NEWSLETTER 2/2017

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.

Let’s be observant of the children in our care and help them attend to themselves, self –evaluate and foster the bravery that permits the full and satisfying exploration of life, school and the unexpected!

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 clothing
Please 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.