MECS Matters

Focus on...

What’s happening next for MECS Primary?

Relational Community and Academic Faithfulness will be two special focus areas for the Primary School in 2024. 

 

Relational Community “This means that committed partnerships, mutually supportive relationships and a relationally nurturing environment are reflected in every aspect of the school". (Transformational Education pg. 79).”

We have increased our resourcing for teachers and students with the addition of a Wellbeing Coordinator role and provision of significantly more time for the experienced staff leading each Primary team. 

 

Primary Student Wellbeing Coordinator

This is a new position which will build the capacity across the whole Primary School related to student mental health and wellbeing. Our addition of this role keeps us in step with the Department of Education who have added the role of Mental Health in Primary Schools Officers across Primary Schools in Victoria. We are delighted that Danny Gamble will be joining our Primary Team in this role. His Christian faith has provided the foundation for initially working in mental health and then transitioning to teaching. In addition to his Primary Teaching qualifications, he has a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, a Master of International Mental Health, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Positive Education. 

 

Primary Team Leaders

The Cluster Leader role has been replaced by the role of Team Leader. This reflects the fact that these leaders have been resourced with significantly more time to support both the staff and students across the areas of curriculum, learning support and wellbeing. These Team Leaders will be on the ground supporting the work of the Primary Student Wellbeing Coordinator and the Primary Deputy, Malcolm Pirie, to ensure that these extra resources translate into improved wellbeing and learning outcomes for your children. Fiona Holliday will lead the Prep Team, Leesa Woods (nee Tsang) will lead the Junior Primary Team, Naomi Campbell will lead the Middle Primary Team and Lyse Carlson will lead the Senior Primary Team. 

 

Academic Faithfulness “Students and teachers work faithfully on weaknesses as well as pursuing strengths. The school aims to foster a culture of effective learning".(Transformational Education pg. 139). To continue to improve our differentiation in Mathematics instruction, we are focusing on Professional Development for staff and consistent implementation of Essential Assessment Numeracy platform to identify student weaknesses as well as strengths and to monitor student growth. Professional development for Primary staff will take place across four terms next year and implementation will involve the use of Essential Assessment to provide structured formative and summative assessment data which will directly support targeted instruction for students.   

 

We look forward to the opportunities the two focus areas provide to continue to build upon our framework for Christian Education outlined in Transformational Education. 

 

Janet Anderson

Assistant Principal - Primary

Primary Staff 2024

Prep 2024 

  • Fiona Holliday: Team leader and Class Teacher. 
  • Kaye Smith: Class Teacher 
  • Rebecca Pirie: Prep Learning Diversity Teacher 

Junior Primary 2024 

  • Leesa Woods (nee Tsang): Team Leader and Class Teacher 
  • Deb Tunne (4 days) and Sarah Venz (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Joshua Chamberlain: Class Teacher 
  • Kristy Harvey (4 days) and Rachel Young (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Louise Griffiths: JP Learning Diversity Teacher 

Middle Primary 2024 

  • Naomi Campbell: Team leader and Class Teacher 
  • Verity Spokes: Class Teacher 
  • Ben Pedley: Class Teacher 
  • Lee Koole (4 days) and Rebekah Clark (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Ange Smit: Learning Diversity Teacher 

Senior Primary 2024 

  • Lyse Carlson: Team Leader and Class Teacher 
  • Kate Taylor (4 days) and David Sukh (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Sarah Piesse (4 days) and Rebekah Clark (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Wayne Armstrong (4 days) and David Sukh (1 day): Class Teachers 
  • Steph Wenger: SP Learning Diversity Teacher 

Primary Specialist Teachers 

  • Digital Technologies - David Sukh is teaching a new Prep to Senior Primary specialist subject in 2024 to cover the Digital Technologies and Design and Technologies areas of the Victorian Curriculum. We are calling this subject Digital Technologies. 
  • Physical Education - Ben Clark is teaching Prep to Senior Primary replacing Jason Brown who is leaving to pursue creative opportunities in the education space next year. 
  • Music - Penny Mentiplay is teaching Prep to Senior Primary. Helen Metcalfe is moving to a Performing Arts Coordinator position at another school next year. 
  • Art - Jan Home (nee Ormrod) is teaching Prep to Senior Primary. Alyce Vanderjagt is teaching Art in our Secondary School next year. 
  • Indonesian – We are in the process of completing a contract with an experienced Indonesian Language teacher and will update you with details once we are able.