Principal’s Report

Welcome back to our existing and new families. We also welcome our new and returning staff:-

Cam Ball- 1/2
Elena McKinlay- 3/4 teacher
Sandra Pepi- 5/6 teacher (welcome back)
Tori Bolland- 5/6
Aysu Kuru- The Arts
Danilo Guerra- Spanish Language

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023. To all our new families, we would like to extend a huge, warm welcome to the Merri-bek Primary School community, we look forward to getting to know you and building a positive and trusting relationship.

A huge welcome back to our returning families. We hope that the past five weeks have been a time for some relaxation, rejuvenation and happy times with your family and friends.

At Merri-bek Primary School, we aim to provide a safe, secure, stimulating and calm learning environment where high expectations for academic pursuits are the norm, where students feel valued, where their thoughts and opinions are considered and effort is recognised.

We welcome our Foundation students

The enthusiasm of our children returning has been electrifying, which has been wonderful to see as they walked through the gates on their first day back. Our Foundation children enjoyed their first day of school, being able to explore our grounds and begin to discover all the wonderful things MPS has to offer. Our Preps have all spent some time with their buddies and we can already see many strong relationships forming.

It is so true, schools are just buildings, without the people, sounds and interactions that brings a community together and the love of learning for life.

Our grade 6 students have begun the process of electing our school leaders for 2023 and I enjoyed listening to their speeches today. Hana, Helen and I elected Year 4 and 5 library leaders and we are excited to see them implementing some of their great ideas and helping out during library lunchtime club.

Our Start up program has been a great success in settling the children into the routines and expectations for a successful year.

Library Launch

It was lovely to see so many families join us for our Library launch on Wednesday. We had a lovely morning and it was great to see the excitement and feel the buzz in our new library.

Andy Griffiths did a fantastic job entertaining the children and I think he was overwhelmed by how many children had one of his books to be signed. I’m sure he signed close to 350 books and took the time to chat to each and every student!

Thank you once again to our school council, parents and carers association and the generous donations and fundraising from our amazing families. The Library project raised almost $90,000. This alone shows you the interest from our Parent community for Merri-bek PS to have a Library.

We are excited to officially start library borrowing next week. Pleae remind your child to bring along a library bag (a shopping bag will also suffice). All the foundations students have been provided with a new library bag. The library will also be open each Tuesday and Thursday, for the first half of lunch. We also welcome our library leaders, who will assist Helen in the library. All leaders will be officially announced and presented with a badge at our next assembly.

Child Safe:

Merri-bek Primary School is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. This will be the primary focus of our care and decision-making. Merri-bek Primary School has zero tolerance for child abuse.

We are committed to providing a child safe environment where children and young people are safe and feel safe, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Particular attention will be paid to the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, as well as the safety of children with a disability and children who are vulnerable.

Every person involved in Merri-bek Primary School has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role they play individually and collectively to ensure that the wellbeing and safety of all children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make.

On arrival at Merri-bek Primary School, all volunteers, visitors and contractors must make contact with the office, sign in at the front desk and wear a visitor’s badge while on site.

Privacy Policy

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy-information for parents and also the document included in this newsletter.

School Council Elections

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within state-wide guidelines. In doing this, a School Council can directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students. Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. Each year, approximately half of the School Council retires to allow new members to become involved. Membership on the council is for a period of two years and regular meetings are held twice a term. If you would like to know more about being a councillor or nominate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send an email at maria.giordano@education.vic.gov.au

Feel free to contact Lee Cath, our School Council president, or any other current school council members. During the nomination week, commencing 10th February, Lee Cath will be at the Blair street gates, to answer any questions you may have, regarding becoming a school council member.

Our council currently has the following vacancies to be elected for 2023:-

One Department of Education employee position
We also need some more parents to contribute towards this important process. We have three parent vacancies on School Council to be elected for a full period of two years.

Nominations for School Council will close at 4pm on Friday 17th February.

If we receive more nominations than positions available, an election process will follow in the coming weeks. We will confirm the final membership of the 2023 School Council in the newsletter, and on Compass, when the nomination/election process has been completed.

Refer to the School Council Election Process and timetable below.

Merri-bek Primary School

School council election process and timetable

This document is an outline of our school council election process for 2023.

The process must be completed on or before 31 March 2023.

Assistant Principal’s Report

Michelle Carland - Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

My name is Michelle Carland and I am the Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader at Merri-bek Primary School. I began my teaching journey in 2008. I am an experienced classroom teacher and have spent the last two years as a Tutor whilst raising a young family.

This year I will be taking part in the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) program, which will support me to implement a whole-school approach to mental and wellbeing at Merri-bek Primary School. The aim is to build capacity of the whole school to support student mental health and wellbeing and improve student mental health outcomes.

Kindness has been shown to benefit our emotional wellbeing and improve overall happiness. Research has found that performing random acts of kindness can also increase our longevity and boost heart health. Please read and discuss the Kindness Concepts developed by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation with your children, as they have been exploring these at school during the Start Up Program.

Open Streets Initiative

Dear families,

Last year we trialled the Open Streets Initiative whereby Blair St was closed to cars to allow students and families to ride, walk or scoot to school safely.

On the days of the Open Streets trials, on average 65.4% of students used some form of active transport to get to school (e.g. walk, bike, scoot, or skating). This is a 16.8% increase in active travel when compared to a normal school day in 2022.

50% of families said they rode more.

40% of families said they walked more.

97.5% of families would like to see Open Streets regularly in the future.

The attached document has a summary of the surveys that took place during the trials.

There is also a wonderful clip that Merri-bek City Council have put together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNjGUD4y3BA

A Message From School Council

Join School Council - help make our school the best it can be

We’re looking for parents to join the School Council. The School Council annual election period is just about to start and there are at least three parent vacancies to fill.

If you are interested, please fill in a nomination form, which will be available at the school office.

What does the role involve?

School Council is responsible for establishing the broad direction and vision of the school and helps to maintain the efficient governance of the school. You would attend 2-3 Council meetings per term and become a member of a Council sub-committee such as Finance, Parents and Carers, Education, Building, Grounds & Environment. You’ll read papers prior to the meeting and come along prepared to contribute to discussion and decision-making in the best interests students.

Being a Council member gives you unique insight into the way our school operates and an opportunity to contribute to the long-term development of the school. You would start as a Councillor at our March meeting and serve on Council until in Term 4 and serve on Coun March 2025.

What kind of person are you looking for?

Generally we are looking for someone who is a good team player and able to take a big picture view of the school. Being able to engage with strategic and governance issues is an important part of the role. Specific skills which are useful to us include:

• Communications and/or marketing skills

• Financial skills (including familiarity setting budgets and reading financial statements)

• Governance and policy skills

Most of all, we need people who have the time, interest and energy to commit to being on School Council.

If you are interested in contributing to the development of the school, we would love to hear from you.

I'm interested, but I can't commit right now.

Please consider nominating for a Council position at the next Council elections held early in the 2024 school year. There are also plenty of other opportunities to get involved in the life of the school, including joining a Council sub-committee, volunteering in classrooms, or helping run any of the numerous fundraising or social events throughout the year. Newcomers are very welcome!

What if I have questions?

Please contact Lee Cath, School Council President via email moreland.ps@education.vic.gov.au (mark email attention: Lee Cath). Alternatively, Lee will be outside the Blair Street gates after drop-off each morning next week

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