parents,

House Cross-country Carnival

Last week’s House Cross-country Carnival was another huge success. The forecast was for a very warm day with fortunately most of the races being completed prior to the maximum temperature being reached. This was the first whole-school event for our prep students, and they had a great time attending the carnival and competing in their respective races. Congratulations to all the students for their enthusiastic participation in every race as well for the encouragement that they gave each other throughout the day. Congratulations to Gardiner for winning the cross-country trophy this year. 62 students have now qualified for the District Cross-country Carnival, which is being held next term on Monday, May 27. We wish them well for this event. Thank you to the many parents who attended the House carnival for either assisting with the races or supporting all the students. Thank you also to the teachers for all their work to ensure the day was a success for everyone. A big thank you also to Paquita Duggan and Jodie Driscoll for organising the wonderful fruit and vegetable snacks for the students to enjoy on the day. They were assisted by many parent volunteers. Finally, thank you to Mrs Deckert for all her hard work to organise and prepare for the day along with coordinating the program of events. A great effort!

   

Harmony Day

Last Thursday’s annual Harmony Day was another great opportunity for the students and staff to celebrate cultural diversity and inclusion at GPS. Many students came dressed in cultural costumes or wore the Harmony Day colour of orange. The costumes and outfits looked wonderful during the parade. Throughout the day the students worked in multi-age groups to complete a variety of activities related to cultural diversity in our community, along with attending an incursion titled, The Road to Cairo. Many students also enjoyed the special menu that the canteen offered on the day. Thank you to Mr Mays, Mrs Joyce and the Wellbeing team for organising a day of fun and learning for the students.

PFA Easter Raffle

This year’s annual PFA Easter raffle was another huge success. More than 60 prizes were awarded to the winners at last Friday’s assembly. The generous donations from many families enabled the PFA to offer so many prizes. Thank you to the many families who donated and congratulations to all the winners. As a result of the ticket sales, over $2500 was raised for the school which was an outstanding result. Sincere thank you to the PFA for organising and managing another successful fundraising event including the collection of the donations, the wrapping of the prizes along with the management of the online ticket sales. A great effort!

JSC Easter Hat Parade

Once again, we had some incredible creations for our annual JSC Easter hat parade held last Friday. A lot of people spent many, many hours on their hats which was obvious when the students were taking part in the parade. Congratulations to everyone for supporting this fun event and the effort that everyone went to. During the parade the JSC representatives chose winners from the junior, middle and upper school. Congratulations to the students who were chosen as finalists and to the winners in each category.

Year 6 Camp

I have had the pleasure of attending the Year 6 camp this week at Kinglake Mountain Adventures Camp. The beautiful autumn weather is enabling everyone to fully enjoy the outdoor activities on offer in a stunning environment. These activities have included mountain biking, leap of faith, climbing challenges, giant seesaw and many activities within the forest. The students have all been having a wonderful time whilst challenging themselves daily. I would like to congratulate all the students on their exemplary behavior throughout the camp and for being wonderful ambassadors for GPS. The students have been well looked after by the staff in attendance and I would like to thank Trisha Beamish, Jannita Thompson-Smith, Daniel Richards, Charlie Reid and Kylie Batten for spending time away from home to ensure the students have such a positive experience. I would also like to thank Jacinta Mosbauer and Marco Cecchin for also spending time away from family and work commitments to assist throughout the four days.

End Term 1

A reminder that the students will be dismissed at 2:30pm tomorrow. I would like to wish you all a happy Easter and an enjoyable break with family and friends.


Principal
Andrew Searle