Principal's Message

Hats are back Monday!

 https://www.sunsmart.com.au/protect-your-skin

Curriculum Day Berry Street - Educational Model

Berry Street Education - Curriculum Day

Some of your children might have been coming home recently and telling you all about their “Morning Circle” or “Welcome Circle” that starts each day. It is a consistent, predictable routine that brings connection and positivity into our classrooms and is one of the many things that we have begun thanks to our Berry Street training.

As part of our ongoing commitment to student wellbeing and creating inclusive, positive and calm classrooms, staff attended our third Professional Development session around the Berry Street Education Model.

The session focused on two key areas:

Stamina - how to create a culture of academic persistence in your classroom by nurturing student resilience, emotional intelligence and a growth mindset. 

Engagement - motivating students with strategies that increase their willingness to learn.

To follow on from this, staff met on Wednesday during our scheduled Professional Learning time to reflect on how we can embed these strategies into our whole school approaches.

Staffing Update

We celebrated Ros Walker's upcoming wedding on Saturday with a morning tea and a quiz by the 3/4 team. We wish Ros well for Saturday and look forward to her return with photos!

It is my pleasure to announce that Erin Bennetts (Davies) will continue as Acting Assistant Principal three days per week. Amanda Nelson resumes her position as Assistant Principal on Monday - Erin and Amanda will share the role of Assistant Principal. I will be on long service leave for the next three weeks as I travel to Europe to see family. Erin will be Acting Principal over this time with Amanda returning part time to her role. 

As always I know that our community will support them as we finalise the term and prepare for Term 4.

New Building Update

On Monday and Thursday staff joined our builders to tour the Junior Building and Creative Hub extension. It was exciting to see how far the classrooms have progressed and to get an idea of the layout of all the building spaces.

BYOD Ipad Program 2025

Each year we partner with Edunet to provide an alternative option for purchasing an Ipad for students. There is no requirement to use the Edunet Parent portal but they do offer payment plans and insurance for devices. They are also able to give delivery timelines, which can be helpful. 

Our parent information session will be held in Term 4 for parents of 2025 Year 3 students.

The portal is available for all families with the aim in supporting our Year 2 families as their children move into Year 3.

Log in details and information for parents can be found below 

URL: mpr.technologyportal.com.au

Access Code: MPRPS2025

School Council  Update

During our School Council meetings this month, the team has voted on a supplier in which to purchase student resources for 2025. Considering the current cost of living, Rahima and staff have worked very hard to complete a stocktake of leftover supplies. This has enabled the cost of family contributions to be lowered for 2025. Current costs for 2024 can be found on the school website under 2024 Parent Contributions. A letter with details for 2025 will be completed and shared in the near future. 

There have been a number of organizations interested in the hire of our school facilities. Council discussed benefits, such as community building whilst also considering the logistics and needs of the school. There has been keen interest around the Mitcham Thunder’s proposal to contribute to the building costs of a stadium and have joint use. We are looking for any parents to assist in managing the proposal. 

Thanks again to Stephan for the endless work he does to maintain and repair the kinder and school grounds. New gates are now installed and operational. Signage will be added on the new fence providing information around gate opening and closing times/locations. 

In Education, staff have continued to monitor their Annual Improvement Plan, creating actions to further improve Literacy, Numeracy and Wellbeing, incorporating their work from the Berry Street Program. We had very broad and varied responses to the Digital Technologies survey data, so stay tuned for upcoming forums for your chance to contribute to the discussion and future plans. 

Jen Teoh, School Council President

Your plans for 2025 

Our planning for 2025 is well under way and a major part of this planning relies on student numbers and knowing who will be returning to MPRPS for the 2025 school year.  Please notify our Administration team if your intentions are not to return in 2025. 

Parents and Carers Shout Out

Huge thank you to Leonie Semmens for all her continued work around our P&F in particular this week all of our Father's Day Stalls for Kinder and School.  Thank you to our band of helpers: Kathryn Wyatt, Lizzie Carmichael, Claire Mccubbin, Kerryn Lewis, Karry Sourivong, Sharon Herath, Anna Dowling, Patricia Lew, and Wing Yan Tang.

Also thankyou to Chris Lyle for pruning our school Kitchen Garden roses and giving them a good fertilise at the same time. 

English Open Morning

On Friday September 6th, we will be holding our English Open Morning where parents and carers are welcome to join us for part of a Reading or Writing lesson across the school. Classrooms will be open from 9am-9.45am so that families can get a snapshot of how Literacy is taught at MPRPS. To accommodate families with students in multiple classes, an announcement will be made at 9.20am encouraging people to move to the next classroom if needed. We are looking forward to seeing families at this event and sharing the amazing learning that students engage in!

Learning Specialists: Em Glen and Kate Molloy