Welcome to Term 4

I trust that you were able to have some sort of a break over the holidays- even if at the very least there was respite from providing school lunches!

Welcome to some new (and not-so-new) faces! Kristie Morrison has joined our staff as a Leading Teacher as well as the Grade 5/6 M class teacher. Kristie comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience and we look forward to her involvement in our wonderful school community.

We welcome Nadia Amor. Nadia has worked part time at our school this year and we are thrilled that she has accepted the role as a class teacher for Grade 3/4C.

Sam Clancy started back with us this week. Sam has been on Family Leave this year and will assist with Intervention in our junior grades, a couple of mornings a week. Welcome back Sam!

Teacher Games:

Over the break, a group of our Monty teachers participated in the annual "Teacher Games" held in Ballarat. Over 2500 teachers participate and this event seems to be becoming more popular each year. Our teachers won the Bronze in Trivia (very clever teachers!) and only just missed out on another medal- coming 4th in bowling! A great effort and of course our staff played with wonderful spirit!

Swimming lessons will be held for Foundation - Grade 2 students from 7th-16th November. We are excited to be heading to the newly refurbished Eltham Leisure Centre for 8 separate lessons. More information will be sent home shortly advising of times as well as requesting parent helpers.

Celebrating Learning!

Last year, Mrs Rentos and I thoroughly enjoyed hosting special Student/Principal morning teas on a Friday. As of Friday next week, the children that receive a Student of the Week award will be invited to a "Sundae Fun Day" where we will again enjoy spending time with the students and listening to their many thoughts about our school and their learning!

Focus Group for 2019 School Review

In 2019 we will be undergoing a school review, a process that takes place every four years and is instrumental in our future planning for the school. This is an excellent time to reflect on our journey over the past four years, share our vision and review our future directions. At MPS, we value input from our parent community and the unique point of view that as parents, you can share with us. We will be inviting parents to register interest in participating in Parent Forums which will be held on Tuesday 23rd October from 6:00-7:00pm, and Thursday 25th October from 9:30-10:30am (only one session per family). Depending on the level of interest, numbers at these sessions may need to be capped so that we can ensure that activities are meaningful and useful in the review process, however, we will try to accommodate all who are interested. Please register your interest via Compass by 5pm , Wednesday 17th October. A confirmation email will be sent out on Thursday 18th October. Thank you!

Ask Gran not Google!

Friday 26th October- "Ask Gran Not Google" is an inter-generational project that encourages children to seek the wisdom and life experience of a senior before searching the internet for answers. In doing so, children can gain insight into the valuable role seniors can play in their lives and society. We are holding a special Grandparents/Seniors Day on Friday 26th October from 9am-10:30am. Our special visitors will be invited into the classroom from 9am-10am, followed by a morning tea in the hall. The children will be creating invitations for this special day so if possible, please let grandparents know that we would love to have them along on this day. We will be asking our wonderful "Kids Hope" mentors that already volunteer at our school to be present on this day and to be around as "pseudo grandparents"!

SAKG Morning Tea in the Garden

In Term 4 we are starting a "Garden Morning Tea" where parents and members of the school community can get together over a cup of tea, have a chat and do some gardening together in our SAKG and indigenous gardens. This will be held on Friday mornings from 9:05am – 10:00am and our first morning tea will be on Friday 19 October near the Garden shed. Please see the section below in this newsletter about SAKG for more information.

Walk to School Month- October

MPS has signed up for "Walk to School Month". Getting active is even more fun when we do it together! We are encouraging, where possible, for students to walk, ride or scoot to and from school. There are charts in each classroom for the students to fill out. A friendly reminder- please ensure that your child dismounts their bike or scooter before entering the school gates.

Building Works

There was a great deal of work undertaken over the school holidays. An enormous thank you to Dave Koolstra (dad to Joel -Grade 1) and Andrew Schilling (dad to April- Grade 1) for volunteering their time to upgrade certain areas in our school that required work. New stairs were built to provide a safe and fluid entry/exit to the oval, the cricket pitch was re surfaced and new drainage was installed on the side of the oval. Thank you!

In terms of our grounds and facilities, exciting things are happening! Over the summer break, a shade sail will be installed over the junior playground- certainly something that is very much needed. We have also engaged a landscape architect this week, who will assist with the design in further enhancing our play spaces. Over the coming weeks we will be meeting with our students and asking for their input as to what they would like to see in their play spaces. This should be quite a fun process! We are also continuing to lobby our local politicians and gain a commitment to a large- scale building fund that will enable us to create a 21st century learning space incorporating a STEM and Performing Arts facility. Stay tuned....

ICAS Testing at MPS (Lenny Boyd- ICAS Coordinator)

In Terms 2 and 3 we had 20 students at Monty undertake ICAS testing, an independent, skills-based assessment program which recognises and rewards student achievement. There were some outstanding results in each of the curriculum areas of English, Mathematics and Science, including:

10 Credit awards (top 25% of year level participants in Australia)
10 Distinction awards (top 10%)
2 High Distinction awards (top 1%)!

We look forward to even more participants next year.

Janene and Rebekah

Camp Australia

How we make kids smile