The Moorabbin Primary School Community touch the land and think of the Bunurong People and surrounding Clans of the Kulin Nation who cared for the land before us.

We share our gratitude to their Elders past, present and emerging. As we touch this land, we promise to treasure it, taking care of all its people, animals, plants and waterways. We at Moorabbin Primary School appreciate this land. Thank you.

Dear Parents/Carers,

SCHOOL COUNCIL

The final School Council meeting for 2024 is set down for Thursday, December 12. This is the last meeting for 2024 before the election process commences again when we return to the academic school year in term 1 2025.

Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all School Council members for their hard work, cooperation, and support throughout 2024. There continues to be a high level of trust, respect and cooperation within this important decision - making body, which makes the task of running a school so much easier.

I would like to personally thank our President Brent Jones, Vice President and P&F Liaison Sean Abell, Treasurer Colin Jones, Building and Grounds committee members Lyal Marshall and Chris Wende, Parent representatives Lindsay Guy, Silke Nixon, Laura Bos and Donna Jane Blaauboer, DET representatives Ian Corrigan and Igor Koval.

To Lyal, Donna Jane and Lindsay who will be retiring from their positions at the end of this year thank you for your commitment, support and active participation over the last couple of years as part of our school council group, Thank you!

This now provides an opportunity for other parents to join our council. Please consider being a part of supporting our school and being an active member for all students and our community. Please email me for a nomination form if you would like to join our 2025 school council. Eudoxia.angelides@education.vic.gov.au

STAFFING FOR 2025

After an incredibly exhaustive and frustrating recruitment process, I can now provide our community with a list of our staff for next year for your reference. You will have noticed some changes to teachers and grades. Each year we have some changes to our staffing with staff leaving, new staff joining us, changes to the number of classes at each year level and teachers ready for a change of year level and accommodating our part time staff as they return from leave or maternity leave. Our school still requires two full time aides (support staff) of which we will continue to try and recruit) We look forward to an exciting 2025.

GRADUATION

There are many end of year activities crowded in to the last two weeks of term, but none more important than the Grade 6 graduation ceremony. The Grade 6 Graduation ceremony is set down for Monday, December 9th to be held offsite at the Sandringham secondary arts centre and will be a celebration of the seven years of primary education for our students. There will be presentations of certificates and awards and plenty of fun as well with the now traditional slide shows and songs, and time for the students to let their hair down afterwards. This has been an active cohort, and we will genuinely miss each and every one of them when they depart the school grounds for the last time as students of MPS mid-afternoon on December 20!

2025 ORIENTATION DAY for our Year 6 to Year 7 students attending DET schools

Tuesday, December 10 is the Statewide Orientation Day with all Grade 6 students attending their Secondary Colleges for a day’s activities in readiness for next year. In a similar vein, our Foundation to Grade 5 students will spend the morning participating in our internal “Upday”, with their 2025 classmates and teachers. The students will have one more “Upday” to be held on December 17th where the students will meet their 2025 classmates and 2025 teachers.

PARENT HELPERS MORNING TEA

We could not manage to run the school as we do without the support of the very large band of parent helpers that we have. You help us in so many ways – as volunteers on camps and excursions, hearing reading, making costumes and props for our school dress up days, ferrying sporting teams to State Finals, at working bees, with our science program, mini mathematics and mini scientists’, volunteering at BBQ’s, supporting mothers, fathers days and cake bake sale stalls along with fund raising and so much more.

Thank you to all those that were able to attend our morning tea which was a very small way of saying a very big thank you for everything that you do to make our school community the vibrant place that it is.

CLASS PLACEMENTS FOR 2025

They are currently being devised by our teaching staff who are best placed to have an accurate understanding of their future learning goals. Please trust the very involved processes we have here at MPS, knowing that every child’s educational wellbeing is considered by all members of the team. Class Placements and class lists at this time of year are often a “hot topic” in and out of the school ground, in WhatsApp groups, online and over social media platforms and many parents might be doing everything they can “to get their child in a particular class” with a specific friend or teacher” – but is it the best idea? While we appreciate that there are some placements and circumstances that need to be considered… if we “move one or two children” the classes become unbalanced of ability levels, gender combinations and socially inequitable and uneven classes that all our teachers work hard to put together.

In an article by Professor Judith Locke, she discusses the impact of parents navigating and trying to control where and who their children should be placed with:

Most people like a sense of control in their life. They want to be able to predict broadly what is going to happen to them every day and the surroundings in which they will be spending their time. Some crave this predictability and influence more than others – these people are more likely to become fearful when they don’t have that sense of control or are unsure of what is going to happen next. This is because they predict that they won’t be able to cope unless situations are exactly the way they like them.

[…some parents…] often put high effort into ensuring their children are less affected by change or less anxious. These actions might be in the form of telling them exactly what is going to happen every day, letting them get out of things they don’t want to do, always catering to their child’s wishes, or working behind the scenes to make everyday events exactly as their child likes them. These actions might make the child immediately happier or make the family initially more harmonious, but it has serious long-term results.

The main issue is that when you allow someone to always dictate the terms then you don’t teach them that they can cope when things aren’t exactly the way they want. This action reinforces a child’s faulty belief that they need to be in charge, or experience particular outcomes, to be able to cope. When parents constantly make things immediately better, by allowing their child to get out of situations they are a little unsure of, then the child will start to believe they truly can’t cope with challenge, because their parent’s actions reinforce this belief. Inadvertently, over time, the child’s anxiety, bossiness, or poor behaviour will increase. It is not only parental actions that reinforce this belief in children.

Unfortunately, many schools have started to cater to worried children more by giving them a bigger say over a lot of things, including their class placements. Some schools give children the opportunity to choose a best friend or even a ‘top five’ of children they would like to be in their class.

So, what do I suggest? Here are four recommendations.

1.I don’t believe schools should give students the opportunity to choose a friend to be in their class. Giving such a choice implies that they need it and makes them rely too much on one or two people – this will stop them developing their social skills to make other friends. It inadvertently suggests that the child is incapable of making new friends or that they can’t cope when their environment is not exactly the way they want. Don’t worry about your child coping. You can rely on the fact that teachers usually undertake activities in class that help children to get to know each other, early in the year. Even if your child is offered an opportunity to choose, I would encourage you to suggest they don’t nominate anyone and see what happens. In this, you encourage them to be confident in their skills to cope with a new set of classmates and develop a potential new set of friends.

2.I would advise parents against relying on setting up particular friendships through arranging social events with another child who will be in the same primary or high school. Parents can’t know their child will be in the class of the friend they have set up and relying on that is a false comfort for the child. A much more helpful activity would be to take them to a local park where other unknown children are and have them practice how to start up conversations and play or have them join extra-curricular activities with children they don’t know. This will encourage them to be more socially confident when they get to a new school. It is in these actions you may just encourage your children to believe in themselves more.

3.I don’t think that students should be able to choose their teacher. Often, they will prefer a teacher who is, in some way, easier – not as challenging, a little more lax, sweeter, or more complimentary. Teachers all have their individual strengths. Slightly tougher teachers can challenge children a little more, via setting slightly higher standards or not being so frivolous with praise and reward. This approach builds children’s internal drive more than their tendency to want to please others and will start to reduce a child’s reliance on external motivation such as easily given praise or regular reassurance. This, in turn, will make them more independent, self-motivated learners – all essential skills for future academic and employment success.

4.If a parent does ask a school to change a child’s class, I suggest the school doesn’t, unless there is a good reason. Being upset because they wanted to be in their friend’s class or preferred to have another teacher is typically not a good enough reason. If anything, it shows that the child hasn’t faced enough tricky or uncomfortable times to teach them that they can cope with slight challenge or disappointment. This is usually the sign to start to step up the challenges they face, in a broadly supportive environment for them. Making friends at school is a wonderful by-product of the main task at hand – to learn. Their effort should primarily be in developing new skills, not overly focussed on being in the constant company of their best friend. Indeed, immersing themselves in study and school activities will help them cope with early social awkwardness but have the by-product of making friends naturally and over time. Schools are not there to make children constantly happy and successful… indeed, if that is the main goal then they will fail to teach children strength, resilience and adaptability.

So parents please step back, trust the school you chose, and show your child you believe in their ability to cope in a new class environment with a new group of people. It is in these actions you may just encourage your children to believe in themselves more.

Tips

• If your child is anxious about starting a new class with unfamiliar people, do listen to them talk about their fears, but normalise them (“A lot of people feel worried about starting something new”), and then talk about their past strengths in facing tricky things and your confidence that they will cope with this challenge.

• When they come home from their first day at a new activity, keep your questions broad, “How was it?” not, “Did you make a friend today?” or “Is Sam in your class?” This won’t put unnecessary pressure on them or suggest things in which they should be disappointed.

• Keep your and your child’s expectations realistic. It is highly unlikely that they will form close friendships in the early days of a new school year, particularly in early primary. How often have you started a new job and come home from your first day to announce, “I made my new best friend today”?

• There are things you can say if your child is not in a class they want to be in:

1.Listen to them. Then reflect what you hear. “You’re upset because your friend is not in your class. That is a completely understandable feeling”. Or “Sounds like you are upset because you didn’t get the teacher that you wanted.”

2.Then state the potential benefits of facing this challenge, i.e. making extra, new friends; learning skills to make new acquaintances; being able to focus more on schoolwork in class than talking to their current best friend; learning how to work with a different type of teacher than the one they had last year.

3.Maybe tell them a story about how you learned a lot from a teacher you had who was a bit tougher but taught you a lot, or a time you went somewhere where you didn’t know anyone but learnt how to get on in unfamiliar environments.

4.Let your child know that they can still see their friend/s at lunchtime or at play dates or parties.

© Judith Locke. Dr Judith Locke is a clinical psychologist, former teacher, and the author of the parenting book, The Bonsai Child (www.bonsaichild.com)

INTRODUCING FOUR OF OUR NEW STAFF

My name is Ciara Mahon and I am very excited to join the teaching team at Moorabbin Primary School next year! I am going into my 3rd year as a teacher and have been teaching in Melbourne as a CRT for the past year. I have also taught back home in Ireland as a year 1 teacher. I grew up in a small town called Carlow and later moved to Dublin for university. In my spare time, I enjoy running, reading, and spending time with friends. I have a big family, including a younger brother who lives in Perth, so we all make sure to catch up regularly over Facetime. I am looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know the MPS community.

Hi there! My name is Ava Duggan and I am a primary school teacher from Dublin, Ireland. I have worked as a primary school teacher for the past 5 years. Last year I taught Prep in Ireland, and prior to this I worked as both a mainstream class teacher and special education teacher for various year groups. I completed the Bachelor of Education at Dublin City University, as well as a specialist in Drama Education. I am greatly looking forward to teaching at Moorabbin primary next year!

Hello, Moorabbin Primary families, teachers, and students! My name is Margarita Theodoropoulos, and I’m so excited to join the Moorabbin school community as a teacher. I completed a Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary) at Australian Catholic University, and I am passionate about creating a welcoming and inspiring classroom for all my students. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with family, taking my dog Lily for walks, as well as, reading, and baking. I cannot wait to meet everyone and be part of such a wonderful school. I am looking forward to an amazing year together!

Jacqui Vorpasso (previously Jacqui Buchanan) I am looking forward to rejoining Moorabbin primary after having 18 months leave. I have been able to explore different schools, passion projects and am feeling recharged, refreshed, and inspired to be back to the MPS community. Recently, I have married my long-term partner in Nov 2024, and enjoy walking our Golden Murphy May, playing netball and having BBQs with friends and family. I am excited to step back into the classroom as one of the Grade 5 teachers in 2025.

Have a lovely weekend.

Noxia Angelides

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