Mentone Park Primary School Newsletter: NEWSLETTER 14/2017

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents,

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WONDERFUL STUDENTS

What an amazing school we have. In the last newsletter I spoke about the Grade 3 and 4 camp and the wonderful experiences our students were in the middle of, so this time I would like to congratulate the entire level for the way they behaved and represented Mentone Park. All students were given opportunities to challenge themselves through a variety of activities, and from all reports they have created memories and learning experiences that will last them a lifetime. Thanks must also go to our amazing staff who planned and supervised the camp. Lead by Matt Hardie, the team of Nick Wilton, Jess McDonald, Nikki McCallum, Alison Lough, Hannah Hudspith, Gail Pratt, Radhika Perera (Pre Service Teacher) and Zoe Hart (Pre Service Teacher) were integral to the success of the camp. I am also delighted that many of our parents have personally thanked the team for their work. Thank you.

THANKS PFA

I’m sure those of you either lucky enough to grab a coffee and some breakfast or get a Fathers Day gift last week would agree that our PFA did an amazing job organizing, preparing and running both events.

LUNCHTIME CLUBS

Don’t forget on Tuesday 12th September, Chess Ideas will be here to run some information sessions and hand out some flyers for our new Chess Club that will be starting here during term 4. Limelight Drama School will also be running a session on Wednesday 13th September for any aspiring singers, dancers or performers.

Our teachers are also busy planning some additional clubs to be run at lunchtime. Stay tuned for more information around the extra curricula activities planned for lunchtimes at MPPS.

PRINCIPAL FOR A DAY – THURSDAY SEPT 7

As part of the ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) Principal for a Day Program we were pleased to welcome Liz Phelan to our school. Liz is the Operations and Sales Lead for the online financial literacies program Banqer, which is a New Zealand based company that is currently branching out into Australia and the UK. As well as spending time with me, Liz met with many of our students to discuss and discover what makes Mentone Park PS such a wonderful school. If you keep an eye on your local Leader Newspaper you will see a few photos from today as well as some articles about the exciting events at our school.

Liz and I are already planning on continuing this partnership into the future.

ATHLETICS

More congratulations to all of our students who participated in the Mordialloc District Athletics Carnival on Monday. Through bitterly cold conditions they all ran, threw and jumped to the best of their ability, but more importantly displayed outstanding behavior and sportsmanship throughout the day. As a result of placing first or second in their event 6 of our students will be going on to the next level. Congratulations and best wishes to Shaedyn, Billy, Sam, Bella, Amarlie and Sienna.

CURRICULUM DAY

Our next Curriculum Day will be on Monday September 18. The focus will be centered around student health and wellbeing, where staff will be reviewing our current curriculum programs and updating our current best practice. OSHClub will contact parents but if you need care on that day please let them know as soon as possible, as this will allow them to plan more of their stimulating activities.

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 personalised tour.

Best wishes

Cameron Agars

Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

PLAY IS THE WAY

This week’s newsletter focus is the key concept ‘Pursue your personal best no matter who you work with’ which teaches students that we don't come to school to be better than others, but rather we come to school to better ourselves, by being able to work with others.

This concept goes hand in hand with key concept number one - treat others as you would like them to treat you - as creating an inclusive environment with multiple opportunities for students to work with different groups and in different locations each day, enables them to set their own improvement goals and develop strong working partnerships with and around those who are going to challenge them, assist them and help them to progress and grow.

Tolerance and acceptance of others and their differences is a huge part of life both in and outside of school and learning to understand and develop strategies for working with other people is an important skill to develop from a young age. It enables students to become empathetic and resilient learners and to achieve success in their own education without feeling the need to compare themselves to others or feel the need to always work with the same people to achieve their goals.

The Language of Play is the Way

A consistent language around the Play is the Way methodology guides our day to day interractions with students and also teaches them how to be self-reflective, self-managing individuals when it comes to the choices they make. Below is a summary of the important Play is the Way vocabulary and how it guides students to become independent and resilient thinkers:

If you are doing the wrong thing and you know it's the wrong thing, then you're having a weak moment because your feelings are guiding your behaviour and not your thinking.

It's important that you deal with the problem and not run away from it. Dealing with it will make you your own boss and running away will invite your teacher to step in, take control and become the boss.

By asking questions that encourage you to think about your behavour, your teacher is trying to help you, not hurt you. They are in fact, asking you to take charge of the situation yourself by thinking your way through it and becoming the master, not the victim of your feelings.

As soon as you are the master and not the victim you will find the strength to do the right thing because you know it's the best thing to do.

Alison Lough

Assistant 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 Footy Day

Select

Fundraising

Events 2017

Special Food Day
Footy Day

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

SPECIALIST IN THE SPOTLIGHT

ITALIAN

Ciao a tutti! What an exciting term it has been in the Italian room!

JUNIOR SCHOOL Enjoyed learning about special days such as Spotty and Father’s Day as they continued to sing and dance to a fun variety of Italian tunes. Games to remember colour and numbers and sequential activity sheets have helped them reinforce their ever-widening vocabulary.

JUNIOR SCHOOL Have been excited to learn about ‘Gli animali’ (Animals) – both tame and wild- concentrating on Australian animals in particular. They have been reading and writing about these and finding out how their names sometimes sound almost the same in Italian eg. Il serpente=snake/serpent, il koala=koala, l’emu`=emu and il megpie=magpie.

MIDDLE SCHOOL Have explored weather and the seasons, overcoming nerves to perform in two play performances about the sun and the wind. They are now starting to learn about ‘I vestiti’- (Clothing) and are beginning to design their own stylish wardrobes ahead of a Fashion Shoot in Milano! They have played ‘Tombola-Bingo’ to aid their learning of new vocabulary.

SENIOR SCHOOL Continued to explore ‘Life in Ancient Rome’ concentrating on the period around AD 79 when Pompeii was destroyed by a volcano. They have watched a BBC series, Roman Mysteries, which allowed them to imagine what life may have looked like during this time in History. They have also constructed models to support their understandings during the term. Every third week, if possible, they continued to work through languagesonline- an online teaching tool to aid their Italian. Children are encouraged to work online at home to improve the areas they have difficulty with. Go to www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline & scroll down to Italian. Parents could also enjoy the fun activities, especially to beat the crazy cat!

I have been really impressed by all the students’ involvement and enthusiasm during the term and look forward to an even more enjoyable last term!

A prego,

Signora Beer

ART

BUTTONS REQUIRED

Hi MPPS families,

I'm looking for bright and all sizes of buttons to use in Term 4.

Please send along any buttons from home and place in the Button Bag at the Office.

Thank you for your help!

Noela Unwin

PFA

FOOTY DAY

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.