NEWSLETTER 1/2017

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Welcome everybody to a new school year at Mentone Park Primary School. Also a very special welcome to our new families and to all our Prep students who started their school journey last week.  Speaking of welcomes, I would like to thank the community for the warm welcome I have received from staff, students and parents.  For anyone unaware, I have been part of the Tucker Road Bentleigh Primary School community for the past four years after spending time at both Malvern Valley Primary School and Elsternwick Primary School.  Please take any opportunity you have to come and meet me.

I am looking forward to spending first term with you as your Acting Principal as it appears to be a term with plenty on, noting our school fete as the major event.  I ask everyone to read information that comes home in a variety of forms so you stay up to date with all events and activities.

While there is plenty to look forward to this term, there has been a great deal of things going on recently to have MPPS looking and functioning the way it has this past week.  The recent building works have come to a close and students are now using our new Middle School learning area and the new internal and external toilets.  This work has extended outside with completion of the removal of the building next to the Middle School and works on the landscaping of this space.  Over the course of the holidays, the kitchen area of the hall has also been upgraded.  There have also been the times staff has been in over the summer to either finalise things from last year or to set and prepare for this year.

I welcome Kenny Horn (Middle School), Nikki McCallum (Performing Arts) and Hannah Hudspith (Classroom Education Support) to their current positions at MPPS and welcome back Allison Shanahan who will be supporting our Library program. 

I would also like to congratulate, thank and begin to farewell our Business Manager, Anne Leggett who has picked up a twelve month position at Chelsea Heights Primary School.

Last year the School community were advised of the Curriculum days for 2017.

Please note that March 8^th is no longer a Curriculum day and will be a normal school day.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer break and found opportunities to be with your families and loved ones.  I extend my best wishes to you all for what 2017 brings.

Peter Seddon

Acting Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

BEHAVIOUR EDUCATION

Welcome back everybody! The first two days of the school year were curriculum days where staff participated in professional development activities to enhance the already high quality curriculum and wellbeing programs we have at MPPS. 

You may have heard your children talking about some new games or about participating in "Play is the Way" activities during school this week. This is part of our newly introduced behaviour education approach at school, which will compliment our already successful use of Restorative Practices and the Social and Emotional Learning curriculum that was introduced last year. 

Play is the Way is a practical methodology for teaching social and emotional learning using guided play, classroom activities and an empowering language. The objectives of Play is the Way are:

• To help staff, students and parents of a primary school create a safe learning environment in which students train to be independent, self-regulating, self-motivated learners in persistent pursuit of their personal best and able to get along with each other. 
• To help develop students of strong character and decency with the social and emotional competencies to live and learn well.
• To foster empathetic students, considerate of themselves, each other and the world in which they live with sound and good reasons for the things they say and do. 

I will include some Play is the Way information in each fortnight's newsletter to share in the exciting ways this is impacting on our students social and emotional intelligence.  

Here are a few photos of our teachers participating in the Play is the Way Professional Development day with the founder and creator of the program, Wilson McCaskill. 

There are also a few photos of some students having a go at a couple of the activities! 

GET TO KNOW YOU CONVERSATIONS

22nd February 2pm to 7pm

This term you have the opportunity to meet and get to know your child's classroom teacher. During these conversations, you will be able to share any information about your child that would be beneficial for the teacher to know. You can also ask any questions about the learning environment and curriculum or wellbeing program that your child will be participating in throughout the year. If you cannot make it on this day, please do make the effort to arrange an alternate time to meet with the teacher. 

To book an interview time, please follow this link and enter the event code d9qtc

SCHOOL FETE

I hope everybody is getting as excited about the fete as I am! We are aiming to make it the biggest, best fete MPPS has ever had! To make this happen, we need your help in any way possible! Nothing is too big or too small. From just coming along on the day and inviting as many relatives, friends or neighbours as possible, to offering your assistance on a stall for an hour on the day or making a donation. 

Keep an eye out for messages on tiqbiz from the teachers and also look out for the yellow fete notices that will come home outlining the weekly competitions happening between now and then (March 25th is the big day)!  

Are there any families in our school community who live (or know someone who lives) on a main road where we could put up a board advertising our fete? If so, please contact me and let me know.

FREE DRESS DAY MONDAY

To raise money for prizes at the fete, we will be having a free-dress day on Monday. Students are invited to wear casual clothes on Monday and bring a gold coin donation.  

  

ASSEMBLY

Our first assembly will be held this week at 2.45pm - a slightly earlier starting time to accommodate the presenting of our year 6 Leadership Positions and to formally introduce our new Principal, Mr Peter Seddon! Keep an eye out for the location of assembly as it will be weather dependent. 

I hope to see you there,

Alison Lough

Assistant Principal 

SCHOOL COUNCIL UPDATE

I’d like to welcome back all our families to Mentone Park Primary for 2017 and also a warm welcome to the new families that are joining our community this year. School Council is back to work on governing the school for the best outcomes for all our students and looking forward to a great year for Mentone Park Primary. Here are a couple of the important things that are on the agenda for this term:

1. Welcome to Peter Seddon as Acting Principal for Term 1

A warm welcome to Peter and we hope that he has a fantastic term at Mentone Park in the position of Acting Principal.

2. Principal appointment process update

The position of Mentone Park Primary School Principal has been advertised and applications will close in approximately two weeks. The five person selection panel will consist of myself, another representative from our School Council, a Department of Education representative, an experienced principal from another school and a staff representative elected by the Mentone Park PS staff. This panel will review the written applications and interview the shortlisted applicants. The intention is to be able to announce the new principal to the school community before the end of term and have our new principal start at MPPS beginning of term 2. Principal selection is a very formal, thorough and confidential process. If you are interested in knowing more about the process please check out this link: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/careers/Pages/selectprin.aspx

3. School Council Roles and responsibilities and upcoming AGM

School Councils are the governing body of schools. Responsibilities include, broad teaching and learning priorities, financial oversight, reglatory compliance, strategic planning and facilities management. Participation on the school council or school council sub-committees is a great way to connect with the school and contribute to the best outcomes for our students. We will soon be calling for nominations for the parent positions. If required, there will be a voting process conducted in early March and new school councillors will be welcomed at the AGM on Monday 20 March. Feel free to discuss this with any current school councillor or more information about school councils is available here: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/management/Pages/schoolcouncil.aspx

4. Communication

Lots of great ways to keep up to date with everything that is happening at the school. Newsletters, Tiqbiz and the Facebook group page are just some of the tools available. Communication is a partnership so please ensure that you engage with the forums to stay informed and up to date. School Council will continue to support and build strong connections with the community.

5. School Fete

The Fete is fast approaching and some very hard working parents and staff have been very busy getting organised. The fete is the most important fundraising event for the school and many hands are required to make it as successful as possible. Please take all opportunities to contribute and assist to make it a great day.  

Thank you

Fiona Longmuir

School Council President

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

Dear Parents & Families,

I would like to introduce myself to those I have not met. My name is Beck and I am the Coordinator for Mentone Park OSH Club, I have worked with OSH Club for 3 years now and I’m very excited about this new program. Emily is the Educational Assistant at the program and we are both at the program consistently morning and afternoons.

As we are a new program I encourage you to enrol your child on to our online system, that if the occasion ever arose when your child/ren needed to attend they have an account with us. To do this just log on to www.oshclub.com.au and enrol your child. If you have any queries you can contact Belinda from head office on 03 8564 9024, alternatively you can contact me on 0428 944 580. If you do need your child to attend a morning or afternoon session, please confirm they are booked in and/or you have contacted us to add them on (please be aware there is a late booking fee).  

I look forward to meeting everyone and working with your children and I welcome any feedback both positive and constructive to the program. Please remember to bring hats for your child if they would like to join in our outdoor activities.

Beck & Emily

Mentone Park OSH Club

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Year 5 & 6 Sports Tops are now available in store Retail Price $44.95

BOOKCLUB

Dear Mentone Park Families

The first edition of the Scholastic Book Club catalogues went home this week. I hope you all enjoy looking through them. For our new families, 20% of all sales from the book club are returned to our school in the form of reward points which we then use to purchase resources for the class rooms. Our students must love their books as last year we all raised just under $700 in rewards for our school! When the new resources are purchased I’ll send out a summary of the new items so you can all see what wonderful items are bought.

Ordering is mostly done via the online LOOP system or you can return the order with correct change to the school office. Orders close 16th Feb.

Reading Review Crew: You can see in the catalogue that Scholastic publish reviews written by students across Australia on the books they sell. If your child is interested in being a book reviewer here is the link to apply online. Registrations close this Friday 10th Feb so be quick! – sorry for the late notice, we were only just notified.

http://scholastic.e-newsletter.com.au/link/id/zzzz588fe4470e3c1492/page.html

Thanks for your ongoing support for the book club!

Kind regards

Jenny O

 

Dear Parents & Friends,

Welcome back to Term 1.

Kid's Café is open tomorrow.

Please make sure that you update your children's new class information on QKR before placing your lunch order.

We will be doing taste testings of the Kids' Café menu for all new families at 2.30pm before assembly tomorrow.

Take the opportunity to come and introduce yourself and try our delicious food.

Friday 17th February is House Swimming for Years 3 to 6 children, please remember not to order lunch if you have children in these years.

Please feel free to drop in and lend a hand at the Kids' Café tomorrow, all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Liz and the Kids' Café Team

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.