Mentone Park Primary School Newsletter: NEWSLETTER 13/2017

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents,

LITERACY AND NUMERACY WEEK AND THE BOOK FAIR!

This week we participated in National Literacy and Numeracy Week with a number of activities to celebrate all of the wonderful experiences your children can immerse themselves in. On Monday teachers all over the school swapped grades and read their favorite picture story books to different year levels. Many of you would have seen the photos on Facebook of this wonderful afternoon of literary enjoyment.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Noela integrated three stories into her Visual Arts program to create some wonderful hall art, which can be seen stretching from the Junior School right up to my office and the Middle School. This picture here is the view from my desk straight through the door, so I must thank the budding artists who put this together.

Next time you are at the school please take a walk down our main corridor to experience the vibrancy and colour that has been brought to life by student work. It is a pleasure for me every day to walk up and down and marvel at the talents of all of our students.

I know a couple of students caught me standing and reading all of the colour poems today out the front of Mrs Grisdale’s class.

A very big THANK YOU must go to Allison Shanahan for organising and setting up the Book Fair in the Library this week. Whilst she normally only works for 1 day a week I know she has gone over and above for this to be the success it has been so far. I would also like to thank all of the volunteers who have helped make this such a wonderful success.

MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMP

Our Middle School campers left for Angahook on Wednesday morning and when I last spoke to Alison they had managed to miss most of the heavy rain that hit just after lunch. I am looking forward to heading down there on Thursday to see all of the wonderful outdoor learning experiences our students have to experience.

SWIMMING NEXT WEEK

Don’t forget swimming starts next week so if you have not finalised your payment arrangements could you please do that at your earliest convenience. I understand that this has come at the same time as the Middle School Camp but if this could be paid by Friday it will greatly assist our arrangements.

GRADUATION ACTIVITIES

Don’t forget Icy Pole Day every Monday and Thursday to help raise money for our Grade 6 Graduating Class. Day 1 was a great success, even though the day was cold many students still managed to enjoy a frozen Zooper Dooper for only $1.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all of our Grade 3 and 5 students for their performance on this years’ NAPLAN. Student results were sent home on Tuesday and we have received large amounts of data as to the performance of our students against previous years. These results will be used by staff to analyse our current programs and to celebrate the achievements of our students. When this analysis is complete I will table a report for school council and present to the school community via the newsletter.

Some preliminary data from the Department of Education indicates Victorian Year 3 students outperformed NSW in Reading, Writing, Grammar & Punctuation and Numeracy and Victorian Year 5 students outperformed NSW in Reading, Writing and Numeracy. We also scored higher than the Australian average in all curriculum areas.

ENROLLING FOR 2018

This will be a regular feature of my newsletter so if you have not yet submitted your enrolment forms for 2018 could I please ask that you do this as soon as possible. We are currently working on class compositions and structures for next year but this is extremely difficult without accurate enrolment figures.

We have a number of new families to Mentone Park PS currently enrolled in Foundation so if you know of anyone looking for a great school with dedicated teachers please ask them to call the school and make an appointment for a personalized tour.

NO ASSEMBLY THIS WEEK
Just a reminder that due to the camp and junior school excursion to CERES on Friday we will not have an assembly this week.

Best wishes
Cameron Agars
Principal

FROM THE OFFICE

Dear Parents & Guardians,

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.

Payments for Excursions/Incursions can be made via Qkr under School Payments using the EXCURSIONS 2017 TAB

Families can enter the amount they owe and also add a note e.g CERES Excursion

HOW CAN I TRACK MY QKR PAYMENTS?

Some parents have been experiencing difficulties when making Qkr payments.

For example to pay for Prep - 4 Swimming

Select

School Payments

Activities

Swimming Prep-4

Add to Cart

Checkout

Tap 'Confirm and Pay' to submit your payment

To check if your payment has gone through successfully follow the steps below to view your receipts.

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 Flexibuzz.

LOST PROPERTY
We have a large amount of lost property at the moment including lunch containers, drink bottles, jackets and jumpers. Please check the classroom next to Performing Arts for any lost property.

Thank you,

Patti, Jane and Trish

Administration Team

PFA

EARN & LEARN

OSHCLUB

BOOKCLUB ISSUE 6

SCHOOL BANKING

SCHOOL UNIFORM

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.