From the Principal's desk...

Highlights

We started this week commemorating Remembrance Day across the school as we paid respect and paused for a minute's silence to remember the service and sacrifice of our veterans and current serving personnel.

The students in 1/2A created a beautiful mural that is now proudly on display in the front office and we presented this during the service and lowered our flags to half mast as a sign of respect. It is so important for all our children to know and understand the significance of these commemorative days and we are proud to ensure this occurs at our school. 

We also had a visit on Monday from the Modewarre Fire Brigade who spoke to the students about fire safety as we head into the fire alert period. It was so wonderful to see the truck under the amphi-theatre and hear the children's laughter, screams of joy and happy smiles as they listened, tried on jackets, used the fire hose and were immersed into this important annual community connection. The school was undertaking our 4 Yearly OHS audit at the same time so as we inspected the school grounds I certainly reassured the assessor that there was nothing to be concerned about as we exited my office to a fire truck!!!

Our Year 5 students this week also contributed to our community by heading over to the Moriac Pre-School to support the kinder students with bike education. Our Year 5s walked over on Monday and Wednesday and displayed great leadership qualities and respresented our school and core values beautifully.

The 1/2 Swimming program was also completed in Week 4 and this apart from being a really important water safety program, was a great success. The days are long for our students as they wait patiently for their turn in the pool and then some time after for all other groups to have their turn. Our staff prepare the students with activities to do whilst waiting including learning tasks so that the week is still productive. It literally takes a great deal of organisation from a school level as we need to send staff from other areas of the school to support at different times which effects the rest of the school. However here at Moriac PS, we have such a hands on team that will do whatever is required when it means the kids get to participate in the things we know are real highlights! 

2025 Captains

Coming up soon will be the process of selecting our 2025 school and house captains. I've had a few students chat to me at the school gate at the end of the day asking me about leadership. My  message is always that leadership really is about working hard for others to help everyone do their best and I wish all students good luck with that process. I wish we could have roles for everyone, but we know that's not how it works. We thank our families for their support of this process in advance with information from the senior team coming home in the next few weeks. 

We always like the selection of captains to be a combined effort of peer voting and staff knowledge and input after the students have been given opportunities to prepare a speech and present to the senior end of the school community. This way it is a combined approach that enables a result that takes into account many different factors of student leadership.

Concert- Geelong Arts Centre

It is getting closer to the end of year concert and our students really have been working hard rehearsing their moves (as have the staff!). This year we have chosen to use a new venue primarily due to the large price increase that the Arena was asking for as well as to utilise a brand new space that is really a woncderful asset for Geelong. This ensured we were able to keep ticket costs to a minimum for families.

As we progressed through this process, we have had to structure how we sell tickets differently as well. The GAC charge a large sum to sell tickets for us and we felt again that we could organise this in our admin office and again save the school money. You should have received a copy of ticket ordering information, please see the image below, as the admin team will now be processing ticket orders for families. 

As you might therefore be aware, this is extra work for the admin team so we thank you in advance for your support here regarding the purchase of tickets. You can simply return the form with your child to the school office with ALL correct details completed, call the office and pay over the phone OR visit the office from Wednesday-Friday to EFTPOS your tickets yourself. 

Seats will then be reserved and allocated to you via your tickets- admin will process the seat allocation as the orders come through in a 'first in best dressed' system including the forms sent in via students.  Melinda in the office 

Please note, students do not need a ticket purchased as they are performing in the show and will have a seat allocated to them with their classes and teachers.

Further information regarding costumes and entry arrangements for students on the night will be sent out via Compass. We thank all families for their support of this event, it is a large undertaking each year.

Welcoming new staff- 2025

We are fortunate at MPS to introduce some really high quality teachers that will be joining our team for 2025 after running a process at the school last week.

Please see below a small description from our new teachers Will, Bree and Mattea along with a photo. We will announce teaching staff and roles for 2025 before the year ends.

Bree Anderson

Hello 😊

My name is Bree Anderson and I am very excited to be joining the Moriac Primary School community in 2025. I live on the Surf Coast with my husband and three children – we feel very lucky to live so close to beautiful beaches and bushland. I love spending time at the beach or out in the bush, camping, playing the piano, cooking and gardening in our veggie patch. I have a passion for the natural environment and enjoy exploring and learning new things. 

I am very much looking forward to meeting you and getting to know your wonderful school community!   

Will Jacobs

I am originally from Warrnambool and have been living in Geelong for the past 5 years. When I'm not teaching, I like to go camping with my partner Kelsey, walk our dog Bruce and play footy! I am looking forward to meeting all the students, staff and community of Moriac Primary School.

Mattea Coppe

Hello! My name is Mattea Coppe, and I couldn’t be more excited to join the Moriac Primary School community. I recently graduated from Deakin University, where I completed my Bachelor of Education in Primary Teaching with a specialisation in Science, along with an International Baccalaureate (IB) certificate in Teaching and Learning. I’m passionate about fostering a love for learning through hands-on, inquiry-based approaches that encourage students to question, explore, and connect with the world around them. I look forward to getting to know everyone at Moriac Primary School, collaborating with the amazing staff, and supporting each student’s learning journey in this wonderful school community.

Prep Transition for 2025-

I would like to let you all know that our Prep team for next year will again be taught by Ashlee Merchant and Ryan Fischer. Both teachers have done a great job supporting and guiding out Prep students as they transition into formal learning in a school setting and we are pleased to confirm this will again continue for 2025.

Just a continued reminder of dates for transition for our new preps.

The official transition dates are- 

The transition booklet also contains detailed information regarding start dates for Preps, which Wednesdays are stay at home days and how to book for Prep assessments which will occur early in 2025. Lots more information to come.

Library Borrowing-

Small reminder- 

Final date for borrowing books from the library will be Friday 15th of November.  All books – Student & Staff borrowings – are due back by 29th of November.  

Reports, Assessments, Common Assessment Tasks (CATs)

During the next few weeks, classroom teacher will be extremely busy finalising assessments and work on CATs as well as writing your child's school report. As in previous years, our reports will be the same structure with a 5 point scale where students are placed on a continuum against the Victorian Curriculum as well as written comments from teachers. Our specialists assess all students across the school utilising the 5 point scale and write a general statement about the work completed across the semester. Specialists also complete CATs and this is also included in the end of year report.

Reports will be pushed out via Compass in the last week of term.

Year 1/2 Stay Late

Our Year 1/2 team, both students and staff are busily preparing and eagerly awaiting their 'Stay Late' evening where they have the opportunity to enjoy some exciting activities and have dinner together before being collected at 6:30pm by families as part of their end of year celebration. This year the students will be participating in school games, a quiz and even a silent disco!!! The fun doesn't stop there with a BBQ dinner cooked by staff and they even have time for a movie with popcorn! The event takes play in Week 8 and we know the children will have a great time! Thank you to the staff for organising this, especially Ms Jones as well as giving up family time to give our students this opportunity which each year, is a big hit!

Thanks to all families for supporting the school during this busy period, if you have any feedback or would like to know any information, please reach out. We have multiple ways to do this, our School Council is one way, our Parents and Friends Committee is another and we always welcome calls or visits in the admin too!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mel