PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
It is hard to
believe that we are closing in on a month since we commenced the school
year. I would like to congratulate
everyone on the way the year has begun.
Play
is the Way
As mentioned by
Alison is the last newsletter, the ‘Play is the Way’ approach has been embraced
at MPPS in all programs. Please ask your
children about some of the activities/games that they have been participating in
and ask them why they think they were playing that game and what was the
learning focus of that game. The game is
the tool to develop our students personally and their social competencies.
Parent
– Teacher Connection
This week the
school provided the opportunity for Parent – Teacher Conversations. The relationship between school and home is
an important factor in a child’s learning and the classroom teacher is a
parent’s first port of call – if you have not been able to have a face to face
interaction with your child’s teacher yet, please do so as soon as
possible. The more established this
relationship is, the stronger the communication links are and the understanding
of each other. The school’s aim is to
develop each student academically, personally and socially and this is more
effective with a strong parent – teacher relationship.
Acacia
Avenue Kindergarten Re-location
As you may be
aware, the re-location project is progressing.
Kingston City Council have co-ordinated a number of meetings over the
past couple of weeks and are now in a position to discuss with the community
the way they see forward. A concerted
effort is going to be made to share information with both the kinder community
and our school community with consistency.
We believe the best way to achieve this is to share the same information
with both communities. The first step in
this is a Community Information Session on Tuesday, February 28 at 6.30pm The session will be here at school.
Any further
information regarding the session will be forwarded via TiqBiz.
School
Council
Our current School
Council met this week. It is the final
meeting for this School Council cycle with the School’s Annual General Meeting
coming up on March 20. As per every year
half the School Council members have their terms come to an end and half stay on
for the second year of their term. We
appreciate all the time School Council members donate to attend our meetings
but also the work they do on a sub-committee.
The main role of a School Council is governance and this is outlined
through guidelines issued by the Department of Education. Over the coming week’s I will provide more
information about School Council, it’s sub committees and the process for 2017
nominations.
The
last two weeks we also saw …
The celebration of
a great day at Mentone Grammar’s Aquatic Centre where our Middle and Senior
School participated in the swimming sports.
Thank you to all the students who demonstrated a wonderful attitude to
participating, supporting and co-operating, thank you to the parents who also
contributed and attended and a big thank you to the staff who took on different
roles to make the event work. A big well done to Hope Laycock in organising and
co-ordinating the event. As far as I
could tell from my position it was a close win to the parents and teachers in
the race against the students – it was close but a win.
Our Yoga program
has commenced for all year levels. The
program has strong links to the Victorian Curriculum’s Health and Physical
Education component and that of Personal and Interpersonal Development. The program is also a demonstration that
school is about being provided with opportunities to experience – our teachers
have expertise in a number of ways of providing these opportunities but the
school is happy to form connections with providers in the community to take
these experiences even further.
Our Senior School
students began their Beach Swimming Program on a classic winters day this
week. The great news is the weather has
steadily improved as the week has progressed.
We also waved ‘all the best’ to the Senior School students who are
participating in the Somers Camp program who will return to us mid next week.
Peter Seddon
Acting Principal
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Poppy Bon
Thank you for the overwhelming support of Mrs Jo Bon and her husband Ray through your messages of condolence on the loss of their baby girl, Poppy. Jo and Ray appreciate all the sentiments and the generous donations made to SIDS and KIDS through Poppy’s memorial fundraising page.If you would like to make a donation to SIDS and KIDS to assist in funding research and support for families, please follow this link:
Giving in Memory – Poppy Bon
Cyberbullying - Social Media
Unfortunately incidences of bullying continue to occur in society and indeed within the school environment. Unfortunately, one type of bullying is very hard for us to address at school – cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is defined as the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
Cyberbullying can occur via text messaging, but more often occurs through social media forums. Please take the time to read through this advice sheet about children and social media as provided by the Department of Education.
Social Media Information for Parents
Play is the Way
Last week I talked about our new approaches to behaviour education and the objectives of the Play is the Way methodology we are using across the school. Today I’d like to follow on from this by providing important points around the philosophy of the program.
Play is the Way Philosophy:
- In schools we must govern by consent and not coercion.
- This will call for students who are reasoned and responsible and who do the right thing because they believe it is the best thing to do.
- We must teach children to think, reason and analyse.
- In the course of daily living the question “what is the right thing to do?” is the one asked most frequently. The answer invariably is “it depends”.
- We must train children to pursue their personal best rather than trying to beat others.
- They can learn to be resilient when encountering failure and taught to persist against great difficulty.
- Not only must we encourage children to play, we must make the time for them to do so, by themselves, with each other and with us.
- Play is the universal pastime of children.
- A childhood with too little play ill prepares children for the requirements of adulthood.
- Our classrooms must offer children practise at creating a world in which they can all lead fulfilling lives.
- We can guide them to see that most things don’t happen because of who they are but because of what they did or did not do.
- Responding enthusiastically to the curiosity of children helps maintain their interest in learning.
- We must empower children with the understanding of their own behaviour and that of others.
- We must equip them with a language by which to describe behaviour and the means by which to manage it.
- We must not insult children by believing that the only way we can motivate them is the make everything fun.
- Nothing validates a child’s existence more than an adult’s belief in what they can overcome and achieve.
- Expecting children to face their fears and requiring them to meet challenges with resolve and commitment is to honour their strength of character.
- If we only want to elevate the self-esteem of a child, let them work on their strengths.
- If we want to improve the character of a child, we must urge them to work on their weaknesses and provide the opportunity and support for them to do so.
- The successful journey from childhood to adulthood is rarely done well without the guidance of adults, and as adults we must rise to the demands of meaningful, consistent and honest guidance.
- We must not undermine their confidence by the use of flattery and excessive, unwarranted praise.
- If our children are worth anything, then surely they are worth the truth – delivered without malice, harshness or brutality.
- Whenever we enforce a consequence we must act with dignity and respect for the rights of the children in our care.
- Take no pleasure from punishment. We must have rational control over our often irrational emotions and guarantee a child’s safety, even when they have done wrong.
- We must behave as adults!
- Working together, we can educate children to master their emotions, face their fears and build the optimism that help them to survive when things go wrong.
- Children who are eager learners welcome the emotional discomfort that learning creates and by overcoming that discomfort they experience the uplifting sense of achievement and progress.
- Children will feel good when they have done good, and feel even better when they know how they did it.
Alison Lough
Assistant Principal SCHOOL FETE
FROM THE OFFICE
Dear Parents & Guardians,
Thank you to the families who
have already returned their Student Enrolment Information Forms and other
consent forms. This is a busy time of year for everyone and we really appreciate
your assistance with returning documentation to both the office and to your
child/ren’s teachers.
Please note all signed
permission forms and any payment must be given directly to your child/ren’s
teachers. This allows the teachers to check and mark off each child’s
permission form and payment.
Spare clothingPlease ensure that you pack extra underwear and clothing for your child/ren. Due to OHS guidelines, we are no longer allowed to provide underwear.
Please feel free to phone or come into the office if you have any
questions.
We are more than happy to assist with showing you how to use Qkr and
tiqbiz .
Thank you
Administration Team
SCHOOL BANKING
Please send along your child/ren's school banking each Wednesday.
PE
2017 Team Vic State selection process
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The following is to provide you with information about the School Sport Victoria Team Vic trials for 12 years and under teams in the sports of Australian Rules, Netball, Football (Soccer) and Basketball for 2017. To be eligible to participate in the trial process,
- students must be nominated and endorsed by their school initially
- each of these children needs to register online, if they wish to proceed.
Each school is only allowed a maximum of three (3) students for each sport mentioned above to attend these trials so it’s important that as a school, we acknowledge the capacity and ability of these nominated students to be able to participate well in these trials. It needs to be emphasised that these trials form part of School Sport Victoria’s Gifted and Talented program and are not ‘come and try’ opportunities. Each child is trialing for a State Team and as such we must attest to each child’s athleticism, skill level and school behaviour.
You are invited to register your child for selection to trial, if you so wish. Please be aware that registration costs $25 per sport. Please go to the following link to access the registration page and information https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au
Please be aware the Football (Soccer) and Basketball teams will participate at the same time at Pacific School Games so it is only possible to select one of these sports.
Parents if you have any questions please see Miss L.
Miss L
P.E. Teacher
OSHCLUB
SCHOOL UNIFORM
Year 5 & 6 Sports Tops are now available in store Retail Price $44.95
Working With Children Check Reminder
All parents/guardians, visitors & volunteers to the school MUST sign in & out of the school and display their WWCC in a lanyard, which is available at the school office.
The Department of Education requires any person involved in an activity where children may be present to have a current WWCC or have supplied proof that they have applied for a WWCC with the Department of Justice. All schools are required to comply with the Working with Children Act 2005.
Volunteers are expected to carry the WWCC card on their person at all times when working or volunteering at the school or during school related activities.
There is no fee for this check. Apply now by visiting: www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au
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.
