Newsletter 18/2015

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents and Friends

This past week we are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Annika Beer, dearly loved daughter of Signora Beer, our much loved Italian Teacher.  Sue is not only a staff member in our community but is also part of our wider community, with all of her children, including Annika, being ex-MPPS students.  This is devastating news for Sue and her husband Jan and siblings Toffa, Catinka, Linnea and Carl-Oskar.  I am sure you join us in grieving Sue's loss and sending our love and thoughts to her and her family.

EDUCATION STATE

Recently the Victorian Government released their plan for making Victoria the "Education State".   A key part of the Education State is to provide schools with clear direction and priorities to focus on student learning. It is an exciting time for education and we welcome the direction and support that this will give Mentone Park to continue our journey of school improvement. 

The Education State outlines a framework for improving student outcomes, with four key priorities and six key initiatives at its core:

• Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Building practice excellence; Curriculum planning and assessment
• Professional Leadership - Building leadership teams
• Positive Climate for Learning - Empowering students and building school pride; Setting expectations and promoting inclusion
• Community Engagement in Learning - Building communities

At Mentone Park we have been focusing on teaching and learning, leadership and developing a safe and orderly climate for learning for the past 4 years.  As reported in the newsletter previously, this year our leadership team have been developing our knowledge of a program that we will implement over the next few years.  "Powerful Learning and Teaching" is a program that will focus our whole school on more precise teaching.  This will be a terrific supplement to our current practices and allow us to layer a framework over our teaching and learning.

WORLD TEACHER'S DAY

On Wednesday our staff were treated to a lovely morning tea, courtesy of the PFA, to celebrate World Teacher's Day.  This day began in 1994 to celebrate teachers and build support for teachers to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.  World Teachers' Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development (UNESCO).
On behalf of all the teachers at MPPS, thank you to the student and parent community for this acknowledgement of our dedication and commitment to educating your children.

PFA

The Parents and Friends' Association had their monthly meeting yesterday.  Unfortunately due to other commitments, many of our members were unable to attend.  We have decided to re-schedule our next meeting to Thursday 26th November and would like to extend a welcome invitation to all parents and friends to attend our meeting, which we will hold as a social event at Seed Café in Mordialloc.  At this meeting, along with general PFA business, I will present to parents more information on the Education State and its implications for MPPS, as well as an update on our junior playground plans and our building works that will occur in 2016 - including (finally!) our new toilets.
Please join us for a coffee and catch up on the school news.

DISCO NIGHTS

As we finalise the newsletter the year 3-6 students are over in the hall having a wonderful time at the school disco, as did the Prep- year 2 students earlier.  What a wonderful night, with Mr Hardie taking on the mantel of DJ-extraordinaire!  Thank you Mr Hardie for your wonderful work playing "tunes" for the kids - they had a ball (and some of your dance moves are pretty slick too!).  Thank you also to Mrs Sampieri who attended and supported both the junior and senior disco.

The disco is an annual event run by the PFA - one of the most loved events on the student calendar! Thank you to Wendy Davis and the parent representatives and helpers that volunteered their time to assist on the night.

Kendra Parker

PRINCIPAL

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

SCHOOL TRANSITIONS

How exciting it has been to have our 2016 foundation students here for some classroom, art and Italian lessons over the past weeks, having a taste of ‘big school’ life! The Positive Start to School initiative of the Department of Education notes that transition to school is not a point-in-time event, but rather an experience that starts well before, and extends far beyond, the first day of school. Starting school is a major life transition for children and their families. It’s a time of change that can be both challenging and exciting, in which children and families adjust to new roles, identities and expectations, new interactions and new relationships.

It is worth noting that transition to school for foundation students is just one of the many transition phases that will take place throughout a child’s years at school. Each year, children transition from: one year level to the next; one class to another; one group of children to a new group of children; and one teacher to a different teacher.  While most children make effective transitions, we know that some children and their families might need extra support.

One way we make the transition process easier for our students at Mentone Park, is by having several “up” days during November, whereby students spend afternoons in the next year level, learning about what to expect the next year, experiencing the physical environment and working with the teachers who are currently teaching in that year level.

Effective transition approaches recognise the central role that families and communities play in supporting children’s learning and development. Research evidence highlights that transition experiences are most positive when:

• educators acknowledge children’s strengths and abilities, and what they have learnt and experienced prior to that school year

• families share information about the child with the new teacher

• children are given the opportunity to provide their own views about their learning and what they need to prepare and adapt to their new class

We ensure that all of these things are in place at Mentone Park to ensure a seamless transition is possible for every child in the school. Start talking with your children about how they’re feeling about moving on to the next year level, the exciting things they have to look forward to in 2016 and the possibilities and challenges that may lay ahead!

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Congratulations to the pictured students who received certificates celebrating academic achievements last week! Well done and keep up the great work!

Alison Lough

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Congratulations to our JMSS Little Scientists!

On Monday 26th October Daisy, Natalia, Julian and Adam presented their projects at the JMSS Science Fair at Monash University. They shared their projects to the community and celebrated all their hard work by enjoying their time at the fair. There were many amazing projects from students at different schools and different year levels that had our minds engaged in the big world of science! Thank you to the parents, grandparents and friends who came along to support our Little Scientists on the night! Hope you all enjoyed the evening. 

Marine Life Presentation Night

Congratulations to our Marine Ambassadors! Taite, Bella, Aaron, James and Mia represented our school at the presentation night on Thursday 15th October. We were the lucky recipients of the Fundraising School of the Year Award. Fantastic effort! This is our first award from the program after participating for 4 years. Thank you to everyone who got involved on Marine Dress Up Day and made a donation.

TERM 4 CALENDAR 

Here is the calendar of events for this term. It will be updated fortnightly.

Term 4 Calendar

There have been a couple more changes to the menu this week with macaroni cheese no longer being available and fried rice being offered in its place. We also have some frozen watermelon slices available for purchase over the counter at 50 cents each.
This week we have 1B and 3/4H on the roster and next week we have 2O and 5/6S. If you are a parent in one of these classes please could you volunteer some time to help the cafe` out. It makes such a difference when there are enough people and the kids love seeing you there. This week a couple of our regular helpers are unavailable so we could really do with some extra help!
Please note there will be no after school counter sales this week.

TERM 4 ROSTER

30th - 1B & 3/4H

November 

 6th - 2O & 5/6S
13th - 2R & 5D
20th - 1/2U & 6W
27th - prep to 2
December

4th - grades 3 to 6
11th - clean up - all welcome

If you can spare any time to help out, please come and join us - we'd love to see you.

Many thanks

The Kids' Café Team

COMMUNITY SERVICE & ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Department of Education & Early Childhood Development and Mentone Park Primary School do not endorse the products or services of any private advertiser. They accept no responsibility for accuracy of information contained in advertisements or claims made by them.